Unit 187: Operations and Project Management - Unilever PLC Report

This report provides a comprehensive review and critique of operations management principles within Unilever PLC. It begins with an introduction to the company, followed by an explanation of operations versus operations management, and a detailed analysis of how Unilever implements operations management principles. The report critically evaluates the extent to which Unilever's operations management meets organizational requirements, covering aspects such as quality, cost reduction, and productivity. It then delves into continuous improvement as a philosophy, describing Lean principles and Six Sigma. The report concludes with a continuous improvement plan, including justified recommendations for enhancing operations management within Unilever, based on the review and critique. The report also covers the scientific management theory, discussing its principles and application within Unilever, along with the company's strengths and weaknesses.

ID
Unit Number and Title Unit 187 – Operations and Project Management
Project Title Review and Critique of Operations Management (Part 1)
Project Life Cycle (Part 2)
Statement of Authenticity:
I certify that the work submitted for this unit is my own and the research sources are fully
acknowledged.
Learner Name: Date:
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Table of Content
Part 1: Business Report
1. An introduction to chosen organization 3
2. An explanation of operation vs operations management 3
3. A review and critique of the implementation of operations
management principleswithin the chosen organization 5
4. An analysis of the extent to which the operations management of
the organisation inthe case study meets the requirements of the
organization 6
5. Discussion of continuous improvement as a philosophy and
describe the Leanprinciples 8
6. A continuous improvement plan, including your
justifiedrecommendations forimprovement, based on your review
and critique of operations managementprinciples within your
organization 10
7. Conclusion 11
References 12
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1. An introduction to chosen organization
The operation management is basically defined as an procedure which is used by
organization for running their activities smoothly. Due to the effective use of operation
management organization is able to deliver best quality services and goods to users for long
time. The activities of operation management are highly essential for enhancing the profit
margin of company at large scale. The members of operation management tried to revenue
with cost to gain highest operations net profit. Here the chosen company is Unilever PLC and
the headquarter of this firm is located in UK (Graves, 2021). The company was established in
1929 and this firm is dealing with wide range of products which includes beverages, ice
cream, food items and others. The report will cover explanation of operation vs operations
management, critique of the implementations management principles within chosen firm. It
also covers discussion of continuous improvement as a philosophy and describe the Lean
principles including Six Sigma
P1
P1 Conduct a review and critique of the
implementation of operations management
principles within an organisational context.
2. An explanation of operation vs operations management
 Operations – The operations referred to the actions and decisions which are made by
participants and members of enterprise that produce impact on distribution,
management, production and service. This is highly important for organization for run
their activities smoothly and also for utilizing resources in optimized manner.
Operations have common and general aim in aspect of enhancing value of consumers.
The organization must gain improvement in efficiency for currently available asset in
order to decrease the cost of production of food items and other asset for busines. It
means that the procedure of operation is not easy and most of the time they are more
focused and more complex as the time goes on the main areas business gets
improving
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 Operations functions – This type of activity is responsible for manufacturing
products and delivering services. But it required and support from different areas of
organization. This aims to evaluating the document on the basis of international
operations management and major activities. The functions in operations assist the
firm to brings the raw material together for the procedure of production. Then it is
converted into finished products according to customer requirement. It also facilitates
different types of ideas within firm that in which way they improved their procedure
and gain saving in cost.
 Operations management – It is also one type of procedure which is connected with
planning, organizing and planning (Grill, Hotels and Kitchens, 2021). In respect of
manufacturing, production and provision of service ensured that company easily
converts input into output in efficient way and focused on delivery. In aspect of input,
it shows anything from materials to human resources and technology like employee or
staff. There can be example like special positions or responsibility and this
encompasses to procurement and managing relations. Due to this company easily
acquired goods and services with which involved in process and improving the
sustainability of firm.
 Example of the organization – The Unilever is one of the companies who runs their
services and produced products in many sectors. The name of their products are
beverages, ice cream, clothing line, home care and others. The company's operations
are focused to gain strategies of operations in business. The plan of operation
management ensures that all the finished goods and services to users in time by
keeping standard and quality effectively. Due to this the requirements of users are
easily satisfied or fulfilled and company also keeps in mind that their targeted
customers must have convenient stores in nearby location. In this way the sale of
company goods and services are highly increased within low time. This proves that
Unilever conducting their task in efficient manner towards operation strategies for
gaining their objectives and goals in time.
3. A review and critique of the implementation of
operations management principles within the chosen
organization
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The word Taylorism is called as scientific management theory and this is basically the
application of Frederick Taylor's theory. Due to the effective use of this theory organization
is able to deliver positive relationship with customers and also easily increased the work
efficiency of employees. The principles of Scientific Management was published by Taylor
and the stages which are involved in this theory are described below -
 Analyzing work procedure – The organization assist to determine the most effective
and essential way for accomplishing the work with less time and amount. The
scientific management maintains all standards and takes all kinds of findings in most
effective methods for retraining workers if there is a need or conducting the work.
 Defining and delegate task – Instead of delegate the task to various workers of work
or to finishing the project from beginning to end, manager of selected company can
break the work is highly important. Due to breaking the task employees of Unilever is
able to do their work without any type of stress (Jaggars and Jones, 2018). It leads to
enhance the overall growth and performance of company at large scale.
 Utilization of skilled employees and provide incentives – The manager of this firm
must be able to recognize employees’ talents and skills to provide work to each
worker. Due to this the productivity of organization are highly enhanced as soon as
possible. Here manager have the right to establish objectives and also facilitate
increments and bonuses to employees according to their real performance. Because
here lower-level employees played the major role for meet the goals of organization
in successful manner.
 Establishing a professional hierarchy – Organization such as Unilever required to
make sure and understand workers that who to report and who assist them for defining
workplace hierarchy and what requirements to be expected. Here supervisors should
provide report and data to manager who are answerable to company's director. The
primary duty of firm within manager is to use their time in training employee's
planning, establishing the work procedure and oversees task. These all activities are
carried at the time of following manager direction and after then completing the task.
Example – The operations manager of Unilever managed the task of one line and that line is
clothing line with growing their sales through online mode. Here operation manager of this
firm will look after the warehouse utilized for orders and manufacturing which are mailed
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out. The other role of operation manager is to facilitate task to office manager to see all
aspects of consumer service and fulfilling the order in high volume.
Strength of company -
 The initiatives of research and development department are invested heavily and then
funds are managed for bringing innovation in market and cutting the edge of goods in
the line and in tune with preferences and taste of customers.
 In context to Unilever, management have much competitive benefit over gamble,
competitor and proctor. Because of keeping flexibility in cost and expertising in
channels of distribution and managed to reach each corner.
 The management of Unilever has deep and broad portfolio and also diversified their
products at wide range (Kaidalova, Kurt and Ulf, 2018). This makes it unique and
different to regarding position to tap into the changes in the desires and wants of
customer of various countries.
Weakness of company -
 The major weakness of Unilever is that due to having huge size company and their
employees are not able to achieve their goals and objectives in less time. Various
giant competitors like Nestle, P&G and others.
 The next weakness of this company is that products are fully developed products are
easily replicable with other substitute especially in market where the rural costumers
are emerging in the hinterland often use natural and traditional alternatives to the
goods of Unilever markets.
4. An analysis of the extent to which the operations
management of the organisation in the case study meets
the requirements of the organization
The Unilever is a very diversified and biggest organization and the company is deals
with wide range of goods and services. The main objectives of organization are -
 Quality of product – The Unilever is one of the biggest international brands who is
highly focusing on improving quality in their products day by day. Due to keeping
quality in their goods and services customers are easily attracted in large number. The
management of this firm required to complete each preference and desires of the
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users. They are mainly focusing on feedbacks which is provided by users and made
changes in their goods and services accordingly.
 Cost reduction – The management of Unilever are decreased cost by creating
modifications in supply chain or by decreasing cost of raw materials. These raw
materials are taken from suppliers in bulk quantity and due to the use of advanced
equipment’s firm is able to deliver their services and goods to users with high quality.
There are mainly three types of cost which are considered by organization. First one is
labour cost – and it comprised of salary, allowances and other benefits for employees
within firm. This can be decreased by facilitating them effective training and allotting
jobs as per their skills and knowledge which is required within task (Kasimoğlu and
Akgün, 2021). Secondly, outlet rent and utilities This involves training and
equipment, taxes, office supplies and others. These costs are decreased by
concentrating on the rules of government policies.
 Productivity – The management of Unilever is considered as consumer leader in
market with around 500 brands and more have the reputation in managing the history
of taking employee's well-being effectively. For sustaining their productivity
management Microsoft Viva to facilitate leaders, individuals and managers with
privacy protected visibility and data driven into the pattern of task. Due to this the
well-being and productivity of employees are affected directly. This kind of insight
assist firm for improving their experience effectively.
From the above analysis it is understood that the management of Unilever is mainly focused
on the design and quality of goods and services. It is also necessary for management that they
must analyse their wants, preferences and taste of customers effectively. The organization
maintains the high performance in aspect of developing high quality products as per the
requirements of users. Due to keeping quality or standard in their services and goods, the
visits of customers in their websites are highly increased for long time.
M1
5. Discussion of continuous improvement as a philosophy
and describe the Lean principles including Six Sigma
The plan of continuous improvement is basically a process which is used by
organization for improving the work efficiency of their employees. Due to the effective use
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of this plan organization is able to sustain their reputation in market for long time. That
means it is a one kind of outgoing and continuous procedure which maintained the quality of
goods and services in control
Lean principles -
The lean principles techniques is mainly utilized for controlling the waste within
company. These principles assist in reducing cost and also for setting minimum cost for their
goods. The steps which are involved in the lean principles are -
 Value defining – In context of Unilever management satisfied the demands of users
with help of facilitating new type of experience in each time. In this way customers
easily spread the positive word of mouth towards company for long time.
 Mapping of value stream – Here organization is considered for each factor which
includes features, usefulness, cost and quality of finished products which provides
value to users.
 Creating flow – This principle assists the firm running their services or activities in
right direction (Muscatello, 2022). According to this principal Unilever ensures that
each employee is well trained and well acknowledged for the organization objectives
to carry out efforts in right path.
 Pull establishment – This principle is focusing on the management of inventory.
Here Unilever keeps an eye on the wastage and excessive utilization of overlapping
and materials which is not beneficial for the cost effectiveness.
Apply six sigma and its effectiveness -
The six sigma is a very essential method which is mainly focused on the profit margin
of company. It implies the principles of operation management to meet with dynamic
business atmosphere. In context to Unilever, they used this method for diversifying their
product at wide range.
 Define – Here defined objectives and goals are described which are important to bring
positive changes within company. Here Unilever clearly defined the set of objectives
for employees. The manager of Unilever is mainly focused on identifying the needs
and wants of customers.
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 Measure – According to this principal superiority and quality of goods and services
are measured. The management of Unilever evaluated the procedure of production
and portfolio for insights.
 Analyze – Here manager is focusing on the procedure of production. In context to
Unilever, they track and analyzed all the procedure in précised manner which resulted
in best goods and best quality.
 Design – It is referring to look out the finished products by eliminating the waste.
Unilever required to design the goods into particular form for gaining consumer
retention.
 Verify – It is the final stage and here Unilever verified all the process which is done
recently (RUPERTO and STRAPPINI, 2021). It will show whether the objectives,
design and control are regulating properly.
P2
Prepare a continuous improvement plan based on the
review and critique of operations management principles
within an organisational context
The plan of continuous improvement assists them to prepare and resolve any type of
quality problem from the procedure of production. It is done with help of applying PDCA
approach which are described below -
 Plan – Here Unilever required to plan for regular regarding changes into the goods
and services. This plan assists the manager of firm for identifying the requirements of
healthy and organic goods in COVID pandemic. This is a continuous procedure.
 Do – The firm required to begin the practices and start to bring modification into
company. In this way employees of Unilever are able to adapt similar task and great
efficiency.
 Check – In this stage organization control and monitor their employees and activities
effectively. That means the manager of Unilever is required to carry out the task
under the supervision and due to this mistake are highly decreased by employees.
 Action – It is the final stage and here management take final action for run their
activities smoothly.
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M2 Analyse the effectiveness of a continuous improvement
plan using appropriate theories, concepts and/or models
Continuous improvement plan is very important for the enterprise to bring change and
work according to the customer demands. Improvements can be more potential when its
never to deal with market challenges. It is defective for minimize wastage, resources and
utilize inventory also be cost effective (Sahin and Soylu, 2020). Unilever could be the
competition by continuously focusing on their management and operations.
D1
6. A continuous improvement plan, including your justified
recommendations for improvement, based on your review
and critique of operations management principles within
your organization
 According to this plan here the management of Unilever is majorly focused on
bringing modifications by evaluating dynamic business atmosphere and demands of
users.
 Organization required to perform functions according to the principles of six sigma
which is responsible for maintaining the quality of products.
 Here organization needs to develop strong strategies which involved staff members in
aspect of adapting the change in technology and workplace functions.
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7. Conclusion
From the above analysis it concludes that operation management played the crucial
role for delivering best quality services and products to customers in long term. The functions
of operations management also assist the firm for keeping strong and positive relations with
clients for long duration. Effective utilization of activities in operation management easily
enhanced the profit of organization at higher rate within low time. In addition to this the
consistently development action plan is made with help of six sigma and lean principles. The
report will cover explanation of operation vs operations management, critique of the
implementations management principles within chosen firm.
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References
Graves, S.C., 2021. Reflections on the Evolution of Operations Management. Management
Science, 67(9), pp.5379-5388.
Grill, C.M., Hotels, C. and Kitchens, C., 2021. Operations Management in the Hospitality
Industry. Artificial intelligence (AI), 62, p.120.
Jaggars, D. and Jones, D., 2018. An agile planning and operations framework. Performance
measurement and metrics.
Kaidalova, J., Kurt, S. and Ulf, S., 2018. How digital transformation affects enterprise
architecture management–a case study. International Journal of Information Systems
and Project Management, 6(3), pp.5-18.
Kasimoğlu, F. and Akgün, İ., 2021. Project management in a competitive environment:
interdicting a CPM based project and its implications. RAIRO-Operations
Research, 55, pp.S365-S384.
Muscatello, J., 2022. An innovative approach to operations management building
partnerships with local professionals. Journal of Education for Business, pp.1-3.
RUPERTO, F. and STRAPPINI, S., 2021. COMPLEX WORKS PROJECT
MANAGEMENT ENHANCED BY DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES. Building
Information Modelling (BIM) in Design, Construction and Operations IV, 205, p.235.
Sahin, B. and Soylu, A., 2020. Multi-layer, multi-segment iterative optimization for maritime
supply chain operations in a dynamic fuzzy environment. Ieee Access, 8, pp.144993-
145005.
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