Unilever's Operations and Project Management: A Detailed Analysis

This report provides a detailed analysis of operations and project management principles using Unilever as a case study. It begins by differentiating between operations and operations management, followed by a critical review of the implementation of operations management principles within Unilever, covering aspects like reality, organization, fundamentals, accountability, managed passion, change, and humility. The report further examines the implementation of operations management in relation to Six Sigma methodology and Lean principles, detailing each stage of Six Sigma (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) and the five Lean principles (Value, Value Stream, Flow, Pull, Perfection). A continuous improvement plan based on a critical review of operations management principles is presented, outlining the steps of Define, Identify, Select, Implement, and Evaluate, with reference to the PDCA model (Plan, Do, Check, Act). Finally, the report applies the project lifecycle to a given project, providing necessary supporting documentation and evaluating the rationale for project tools, methodologies, and leadership within the PLC, concluding with key findings and recommendations. This document is available on Desklib, a platform offering study tools and solved assignments for students.

Operations and
project management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
Operation vs Operation management.....................................................................................1
Conduct an assessment and critical review of the implementation of operations management
principles................................................................................................................................1
Critical review the implementation of operations management in relation to Six Sigma
methodology and Lean principles..........................................................................................3
A continuous improvement plan based on critical review of operations management
principles................................................................................................................................4
Analyses the effectiveness of a continuous improvement plan using appropriate theories,
concepts and/or models..........................................................................................................5
Apply appropriate theories, concepts and/or models to justify strategies of a continuous
improvement plan for achieving improved efficiency...........................................................6
PART 2............................................................................................................................................6
Apply every stage of project life cycle to the given project producing necessary supporting
documentation for completing the project ......................................................................................6
Evaluate the rationale for the project tools, methodologies, tools and leadership within the
PLC for the given project ......................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Operations are the inner workings which are managed while operating a business in a
company so that the activities can be done in an cost-effective manner. Operational management
is the establishment of the processes of transforming raw material or inputs to get the desire
good or services that add value for the customers(Liu, et. al., 2018). In the present report,
Unilever has been taken into consideration which is multinational goods company headquartered
in London, UK. It products includes food, minerals, tea, coffee, breakfast cereals, cleaning
agents, toothpaste, beauty products, pet food and many more. It has a good presence in 190
countries approx with good brand image. The report will cover the implementation of the
principles of operations management in an organisation. In addition to this, it also explain the six
sigma methodology lean principal of operational management. Further, it explains the
preparation of a continuous improvement plan and its effectiveness with the help of theories and
models based on operational management.
MAIN BODY
PART 1
Operation vs Operation management
Operation Operation management
Operation are the business activities that an
organisation engaged in the working of
converting raw material into the finished
products or services then sell them to the
customers to get the profit and increase market
share.
Operational management is the process best
business practices in order to get the maximum
level of the effectiveness by using the resource
of a company(Lee, 2018). It includes the
material, machinery, technology and labour to
produces high quality goods and services
which provide great performance to the
company with low cost and less time.
Conduct an assessment and critical review of the implementation of operations management
principles.
Operations management has a great importance in an organization because the success
depend on the operations which includes planning, organizing, managing, controlling and
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supervising the production and manufacturing processes(de Sousa Jabbour, et. al.,2019). In
context of Unilever, there are some principle of operation management which are needed to be
followed by an organization that are as under:
Reality: The managers should concentrate on the entire difficulty apart from tools and
techniques. These methods are not enough for the whole problems that company may face while
manufacturing the products. With reference to Unilever, a company covers the all areas of
process whether it is related to quality, design, location , supply chain which help an entity to
resolve all the challenges while the manufacturing the products.
Organization: All the operations of the company are interconnected with each other from
manufacturing of goods to finished products. All the elements are consistent which enable the
organization to achieve a desirable outcome for the business. With reference to the Unilever, the
company is able to satisfy the needs of the customer by providing them good products and
services which takes the company to the growth and success of the business.
Fundamentals: The operations managers must have understanding of compliance of the
fundamentals of the company because the are the basic for the productions success. In context to
Unilever, it ensures that the managers of the operations department provide accuracy of the
inventory data and the other general task which are required to accomplish the desired outcomes.
Accountability: An organization assigns the responsibilities to the operational
management of process the inputs into finished goods where they set the rules and metrics to
meet the objectives. In relation to Unilever, the managers are accountable for the responsibilities
given to them for which they set the criteria and also check on frequent basis. This assist an
entity to get the goals of the business in time and an effective manner.
Managed passion: The company also gives importance to the employee's Passion as they
are the most valuable assets that provide good performance and long term success to a
concern(Tortorella, et. al.,2019). With reference to Unilever, it encourages motivation to all
employees so that they become more productive and passionate for the work which aid to
accomplish the desired results.
Change: It is important to adopt changes in an organization because it provide new
explanation and solutions to the business for the manufacturing process and add on some new
features to their products. So, this ensures that all the operation of an entity are maintained
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stably. In context to Unilever, it also brings new changes to the products with new features which
help the company in maintaining its profitability and also meet the wants of the customers.
Humility: The operational managers must understand the shortcomings and strive to
avoid the trial and error because these are very costly processes. With reference to Unilever, the
managers of its operation department find out the limitations in order to improve them so that the
cost and the time can be saved while making production for log term.
Critical review the implementation of operations management in relation to Six Sigma
methodology and Lean principles.
Six sigma is a method for improving the superiority of activity administration by
eliminating the errors and defects, reducing cost and saving time(Helo and Hao, 2019). In
context to Unilever, this six sigma include the following stages which are as under:
Define: With reference to Unilever, This assist the company in understanding the ground
of the issues so that these can be improved in actual and satisfy the customers.
Measure: In relation to Unilever, a company create a plan to gather information from
various sources and summarize them to report the problems.
Analyses: In context to Unilever, it examines the data that are collected during the
measurement process and separate the root cause of problem.
Improve: In relation to Unilever, it improves the process by selecting root cause of a
problem and provide beat solutions(Patel and Patel, 2021).
Control: In context to Unilever, this help the company to control the process by ensuring
that the customer's requirement and goals are achieved.
Lean principles eliminates the waste and in deficiency in its manufacturing operations.
There are five lean principle which are depicted as under:
Value: In relation to Unilever, it get the value for its specific products through the
customer which they desire for.
Value stream: Unilever , with the help of this principle, it identifies all the actions from
raw material to deliver products to the customers.
Flow: In relation to the Unilever, it ensure that all the action are running smoothly
without any interruption or delays(Noori and Latifi 2018).
Pull: In context to the company, the customers pull the product from the company when
they need.
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Perfection: With reference to Unilever, it provides assistance to the company for
continuous improvement process and deliver good quality products(Psomas and Antony, 2019).
A continuous improvement plan based on critical review of operations management principles.
A continuous improvement encourages all employees to look forward for the ways to
change the business function. It helps in developing skills, measuring current progress and
provide opportunities to cut the unproductive work. In context to the organization, a company
needs to follow a plan to make continuous improvement which are as under:
Define: This is first step where target is needed to be identified and a team is organized to
make improvement what define the issues, concerns and opportunities. In relation to Unilever, a
company defines problems and collect the current performance data and create a process map to
make improvement in it.
Identify: The next step is a process of identification of customers and suppliers and
understanding their needs for making process of input and outputs(Helmold, 2020). With
reference to Unilever, it defines the process requirements and identify the wastes or value added
activities and generate a list of potential improvements.
Select: The third step is to establish the desired performance objectives and priorities the
potential solution. In relation to Unilever, an entity establishes the goals for the business and
create a selection criteria for selecting the best solution and desired process.
Implement: After set the objectives, a team needs to implement an action plan to achieve
the goals and process the performance. With reference to Unilever, it documents all the solutions
and changes made into the action plan and implement into the process.
Evaluate: The last process of the plan I to to establish a feedback and measure the
progress according to the action plan. In relation to Unilever, it measures the actual execution
with the past or standard action to analyze or make comparison of performance goals. This
helps the company in determining the action that is needed to be taken and for repeating the
cycle to define the opportunities(Udde-E, 2019).
With reference to Unilever, the company generally follow the PDCA model to make
continues improvement which includes planning, doing, checking and acting. It provides an
effective method for solving problems managing change to an organization which are depicted as
under:
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Plan: In context to Unilever, it firstly identifies the problem that are needed to be
improved and detect opportunities which assist the company in achieving the goals. It usually
consist of smaller steps so that a company enables itself to make an appropriate plan with less
possibilities of failure. Then, it develops a plan with different ideas to implement or reach to the
success and define the scope of the work. A company set a deadline for implementing the plan,
schedules and assign responsibilities ti the person.
Do: In relation to Unilever, after making plan with potential solution, the team is needed
to get the training to execute a plan. Then an action plan is implemented to get the desired
outcome after particular training to the team members(Cadiente, 2019). In this stage problem
may be occurred but with small goals an organization can get the plan into action easily without
any obstacles.
Check: In context to Unilever, it assess the process for improvement and quality standard
and compared it to the previous set benchmark. The company identifies the difficulty or failures
in the process which it has to adjust later. The company company avoid recurring mistakes to
apply continuous improvement with enough attention. The executed plan has been audited to
check the actual work or current progress and eliminate the error after finding root cause.
Act: With reference to Unilever, it takes action to be implemented for the correction of
the failures that are detected by a business concern after comparison with standard performance.
The solutions are given by a company to amend the plan and get the new result of achieving
goals. When everything seems perfect and the team members manages to achieve the original
goals then the company go forward for the next plan.
Thus the company, achieves the desires objectives by setting the expectation and action
plan when it is positive then an entity serve as a reference for the other processes and
departments. But when it does not get the desired outcome then it analyses the performance
again in order to get the new solutions.
Analyses the effectiveness of a continuous improvement plan using appropriate theories,
concepts and/or models
Continues improvements provide assistance to an organization to strive for searching
better ways to bring new ideas and innovation of making products and services. It helps in
production of goods and services with low cost and minimum time period in order to get the
higher level profit by satisfying the customer's needs. There are various theories which provide
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the company an effective improvement but Unilever uses PDCA model to make continuous
improvement(Philip,2018). This is an appropriate model for solving problems managing change
because it enables a business to develop a concept about the needs to change. It includes a
obligatory commitment to continuous change of state and have positive impact on the
productivity or efficiency. This model stimulates continuous improvement of the people and the
process because it allows the team members to test the possible solution and select one which is
best to make development. With the help of this model , an organization can easily control
analysis of the performance by comparing actual outcome the standard performance.
Apply appropriate theories, concepts and/or models to justify strategies of a continuous
improvement plan for achieving improved efficiency
With reference to Unilever, the company should adopt some strategies to know where the
improvements can be made. So for this purpose an organization can make surveys to gain the
important feedback from the customers and vendors. An entity should also take feedback of an
employee by making polls to find out the pain point and places for improvements. This can help
the business by providing details of its impact on the business concern. The company can also
another strategy of monthly training to the employees of automation software to reduce the
dependency on key personnel. Further it can adopt strategies of time audit for measuring the time
of each performance that an employee takes to perform in a company. This process help a
business concern to analyze the process that how much time it takes to complete the tasks and
eliminate the wasted time. This can be in the form of of automating approvals and reducing or
preventing checkpoint and delays from occurring.
PART 2
Apply every stage of project life cycle to the given project producing necessary supporting
documentation for completing the project
Project life cycle basically includes certain steps which is required by the project manager
in order to successfully manage the project from initial to finish point. The project life cycle
basically has five stages in order to run the business into appropriate manner. These stages
defined into the following manner:
 Initiating phase: This is the stage of project life cycle where the project vision has been
determined and also document what an individual has to accomplish and also secure
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approval from the sanctioning of stakeholder(Caramia., 2020). This stage of project life
cycle basically consist of two separate processes which includes stakeholder register and
project chapter. The main components of project chapter basically includes project scope,
business case, deliverables, objectives, resources needed, cost estimate, dependencies and
risks. In context to Unilever, it is necessary that to initiate the project with a proper vision
because when the company has clarity about the vision then accordingly company can
take step towards it and make planning for their further process.
 Planning Phase: This is a phase where the company build the infrastructure of project
which enables an individual to achieve the goals within the predetermined manner and
budget constraints as well. At the end of this phase of project life cycle every team
member not only have the understanding about the vision of the project but they also
understand into precise manner what they require to do to reach to the final line on time
and within the budget as well. In context to Unilever, they have to think properly about
this parameter so that they can plan their budget accordingly for the accomplishment of
their goals.
 Executing Phase: It is a phase where the budget has been allocated and most of the
deliverables have been produced into appropriate manner. Under this stage, project has
been put into action whether it takes, months, years and weeks. This phase of project life
cycle basically includes development of team, stakeholder engagement and quality
assurance activities which is either in the form of formal and informal basis. In context to
Unilever, the goal has been accomplished through taking proper actions. For this purpose,
they have to properly list out that what tasks needs to be completed within the time frame.
 Monitoring and controlling phase: This is a phase which keeps an eye on the actual
progress of the project which is against the plan of the company and also takes corrective
actions wherever there is requirement of it (Eyers and Naim., 2019). Under this phase,
there is no amount of perfect planning which will exempt an individual from the
requirement to be constantly vigilant with tracking and reporting as well. In context to
Unilever, they have to monitor project into appropriate manner so that they can analyse
that whether the project has been implemented into proper manner or not. Unilever has to
also take steps wherever is required so that it can be executed into successful manner.
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 Closing phase: This is the final stage of project life cycle which basically includes the
solitary process and it is more than simply checking off the project as done. Under this
step, it is necessary that to formally close the project and also secures the sign off or
approval from the customers, stakeholders and project sponsors. The process of closing
phase basically includes delivering of the project, archiving project records, celebrating
or acknowledging the achievement and releasing the team. In context to Unilever,
company has to take proper steps for closing the project so that no legal conflicts has
been arises in the further process. So this is the main step which has been done by the
company into appropriate manner.
From the above discussion, it has been observed that in the each stage of project life cycle it is
important that to have proper documents so that result oriented work can be achieved according
to company's requirement. For completing the project, Unilever has to properly follow the stages
of project life cycle so that they deliver the results into appropriate manner. When project and
services have been planned into appropriate manner then it is easier to make the process more
smoother and effective as well.
Evaluate the rationale for the project tools, methodologies, tools and leadership within the PLC
for the given project
Within the given project of in-house, it will help in terms of analysing that how these
tools and techniques of project help into the context of real working of the organisation. These
projects tools and techniques help in terms of making the work flow more organised an effective
as well. It will also help into this context that in which manner the project will take shape in
order to fulfil the requirements of the organisation (Faganel and Janeš., 2022).
Within the PLC, the leadership of Unilever is very important because on the basis of it
organisation moves into a particular direction. It has been observed that somewhere these tools,
methodologies and techniques can't be helpful in terms of achieving the objectives of the project
at the organisational level. These methodologies sometimes got failed into the real life situations
into professional manner because every project has their own requirements and also have their
own way of working in order to achieve the target into appropriate manner.
Evaluate the project life cycle through theoretical exploration and practical aspect of its
effectiveness in order to draw valid conclusions and recommendation for improvement purpose
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According to the practical aspect of project life cycle, it has been implemented according
to project requirement at the organisational level. Its effectiveness at the organisational level has
been observed through the performance of the Unilever within the market(Grill and et.al., 2021).
It has been recommended that for further improvement into this process they have to focus on
control and execution so that positive results can be achieved within the set period of time. For
making more improvement into the process, the use of online project management software can
be enhanced so that there is less chances of occurring of error at the time of execution.
Critique and review the effectiveness of the Project life cycle in application to the chosen project
with proper concepts, theories and models
The project life cycle can achieve success through proper research in order to determine
the best process through which project can be run into positive manner. For the proper
effectiveness of project life cycle, it is important to consider certain parameters which includes
scope, time and cost. It has been observed that following of project life cycle is difficult for any
service organisation(Kanakaris and et.al., 2019). Within this industry, project life cycle cannot
be easily implemented because Unilever provides services of various kinds of products due to
which it is difficult to implement each and every step of the project life cycle. According to the
theories of project life cycle, it basically analyses about the behaviour of organisation that in
which manner they have taken actions into different kinds of situations. These theories basically
provides the prediction of future behaviour of the organisation.
In context to Unilever, it has been observed that the company has to behave in such a
manner that all the aspects of project life cycle can be fulfilled into positive manner. They have
to take steps in that manner where they also think about their future aspects as well. There are
majorly two models of project life cycle which includes iterative model and adaptive model.
According to the application of these models, it has been observed that the new product has come
with innovative features and also make improvement as compared to their previous parameters.
With the implication of project into smaller increments leads towards the proper functionality of
the work which will deliver the best services to their customers. These models not only help in
terms of proper execution but also contributes into the context of overall working and
performance of the organisation.
It has been observed that the effectiveness of project life cycle is not up to a very large
extent because these models, theories and concept does not guarantee that the execution has
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always been done with the positive aspect(Lee., 2018). Within the project life cycle, there are
teams at the organisational level who complicates the different stages of the cycle and that delays
in terms of project delivery. So it hasn't been satisfactory for the team nor the client as well.
While planning for the project, Unilever sometimes becomes rigid in their plans and also creates
stressful environment within the organisation.
For the project execution into appropriate manner it is essential that to communicate into
effective manner otherwise wrong information leads towards the negative outcomes of the
company. Within the project life cycle, they have to incur higher costs due to which the process
becomes very expensive and critical as well (Levy., 2018). Project life cycle also increases the
complexity for Unilever organisation so the total focus has been changed towards following the
procedure into appropriate manner. When project life cycle has been implemented at
organisational level it has become non negotiable due to which it becomes difficult for the
organisation to work into successful manner
Evaluate in which manner the use of proper theories, models and concepts in the project life
cycle will differentiate between large and small-scale projects into the critical manner
The use of different type of theories, concepts and models in the project life cycle is
different in small-scale and large scale projects. There are certain reasons behind it because the
way of working of different type of projects into different companies is different. The objective
and aim of the project is different according to the vision of the company (Wilson and et.al.,
2018).It has been observed that these theories and models can't be applied into appropriate
manner in different type of projects because the requirement of project differs from the level of
working within the project. Under the large scale projects, the investment and every parameter
has to be done on large scale due to which it is difficult to implement these theories on every
aspect. Under small scale project, the approach is also on the smaller scale due to which the
concept also work accordingly. So it is difficult to implement models of PLC by Unilever at the
organisational level.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it has been concluded that a operational management is
necessary for an organisation because it help in reducing cost and optimist output with the
quality of the products. This help the in setting the streamline workflow on the basis of the
communication between people. The project managers provide assistance to review the cost of
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the project and make continuous improvement towards reducing the cost and waste to make the
the process of production more efficient. Operational management influences the customers
services, product and quality, proper functional methodologies, competitiveness in the market,
technology advancement and profitability.
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REFERENCES
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methodology. International Journal of Lean Six Sigma.
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Caramia, M., 2020. Project management and scheduling. Annals of Operations Research, 285(1),
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