Assignment: Action Plan & Reflection

Length: minimum 2000 Maximum 2500 words.

Task

What's it all about?

You are being tested on your ability to:

I) ask questions;
II) find ways to answer them, and
III) learn from experience.

The space you're working in here is Operations Management (OM).

All 3 assessments follow a pattern. You will look at the case you have studied and think them through - the cases are vastly different attacking OM from a different perspective and the theories you use will reflect the stage of readings you undertake at that point of time.

Task

Your small group work will investigate a particular instance where OM needs to be addressed. The weekly study directly feeds into the assessment item and will follow a similar pattern for all three assessment tasks. The task involves a group report on the case alongside reflections on the process of thinking through the OM requirements.

As a result there are 3 submissions:

1. The group report (Action Plan);
2. Individual reflections on the process of thinking through OM; and
3. Peer moderation

During weeks 1-3 you will participate in group meetings with assigned groups.

During these sessions you will:

• View the material assigned within the group room
• Complete discussions and brainstorming with your group
• Independent research to answer the questions raised in the group

Your group mark will be moderated by your peers.

Moderated peer weighting process

A moderated peer weighting will be applied to each person's mark in the group report. This is done to take account of issues that arise in groups from time to time, where some members may not put in the work that is needed to meet the group task. For example, if, on average, the peers in Tom's group give him a weighting of 4 lots of 5 (20), then the mark awarded to Tom for this assessment will be 100% (20/20) of the mark that I award to the group.

Action Plan:

This is the group presentation.

Based on this material you will be expected to construct an Action Plan as a group. The Action Plan should reflect the questions you have discussed in your tutorial groups, a consideration of a variety of situations that could arise that would affect the action plan, and your group's independent research on the topic.

Your action plan will achieve the following:

I. Identifying a coherent set of questions that need to be addressed in order to understand the situation as well as think through what actions needed in order to achieve the desired operations and defend that selection;

II. A reasoned selection of theories and tools that help you think about the case you are addressing (you will select from the tools studied to date);

III. An understanding of where information that assists you deal with the case comes from;

IV. The logical selection of tools, techniques, standards and controls that reflects a consideration of a variety of situations

V. How it considers every aspect of the case study: kidney dialysis technology, equipment, processes for manufacturing process, employees, chemicals, post-production

VI. Your ability to collaborate to create an action plan that responds to the changes in the business environment

VII. The way your action plan reflects the inquiry process completed in your groups.

You can use tools such as mind mapping to organise the questions into an organised set. Questions do not operate in isolation rather each informs others in a certain order.

Reflection:

After this, you will write an individual reflection, explaining the thought process behind the action plan. The following models an approach to thinking through reflection.

Each of these elements can be reflected on:

1. Reflections on the thinking process - the role of the questions, the manner they were, how they were answered and what information was used;

2. The theories/tools chosen and how they improved the thinking;

3. The manner of operations of your tutorial group;

4. Specific questions as to the process; and

5. Changes proposed to improve the process.

An issue that is not transparent is once a question is defined one limits thinking within that particular area. Having manufactured a range of chemical products including material used in manufacture of soft drinks such a situation could be defined as "a system to defined chemical inputs to achieve a predicted chemical product" yet an alternative could be "a system to create chemicals to improve flavour and sensation elements to improve carbonated beverages. Each leads to different behaviour - can you identify the implicit system definition that guided your inquiry.

6. What system definition did you assume in your inquiry?;

7. What alternative definition might apply?; and

8. What changes if the alternative was used?

You will be expected to undertake independent research in order to write the reflection, and to use correct academic referencing.

Note - the reflection will be submitted after the group report; what can you reflect on till the experience is finished! DO NOT forget group skills as part of reflections.

Presentation

There are 2 presentations to make:

1. A group presentation - 1 copy for the group with everyone's name listed against it.

The format of the group presentation is negotiable - this subject is using flexible assessment.

I will look for logic, structure and evidence. Discuss this with me.

2. An individual submission covering your reflections - as part of this submission you will provide an assessment of your peers contribution to dealing with the case.

The format for this presentation will normally be an essay - it is possible to negotiate this.

Use the reflection model to help structure your response.

The following points are a general guide for presenting assessment items:

• I have to read it, if I struggle your marks go down;

• I want to easily see how you dealt with the questions posed - make it obvious (including ‘stuff' in the hope it satisfies expectations proves you have not through what it is you are arguing and will harm marks);

• Organise your work don't create a ‘stream of thought' response - as a graduate you are expected to be able to organise your thoughts in a logical manner;

• Media and presentation can be as you desire as long as I can easily see what I need to see and it is a logical, evidence based argument;

• Choose font/layout/use of white space etc. as you like BUT make sure that is easy to read;

• Everything presented will be soft copy - word documents or editable format not pdf;

• You are training to be a professional, be professional in the quality you produce;

• Always cite and reference all sources of information used - show me your evidence otherwise I do not believe you;

• Provide a single reference list that always starts on a new page;

• Indicate the number of words (do not include what is inside citation brackets or in reference list)

• A report style is an easy format to use, but you can negotiate this - whatever format used be concise.

You are required to use the APA 6th edition style of referencing and citation in all assignments.