Assignment: Improving Performance in Operation (Hospitality Business Management)

Whitbread, owner of Costa and Premier Inn brands announced "We are developing plans to adopt the recently announced National Living Wage. We shall mitigate this substantial cost increase over time with a combination of productivity improvements, boosted by investment in systems and training, efficiency savings and some selective price increases" https://www.whitbread.co.uk/media/news-press-releases/Whitbread-Trading-Update-September15.html accessed 10/09/15

You are required to write an essay (3,000 words), illustrate your evaluation with examples. In this essay we want you to select a department or process within a hospitality department within a specific operation (perhaps you have worked there) as the context and, with reference to the above quote;

Critically evaluate the application of theory to improve productivity without any reduction in levels of customer satisfaction.

You MUST apply theory to a specific operation because the most appropriate theory will be influenced by the nature of the operation. This could be, for example, housekeeping in a budget hotel; front desk in a four star hotel; food preparation or food service for a banquet.

The aim is to evaluate how theory could be applied so that the same number of customers can be processed with an improvement in productivity. Please note that you need to focus on reducing inputs as a proportion of outputs. Please keep your focus on the assignment remit. Please assume that the focus is on improved productivity and not on reducing the unit cost of a particular resource, for example, by adding more employees with lower wages or by finding cheaper suppliers.

It is suggested that, in the introduction, you very briefly describe the operational department or process, define key concepts and set out the key points that you are going to make in the essay. The main body needs to critically evaluate the application of theory to analyse the extent to which the processes and resources of the operation can be changed in ways that will be likely to result in a productivity improvement. You are not required to quantify the improvement, you are only required to offer convincing academic support that improvement is likely.

When you have finished writing the essay stop and reflect, include up to one page after the reference list that answers the four questions below. This is NOT part of your word count and we expect students to answer at least the first three questions:

o What have you learnt from this assignment?
o What did you find easiest about this assignment?
o What did you find the most challenging?
o What aspect of the assignment would you most value feedback on?

Don't forget to carefully read the assessment criteria later in this document.

Module Learning Outcomes:

• Critically assess and demonstrate an in depth understanding of operations management frameworks.

• Reflect upon and collate reasoned deductions and conclusions about the effective and efficient management of resources and processes in a hospitality operation.

In addition you are required to consider the following guidance points which are there to help you structure an effective piece of work. Guidance on essay and report writing is available under ‘Academic Matters' in your Student Handbook. In addition note the presentation standards specified in the Student Handbook concerning margins, font and layout.
For your guidance you are required to note the following:

- You MUST focus closely on the question set throughout your essay.

- You need to communicate knowledge and understanding of some theories introduced in the module lectures and key recommended texts. Therefore the focus of the essay is on the critical evaluation of the application of appropriate operations and service management theory to improve an aspect of operational performance in a chosen context.

- Your introduction should clearly indicate the theoretical focus and industry context that you are intending to adopt to answer the question set.

- You are not expected to mention every operations management topic. Some theories or topics will be more appropriate than others in your chosen context.

- You can include models and diagrams in the body of the essay. You can adapt them to the context that you are evaluating to help illustrate your argument.

- We expect strong evidence of independent reading in particular a good range of contemporary journal material to be incorporated into your essay to support clear lines of argument.

- Your opinions and claims to what is true need to be supported by including references to reliable sources that support you. References (author and date) in the text are required to acknowledge all sources of data, information and knowledge. In addition, direct quotations also require a page number.

- It is expected that references to academic texts will include only those available in the library or available via UCB e-resources. If you have used information beyond these resources you will be required to identify them and provide a short explanation in the reference section identifying the library source used and rationale for its inclusion. This supportive information is to your benefit to demonstrate your research activity, provide reassurance as to its integrity and thus be reflected in a balanced and fair assessment of your efforts.

- Use your industry or customer experience effectively, however avoid lengthy descriptive narrative.