Scope of the Project

The purpose of this term paper assignment is to integrate your study of the Operations Management (OM) field with the other core functional areas of Finance and Marketing.

Project Groups

Project teams will be student self-selected, three to five students in each group. Each project group will complete the entire analysis described in this set of instructions. The groups should be formed not later than September 20. Each group should identify one individual as group leader.

This person would be responsible for the overall management of the entire project including delegating/leveraging responsibilities, facilitating cooperative activities of team members, setting deadlines, monitoring progress, maintaining general oversight of the project with respect to the project requirements/specifications, and acting as chief editor of the final report.E-mail me the name of the group, thename of the team leader, and the team members by the 20th.

All members of a project group are equally responsible and accountable for the results of the project, including the development and timely delivery of the final report.

Management of the group process is important and is the responsibility of each team. Areas of expertise should be identified, expectations and norms established, responsibilities assigned, and accountability determined. Members of the group are expected to deal with "personnel challenges" internally, but each team member is encouraged and expected to discuss with me, any major problems perceived to compromise the project.

Each team will submit a final report on or before December 6. The final report from each group will be evaluated as a single project, everyone on the team will receive the same group baseline grade. Grades may be adjusted up or down if circumstances warrant.

Content of Integrated Paper Report

The objective of the term project assignment is to encourage you to think purposely and collaboratively about the interfaces of the Operations Management (OM) field with the other core functional areas of Finance and Marketing.

Essentially, the term project paper will identify linkages between and among OM and the fields of Finance and Marketing within a company of the team's choosing. The paper may optionally address linkages between OM and one other support area such as MIS, Quality, HR, or Engineering. The discussion of linkages will be based on comprehension of our course material, its relevance to practice, and OM linkages to other business disciplines.

Teams should use a combination of OPS301 material, class shared information and discussion, other related books, professional publications (i.e. Wall Street Journal, Business Week), and published scholarly research papers. Internet-based information can be used only if it is from credible sources.