Welcome to Business Operations (BUSS 2065).

Business Operations is an important course in your Bachelor of Business program. This course is designed to enable you to understand the basic requirements for design, production and distribution of goods and services, which are core elements of business activity.

In an organisation, business operations primarily relate to tasks and activities that the organisation performs to produce goods and/or services to meet the needs of its customers. Efficient and effective business operations help companies reduce business and operational costs and increase customer satisfaction. Hence, this ‘Business Operations’ course provides introductory knowledge on operations management for managing an organisation. Operations management mainly deals with managerial considerations for creating and delivering goods and/or services.

This course provides an overview of these elements and introduces students to the analytical skills required to manage business operations effectively. The goal of this course is to introduce the field of operations in a realistic, practical manner. Even if you are not planning a career in operations management, you will be most likely working with people in operations. Therefore having a good understanding of the role of operations management will benefit you in the medium to long term.

When you withdraw money from an ATM, when you enrol at UniSA, when you ride on public transport or drive your own car, when you purchase a meal or fresh food or a soft drink, the operations management has played a role in providing these goods and services. Operations management is an exciting area of management that has a profound effect on productivity, efficiency and effectiveness. Over the years' operations management has provided a significant impact on the quality of our lives.

We will examine some interesting topics such as: Operations Management & Strategy; Process and Layout Types; Process Technologies; Product & Process Design; Operations Planning and Control; Capacity Management; Inventory management; Supply Chain Management; Quality Management and Evaluating Performance.


I am confident that you will enjoy this rewarding course.

Sev Nagalingam
Course Coordinator

 

If you have any concerns or questions about this course, please contact the Course Tutor/ Facilitator first and then the Course Coordinator. If the issue is not resolved, then contact your Program director.

There are no prerequisite courses to be completed before this course can be undertaken.

There are no corequisite courses to be completed in conjunction with this course.

The design, production and distribution of goods and services form the core elements of business activity. This course provides an overview of these elements and introduces students to the analytical skills, toolsand techniques required to manage business operations effectively as a professional.

On completion of this course, students should be able to:

CO1. Identify, and apply business operations principles to the production, logistics, delivery and distribution elements in manufacturing and service industries

CO2. Apply the analytical tools that assist in the management of business operations in a professional context

CO3. Explain and apply forecasting and planning methods to business operations within an organisation

CO4. Critically evaluate business operations decision making, policies and strategies

CO5. Communicate cohesive solutions to business operations problems

CO6. Demonstrate Business School Enterprise Skills: i) Problem Solving (intermediate level); and ii) Written Communication (foundation level)

Upon completion of this course, students will have achieved the following combination of Graduate Qualities and Course Objectives:

A graduate of UniSA:

GQ1. operates effectively with and upon a body of knowledge of sufficient depth to begin professional practice

GQ2. is prepared for life-long learning in pursuit of personal development and excellence in professional practice

GQ3. is an effective problem solver, capable of applying logical, critical, and creative thinking to a range of problems

GQ4. can work both autonomously and collaboratively as a professional

GQ5. is committed to ethical action and social responsibility as a professional and citizen

GQ6. communicates effectively in professional practice and as a member of the community

GQ7. demonstrates international perspectives as a professional and as a citizen

Operations and work organisation
Design of process, products and service delivery systems
Building supply chains in manufacturing and service industries 
Capacity and demand forecasting and planning
Risk management
Distribution networks
Evaluating performance
Quality management
Inventory control

4.5 units

This course will involve the production of audio and/or video recordings of UniSA students. To protect student privacy, you must not at any time disclose, reproduce or publish these recordings, or related material, in the public domain including online, unless the videoed students give consent for reproduction, disclosure or publication. This requirement is consistent with University statutes, by-laws, policies, rules and guidelines which you agreed to abide by when you signed the Student Enrolment Declaration.

Please consider occupational health safety and well-being (OHS&W) issues in your workplace and/or your home while you are studying this course.

This course is taught through:

• Lectures to introduce an outline of the course topics and develop an understanding of related concepts for the course topics. Team-based and student centred learning discussions and activities may also be conducted.
• Tutorials to primarily facilitate discussion on the key concepts and help understand the topic content by answering discussion questions that are listed on the study guide.
• An individual major assignment is to provide an understanding of identifying and applying business operations principles to the production, logistics, delivery and distribution elements in manufacturing industries. It will also involve applying the necessary analytical tools that assist in the management of business operations. This major assignment will also provide a capability to explain forecasting and planning methods to business operations within an organisation and evaluate business operations decision making, policies and strategies. This assignment involves communicating the solutions and findings of business operations issues through a business report.
• A closed book examination to test the full understanding of the knowledge learned.
  

You will need continual access to the following text(s) to complete this course. Where possible the Library will make the book available for student use. Please check the Library catalogue before purchasing the book(s). The Library will always seek to purchase resources that allow an unlimited number of concurrent users, however availability is dependent on license arrangements with book publishers and platforms. http://www.library.unisa.edu.au

Greasley, A (2013). Operations management (3rd edn). Hoboken NJ: John Wiley and Sons Ltd.

Hill, A & Hill, T 2018, Essential Operations Management, 2nd edn, Palgrave, England

Slack, N, Brandon-Jones, A, Johnston, R & Betts, A 2012, Operations and process management with Etext: Principles and practice for strategic impact, 3rd edn, Pearson, England.

Suggested Journals:

California management review
European Journal of Operational Research
Harvard business review
International Journal of Integrated Supply Management
International Journal of Operational Research
International Journal of Operations & Production Management
International Journal of Services and Operations Management
Journal of Operations Management
Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services
Journal of the Operational Research Society
Operational Research: An International Journal
Operations and Supply Chain Management
Operations Management Research
Production and Operations Management
Sloan management review
Supply Chain Management Review

 

Please do not restrict to these suggested journals. From the library website, you can find many other Journals that are relevant to the course topics.

All course related materials can be accessed through your learnonline course site which you will be able to access from the my Courses section in myUniSA.

All study related materials can be accessed through: https://my.unisa.edu.au

Details of assessment submission and return are listed under each assessment task. Assessment tasks will be returned to you within two to three weeks of submission.

If the Course Coordinator allows submissions in hard copy format, you will be required to attach an Assignment Cover Sheet which is available on the learnonline student help (https://lo.unisa.edu.au/mod/book/view.php?id=1843&chapterid=567) and in myUniSA.

The feedback proforma is available on your course site.

Overview: The purpose of this Assessment is to help you explore business operations and critically analyse the issues and the challenges in a real world situation via case studies and provide a written report.

This assignment contributes to achieving:
Course objectives ‘2 to 6’ for the course, and 
the Graduate qualities 2, 3, 6 and 7.

Report: You will need to answer the individual questions of four simple case studies (which are mainly from your textbook, but the questions are different) but submitted as a single report/ file (2000 words). The case studies and the questions will be available (separately) on your learnonline.

 

In this report, wherever possible, you need to apply the following course objectives (CO):

CO2. Apply the analytical tools that assist in the management of business operations in a professional context,
CO3. Explain and apply forecasting and planning methods to business operations within an organisation,
CO4. Critically evaluate business operations decision making, policies and strategies,
CO5. Communicate cohesive solutions to business operations problems, and
CO6. Demonstrate Business School Enterprise Skills: i) Problem Solving (intermediate level), and ii) Written Communication (foundation level).

 

Research: It is expected that you will research widely using appropriate sources. You need to use at least two in-text citations to answer each individual questions for each case study. One citation can be your textbook, and the other reference should be a Journal article. Please do not repeat the case study or the questions. Only use the case study number and the question number when answering the sections. For example, when you are answering the first case study questions, you will say “1.1 ‘Manufacturing ’s Decline” and A1 to answer the first question. An answering template is provided to simplify this task. Expected word count: 2000 words

 

It is also expected that you will use a minimum of four academic (scholarly) references including three scholarly journal articles and other references to present your analysis and the report. The references in the report should be in the Harvard-UniSA referencing system. An omission to include three academic journal articles (peer-reviewed) or incorrect use of the Harvard-UniSA referencing system will result in "very poor" for the Referencing component.


Format: The argument should be presented in a report format, and the report needs to be supported by academic references. The report will consist of the following sections. Suggested headings to be used include the following:

• Title page (including your name and student ID)
• Discussions (Answer the given questions under separate headings with considerable research and supporting evidence. Do not repeat the case study text or questions. Only use case numbers and question numbers to reduce Turnitin ratio)
• References

Please note: Attachments/ Appendices – are not necessary. Only include appendices, if you think that the additional resource is going to add significant value to your report and it is critical (that means without that material, the report can’t be understood). If you can’t incorporate appendices within the word document (the preferred method), a single pdf file of the appendices in a separate file is acceptable.

 

Please conform to the following:

• Use Font size 11 or 12 only and 1.5 line spacing.
• References in Harvard-UniSA referencing style to be listed at the end of the document.
• Do not use footnotes.
• Print word count at the end of your assignment.
• Number each page consequently.
• Assessment criteria (Feedback Sheet for Assignment 1 should NOT be attached with your report to minimise Turnitin ratio).

 

Assessment of your assignment will consider the following (refer Feedback Sheet for Assignment 1):

• The relevance of your response to the assignment.
• Comparison with similar and/or other industry practices.
• A critical review of the business situation and relating the analysis to the course content and related concepts.
• Logical planning and sequence.
• Supporting evidence for arguments You must attribute each and every assertion made in your argument to the relevant source(s)/reference(s).
• Adequate and comprehensive research, reflecting engagement with set readings, text(s), journals and other relevant materials.
• The overall presentation, including layout, spacing and punctuation.
• Use of inclusive language.
• Clarity of meaning.
• Proper acknowledgement of sources and appropriate referencing using Harvard-UniSA Referencing.
  

Word limit: 2000 words. 10% plus or minus the word limit is acceptable. The word limit excludes the title page and the list of references. Further information about the marking criteria and a template is available on the Learnonline site.

 

 

 

Assessment 2 - Examination (2.5 hours)

The examination will assess all course material and will consist of two sections:

1. Multiple-choice questions (50%)
2. Short answer questions (50%)

 

The duration of the examination will be 2.5 hours plus 10 minutes reading time.

• Apart from the initial 10 minute reading time, 25 minutes additional time will be allowed for NESB students (i.e. if you have a red ‘E’ on your student ID card).
• NESB Students may take a bilingual printed dictionary into the examination (not an electronic dictionary). These items must not be enhanced or tampered with in any way.
    

The examination contributes:

• to achieve Learning objectives ‘1, ‘3' and ‘4’ for the course.
• to achieve Graduate qualities 1, 3 and 6.
  
  

Past examination papers are not available.  However, guidance on the type of questions to be asked will be made available via learnonline forum in the later part of the study period.

 

 

Assignment submission:

• Submit your assignment online via Gradebook.
• Please do not submit a cover sheet as it will affect your Turnitin score. Just write your name, student number and the assignment title on the front page of your assignment as in the provided template.
• If you receive a high Turnitin score (above 15%- excluding your reference section) please correct your assignment and save it with the same file name. Then re-submit your assignment via Gradebook with the same file (do not change the file name in any way). 
• Please do not use words such as ‘Referencing’ or ‘Bibliography’ at the end of the document, as Turnitin will not discount it. Only use the word 'References' as a section heading where you list the references. Then, there is an option to exclude the references from your Turnitin count.
  
  

Turnitin is a tool to help you learn to acknowledge (cite) the authors of your literature research and to acknowledge the words of other writers by using double quotation marks “...”. See https://lo.unisa.edu.au/mod/book/view.php?id=252146

Referencing style:
Use the Harvard UniSA referencing style in all your assessments. A guide to the Harvard UniSA style is found at http://guides.library.unisa.edu.au/c.php?g=169977&p=1118872

Late submission:
Please note that assignments submitted after the due date, without an authorised extension, will receive a penalty of 10% a day deducted from the total available mark for the assignment for up to 7 calendar days. After 7 calendar days, the assignment will no longer be accepted.

Students will receive advance notice of scheduled examination. All students are required to sit their examination at the scheduled date, time and location irrespective of any conflict with a planned holiday or special event.
Internal students are required to sit their examination on-campus or at the central exam venue.
More information about examination procedures and arrangements for students can be found by consulting the relevant policy http://i.unisa.edu.au/policies-and-procedures/codes/assessment-policies/ (Section 6)

Extra time in exams and the use of a dictionary (ENTEXT) is available to some students (for example, Aboriginal peoples and those of non-English speaking background) as follows:

• extra time for reading or writing. This will be an extra ten minutes per hour for every hour of standard examination time, and
• the use of an English language or bilingual print dictionary (without annotations). (APPM 7.2.2)

More information about variation to assessment is available in section 7.2 of the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual. http://i.unisa.edu.au/policies-and-procedures/codes/assessment-policies/ (section 7)

 

Students with an Access Plan may also be eligible for variations to exam arrangements. For more information please refer to Students with disabilities or medical conditions.

Supplementary assessment or examination offers students an opportunity to gain a supplementary pass (SP) and is available to all students under the following conditions unless supplementary assessment or examination has not been approved for the course:

1. if the student has achieved a final grade between 45-49 per cent (F1) in a course
2. if a student who has successfully completed all of the courses within their program, with the exception of two courses in which they were enrolled in their final study period, a supplementary assessment or examination may be granted where the final grade in either or both of these courses, is less than 45 percent (F1 or F2) and all assessments in the courses were attempted by the student. Supplementary assessment will not be available for a course under investigation for academic integrity until the investigation is completed, and determined that it did not constitute academic misconduct.

More information about supplementary assessment is available in section 7.5 of the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual.
http://i.unisa.edu.au/policies-and-procedures/codes/assessment-policies/

Supplementary assessment will be similar to the final examination.

All students must adhere to the University of South Australia's policies about assessment:
http://i.unisa.edu.au/policies-and-procedures/codes/assessment-policies/.

There are no additional assessment requirements identified for this course.

Students with disabilities or medical conditions or students who are carers of a person with a disability may be entitled to a variation or modification to standard assessment arrangements.  See Section 7 of the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual (APPM) at:  http://i.unisa.edu.au/policies-and-procedures/codes/assessment-policies/

 

Students who require variations or modifications to standard assessment arrangements should make contact with their Course Coordinator as early as possible in order to ensure that appropriate supports can be implemented or arranged in a timely manner.

 

Students can register for an Access Plan with UniSA Access & Inclusion Service. It is important to make contact early to ensure that appropriate support can be implemented or arranged in a timely manner. See the Disability Hub for more information:  http://www.unisa.edu.au/Disability/Current-students

Students are advised there is a deadline to finalise Access Plan arrangements for examinations. Further information is available at:  http://i.unisa.edu.au/campus-central/Exams_R/Before-the-Exam/Alternative-exam-arrangements/

Deferred assessment or examination is available for the course.

Special consideration is available for this course. Note: Special consideration cannot be granted for a deferred assessment or examination, or a supplementary assessment or examination. APPM 7.7.6

Variation to assessment methods, tasks and timelines may be provided in:

Unexpected or exceptional circumstances, for example bereavement, unexpected illness (details of unexpected or exceptional circumstances for which variation may be considered are discussed in clauses 7.8 - 7.10 of the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual). Variation to assessment in unexpected or exceptional circumstances should be discussed with your course coordinator as soon as possible.

Special circumstances, for example religious observance grounds, or community services (details of special circumstances for which variation can be considered are discussed in clause 7.11 of the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual). Variations to assessment in expected circumstances must be requested within the first two weeks of the course (or equivalent for accelerated or intensive teaching).

 

Students with disabilities or medical conditions please refer to Students with disabilities or medical conditions.

Grading or Assessment Standards:

 

The following criteria will be used to assess your grade in the first of assessment. This is the basis upon which marking for Assignment 1 will be conducted.

 

Fail 2 (F2) (below 40%)

• Paper fails to meet any of the requirements.
• Key concepts are not adequately identified, explained, or discussed and paper indicates little understanding of the issues.
• There is little or no attempt at analysis.
  
  

Fail 1 (F1) (40% - 49%)

• Paper too descriptive and fails to demonstrate the ability to understand the key concepts and issues.
• The analysis is minimal and little evidence of argument, but mainly restating or paraphrasing other authors’ viewpoints.
• Little evidence of independent thought and/or overuse or inappropriate use of quotations.
  
  

Pass 2 (P2) (50% - 54%)

• Descriptive response.
• Little or no discussion or analysis.
• Little critical comment.
• Little or no comparison of references.
• Structure weak.
• The topics are just covered.
• Incomplete or incorrect referencing.
  
  

Pass 1 (P1) (55% - 64%)

• Questions are answered adequately.
• A clear structure.
• Arguments are supported by references.
• References are compared as applicable.
• Referencing is complete and correct.
  
  

Credit (C) (65% - 74%)

• Questions are answered clearly, adequately, concisely and comprehensively.
• Well-structured throughout.
• Good use of relevant and numerous references from a variety of sources.
• Quality of argument focused and superior to P1 level.
• All ideas are linked and critically examined.
• Arguments are drawn to a conclusion.
  
  

 

 

Distinction (D) (75% - 84%)

• As for Credit with full analysis of questions/topic.
• Excellent use of references supporting clearly stated arguments.
• Strengths and weaknesses of source information concisely and comprehensively discussed.
• Excellent understanding of the topics.
• Arguments are drawn into excellent conclusion.
• A pleasure to read.

High Distinction (HD) (85 %+)

• As for Distinction, with exceptional analysis, use of references and arguments.
• Extremely well written.

Academic integrity is the foundation of university life and is fundamental to the reputation of UniSA and its staff and students. Academic integrity means a commitment by all staff and students to act with honesty, trustworthiness, fairness, respect and responsibility in all academic work.

An important part of practising integrity in academic work is showing respect for other people's ideas, and being honest about how they have contributed to your work. This means taking care not to represent the work of others as your own. Using another person's work without proper acknowledgement is considered Academic Misconduct, and the University takes this very seriously.

The University of South Australia expects students to demonstrate the highest standards of academic integrity so that its degrees are earned honestly and are trusted and valued by its students and their employers. To ensure this happens, the University has policies and procedures in place to promote academic integrity and manage academic misconduct. For example, work submitted electronically by students for assessment will be examined for copied and un-referenced text using the text comparison software Turnitin http://www.turnitin.com.

More information about academic integrity and what constitutes academic misconduct can be found in Section 9 of the Assessment Policies and Procedures Manual (APPM): http://i.unisa.edu.au/policies-and-procedures/codes/assessment-policies/. The Academic Integrity Module explains in more detail how students can work with integrity at the University: https://lo.unisa.edu.au/mod/book/view.php?id=252142

Preparing Assignments

The LearnOnline portal for this course (which you can access through MyUniSA) should contain all you need to know about your upcoming assignments. Please use the library support page for Assessment 1.
 

In addition, your MyUniSA portal will provide access to many learning resources to address the skills and literacies required by particular disciplines, programs, courses or assigned tasks.
These online resources provide valuable support to help you succeed with your studies:

www.unisa.edu.au/Referencing

www.unisa.edu.au/L3Business
       

Resubmissions, re-marking and extensions may all be available subject to negotiation with the Course Coordinator as per University policy only.

 

 

Back up of assignments
Please take full precaution to back up your electronic copies of assignments. The accidental loss of a file on a computer or other computer-related problems will not be considered adequate grounds for an extension. In addition, please ensure that the relevant file(s) are attached to your assignment submission using Learnonline. Assignments lodged electronically with no file attached or an empty file will be deemed to have been not submitted.

Passing the course
A passing grade is to be achieved with an aggregate total of at least 50% for the assessment items. All assignments must be submitted by the agreed due date.

Evaluation of this course and teaching staff will be conducted via Course experience, an online feedback form and by completing the questionnaire towards the end of the study period. The online form will be available in the last two weeks of the study period and can be accessed from the course Learnonline page. Assessment 1 is simplified based on the previous feedback.

 

We look forward to your support in receiving appropriate comments and valuable feedback, in order to improve this course and the delivery

The information below shows the suggested alterations/considerations for assessment items and exam dependent on the duration of the unplanned outage

 

Less than 1 hour outage. No impact on either assessment or examination

 

1 to 4 hour outage.        Assessment  - Consider an extension. Examination - No impact.

 

4 to 24 hour outage.     Assessment - 24 hour extension. Examination - Be mindful of outage when marking

 

Over 24 hour outage.   Assessment - 48 hour extension. Examination- Be mindful of outage when marking