MLI21C617 - Operations Management, 17.05.2021-04.06.2021


Please note! Course description is confirmed for two academic years, which means that in general, e.g. Learning outcomes, assessment methods and key content stays unchanged. However, via course syllabus, it is possible to specify or change the course execution in each realization of the course, such as how the contact sessions are organized, assessment methods weighted or materials used.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Learning outcomes for this course, upon successful completion, include the ability to: 1) understand the essential concepts and processes of operations management, 2) determine operations management tasks from the business strategy and establish performance objectives, 3) plan and schedule capacity, equipment, materials and labor for a given level of activity and level of service, 4) measure and analyze operational quality, and 5) review and assess methods and strategies for improvement in operations.

Credits: 6

Schedule: 17.05.2021 - 04.06.2021

Teacher in charge (valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022): Joan Lofgren

Teacher in charge (applies in this implementation): Max Finne

Contact information for the course (valid 16.04.2021-21.12.2112):

InstructorName and Profile

Max
is an Assistant Professor of Information and Service Management at Aalto
University School of Business. Prior to joining Aalto in 2018, Max was
Associate Professor of Operations Management at Warwick Business School,
Coventry, UK. He received his PhD in 2014 from Aalto University. Currently,
he teaches courses on Operations and Process Management for BSc programmes
and delivers a number of executive education programmes. He has been involved
in a number of research projects building on strong collaboration with
industrial partners. His current research interests are mostly focused within
service operations management and innovative pedagogies. Examples of
particular topics that Max is working on are servitization, Industry 4.0,
service network management, professional service operations, inter-organizational
collaboration, learning analytics and flipped learning pedagogies.

 

Max's
research has been published in journals such as International Journal of
Operations and Production Management, Journal of Supply Chain Management,
International Journal of Production Economics, Supply Chain Management: An
International Journal and Journal of Production and Supply Management. In the
future, Max plans to continue research collaboration with high profile
industrial partners and methodologically well-informed academics. He is
constantly looking for extending the supervision of highly motivated PhD
candidates who have related research interests.

 

 

Email Address

max.finne@aalto.fi

 

 

Office Hours

Office
Hours will be held on the days preceding Test 1 and Test 2, respectively on May
21 (Friday) and June 1 (Tuesday) from 12:00noon-13:00pm. Additional Office
Hours can be individually arranged between the student and the instructor by
appointment (please send me an email). For Office Hours, please use the same
Zoom link as for the sessions.


CEFR level (applies in this implementation):

Language of instruction and studies (valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022):

Teaching language: English

Languages of study attainment: English

CONTENT, ASSESSMENT AND WORKLOAD

Content

  • Valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022:

    An examination of the essential concepts, methods and practices of operations management. Key topics covered include operations strategy, quality control, process design, capacity management, location and layout, planning materials, scheduling, just-in-time operations and performance measurement.

Assessment Methods and Criteria

  • Applies in this implementation:

    Grading

    Course
    Requirements and Values

    Weighting (%)
    or maximum points

    Participation
    / Professionalism (individual)

    10%

    Test
    1 (individual)

    30%

    Test
    2 (individual)

    40%

    Group
    Presentation

    20%

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Total

    100

    Conversion
    scale

    Final
    grade

    (official
    scale)

    90
    - 100

    5

    80
    - 89

    4

    70
    - 79

    3

    60
    - 69

    2

    50
    - 59

    1

    0
    - 49

    0

     


Workload

  • Applies in this implementation:

    ECTS GUIDELINES

    This course is a 6 ECTS unit course,
    following the ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) guidelines of Aalto University
    School of Business. The number of hours the average student is expected to work
    in the course is 160 (including in-class and out-of-class work).

     

     

    ECTS Student Workload

     

    Number of Hours

    Faculty-led engagement (May include synchronous sessions and asynchronous interaction,
    e.g. viewing recorded lectures, distance teamwork and other peer
    interaction such as threaded discussions.):

    45

    Self-study hours (May
    include acquisition of content and assignment completion.):

    115

    Work with course materials, eg
    required reading

    35

    Exam preparation

    25

    Individual research & writing

    25

    Team projects (meetings, research,
    preparation, etc.)

    30

    Other

         

     

    Total of all student workload hours

     

    160

     

     


DETAILS

Study Material

  • Applies in this implementation:

    Required Reading

    Operations
    Management
    by Slack et al, published by Pearson, 6th, 7th, 8th
    or 9th edition

     

    Cases
    are listed in the daily schedule of the course.


    TEXTBOOK POLICY

    All required
    textbooks and other course materials are the responsibility of the
    student.  It is the expectation of faculty
    that all students will have access to the textbooks and other reading
    material. If a student is not able to purchase his/her own copy of the
    textbook or other required reading materials, it is nonetheless the student’s
    responsibility to find a way to complete the reading for the course.

     


Prerequisites

  • Valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022:

    none

Registration for Courses

  • Valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022:

    The course is only for the Mikkeli Campus students and the registration is done at the Mikkeli study office.

  • Applies in this implementation:

    COURSE PARTICIPATION

    A hallmark of the Mikkeli program is student
    engagement in the classroom, which for this course is an online learning
    space. Students are expected to participate actively in the course and follow
    lectures and other presentations, whether synchronous (“live”) or
    asynchronous (recorded). Assignment deadlines will be enforced as for regular
    courses. As always, faculty will evaluate your achievement of the learning
    outcomes of the course through assessment methods approved by the program
    director. A passive approach to the course will negatively affect your grade.
    In practical terms, this means that the instructor for the course will take
    attendance in the synchronous sessions. Any student who is absent for 25%
    or more of the synchronous sessions may be dropped from the course    . The
    decision to drop a student from a course will be made by the instructor, who
    will inform Mari Syväoja, Manager of Academic Operations: mari.syvaoja@aalto.fi.

     

     

     

     

    CODES OF CONDUCT

    Academic
    excellence and high achievement levels are only possible in an environment
    where the highest standards of academic honesty and integrity are maintained.
    Students are expected to abide by the Aalto University Code of Academic Integrity, other relevant codes and regulations, as
    well as the canons of ethical conduct within the disciplines of business and
    management education.

     

    In addition,
    the BScBA Program has strict exam regulations in force which must be followed
    in all test-taking situations.

     

     

    Additional Information

    Operations Management is all about getting the product or service to
    the customer on time. If you don’t, you lose the order, the customer, reputation,
    your job, etc. On-time delivery of work is therefore critical.

     

    Work assignments delivered up to 2 hours later than
    the agreed deadline will lose 20% of the grade for that piece of work and
    will receive grade ZERO if delivered more than 2 hours late, unless an
    extension is granted by the instructor (eg due to illness).

     

    Evaluation
    of your participation/professionalism is based on the instructor’s best
    judgment of your regular classroom involvement. Class participation is very
    important in this course. Meaningful and frequent participation is rewarded;
    but non-participants (just showing up for class) and "air time"
    (simply talking to monopolize class time) are not. Good participation
    involves regular quality contributions. The types of behavior that are
    important and desired include: •Are the points you make relevant to the discussion?
    Are they linked to the comments of others? •Do your comments show evidence of
    analysis and understanding relevant issues and concepts/cases? •Do your
    comments add to our understanding of the concepts? •Are you willing to
    interact with other class members and the instructor?

     

FURTHER INFORMATION

Details on the schedule

  • Applies in this implementation:

    Course Schedule

    Synchronous Class:

    9:00am-12:00noon
    (Mikkeli time)

     

     

    Session
    1 – May 17 (Monday)

     

    -Introductions, course overview, and general
    administrative issues

     

    -Operations Management (Ch. 1)


     

     

    Pre-Work

    N/A

     

    Session 2 – May 18 (Tuesday)

     

    -Operations Performance (Ch. 2)

    -Process Design (Ch. 6)


     

    Pre-Work:

    -Read
    the following case: North West Constructive Bank

    -Read
    the following case: Concept Design Services

    -Read
    Chapters 1, 2 and 6

    Session 3 – May 19 (Wednesday)

     

    -Planning
    & Control (Ch. 10)

    -Capacity
    Management (Ch.11)

     


     

    Pre-Work:

    -Read
    the following case: Fitness Plus (Part A) (Krajewski: chapter 4, pp. 183–184)

    -Read
    Chapters 10 and 11

    Session 4 – May 20 (Thursday)

     

    -Operations
    Improvement (Ch.16)

     


     

    Pre-Work:

    -Read
    the following case: ARAPU

    -Read
    Chapter 16

    Session 5 – May 21 (Friday)

     

    -Inventory
    Management (Ch. 13)

     

    -Review
    and Orientation for Test 1


     

    Office Hours:

    -12:00noon-13:00pm

     

    Pre-Work:

    -Read
    Chapter 13

    Session 6 – May 24 (Monday)

     

    -Test 1

     

     

    Test
    1 will be based on cumulative content covered up to here

    Session
    7 – May 25 (Tuesday)

     

    -Materials
    Requirement Planning - MRP (Supplement to Ch. 14)


     

     

    Pre-Work:

    -Read
    Supplement to Chapter 14

    Session 8 – May 26 (Wednesday)

     

    -Lean
    Operations (Ch. 15)

    -Quality
    Management (Ch. 17)

     


     

    Pre-Work:

    -Read
    Chapters 15, 17

    Session 9 – May 27 (Thursday)

     

    -Operations
    Strategy (Ch. 3)

    -Project
    Management (Ch. 19)

     


     

    Pre-Work:

    -Read
    Chapters 3, 19

    Session 10 – May 28 (Friday)

     

    Guest
    lecture 1

     


     

    Session 11 – May 31 (Monday)

     

    Guest
    lecture 2

     


     

    Session 12 – June 1 (Tuesday)

     

    -Supply
    Chain Management (Ch. 12)

     


     

    Office Hours:

    -12:00noon-13:00pm

     

    Pre-Work:

    -Read
    the following case: LEGO

    -Read
    Chapter 12

    Session 13 – June 2 (Wednesday)

     

    -Test 2

     

     

     

    Test
    2 will be based on cumulative content covered up to here

    Session 14 – June 3 (Thursday)

     

    Group Presentation – Part A

     


    Half of the groups (4–5)
    will present on the first day of presentations and will be selected randomly
    just before the presentation. All groups must be ready to present on the
    first day of presentations.

    Session
    15 – June 4 (Friday)

     

    Group Presentation – Part B


     

    The
    other half of the groups will present on the second day of presentations.

Rules of Conduct - Students´ Rights and Responsibilities (in force from 1 August 2020)

Aalto University Code of Academic Integrity and Handling Violations Thereof