The Exam (22nd Jan 09:30-11:30)

• 2 hours
• 70 MCQ
• Enter answer(s) directly into
answer sheet with HB pencil
• Only 1 correct answer
• 40% pass mark
Multiple Choice Examination

• Different location across the campus

• Check your individual online timetable for room

• If you have Additional Learning Support needs you will

be given additional time as appropriate
Multiple Choice Examination

• Questions may be about any of the topics taught

throughout the module and are similar to the style given
in the online resource folder in SurreyLearn.

• This will open into the Oxford University Press

homepage for the textbook. The multiple choice test
folder can be accessed from the box on the top left hand
side.
Multiple Choice Examination
• Each question will give FOUR possible answers
oone correct answer in each case

• There are no ‘none of the above’ or ‘all of the above’

type answers in the examination.

• There are no negative marks for incorrect answers.

• The examination is marked out of 70, each question is

worth 1 mark

• You will be given a final mark as a percentage

Multiple Choice Examination

• Most questions relate to operations management

theory and operations management concepts

• Questions only relate to theories or concepts

covered in lectures, videos or seminars

• There are no questions about any of the written

case studies from the textbook in the examination.
Multiple Choice Examination

• The questions will be similar in style to the practice

questions you have gone through in the Workbook and in
each of the Seminars

• They are also similar in style to the MCQs in the online

resources and revision folder

• The examination will include questions from each of the

10 taught Sessions

• You need to correctly answer 28 questions or more to

pass the module
MAN1059
Operations Management
Session 11: Revision guide
Revision guide

• Review the lecture slides, Seminar slides and the

Workbooks, paying particular attention to concepts and
theories

• Support this with reading the textbook to reinforce

understanding. Use the Chapter summaries as a guide
to this and the online MCQ examples

• Take a look at the video case studies to further help you

understand how these operations work in practice
 Session 1 - concepts
• An Operation is a transformation process which changes inputs
into outputs which add value for customers.

• Operations Management is the planning and organizing of the

production of goods and the delivery of services.

• Internal performance objectives – cost, quality, flexibility,

dependability and speed

• Where Operations fits within a company structure

• What an Operations Manager does – using Center Parcs as an

example in both the short term and long term
Session 2 - concepts
• Characterisation of Operations – the 4 V’s – Volume, Variety,
Variation in Demand and Variability
• 5 differences between customer processing operations and
materials processing operations – intangibility, inseparability,
simultaneity, heterogeneity and perishability
• Servuction model and ‘decoupling’ the front of house from back of
house.
• Competitive advantage - Order Qualifiers (OQs) and Order Winners
(OWs) - definitions and explanation of how each can help in bidding
for orders and deliver competitive advantage (with examples)
• Identifying OQs and OWs using cost, quality, flexibility,
dependability and speed
Session 3 - concepts
• Process Types - Materials Processing Operations (MPOs)
o Hayes and Wheelwright (1979)
o 5 types – Project, Job Shop, Batch, Mass and Continuous –
know the diagram plus examples of each type
• Process types - Customer Processing Operations (CPOs)
• Silvestro et al (1992)
• 3 types – Professional Services, Service Shop and Mass
Service – know the diagram plus examples of each type
• Based on trade-offs between volume and variety
• Product Life Cycle - Five Stages: Introduction, Growth,
Maturity, Saturation and Decline
• Service Firm Life Cycle - Five Stages: Entrepreneurship, Multi-
site rationalization, Growth, Maturity and Decline
Session 4 - concepts

• Location – where to locate, factors influencing location choice,

such as access to raw materials, essential resources, infrastructure,
labour etc. The concept of competitive clustering (e.g. all one type
of shop in one area).

• 4 Different Layout types

- Fixed Position, Functional or Process, Cell, Product layout
• Examples of each plus advantages and disadvantages of each
plus links with process types in both MPO and CPO.

• Servicescape – explanation and examples

 Session 5 - concepts
• Definitions of supply chain and supply chain management and
explanation of its structure (network) – tiers of supply and
demand – upstream and downstream

• Explanation of an organisation’s procurement function including

Single/multiple sourcing, Outsourcing. Supplier relationship
management

• Logistics – what is it and how does it work in practice

• Trends in supply chain - cross docking, reverse logistics, third

party logistics and disintermediation should be understood.
 Session 6 - concepts
• What is capacity? Definition and explanation as as the maximum
possible output in a given time.
• 3 types of capacity measurement – design, effective and achieved
capacity. Understand the difference and how they relate to
efficiency and utilization. Know the formulae used to calculate
these (see worked example)
• Capacity management is different in CPO’s - Most CPO’s are
perishable – they are consumed as they are produced
(simultaneity)
• Maximum capacity of some CPO systems has no flexibility (as
their infrastructure is inflexible)
• Demand for many CPO’s is more difficult to predict
• Variability in customer service time due to the variety of
services offered
• Most CPO’s are in a fixed location so customers have to come
to them
 Session 6 – concepts (cont.)
• Three main strategies for managing capacity and demand
o Level capacity, Chase demand, Demand management, Revenue
(Yield) Management - how/when this is used
• Forecasting techniques – qualitative and quantitative types – know
the names of the techniques.
• Queuing Management
o Characteristics of a queuing system – Arrival pattern/times,
population of customers, processing time, served customers
o Types of queue, e.g. single line, multiple channels, diffuse or
priority queue
o Disciplines e.g. FIFO, LIFO, SPF, SIRO
o Queuing psychology/behaviours – Reject, balking, reneging etc.
Also know the research outcomes, such as anxiety makes the
wait seem longer
Session 7 - concepts
• What is quality? Definition. Quality variables and quality
attributes – understand the difference.
• How do you measure quality? 5 gaps between customers
expectations and perceptions
• Strategies for Managing quality
o Quality Inspection (QI) Quality Control (QC) Quality
Assurance (QA) and Total Quality Management (TQM) –
know the difference between them and where they are
applied during the operation
• Be aware of techniques such as statistical process control,
quality audits, mystery shoppers, ‘poke yoke’ (fail safes),
Benchmarking, Deming improvement cycle PDCA
• Costs of Quality - 4 main areas – Prevention, Assurance Internal
failure, External failure
 Session 8 - concepts

• Managing and motivating employees – individual, team and

organization. Maslow and Herzberg theories

• Explain role of job design and the alternative approaches from

division of labour, work measurement and time study to job
enlargement, job enrichment job rotation and multiskilling

• Job/work design – Ergonomics, Enrichment, and Empowerment in

the workplace

• Different types of organizational culture. Deal and Kennedy (1982)

and Charles Handy (1999) – Power, Role, Task and Person –
understand and know an example of each
Session 9 - concepts
• What is the difference between innovation and invention in
developing new products or services?

• Types of innovation
o Continuous improvement (kaizen)
o Radical (or Disruptive) Innovation (kaikaku)

• General understanding of New Product and New Service

• Understanding of Patents, Design rights, Trademarks and

Copyright.
 Session 10 – concepts

• Operations Strategy - definition over ‘long term’. How it fits with

Corporate and Business Strategy. Top down or bottom up
(emergent) strategies. Linked to culture.
• Market driven View (Michael Porter) cost and differentiation
• Resource based view (Robert Lowson) core competence
• Lean manufacturing – 5 principles – Value, Value Stream, Flow,
Pull planning, Strive for perfection
• 8 Wastes (muda) – TIMWOODS
• Lean is used for commodities with high volume, low variety and
predictable demand. Lean delivers quality, cost and dependability.
 Session 10 – concepts (cont.)

• Lean techniques used – 5S, Make to order, Kanban, Single piece

flow (Takt), Just in Time (JIT), Load levelling (Heijunka), Jidoka, and
Quick changeover (SMED)
• Agile Manufacturing is the ability to thrive and prosper in an
environment of constant and unpredictable change
• Agile delivers speed, cost and dependability
• Agile is for bespoke products with low volume, high variety and
unpredictable high variation in demand
• Agile uses Postponement – e.g. Benetton or DIY paints, delivering
speed by delaying the customer order decoupling point (CODP)
• Uses technology such as EDI, EPOS and RFID
Multiple Choice Examination

Any further questions about the Multiple Choice

Examination?

You can easily practice together in groups between now

and the exam.
GOOD LUCK IN THE EXAMINATION

• Thank you for helping make it a very

enjoyable module