Explain the key decision making areas in operations management and apply to different contexts using knowledge of systems thinking

Task Details/Description: Operations are the engine that drives a business. Practice Operations (McGraw Hill https://www.mhpractice.com/products/Practice_Operations) puts students in the role of an operations decision maker for a clothing manufacturing company. Students become players in a serious learning game. Play begins with an overview of the heart of that engine managing the production process. Players review the contract specifications as well as the production process by walking through the production floor and shipping area. Students then analyse the receiving department functions of managing the supply chain and material inventories to ensure client needs can be met. In order to grow the business, players choose which new contracts to pursue and then optimize their receiving, production and shipping departments accordingly. As the business grows, players manage both the human and facility resources in order to meet capacity challenges. Customer satisfaction is also a key metric for success. In the final stages of the game, the simulation puts players in complete control over all areas of operations at a new branch, with the challenge to build the most profitable company possible. Module Learning Outcomes Assessed: Explain the strategic importance of operations management and its theoretical bases in managing organisational resources from a global perspective; Explain the key decision making areas in operations management and apply to different contexts using knowledge of systems thinking; Evaluate the contribution that operations management makes to procurement, supply chain management and organisational performance and be able to apply some practical techniques; Generate new alternatives of operations management decisions using the theoretical bases taught in the module. Requirements: Word Count: 1,500 words (excluding appendices, diagrams, figures and tables). Font Size: Arial 12 Line Spacing: 1.5 Suggested Format Executive Summary A section should be included at the beginning of the report which clearly states the final results and position of the student in the game. The student should briefly discuss their overall performance in the game including a brief outline of why they believe their performance was as it was. Analysis Relevant section of the marking scheme, Background for each part of the game and Analysis A section should be included where students should explain their decisions, say why they were effective or ineffective, and critique in detail the most important decisions which they believe had a significant effect on the final outcome of the game (production process, managing suppliers, forecasting and contracts, human resources and capacity planning). This may be presented under a series of different headings (Production Process, Managing Suppliers, etc.) or may be presented as a single narrative, however students should ensure that the background and analysis clearly identifies the important decisions for each of the sections of the game. (Production process etc) Conclusion and Recommendations for Improvement Relevant section of the marking scheme, Reflection. Based on the analysis of the decisions in the game the student should state what changes they would make to their approach to playing the game in order to achieve a better result. This section may focus more on actions to improve elements that exhibited lower performance rather than performance across all modules References Any external material used to produce the report should be quoted and the respective reference added. References should be used to support the points made in the text. Appendix You may want to add appendixes that you judge relevant and does not belong to main text. Tips: (a) Remember that tables and figures do not add to your word count so as in business reports, these can provide valuable information and support to your written report. (b) This is a suggestion of structure, but the most important is readability and content. If you have in mind a different structure that reads well, have a good presentation and appropriate language, please, feel free to stick to your own report style.