- Create a complete, cohesive 8–10-page operations improvement plan for Toyota.
Note: You must complete Assessments 1–5 before you can begin this assessment.
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:
- Competency 1: Develop innovative and sustainable solutions to strategic and global operations management challenges.
- Develop an innovative and sustainable solution to a strategic and global operations management challenge.
- Competency 2: Apply theories, models, and practices of global operations management to address business problems.
- Apply theories and models of global operations management to improve a specific process.
- Support a proposed operations improvement plan with relevant data and measurements.
- Competency 3: Integrate operations management analyses into general business management planning and decision making
- Create an integrated, complete operations improvement plan.
- Integrate process improvements into broader business goals, values, and priorities.
- Competency 4: Communicate in a manner that is professional and consistent with expectations for members of the business professions.
- Communicate in a manner that is professional and consistent with expectations for members of the business professions.
Competency Map
Use this online tool to track your performance and progress through your course.
Context
Assessing the cost and benefits of any process is just as important as correctly identifying and resolving issues. A successful process is difficult to sell if the appropriate cost and benefits are not clear to all stakeholders. Often, these consist of qualitative and quantitative factors, which should be included in the process improvement plan. The objective of process improvements may be to improve the cost, quality, capacity, inventory, or timeliness of the output. It may also be to make the process more flexible, allowing entirely new outputs to be made (Gray & Leonard, 2009).
Reference
Gray, A. E., & Leonard, J. (2009). Process fundamentals [Case No. 696-023]. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Publishing.
Questions to Consider
To deepen your understanding, you are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of the business community.
Based on what you have learned through your research and assessment work in this course, as well as your own prior experience:
- Consider the applications of operations improvement for international operations. How do these differ from domestic applications?
- How might operations improvement processes differ between the service and manufacturing sectors, both internationally and domestically?
Resources
Suggested Resources
The resources provided here are optional and support the assessment. You may use other resources of your choice to prepare for this assessment; However, you will need to ensure that they are appropriate, credible, and valid. They provide helpful information about the topics in this unit. The MBA-FP6022 – Strategic Operations Management Library Guide can help direct your research. The Supplemental Resources and Research Resources, both linked from the left navigation menu in your courseroom, provide additional resources to help support you.
The following resource presents the differences in research methods.
- Research Methods Comparison Table.
The following resource presents the differences between Qualitative and Quantitative research methods.
- Qualitative Research | Transcript.
The following resource presents scenarios for selecting the appropriate questionnaire.
- Questionnaire Types | Transcript.
Toyota Specific Resources
- Cole, R. E. (2011). What really happened to Toyota? MIT Sloan Management Review, 52(4), 29–35.
- Gerondeau (2015). How Toyota Recovered from a Huge Crisis. What can be learned from it. Retrieved from: https://thethirdroad.com/?p=280
- Khan, Riz (2010). The Toyota Crisis. Al Jazeera English. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDRFamLGATk
Additional Resources for Further Exploration
You may use the following optional resources to further explore the Questions to Consider and assessment topics.
Operations Management
The following resources offer a foundational broad view of operations management.
- Ashkenas, R., & Chandler, L. (2013, October 1). Four tips for better strategic planning [Blog post]. Harvard Business Review Blog Network. Retrieved from http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/10/four-tips-for-better-strategic-planning/
- Ashwathappa, K., & Shridhara Bhat, K. (2010). Production and operations management. Mumbai, India: Himalaya Publishing House.
- Deming, W. E. (1987, December). Transformation of today’s management. Executive Excellence, 4(12), 8.
- Foster, S. T., Wallin, C., & Ogden, J. (2011). Towards a better understanding of supply chain quality management practices. International Journal of Production Research, 49(8), 2285–2300.
You may want to search this blog for the following terms: automotive recalls, operations improvement, and strategic planning.
- Harvard Business Publishing. (n.d.). HBR blog network. Retrieved from https://hbrblogs.wordpress.com/
- Beers, Hamerman, Cohen, & Burger. (2015). Managing Your Business through a Crisis: 6 Steps to Success. Retrieved from: http://bhcbcpa.com/managing-your-business-through-a-crisis-6-steps-to-success/
- Markey, R. (2014, January 27). The four secrets to employee engagement [Blog post]. Harvard Business Review Blog Network. Retrieved from http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/01/the-four-secrets-to-employee-engagement/
- Pal, A., Chan, F. T. S., Mahanty, B., & Tiwari, M. K. (2011). Aggregate procurement, production, and shipment planning decision problem for a three-echelon supply chain using swarm- based heuristics. International Journal of Production Research, 49 (10), 2873–2905.
- Trochim, W. M. K. (2006). Survey research. Retrieved from http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/survey.php.
- Value Creation Partners. (n.d.). Analyzing and improving operations. Retrieved from http://www.valuecreationpartners.com/training/analyzing-and-improving-operations/
- Yohn, D. L. (2014, February 6). Great brands never have to “give back” [Blog post]. Harvard Business Review Blog Network. Retrieved from http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/02/great-brands-never-have-to-give-back/
Case Studies
The following case study is recommended for further examination of the topics addressed in this assessment. You may wish to purchase it from Harvard Business School Publishing.
- Gray, A. E., & Leonard, J. (2009). Process fundamentals [Case No. 969-023]. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing.
- Assessment Instructions
Note: You must complete Assessments 1–5 before beginning this assessment.
For this assessment, submit your final operations improvement plan (OIP). In the assessments you have completed thus far, you have submitted drafts of each of the components of an OIP. Take time now to update the work you have already completed with the information and understanding you have gained throughout the course. Take into consideration all of the research and groundwork you have completed along the way. Incorporate feedback from previous assessments as well as the tools, techniques, and methodologies you have examined throughout the course. Finalize your comprehensive OIP as if you were to present it as a formal recommendation to the organizational leaders of the Toyota Motor Corporation. Focus your writing appropriately for that audience. Make sure each piece of your OIP fits together and supports the other elements.
Your final OIP should include the following elements:
- A problem statement, including an overview of the Toyota recall crisis, with a brief history and description of the situation.
- A description of the key challenge or problem you have chosen to address in Toyota’s organizational processes and an analysis of its organizational impact, based on theories and models of global operations management.
- An executive summary of the collected and processed data (actual data, if possible, or assumed data, if necessary).
- A cost-benefit analysis based on your data.
- A description of your innovative and sustainable solution that reflects strategic global operations management concepts and practices.
- Your recommendations for supporting the improvement of the selected process, based on practices of global operations management.
- An explanation of the data or findings that validate your recommendations.
- The visual tools that you developed to support and integrate your analysis into general business management planning and decision-making processes.
- A conclusion.
- A comprehensive references list.
Note: Please review and update cause-and-effect diagram and process flowchart in each assessment.
Combine these elements to create a complete, integrated operations improvement plan, with each piece working together to support your plan.
Additional Requirements
- Written communication: Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
- APA formatting: Format resources and citations according to APA style and formatting.
- Length of paper: 8–10 typed, double-spaced pages plus appendices and reference list.
- Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.