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Concepts in Operations Functions

The purpose of this discussion exercise is to provide you with a forum to discuss your newly
discovered production and operations management concepts considering current issues and real
business situations. This is a practice ground for ensuring that your reasoning and foundation of
these concepts are secure. This portion of the course requires you to interact with your fellow
classmates and critique their submissions.
Note that all these topics refer to the Operations function of a business, to manufacture a product or create a service. We all know that these topics may be used in other business functions, such
as in marketing or finance, but for the discussions in this course, please focus on Operations
examples and articles.
See the Assignments and Grading page for more grading information.
Resources
Refer to this sample format for an article analysisPreview the document. Follow this format to
ensure that you include both information about the situation within the article, as well as concepts
from our readings that explain it.
Directions
Select one of these concepts
Competitive Dimensions (select one) and Operations strategy:
Cost –Make the product or deliver the service at the lowest cost.
Delivery Speed (Time)–Make the product or deliver the service quickly
Flexibility (change it) –Produce a wide range of products.
Differences between manufacturing and service operations.
Sustainability and Green Management (triple bottom line) decisions in Operations.
Measuring efficiency or effectiveness in the Operations function.
Then find a current event in an article from the resources below to illustrate that concept.
Library Resources

Industry Week (Links to an external site.)
Wall Street Journal (Links to an external site.)
Industry Week (Links to an external site.)
Logistics World (Links to an external site.)
Global Manufacturing (Links to an external site.)
Analysis Post
After reviewing and analyzing at least one of the current events articles, compose an analysis of
that event or situation using the unit operations concept that you selected.
Note: Remember to focus upon your selected operations concept in your analysis.
Response Posts
Respond to at least three classmates’ posts or your Instructor’s responses.
Note: If your instructor asks you a question about your analysis, you must respond to them to
receive full credit.

Financial Management (Equity)

Equity Finance

Using the Annual Report of your selected company answer the following questions in the
discussion:
1. Did your company have any preferred stock at year-end?
2. How much of the company’s common stock was outstanding at year-end?
3. Did the company pay any cash dividends during the year?
4. Compute the basic earnings per share for the company (show calculations).
5. What method does the company use to report net cash flows from operating activities? How
can you tell?
6. What does this evaluation tell you about the company?

Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)

RCA and FMEA

A. Explain the general purpose of conducting a root cause analysis (RCA).
1. Explain each of the six steps used to conduct an RCA, as defined by IHI.
2. Apply the RCA process to the scenario to describe the causative and contributing factors that
led to the sentinel event outcome.
B. Propose a process improvement plan that would decrease the likelihood of a reoccurrence of
the scenario outcome.
1. Discuss how each phase of Lewin’s change theory on the human side of change could be
applied to the proposed improvement plan.

C. Explain the general purpose of the failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) process.
1. Describe the steps of the FMEA process as defined by IHI.
2. Complete the attached FMEA table by appropriately applying the scales of severity,
occurrence, and detection to the process improvement plan proposed in part B.
Note: You are not expected to carry out the full FMEA.
D. Explain how you would test the interventions from the process improvement plan from part B
to improve care.
E. Explain how a professional nurse can competently demonstrate leadership in each of the
following areas:
• promoting quality care
• improving patient outcomes
• influencing quality improvement activities
1. Discuss how the involvement of the professional nurse in the RCA and FMEA processes
demonstrates leadership qualities