Team Work on Operations Management - Case Study Example

Team Work on Operations Management Name Institution Date Executive summary A case study was conducted by a group to determine how well the group can work together. The case study was about operations management at Ryanair and Flextronics Company Every member was to participate fully in the case study and give their own opinions which were then analyzed by the group. All the opinions and suggestions were to be treated equally without any bias. This was mainly for the purpose of ensuring that every member is comfortable with the others. The objectives were realized by the group due to the closer working relationship among the members. The team was able to score high marks and every team member was happy with the results achieved. The team was also able to achieve these results due to hard work, discipline and closer working relations. The team was able to complete the assignment by answering four questions regarding the operations of the companies. The team members had respect for one another and this greatly contributed to the success of the team. This is because it created an enabling environment for close consultations among the team members. Introduction The report is an account of a proposal to save money at a meeting I attended recently concerning Ryanair and Flextronics Companies. Members were divided into groups so as to enable discussions among the members. This saw the formation of the teams with members drawn at random. Each group was composed of members that they had not worked with before. Initially this was a challenge but it was resolved as the members continued with the process. As a result of working in the team a lot of knowledge and skills were learnt by each team member. All the team members also made contributions towards solving problems presented to the team regarding the operations management at Ryanair and Flextronics Companies. Rules and regulations were set out for the team members to follow so as to ensure that all the members participate and work with each other. The paper will discuss in details the main findings in the team. Group’s achievements The team was well organized and achieved a great success in its findings and discussions. This enabled the team members to gain knowledge and skills. The team had a mechanism of solving any of the problems that was presented to it. Although the team was composed with members from diverse cultures it was able to realize its goals and objectives. The presentations were done well and every group member was satisfied. Personally I was happy with the presentation made by the team since were able to score high marks. The tam was able to make good presentation due to the fact that the team members were quite supportive and had good strategies that created a good working environment. Most of the group members learnt that it was good to present everyone with an opportunity to make contributions and then analyze it critically. No contribution be should be ignored. This is mainly because it enables the members to be confident with them and come up with good suggestions and contributions. The graph below represents the relationship of the group from the time it was formed to the time it achieved good performance. The storming stage is when there were difficulties in the team while the norming stage is when the team members started getting used to one another. Source: Apex leadership (2011) Lessons learnt from working in a group. Working in a group was quite challenging initially. This is because the group members were quite unique. Some of them were from culturally diverse groups while others did not have any experience in group work. However despite these weaknesses I was very comfortable working in a group due to past experiences. I was confident with the group members after the introduction. All the four questions regarding the operations of Ryanair and Flextronics were answered satisfactorily. The other team members had a great impact on the success of the team. Some were quite inspiring and encouraged the others to work hard in finding solutions to the problems presented to it. Other members had good ideas and suggestions that enabled the team to achieve its objectives. Some of the group members were good at formulating the guidelines to be adopted by the team during its operations. This was extremely useful in answering the question regarding the business strategies used by Ryanair Company to save costs. Other members had good ideas and suggestions that enabled the team to achieve its objectives. The most successful part of the experience was how to develop ideas when tackling a given problem. This included the how to develop good strategies that will make operations and decision making easier. It mainly included matters dealing with ethics, discipline and accountability. However, the least successful part was how to deal with conflicts in a group. This is mainly attributed to the fact that there were no conflicts in the team and thus no practical experience was gained. Due to the success of the group and the skills and knowledge gained, I would still do the same in future. I would also prefer being in the same team and use the same strategies. However, despite this there is an issue that I would do differently. This is mainly the mode of discussion which should be flexible enough to allow the team members to seek advice or consultations from external sources. The team was well balanced and the members had different s was quite an advantage to the team. According to Belbin, once a team has all the members with similar weaknesses then the team will develop that weakness. On the other hand if all the team members have similar strengths, then there will be competition among the team members. This will lead to the fall of the team. However in our case it was well balance since some members had strengths in some areas but weakness in others while others were weak in one area but had strengths in other areas. Reflects on taught course Operations management is a powerful tool as far management is concerned. It is mainly used to run the day to day activities. With this concept in mind, the team had to use some of the concepts in order to make its work easy. The concepts were mainly used on the areas of time management, use of resources and achievement of the goals set by the team. This was also portrayed in the operations of Ryanair company which was able to lower operations cost through operations management. This concept was extremely important in enhancing the performance of the team as well as improving it. All the activities performed by the team were purely managed by this concept. However although the concepts were used and it achieved good results, there were some difficulties in the implementation of the process. This is mainly because the concepts were theoretical and it required a practical approach. This involved formulating other regulations to enable it work. Concepts from other modules were also important in the team and were equally applied. This combined with the operations management concepts enabled the team to succeed. Individual contributions to the presentation In the course of the team work, everyone had to make a contribution towards achieving the goals and objectives of the group. My main contributions in the team were formulating policies and guidelines that will enable the team achieve its goals and objectives. This task was quite challenging and I had to use a lot of skills and knowledge to perform it. The skills and knowledge that I sued were mainly the ones learnt in class and also other practical experiences gained from earlier presentations. During the formulations of the guidelines for the team, I had to consult widely with the team members so as to ensure that the policies are good for everyone. Due to the policies and guidelines I formulated for the team, a great success was realized by the team. Everyone was comfortable with the guidelines and I was happy with the contributions I made for the team. My most successful doing for the team was the ability to bring the members together whenever an activity was supposed to be done. During the team building exercise, I would lead the team members in all the activities. This was quite a success and it helped motivate all the team members. However, my least successful doing was advising the other team members on how to associate with each other. This was hindered by the fact that my communication skills were not good enough. In future I would do the same due to the fact that I have gained much experience. However I intend to learn more about communication skills so as to be involved more bringing members together. The following table is a summary of the presentation made by the group after answering the four questions regarding Ryanair and Flextronics. No Question Answers. 1; Strategies of Ryanair and its role in achieving low cost services. Cut down on luxurious services. Reducing the loading time in airports. Purchasing similar types of aircrafts to reduce maintenance and price. Allowing aircrafts to land in secondary airports. Increasing revenue by eliminating sale of tickets through agencies. 2. Difficulties and potential threats to performance. Failing to adopt to customers needs. Failing to keep up with technological advancement in the aircraft model. Financial problems affecting marketing and advertisement. Failure to maintain the low cost strategies. 3. Flextronics strategies in achieving customer’s satisfaction. Providing low cost and efficient and low cost products while maintaining the low costs strategies. Providing tailor on demand designed products. Providing customized offers and promotions. Supply limit credit set to frequent customers. Engaging in profitable activities. 4. Similarities and differences in the strategies used by both organizations. Differences. Ryanair provides services while flextronics provides goods. Ryanair is transnational with individual customers while Flextronics is global with corporate customers. Ryanair is not flexible and provides standard services while Flextronics is flexible and provides customized services. Similarities. Both organizations are low cost driven. Both organizations aim at expansion. Individual learning The exercise was quite instrumental and I gained a lot of skills and knowledge on management and teamwork. I gained much experience on how to manage a budget when carrying out a project. These skills are quite useful as it aims at increasing the efficiencies at the workplace and eliminate the wastage of time and resources. I also gained knowledge of how to organize goals and priorities them. This is quite useful when dealing with more than one activity. The priorities should be given depending on the usefulness of the project. The workflow process was also an important process learnt. This is instrumental in the planning process of carrying out activities. With these knowledge and skills learnt, it will be much easier to manage a project and other business activities effectively. I was able to gain much experience on leadership skills. This is because the teamwork equips one with the knowledge of self analysis and how to deal with other people. This is because I was able to understand the expectations of other members which are a leadership skill. This equipped me with the knowledge of how to deal with individuals and groups. The knowledge of program planning was also useful as it is the role of a leader to plan activities that will meet the standards of the organization. The exercise also equipped me with the knowledge of better utilization of resources and respect for others. This is quite an important attribute for any leader. Reflects on lessons learnt The experience was quite useful and a lot has been learnt from it. This has been quite useful in terms of gaining knowledge and acquiring skills. Due to working in the teamwork environment, I have gained knowledge of how to deal with people in a group and how to work with them effectively. This has raised my awareness of how to develop positive attitudes towards other people. Self confidence is also important for any person aspiring to be a leader or a manager through this exercise I was able to develop self confidence by ensuring that the other team members also have confidence with my work. This exercise has also helped me in identifying both the strengths and weaknesses which forms the basis for improvement in future. The practice is also quite a motivation as it equips the members with the skills required to make successful presentations. This is mainly because the other team members played an important role in ensuring that the right inputs are in place for the exercise to be successful. In future I would still consider presenting the exercise in the same way since it was quite successful. However few improvements can be made to make it much better. The exercise also opened a channel for realizing the need to develop personal learning. The areas of weaknesses were identified and this gave me the opportunity to concentrate more on communication skills which I identified as a weakness. I also learned that it is necessary to improve my negotiation skills so as to be a better manager. Conclusions and recommendation The team work was quite successful and a lot of lessons were learnt during the exercise. Much skills and knowledge were gained especially in the areas of operations management and leadership skills. This knowledge is quite successful in shaping the qualities of a good manager. This is mainly attributed to the fact that the individuals are able to learn from the other team members and freely consult them incase of any issue that is not clear. Individually it was a god experience. However I recommended that the time allocated for the exercise be increased so as the participants gain more knowledge and skills. References Fisher, K., 2000, Leading self-directed works teams: a guide to developing new team leadership skills, McGraw-Hill Professional, New York. Belbin M, (2012) Team roles and leadership training. Retrieved on February 6 2012 from Dyer W. G. & Dyer J. H., 2010, Team Building: Proven Strategies for Improving Team Performance, John Wiley and Sons, London. Apex leadership(2011). Happy manager, Retrieved on February 6 2012 from http://www.the-happy-manager.com/teamwork-theory.html Read More