Operations Strategy and Timeline of Managed Project - Coursework Example

 Solution 1 (a) Earliest start time (EST) is the earliest time an activity may begin. Thus the earliest start time of each activity is shown in the network diagram. For each of the starting activity that is A, B and C the earliest start time is 0 and for the next activities the time taken to complete the task is added up. When the decision is to be made where there are more than one precedent activity such as H and K then the longest time taken is added up. Latest finish time (LFT) is the latest time an activity may be completed without increasing the project completion time. Starting from the last activity that is K the latest finish time calculated by adding up the earliest start time with the time taken for the activity K. Then time taken by each activity is subtracted accordingly so as to determine the latest finish time of every precedent activity. The following table shows the EST, LFT duration and total float of each of the activity. Activity Duration EST LFT Total Float A 27 0 89 62 B 24 0 47 23 C 21 0 23 2 D 21 27 116 68 E 22 24 71 25 F 27 21 44 -4 G 22 48 71 1 H 22 70 93 1 J 22 92 115 1 K 23 114 137 0 The total float for activities D, F and J are: D 68 F -4 J 1 The critical path of the project is the longest path on the network or the maximum time that the project will take. In this case the critical path would be from C to F to G to H to J to K as this path will the longest time. The time taken on the critical path will be: 21 + 27 + 22 + 22 + 22 + 23 = 137 weeks Solution 1 (b) The activity H is the user acceptance testing which is a critical activity in this project as the activity lies on the critical path. The current length of the critical path will increase by three weeks as due to the delay of three weeks in activity H. This activity is the user acceptance testing where the user of the software make their decisions regarding acceptance of the software which shall be useful for the operations managers are the next activities that are connected to H are J i.e. implementation and K i.e. handover. The three weeks delay in activity H can be handled appropriately by shortening the times that the next activities consume. The next activities are connected with the activity H, as J is the activity where implementation of the software is done which can be set short as when the user acceptance testing takes time then the user modifications are fully understood and implemented. When the user specifications are fully satisfies the implementation stage can be cut short in order to affirm that the critical time for the project does not exceeds. The activity H lies on the critical path and the delay in this activity will cause serious troubles regarding the extension in critical time for the completion of the project. When the delay in the activity is done then there is no other option instead to control the time that is required on the next activities thus controlling the time duration and taking steps to shorten the time taken in activity J will assist the operation manager not to exceed the length of the critical path. Question 2: In the present corporate world competition is increasing day by day as the concept of globalization and internationalization of economies prevails. Extra focus is being towards the brand name, quality, customer services, credibility, innovation, project or management design activities and supply chain. All these factors are in some way resources of the organization. Organizations are often seen as bundle of resources some of them are internal and some external to the organization and they can be both tangible and intangible in nature. It often seen that organizations with the same resources have different level of performance[Mag06]. Difference lies in the allocation and utilization of the resources that ensures the performance, effectiveness and efficiency of the organization. In current era of hyper-competition resources form a critical position in the strategic management of the organization. Research Based View (RBV) allows evaluation of the resources of the organization that gives them an idea about their strengths and how the optimum output can be achieved from minimum resources. Under RBV every unit of the organization is seen as a separate resource with its distinct role and position in the firm. Resources valuable and rare in nature provide competitive advantage however inimitable along with that ensure sustainable competitive advantage and performance of the organization. Thus RBV has gained much importance in operation management studies it not only focuses of optimization of resources but also provides strategies regarding their selection and location[SCO07]. The example of HR recruitment process can be taken. Innovation is important for sustainability in the current business world thus it is the human resource that can generate new ideas. They are trained and their skills are skills are developed within the organization thus they form a part of internal resources of the organization. Like any other aspect of organization HR must also have diversity and heterogeneity. It is thus the concepts of RBV that allow the management to strategically analyze their operations, performance, and their work teams. RBV would allow the management to be sure about the requirement of skills and abilities they need from human resource and thus would focus on recruitment of only such employees. It would contribute designing of job structure and allocation of responsibilities and roles as per the level of their skills. Thus RBV allows the concept of “right man for the right job” to prevail. RBV forms the basis of the operations strategy of the organization. It has been discussed earlier that firms with same level of resources would not show same level of performance difference would be in their efficiency and effectiveness of their strategies. It is the designing that involves structuring, scheduling and allocation of the resources to every department or part of the organization. In order to increase the efficiency of the resources it is important that the processes are optimally designed that ensure lower wastages and higher output from the minimal resources. HR example can be seen here also it has become a requirement in the current era to maintain organizational teams and work in the environment that ensures coordination[TKD00]. Thus tasks are structured both at the team and individual level that ensure that workforce have a designed path to follow. Therefore it can be said that operations strategy are the policies and plans of organization for utilization of their resources to support their long-term goals and objectives. Role of designing is critical in the success of this strategy as it is the outcome of the policies and is the structured path that has to be followed by every individual unit of the organization. References Mag06: , (Magdalena, 2006), SCO07: , (SCOTT, 2007), TKD00: , (T. K. & Bing-Sheng, 2000), Read More