Queen Burger - Operation Management Functions, Events after Expansion, and Quality Feedback - Case Study Example

Operation Management Name Institution Course Instructor Date Table of Contents Operation Management 4 Executive Summary 4 Introduction 4 Summary of Queen Burger 5 Evaluation of Queen Burger 7 Input 7 Transformed Resources 8 Output 8 Overall functions of Queen Burger at the beginning 8 Events that happened after Queen Burger restaurants were expanded 8 A brief overview of factors that provide quality feedback on the progress of Queen Burger 11 Strengths 11 Weaknesses 11 Significance of management 11 Planning 12 Organizing 12 Leading 13 Controlling 13 The process of operation management at Impressive Burgers 14 Volume/Quantity 14 Variation 14 Visibility 15 Variety 15 Measurement of performance objectives 15 Quality 15 Speed 16 Cost 16 Factors affecting operations at Queen Burger 16 Development of new services and staff reduction 16 Improper planning 17 Change management 17 Operation Improvement 18 Improvement Techniques 18 Total Quality Management (TQM) 19 Conclusion 19 References 21 Operation Management Executive Summary This research article seeks to address operation management of a firm in the fast food industry. The fast food industry is a popular enterprise in the United States where majority have been involved as customers or employees. My case analyses a common restaurant but in this article, a made up name, Queen Burger is used to represent the enterprise. My experience at Queen Burger is as a customer, a factor that prompted me to do my research and represent it in this article. The article therefore covers the current status of Queen Burger, problems they faced after expansion and recommendations for improvements. Operation management literature books are used to support both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Introduction Operation management is simply described as the process of value addition. It is the process of coordinating business activities that are involved in putting together inputs that will produce an output that is valued by the customer (Steiner, 2010, p. 3). The department of operation management is responsible for collecting inputs and suggesting ways through which efficiency and effectiveness can be achieved. It covers a number of strategic roles that can be of good help in ensuring certain production processes improve to meet customer’s satisfaction. In this research article, the process that will be addressed will cover the fast food industry. Every company has its own operation management which when well managed steers the company in the right way. This article addresses the issues of Queen Burger. My analysis of Queen Burger was prompted by the services of I received there as a customer. My personal research consists of a well detailed qualitative and quantitative review of the operation management of Queen Burger. In the article, I will discuss on the current operation management at Queen Burger and provide my sketch of areas that can be improved to add value and satisfy customers like myself Summary of Queen Burger Ten years ago, Queen Burger started as a fast food business where they offered several food varieties to their customers. The first take away food that they offered to their customers was well known for its quality and the shorter time they took to serve the food. In the beginning, impressive burger used only 4 minutes to serve food to their customers. As we all know, most things start changing on the way when operating factors begin changing. Each of Queen Burger’s restaurants offered a variety of six simple meals. The meals that were offered included a variety of burgers with chips and soft drinks being constant per every meal. The variety of burgers included cheese, chicken, and vegetarian burgers. Chicken nuggets, chicken salad, garlic bread and hot dogs were introduced later on the menu. This was done twelve months ago when they aimed to introduce healthier options for their customers. Size of the meal was and is still the choice of the buyer. Queen Burger’s Value Stream Map before Expansion 60 seconds 30seconds 30 seconds 105 seconds 15 seconds Total time=240 seconds 10 seconds 5 seconds 15 seconds 5 seconds Transition time=35 seconds Figure 1 Before Queen Burger expanded and diversified into offering more services, time was an important factor that they considered. For fast food restaurants, time is considered as part of value addition. As indicated in the value stream map, all the activities are summarized in four minutes (240 seconds). Because of the queuing process, it takes a person approximately 60 seconds before he/ she can make the order. Since the restaurant was still in its infancy and the professionalism of Queen Burger’s staff, the queue was moving at a faster rate. Making an order only took 30 seconds due to availability of staff and given the fact that the number of customers was still low. 105 seconds was the time used to prepare food. Since this is a fast food restaurant, preparation only involves preheating the food and packaging which takes approximately 15 seconds. Four minutes is the exact time that the activities happen at the restaurant. The four minutes do not account for transition period between two activities. Total transition time is 35 seconds factoring in the efficiency of the staff and the low number of customers. 10 seconds are utilized from queue to the time the customer makes an order. 15 seconds are taken from the time one finishes paying and hands in the receipt in for the meal ordered to be prepared. To build on the reputation of their restaurant, Queen Burger did not account for the 35 seconds wasted in between the processes. The management only factored in the time needed to carry out all the processes. Evaluation of Queen Burger One important factor that is mostly considered under operation management is the ability to covert resources fully into goods and services. Under this particular case study, I highlight the input, transformed resources and the output of Queen Burger. Input Capital, for any business to begin, money is important. Sources of capital vary but what matters a lot is that the business is up and running. Since this is a fast food enterprise, materials are very important. Materials needed by Queen Burger include chicken, potatoes, vegetables, spices and buns. Equipment required includes fryers, microwaves and cleaning machines. Suppliers are very much needed to make sure that all the required materials are availed to the company. Other important inputs ensuring the final outcome (queen burger) include labor, time and knowledge (Cummings & Worley, 2014, p. 96). Transformed Resources Once the raw resources have been delivered to the organization, what comes out are transformed goods. Among the transformed resources include services like cooking and cleaning, transportation, storage and inspection. Output These are the final products which include chips, burgers and nuggets. Other outputs that result from the general process include customers, competitor, technology and suppliers. Customers are essential and are categorized as output since they are expected to consume the finished product. Competitors only exist at this particular stage after the enterprise is fully established. Queen Burger exists in a highly competitive business that is well established in the United States. Suppliers are a common factor that exists at both stages of input and output. At the input level, suppliers bring in raw materials while at the output level; they supply finished products to potential consumers (Cummings & Worley, 2014, p. 100). These are just but a few elements of operation management. Overall functions of Queen Burger at the beginning Since it started as a fast food restaurant, one of the roles was to deliver food quickly. Ensuring high quality of services delivered was also one of the major functions of Queen Burger. Other duties of the business included provision of simple meals, option of size choice and delivery within four minutes to ensure efficiency. Events that happened after Queen Burger restaurants were expanded Expansion comes with greater responsibility as a result of the increased range of activities. With an increase in the capacity of the restaurants, the volume of food produced also doubled. Customer range and number also added up. Due to increased number of customers, serving time dropped from 4 minutes to 9 minutes. This occurred simply because despite the increase in food quantity and customer number, the equipment and staff remained the same. As a result, the overall profit of Queen Burger decreased by 20 percent. The amount of waste generated by Queen Burger also amplified due poor management of the inventory (Steiner, 2010, p. 288). The major reasons that led to the expansion of Queen Burger’s restaurants was to increase the customer base, a goal they managed to achieve. This was through attracting new customers and encouraging loyal customers to stay. Other reasons for expansion included establishing and building on customer loyalty, and develop a long term profitable growth. Queen Burger’s Value Stream Map after expansion 3 minutes 1 minute 1 minute 2.5 minutes 15 seconds Total time= 7 minutes, 45 seconds 30 seconds 10 seconds 40 seconds 10 seconds Transition time= 90 seconds Figure 2 As provided in the discussion, the aim of the restaurant to expand was to increase customer base and profitability. The customer base increased after the company diversified and expanded its menu and services. The only problem to the management was that the number of staff and equipment was not increased causing a commotion that resulted in delays in terms of service delivery.Delivery time increased from 4 minutes to 9 minutes. This was as a result of staff overburden. Waiting time on the queue increased from 1 minute to 3 minutes. Ordering time increased to I minutes with payment time also increasing tremendously. Time used for food preparation became 2.5 minutes. Without accounting for the transition process, time taken by Queen Burger to deliver services is exactly 7 minutes and 45 seconds. Transition time takes 90 minutes in total. Generally, with limited number of staff means that those who are available must multi task, for instance, they have to take orders and receive cash at the same time, the person who prepares the food is the one that packs it and serve customers. As a result, operational time increases. A brief overview of factors that provide quality feedback on the progress of Queen Burger Strengths In public Limited Companies (PLC) a strong product value is attained through advertisements and marketing. Customer care and cleanliness, delivery swiftness and a superb restaurant location all contribute to the strengths. All these factors when combined together act as pillars towards a strong organization. Provision of unique packages and a variety of new products such as chicken nuggets and salad, cheese and chicken burgers are among the strengths (Ryu, Lee, & Gon Kim, 2012, p. 201). Other factors considered in the strengths include diversification of the business due to the review on policies highlighting organizational goals and addition of value (Simons, 2013, p. 14). Weaknesses A number of limitations hamper the development of PLCs. High operating costs kills most businesses before they make a leap towards the right direction. Other factors that are evident at Queen Burgers are; service delivery delays, low productivity by service deliverers, low quality due to pressure of the need to expand, production of unhealthy varieties, pathetic marketing structures and low number of operating equipment. All the above mentioned factors are evident at Queen Burgers restaurants and are responsible for its slowed down operations. To address all these issues therefore, requires the intervention of the management to secure the future of Queen Burger’s restaurants (Davis, Lockwood, Pantelidis & Alcott, 2013, p. 5). Significance of management Processes being managed here cover from the entry of inputs up to the stage where outputs are produced. Management is a very significant factor in the prosperity of any public limited company. Functions of management include controlling, planning, leading and organizing. All these factors functions go together and need to be combined together to ensure that effectiveness and the strengths are all capitalized on all together. Planning Planning is very significant to management and it represents that first component. In this particular stage, the manager determines the goals and how the organization intends to achieve the already set goals. Setting the goals is considered a different step that requires its own time. The following up and execution of the set goals is a distinct process that requires its own time. For instance, the manager of Queen Burger will be required to arm him/herself with the marketing plan, sales plan and a new plan on hiring. Realistic goals that can be set by Queen Burger may help them to cover for their already exposed weaknesses. An example can be trying to achieve a faster delivery time to their customers (Sawhney, Wolcott & Arroniz, 2011, p. 30). They can also consider delivering high quality products compared to their already established competitors. Another realistic goal that all businesses strive for is to make profit. Making profit and the above named factors should be on the list of goals that should be set by Queen Burger (Qin & Prybutok, 2009, p. 80). Organizing After planning, it is important for managers to organize. Organizing only aims people and resources. Organizing people involves determining how workers need to be on shift and at what particular time are they required. Every employee has to have a complete role to do at the company. When other employees are left unaccounted for indicates disorientation in the organization. In this particular case, the organizing board at Queen Burger could have ensured that they improve the overall number of staff and production equipment. All these issues are addressed in the light of the company’s expansion. Leading This is another distinct function but equally as important as the first two. A manager plays the role of a leader in this particular scenario. The role of a leader is to ensure that employees work in order and follow the policies of the organization. The manager plays the role of a motivator. Motivation is required for employees who do the same thing day in day out. Motivation kills the boredom and ensures that employees achieve their personal targets. It is therefore the role of the leader; in this case the manager to determine what exactly motivates employees. In a nutshell, the leader motivates rude employees and offering appropriate assistance to the staff members. Controlling This is the last function of management where the firm’s operations are monitored to ensure that the set objectives are achieved. Controlling ensures that the manager keeps in balance the costs of operation and the overall output of the organization. The output should always have the higher costs compared to the initial investment cost. The manager also uses this function to make sure that the organization stays on course towards achieving their set goals. As a method of employee motivation, the manager can ensure that he/she shares the relevant information with the employees or developing some form of reward. Some of the functions that can fall under this particular category include controlling all the activities at the firm and also maintaining the operational costs in balance to the output of the company (Davis, Lockwood, Pantelidis & Alcott, 2013, p. 255). The process of operation management at Impressive Burgers This particular process has a very significant role in ensuring the organization progresses in the right way. All processes at Queen Burger are dedicated at ensuring that the input is converted into finished products. A number of factors are considered by Queen Burger since they are under the category of PLCs. The following dimensions are very important for the operation and expansion of Impressive burger: Volume/Quantity Queen Burgers is a fast food enterprise and the term volume matters a lot for their expansion, failure or average performance. For the restaurants to expand, they have to increase the volume of output which highly depends on the volume of the input. The number of staff and equipment has also to expand due to the increased volume to improve efficiency. The volume that Queen Burger operates with is very vital to their operation. More established players such as the McDonalds produce large volumes while at the same time they are still able to maintain efficiency. Volume is therefore very strategic in the operation of the organization (Mentzer Stank & Esper, 2008, p. 32). Variation This factor deals with studying the production patterns of Queen Burger. There are some days that the rate of consumption is high than other days of the week. The firm has to consider this factor in determining the amount of input. Input materials should be able to vary with the days and hours after the manager has noted the trend repeat for a certain period of time (Talib, Rahman & Qureshi, 2012, p. 260). Visibility This is a common factor in the fast food industry. Some customers may ask for the visibility of some duties or operations. This should not be a problem to Queen Burgers according to my personal views. Variety This is a common factor when describing food and the major determinant for the survival of Queen Burgers. McDonalds managed to reach where they are because of the diversification in diversity. Variety in the restaurants defines the range of foods that the organization offers. Variety can be indicated by the list of foods on the menu. The other important factor is to whether Queen Burger is willing to customize foods according to customer’s preferences. When all these factors are considered, variety is achieved thereby catapulting the organization in the right direction. Queen Burger increased their variety options but failed to increase the staff and equipment. As a result, they ended up delaying delivery time and reducing their profits by 20 percent. Measurement of performance objectives From a critical point of view, these factors measure some of the operational objectives of Queen Burger and determine whether they are achievable or not. Quality It is the dream of each company to produce quality products that are fully accepted by consumers. This is ensured by delivering products that have no errors. Quality forms the most basic objective that Queen Burgers aim to achieve and stay competitive while ensuring customer satisfaction. Customers are the final judges on this specific issue (Akkerman, R., Farahani & Grunow, 2010, p. 865). Speed Customer satisfaction highly depends on quality goods and also the speed they take to deliver the products. In the fast food business, the delivery speed is a very significant factor hence the name fast food industry. After expansion and diversification, Queen Burgers did not add the number of employees and working equipment. The result of these was the delay in the delivery time. Cost Operational costs usually determine the final price that an organization prefers to sell its products. The cost of output highly depends on the volume and variety produced. This is an important factor in operation management. Most firms want to sell their commodities at prices that are rated average in the market. High costs may push away customers if the quality is poor. Queen Burger is struggling with this particular issue. It is trying to balance production costs and the final product price. For them to be effective, they have to higher skilled personnel who will be paid highly thus transferring the cost to the final consumer (Rummler, & Brache, 2012, P. 67). Factors affecting operations at Queen Burger Development of new services and staff reduction This disrupted normal operations within the firm. Diversifications indicated increased service delivery and new varieties being offered. The fact that duties increased and the number of employees remained constant led to the increase in terms of service delivery. Reduction of staff also acted as a major setback to Queen Burger. A number of staff resigned due to overload in work after the organization diversified and increased the range of services. As a result, the following factors manifested themselves in the company; complaints from customers, negative feeling among staff and poor product delivery. Improper planning Queen Burger failed to plan effectively which acted as their main failure. Before diving into diversification it is important to develop a detailed plan that accounts for every possibility and covers all angles. The firm failed to account for the number of staff, equipment and the delivery of other variety of services. Other factors include improper staff training. Queen Burger need people who can deliver well, under pressure. Unmotivated staff also acted as another possible explanation for the problems that affected the firm. Lack of motivation is expressed through dissatisfaction with the job accompanied with a number of excuses for missing work. Overburden of work due to increased services offered limited manpower. In summary the other problems included; time consumption, low quality, low hygiene considerations, half/incomplete orders and lack of teamwork among staff members due to increased duties per head. Increased wastage had a direct negative impact on the inventory. Change management Queen Burger failed to manage changes that they were facing as a company. It was necessary for the diffusion of the change in the organization before the effects began to show. The changes failed to be fully implemented in the firm because of the lack in training of proper handling of the new services that were introduced. Since the change didn’t reflect, the quality of service delivery in their restaurants was poor (Hsieh, Lin & Lin, 2008, p. 430). Employees are not responsible for the management of change but rather doing the best they can to sustain the pressure. The management has to consider the fact whether the change is achievable and realistic enough or not. Implementing all these factors without considering the changes can result in factors such as employee rudeness due to work overburden (Daft, 2012, P. 523). Operation Improvement Two schools of thought can be used to explain operation improvement. The two philosophies used are different and are somehow the opposite of each other. The first approach is breakthrough improvement. This focuses on dramatic short term changes that may or may not realize the targeted changes. This particular method advocates for a complete restructuring in order to realize changes. The other method advocates for a step by step changes. This particular method is referred to as continuous improvement. This is the best way to implement the changes, the best way that Queen Burger could have used to implement changes in their restaurants (Min & Min, 2011, p. 283). Continuous improvement plan stands for plan, do, check and act. Improvement Techniques A number of techniques can be used to implement changes in an organization. They include the application of flow charts, scatter diagrams, and Pareto diagrams. For the case of Impressive Burgers, use of flow charts can produce effective results that will allow the changes to be effective. Flow charts provide a detailed diagram of the flow of materials, statistics about customers while at the same time offering to explain to the management areas of weaknesses that need to be addressed (Bartel & Garud, 2009, p. 109). Total Quality Management (TQM) TQM is the latest weapon in the arsenal that managers are currently using to combat changes in operation management. TQM provides a range of new ideas that intend to improve both qualitative and quantitative aspects of the firm (Arumugam, Ooi & Fong, 2008, p. 637). Among the factors that can be improved include; satisfying the expectations of the customer, clarifying on the costs related to quality and creating a long term procedure of improvement (Koller Goedhart & Wessels, 2010, p. 5). Conclusion From a personal point of view, Queen Burger is only facing problems due to the fact that management failed to plan and control significant activities. The changes that Queen Burger experienced were not handled well by managers which led to the events that occurred after. From the analysis I have provide in the discussion, I would advise the manager of Queen Burger to train and expand the staff base of their firm before diversifying and expanding again (Cummings & Worley, 2014, p. 181). Review of the input and the inventory is also very important in ensuring that goals set are achieved fully. To also ensure that improvement process continues throughout, these factors need to be followed more often: continuous training and employee development, rewards to motivate employees and new ways such as free meals to attract more customers, motivate employees to work as a team and improve on time management (Sharma, Teret & Brownell, 2010, p. 240). References Akkerman, R, Farahani, P, & Grunow, M 2010, ‘Quality, safety and sustainability in food distribution: a review of quantitative operations management approaches and challenges,’ Or Spectrum, vol. 32, no.4, pp. 863-904. Arumugam, V, Ooi, K, B, & Fong, T, C 2008, ‘TQM practices and quality management performance: An investigation of their relationship using data from ISO 9001: 2000 firms in Malaysia,’ The TQM Journal, vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 636-650. Bartel, C, A, & Garud, R 2009, ‘The role of narratives in sustaining organizational innovation,’ Organization Science, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 107-117. 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