Department of Accounting and Business Analytics
OM502 B1 Operations Management Winter 2021
Instructor: Prof. ILBIN LEE, PhD Lecture: Mondays 2:00 – 4:50 PM Office: 3-21C
Email: [email protected] Office Hours: By appointments
COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES
Course Description
Businesses use processes to produce and deliver goods and services to customers. This course is about the conceptual and quantitative analysis of business processes. The emphasis is on strategic and tactical decision making about operations so as to create competitive advantage for the organization. The topics covered include process flow analysis, capacity management, inventory management, queueing, quality, and lean operations. The topics will be illustrated through discussion and analysis of several case studies. The topics and techniques selected for this course are applicable to a wide variety of industries.
Learning Outcomes
This course is designed to develop an understanding of the following key areas and their inter- relationships:
• The core concepts in operations management,
• The key drivers of the process performance,
• Analytic methodologies for operations management analysis.
This course incorporates the Learning Goals of the MBA Program, in particular: business fundamentals, critical thinking and problem solving, communication skills, and quantitative and information processing skills. For complete descriptions of the Learning Goals of the MBA program, see: http://business.ualberta.ca/programs/the-alberta-mba/curriculum/learning-goals
COURSE MATERIALS
Required Textbook
1. Managing Business Process Flows, 3rd Ed. by Anupindi, Chopra, Deshmukh, Van Mieghem, and Zemel, Prentice Hall, 2012,
2. The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement, 30th Anniversary Edition by Eliyahu M.
Goldratt, North River Press, 2012,
3. Course Package: A link to the course package containing the cases will be provided in the first week.
eClass
You will be able to obtain lecture notes and related materials from eClass at https://eclass.srv.ualberta.ca/
Lecture notes are placed on the course website prior to topics being discussed in class. Note that the lecture notes are not an adequate substitute for class attendance.
Other than information provided in class, eClass will be where announcements and other information regarding the course will be made. Please plan to check this site regularly and/or make sure your settings in eClass will send you emails when there are updates.
COURSE ACTIVITIES AND EVALUATION
Some lectures will be asynchronous while others are synchronous. The tentative course schedule on eClass will show which part is in which format. This course will be driven by both the textbook and the cases. Therefore, attendance and participation are important. We will follow the textbook reasonably closely so the chapters in the book will give you a rough roadmap for the semester. Week by week, course materials will be posted on the eClass website. We will use this website extensively, so make sure you check it frequently.
Case Studies
We will discuss the cases in the coursepack during our lectures. Students must come to class prepared for the case discussions. A detailed course schedule containing the tentative dates and titles of case study discussions is provided on eClass. The dates are subject to change but such changes will be announced in advance. Homework and the final exam may contain questions based on our case study discussions.
Participation
All students are expected to participate in class discussions and activities as these represent an opportunity for students to develop their understanding of the material. Most of the concepts and techniques taught in this course are best illustrated and learned through problem solving.
Therefore, we will analyze many problems in class. There will be in-class activities related to these problems and your participation mark will be based on whether you participate in these activities.
The Goal
This is a textbook disguised as a novel. As a novel, it is not going to win any prizes. As a
textbook it is quite effective. Each week you will be required to read four chapters from this book and answer a few multiple choice questions and/or short essays, testing whether you read the book or not. These tests will be web-based quizzes to be answered out-of-class.
Exams
There will be a final exam at the end of the semester. It will be an open book and open file, 3- hour exam. The exam is scheduled to be on April 27, 2021, Tuesday, between 9 AM-noon. The exam will be given online through eClass and Zoom. You may be required to use an exam security software, and in that case, it is the student’s responsibility to make reasonable efforts to use the software. Please note that the final exam schedule is determined by the Office of the Registrar and therefore, I will not be able to change its date and time.
Your grade in this course will be based on the marks you obtain on seven assignments, ten web quizzes, three-hour comprehensive final exam, and participation. These marks will be weighted as follows to determine your percentage mark in the course:
In Class Participation 10%
Assignments (7 assignments) 35%
Web quizzes (10 quizzes based on The Goal, 2% each) 20%
Final Exam 35%
Total 100%
Assignments and web quizzes are due 11pm on the corresponding day. No late submission will be accepted.
Letter grades will be assigned to the percentage marks in accordance with University
Regulations [Section 23.4(4) of the University Calendar]. Grades in this course will be based on a combination of absolute achievement and relative performance.
These grades represent the only marks available to students. No additional work or extra credit is available.
Exams Remarking Policy
Solutions to the assignments will be posted on eClass after the marked assignments have been returned.
Students should review the marking carefully and bring to my and the TA’s attention any
questions about their marks as soon as possible. No remarking requests will be accepted more than one week after the results have been made available.
All appeals for remarking must be in writing and the original copy (unless available on-line) must be attached. Exams and assignments submitted for appeal may be subject to an entire review.
This may result in your grade being lower. For information regarding applying for a reappraisal of your final exam please see Section 23.5.4 (2) of the Calendar.
Link to official U of A grading policy documents
https://policiesonline.ualberta.ca/PoliciesProcedures/Pages/DispPol.aspx?PID=101
Absences from Exams
Occasionally life events occur that require a student to miss term work, term examinations, or final examinations. However, excused absences are not granted automatically and will be considered only for acceptable reasons such as incapacitating illness, severe domestic affliction, or religious convictions.
Unacceptable reasons include, but are not limited to, personal events such as vacations, weddings, or travel arrangements. When a student is absent without an acceptable excuse, a final grade will be computed using a raw score of zero for the work missed. Any student who applies for or obtains an excused absence by making false statements will be liable under the Code of Student Behaviour.
If a student is absent from the final exam, he or she must obtain permission from the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research to write a deferred final exam. The deferred exam will be written at a time determined by the MBA office in consultation with the instructor.
Section 23.3(2) and 23.5.6 (1) of the Calendar provides the University Regulations regarding procedures in the case of a missed final examination. If a deferred final exam is required for this course, it will tentatively be held on April 30, 2021, Friday between 9 AM-noon.
Office Hours
Office hours are by appointment. To make an appointment, please send me an email with a very brief description of the topic and list at least three alternative times that work for you.
Asking Questions and Email
If you have any question about the course, please post it on the Q&A section of eClass (preferred) or email me. Although I strive to respond in a timely manner, you should allow at least 24 hours to get an answer when you post a question or write an email to me. If you ask a question about the course by email, I may post the question and my answer to the Q&A section of eClass so that other students also benefit from it.
Software: Microsoft Excel, Zoom
CLASSROOM ETIQUETTE
Showing courtesy and professionalism to the instructor and other students is an important part of every class. It is expected that students:
a) Will arrive in class before it begins and will stay until it is over;
b) Will not engage in sidebar conversations with other students;
c) Will not read non-course materials
d) Will not use personal communication or entertainment devices such as laptop computers, music players, cell phones, blackberries, etc. in class
Please inform the instructor in advance if you need to arrive late or leave early on a specific day.
Audio or video recording of lectures by students is allowed only with the prior written consent of the instructor or as a part of an approved accommodation plan. Recorded material is to be used solely for personal study and is not to be used or distributed for any other purpose.
Class Attendance
It is your responsibility to attend class. If you miss class for any reason, you are still responsible for all materials covered, announcements made, and handouts provided. I will not email
handouts distributed in class or solutions to the in-class problems.
ACADEMIC SUPPORTS
The Academic Success Centre provides professional academic support to help students maximize their academic success and achieve their academic goals. The Centre offers appointments, advising, group workshops, online courses, and specialized programming year-
Location:
1-80 Students' Union Building University of Alberta, North Campus
Website:
https://www.ualberta.ca/current- students/academic-success- centre
Phone: 780-492-2682 Email: [email protected]
Accommodating Disabilities
Students who require accommodations in this course due to a disability affecting mobility, vision, hearing, learning, or mental or physical health are advised to discuss their needs with Specialized Support and Disability Services, 2-800 Students' Union Building, 492-3381 (phone) or 492-7269 (TTY) and to contact me as soon as possible so that we can discuss appropriate arrangements.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Because we regard this class as we would any job responsibility, it seems prudent to clarify, in advance, the policy on academic integrity. Given the professional nature of the MBA program, it is unlikely that a student in this class would turn in work which is not their own. However, if we determine that the work is not entirely that of the student(s) whose name(s) appear on the work, the student(s) involved may not pass this course and be further subject to program-level
discipline. Specifically, in order to protect the integrity of the MBA degree, the University may expel, suspend, reprimand, or reduce a course mark of any student who breaches the Code of Student Behavior.
Absolute and complete academic honesty is expected of you in this course. It is important for you as a student to behave in an ethical manner. The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect.
Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code of Student Behaviour (online at http://www.governance.ualberta.ca/StudentAppeals.aspx) and avoid any behaviour that could potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism,
misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence. Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University.
All assignments are to be completed individually. However, I recognize the value of studying together. To help you judge what I consider acceptable and non-acceptable collaboration for assignments (of course, no collaboration is allowed in the exam), consider the following.
Do:
• Discuss the course material with other students
• Ask classmates for help when you are stumped
• Offer help to other students
• Do your own work.
Don’t:
• Discuss numerical answers with other students
• Use someone else's words without proper attribution
o The best way to avoid using another student's words is to never look at another student's written answers to an assignment
o If you cite an article, book, web page, or any other source in your project report, then you must include complete information about that source
• Copy another student's spreadsheet file, sql file, or any other computer file o There are no exceptions to this rule. Copying another student's file for an
assignment (or another group's work, for the group project) is not acceptable, under any circumstances. It is irrelevant whether the copying is done
electronically or manually
Policy about course outlines can be found in Section 23.4(2) of the University Calendar.
Tentative course schedule will be posted on eClass.