Operations Management

1. What are various decision criteria for deciding a location for a business setup? Explain these
decision criteria concerning a location decision for setting up a Healthcaresetup (assume a
healthcare setup type of your choice). (10 Marks)

SOLUTION

Introduction

If you run a business that is in any wayoutward-facing, which means dealing with customers or clients,
you need to thoroughly check and proceed with the critical idea about how your location will contribute
to your business, here is a healthcare setup. Business News Daily Contributing Writer, Matt D'Angelo,
thinks that Your location should be refined and inviting, depending on the type of enterprise you're
running. The location, as D'Angelo writes, should create a positive association for both customers and
clients so that they would consider highly of your business.

There are several factors to identify the right location then only selecting any type of available structure
for you're your healthcare setup and occupy that. The way you finally choose your business’s location
will define your organization.

The important steps before examining other factors:

Start with your research. Your research for the right healthcare setup’s location is vital in
understanding plotting competitors’ locations, local zoning laws, and maintaining a keen awareness of
what properties are available (or may have been kept for sorting/ available soon). You are also to research
your different benefits in the target market and state entities or restrictions from local.

Consider taxes. You need to consider the local and state tax implications (if any) of your healthcare
setup's prospective location. Based on your healthcare setup type, it may be more lucrative to select a
location outside the municipality or a certain zone to get a tax benefit.
Gather information about incentives from government (s): There are incentives on both state and
central/federal levels for healthcare setup in certain government policies. By choosing the right location,
you may be eligible for certain incentives that could apply to your healthcare setup.

Key takeaway: Your healthcare setup’s location plays a vital role in your success. It is the
outward image of your setup, and it sends a strong message to your customers/patients and local mass
about the type of healthcare setup you are about to run.

Will your setup keep receiving shipments of goods?

If you're running a business or working in the industrial sector, that receives large supplies of goods,
naturally pick a location with warehouse storage space and at the same time, easy delivery options for
customers and clients are most important. Such is the case for your healthcare setup, where you need to
facilitate all these types of unavoidable inventories and an equal amount of disposable items on regular
basis. A setup that specializes in holding and shipping goods needs certain loading/unloading docks types
of structural amenities.

You will conduct meetings at your facility site

Here, consider how your medical fraternity (internal & external) and patients will see your location. If
you need to accommodate such types of people regularly, you need an accessible location. It also needs
to have waiting rooms, reception areas, conference rooms, etc. so you can meet with multiple types of
patients and their attendants and also the medical fraternity all day.

Your patients, medical staffs, and all other employees need dedicated parking

Consider the size of your healthcare setup when choosing a suitable location. Your people and visitors
will likely have a congestion-free drive to your location. If that’s the case, is parking available with you
worth it? Over and above all, you need convenient parking options for all of your patients and others.
Sometimes the most important aspect of a healthcare setup’s location is the parking options that exist
around it.

Choosing the right business location requires doing as extensive research as possible.
As you hunt for the best location for your business, consider these factors too.
Demographics: Your target audience and where they're from, must be under serious consideration. You
need to deeply research different demographic aspects related to your local area, especially around where
your desired location is being finally considered. As your healthcare setup is not at all reliant on foot
traffic alone, you should position your setup as close to where your target audience is clustered as
possible, along with the unpredictable visitors.

Competition: You need to think about where your competing healthcare setups are located. By knowing
where your competitors are, you can take advantage of the location that allows you to establish your
setup. It can also allow you to either improve your service compared to other setups or/and even you can
better gauge demand for your services and healthcare facilities.

Safety/water body near the health service facility because of any unwanted situation like fire and
such unwanted situations.
·
Even sometimes safety might be underestimated for many commercial or non-important setups, it's one
of the most crucial factors when choosing a good healthcare setup's location. The concern is human lives
which need the fullest care in every respect. Another safety point is the higher risk for theft and burglary
as it applies to every type of business and healthcare setup as well. Your and your employees' 24 hours
safety matters, especially during nighttime, which can't be compromised, as, by nature, your setup
operates 24/7 and 365 days.

Building structure: Finding the right healthcare setup's location is not just about the property, rather the
prioritized consideration will what's ground/soil quality of the proposed property. This means, no average
or muddy, or earthquake-prone soil should be chosen for your most important setup.

Zoning: According to your local area, you need to research zoning maps before selecting your area. This
allows you to gauge what & if any type of restricted activities is allowed/not allowed. Examples are
aerodrome/airport or defense shooting practice areas or low-lying & flood-prone areas/zone.

IT Infrastructure

The final consideration will be accessibility to modern & latest information & technology
infrastructure with A-Z facilities because you can’t run your set even for a single second. Remember,
your network will be countless.
Conclusion.
Since you are going to set up a healthcare setup, you must take care of all the above, if not some more,
which might not have been referred to yet.

2. Explain in detail the various types of plant layout concepts that are available in operations
management. Give examples of where each of these types can be employed respectively. Briefly
explain a layout applicable for a Restaurant format, highlighting the good points and bottlenecks,
if any. (10 Marks)

SOLUTION

Introduction

A Well Planned Restaurant Layout & its importance:

The first thing to planning out your restaurant layout is to make sure that the layout and design are in
sync with the theme and concept of your restaurant. The design of a restaurant will vary to a great extent
as per the types & formats of the upcoming restaurant. To exemplify it the layout and design of a quick-
service restaurant are done in such a way they are capable of the quickest possible table turnover, while
fine dining restaurants' layout and designs are aimed in such a way that customers can remain seated for a
longer period and enjoy the coziness & comforts which become the cornerstones for their repeat visit to
the same facility.

Having said that, the way a restaurant's layout is sketched can practically hugely impact your restaurant
operations. The layout's efficiency will reflect the facility's ease with-which operations carried out in the
hospitality. Some reasons can be cited for reasoning why investing in a well-planned restaurant layout is
a must. They are:

1. Movement & Circulation:

In a restaurant layout, one of the most important aspects is ensuring proper movement and circulation of
the customers and the restaurant staff in the facility. The layout of a restaurant should be designed in such
a manner that it can allow customers to find their way inside the restaurant easily, further to the dining
area with all types of necessary amenities.

The need for enough space between the tables cannot be stressed enough, post the consideration of the
Coronavirus crisis (still not completely eradicated) that shook the entire restaurant industry around the
world. There need to be enough spacing between the tables that not only entirely ensures easy movement
but also follows all necessary social distancing norms. The route of the waiters carrying the food for the
guests from the restaurant kitchen should be designed and laid uncluttered and straightforward to ensure
efficient and quick service. The insides of a restaurant kitchen are sometimes experienced as an
especially explosive space because most of the accidents happen due to slippery floors and clashes
among the restaurant staff. Thus, it must be ensured that the layout of the restaurant kitchen should have
enough space between the facility's different workstations.

2.Connectivity Between The Frontend And Backend of the setup

The spatial arrangement in the restaurant layout should be done in such a way that the Frontend of the
restaurant, which includes the Entrance and Reception, Cashier’s Desk, Waiting Area, and Dining Area
are well connected to the Backend of the facility, which includes the Pantry, Storage, Restaurant Kitchen,
and Administration Area.

The restaurant design should be laid in such a way that it will allow the smooth circulation of the items
from the storage and pantry to the kitchen area. If the storage is far distant from the kitchen, the staff are
to surely face unnecessary hassles transferring the stock items to the kitchen which will eventually lead to
delays in the food preparation.

It is necessary that the facility’s storage and kitchen are well ventilated and adequately separated from the
customer seating area so that the noise and smell of cooking and preparation do not reach the customers.
A representative view as below
3. Comfort For Staff and Diners

The comfort of your customers, the people in your restaurant, as well as your staff is of paramount
importance. If the guests of a restaurant are uncomfortable with the ambiance, they'll refrain from dining
even spending some time at your restaurant. In the same breadth, the comfort of all staff at the facility is
just equally important. Until and unless a good working condition is provided, the efficiency of your staff
would be minimal. In any indoor space, human comfort primarily relies on both indoor air quality and
thermal comfort (achieved by good humidity control and temperature and adequate ventilation), acoustic
comfort, and lighting which we are being discussed here below:

A) Indoor Air and Thermal Quality

It is very important to have proper Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) in your facility.
Due to electrical equipment, cooking, lighting, and the number of people inside the restaurant, the
importance of internal heat are very high in all restaurants (especially in kitchens). In the seating area, the
temperature must be controlled so that a pleasant environment can be felt by your customers. At the same
time, it should be made sure that the restaurant kitchen is well ventilated to let out both the smell and
smoke of the food preparation.

B) Lighting in your Restaurant

For your faultless restaurant design, lighting is a very important component as it provides safe
movements, and visibility to work, which all can affect the customer experience. The lighting influences
the overall ambiance of the facility, which in turn impresses the customer experience.
C) Acoustic

In general, restaurants are noisy spaces. With people talking and music playing in the background, the
overall acoustical quality of the space bears a great significance on the experience of customers. On
average, the noise level of a restaurant is typically 80 dB, (on some occasions it may reach as high as 110
dB) which is over the normal 60 dB of regular conversation. Thus, these types of setups usually have
carpeted floors and soft furnishing to provide sound-absorbing effects. Soft surfaces and false ceilings
can be included in the restaurant design for maintaining the restaurant space’s acoustics.

D) Optimum Utilization of entire Space

Optimum utilization of the entire space is one of the points of a good restaurant layout. The restaurant
layout needs to be designed in such a manner that everything, right from the chairs and tables to the
restaurant equipment is accommodated with enough space for movements and work.

E) Good Tables

One of the other vital aspects that restaurant owners often come across is optimizing the seating of the
guests so that every table is a good table. Restaurant guests always avoid sitting near the bathroom or
kitchen as these areas are prone to disturbance.

Conclusion
Of course, the overall safety of all types for all remains the vital point, so, you'd need to hire an architect
who can come up with such a floorplan and layout by thoroughly considering the spatial configurations
as a basis while also ensuring that the design is adequately harmonized with the concept and theme.
3. The Education Sector is a good example wherein the operations involve the involvement of the
"core teaching function" to be coordinating and working in sync with other departments.
Regarding the education sector, all discuss the following aspects of operations in an Educational
setup

a. Explain the role of Operations Managers in their interface with other functions in the institute.
Give relevant examples (5 Marks)

SOLUTION

Introduction

To explain the role of Operations Managers in their interface with other functions in an educational setup,
it is relevant to cite the roles of a Business Operation Manager, followed by the applicability of a School
operation manager.

A business operations manager initially analyzes, thereafter oversees, and finally makes decisions
regarding the overall systems and productivity within a business setup and thus ensures its maximum
efficiency. Business operations management plays an important part in all spectrums of business
operations.

Responsible Managers of any school

Managers of schools are responsible for overseeing all of the operations on a day-to-day basis at their
school. They are entitled to make sure that everything from curriculum to facilities is properly taken care
of, and they often play a key role in developing new programs or initiatives to better the quality of
education being rendered in the institution.

Managing staff can also be tasked with school operations managers — they may also oversee hiring
decisions, evaluate performance, and other important aspects of management of employees.

Job Duties of a School Operations Manager

A school operations manager is typically tasked with a wide range of responsibilities, they may be:

A manager has to ensure that the school has adequate supplies and equipment to meet the student's needs.
Monitoring the school’s financial status and budget regularly is to ensure that funds are used
appropriately. These also come under the ambit of responsibilities of an operation manager of a school.

· Reviewing school policies related to student behavior management and discipline.

· To ensure the safety of students and staff, a school operation manager oversees the entire system.

· Developments and implementations of different programs for increasing student achievement

which all, in turn, improve school culture.

· Addressing concerns or issues with teachers or parents and reviewing parent complaints and
aiming to improve the culture of the school.

· Overseeing repair and maintenance of school facilities, including cafeterias, athletic fields,
classrooms, and playgrounds.

· Coordinating with teachers to manage classroom activities and develop lesson plans.

· Hiring process managing for new staff members, which includes interviewing candidates
followed by conducting their background checks.

Schools will continue to hire operations managers for overseeing the school's day-to-day operations while
ensuring the efficient running of the school. Operations managers are also expected to help schools not
only improve the performance of students but also implement new education policies.

The Use of Technology in Schools

A common increasing phenomenon being experienced in schools is the use of technology

implementations in schools, as educators consider it as the new requirement for students and so utilize the
latest technology in the classroom. As more and more schools are adopting digital learning platforms, this
trend is likely to continue.

Conclusion

By becoming familiar with these platforms, operations managers of schools can take advantage of this
trend, and thus they can use it to improve student learning. They also need to be dedicated to working to
ensure that the school's IT infrastructure is up to date and in a position to support these platforms.
b. Define Quality and list and discuss in brief the various dimensions of quality in
operations

SOLUTION

Introduction

School operations managers are expected to possess the following skills to become successful:

Leadership Quality: Having the quality of leading, guiding, and motivating others. As an operations
manager, s/he may be responsible for supervising a team of employees. Encouraging leadership skills can
help you motivate your team members and also encourage them to work hard. Another merit is the use of
leadership skills to help a well-oiled team to work together and resolve any conflicts.

Problem-solving: Operations managers are often expected to solve problems and at the same time make
decisions quickly. They are also expected to make decisions about budgeting, staffing, scheduling, and a
few more aspects of their job. They are also likely to solve problems that may crop up during any given
day, such as a safety issue or a customer complaint.

Communication: Operations managers are to communicate with many people on a daily and regular
basis, that include managers, clients, employees, supervisors, and suppliers. They use skills of written
and verbal communication to convey messages, while also answering questions and providing
instructions. They also make qualitative use of their communication skills to resolve workplace concerns
and issues.

Organization: Organizing skill is another important quality for an operations manager to deal with, as it
allows him/her to complete his/her duties on time while also maintaining a professional workplace. S/he
might use organization skills to keep track of schedules of employees, maintain files and records and also
organize events and meetings.

Budgeting: Overseeing the financial aspects of a company also comes under the responsibilities of
operations managers, so they need to have strong budgeting skills. Creation of a budget, monitoring it,
and making adjustments to the budget as needed, come under the purview of an operation manager.
Operations managers can apply their budgeting skills to help their organization increase profits and save
money.
Work Environment of a School Operations Manager

School operations managers typically work in private and government-run schools. Usually, they work
during regular business hours, albeit they may be required to work weekends or even in the evenings to
attend events and meetings. Typically, school operations managers have a permanent base office, yet,
they may be needed to spend considerable time traveling to different schools under their control. They
may also be required to attend conferences and meetings outside of the district.

Trends of School Operations Managers

Here are three trends that can influence the working of school operations managers. School operations
managers are needed to stay up-to-date on these developments to keep their skills relevant while
maintaining a competitive advantage in the workplace.

Conclusion

The latest trend in Data analytics has become an essential tool for all establishments, hence, educational
setups are no exception. As data has become the most important component, school operations managers
necessarily need to learn how to use it to make better decisions. This includes using data that can rightly
identify problems in the school system and also find solutions, at the same time using the churned out
data to evaluate the effectiveness of initiatives and programs.