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Assessment Task 2 (Group): Project Report and e-Presentation

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Project report (Assessment task 2a) and e-presentation (Assessment task 2b) Assessment task 2 consists of a research and analysis report with maximum 3000 words, excluding executive summary, appendices and references (2a) and a group e-presentation with maximum duration 10 minutes followed by a 5 minutes Q &A session with a total duration of 15 minutes (2b).

In this project, each group needs to identify and explain about an issue in operations and supply chain management and offer solutions/recommendations. For explaining the issue in operations and supply chain, you need to investigate a real-life company or an organisation. You need to discuss with your group members and select and collect data from the organisation. Due to current situation of Covid-19, you may only restrict yourself to collect data that are available online through accessing scholarly databases, news articles, search engines, company websites and or related operations and supply chain management articles and news that are accessible via internet. You need to consider yourself being a consultant helping with the issue. We are looking for creative solutions proposed by groups.

We will not assign you to an organisation.

Getting started: selecting topic and sources for data collection from real organisation or secondary sources

Schedule of the project is as follows.

Finalising group: Each group will have 5 members and submit your ‘Group protocol work’ form

Selecting topic and abstract: You need to submit your topic to your tutor.

Working and collecting data: Project work, data collection, analysis and so on.

Preparing report: Writing the report

Discussion with tutor: During tutorial – Tutors will help if you have any query.

Submission of Report/e-presentation: Submit your report in CANVAS.

Group presentation: During the tutorial – Present your group report

Below is a list of issues to assist you in assessing the relevance of issue with this subject.

Examples of issues could be:

• Different risks – transportation risk, manufacturing risk
• Delay in supply
• Supply failure
• Technology failure, security issue
• Project delay and uncertainty
• Machine breakdown
• Process interruption
• Supply chain integration problem
• Supply chain coordination problem
• Quality issue – defective products, low quality products
• Productivity issue – having less productivity, loss due to lower productivity
• Inventory management issue – stock out, excess inventory, unfulfilled demand
• Demand forecasting – inaccurate forecast and demand fluctuation

Examples of solutions or recommendations could be:

• Green (environmentally sustainable) operations/supply chain management.
• Risk mitigation and management techniques
• Strategic capacity management
• Flexible systems
• Six sigma quality control
• Lean supply chain
• Designing logistic, distribution and transportation system
• Multiple sourcing
• The use of optimisations techniques
• Internet of things
• Big data analysis
• Using technology for operations/supply chain practices
• Advanced manufacturing systems
• Industry 4.0

Students will need to collect data from valid sources. Valid sources for obtaining such data may include:

• Secondary data from online
• Company’s annual/quarterly reports
• Related operations and supply chain management articles and news.

Check list for finalising the topic for group assessment

• The issue has relevance with the content covered in the subject, Global Operations and Supply Chain Management.
• You have identified a company that has been experiencing the issue.
• You have sufficient information to analyse the issue convincingly and comprehensively.
• You can complete the data collection, analysis and preparing the report within the due date.
• The size and complexity of the company will not affect completion on time.

Format for two pages description of the selected topic

Description of the company:

Size of the company, sales volume of the company, operating scope of the company, number of customers of the company etc to portray the scale of operations.

Description of the issue/problem:

Based on the information obtained describe the issue in plain language. Connect the issue/problem with the topic discussed in the subject such as ‘Quality management’ with some rationale.

Outline the impact of the issue/problem on the operations and supply chain of the company:

Decline of sales volume, performance etc

Outline some potential root causes contributing to the issue/problem:

Try to outline some root causes.

Outline some potential recommendations:

Try to outline some recommendations.

References:

NOTE: If you choose to investigate a real operations/supply chain problem facing the organisation you work for, remember this is a group assignment and you need to convince your group members on the topic you propose and share responsibilities. You also need to discuss this with tutor at least 3 weeks before the assignment due date to make sure that the scope and scale of the problem is consistent with those of the other groups.

You need to advise your tutor of the brief description of the topic. Tutor will discuss about the project work during the tutorial as specified in the schedule.

Structure and format of report:

1) Title page (Provided through CANVAS)

2) Executive summary

Main problems/issues

Main recommendations

Expected benefits, and potential risks

3) Introduction

The introduction should include background to the project and an explanation of the main issues and problems. Briefly set out an explanation of how you tackled the case and how the report is organised. Problems and issues should be adequately discussed and, if appropriate, prioritized.

4) Data/information Collection

Here you explain the methodology or sources of data/information and how do you collected. You should also describe the type of data (qualitative or quantitative) and how collected data can be useful. You can collect data from real-life organisation or using secondary sources. You can also use some database such as scopus, google scholar, science direct and so on if you collect data from secondary sources. In these databases, you can find lot of published papers with their own data; you can use them but must be cited.

5) Analysis

In this section, you will analyse the data and summarise the findings. Use graph, table, figures, etc to explain your analysis. The analysis must be supported with data. Your recommendations must be reasonable with innovative solution and supported with some indication of cost. I expect you to have a detailed understanding of the capability of any technology you suggest. You should also support your ideas and statement with relevant literature.

Your analysis should clearly explicate the impact of the issue on the operations and supply chain of the company. Finally you need to apply the theories or tools learned from the subject to investigate the root causes contributing to the issue to offer practical and feasible recommendations to the company.

6) Discussion and Conclusion

You need to discuss your findings and how the findings can be helpful for the business in lights with the practices from other companies or different industries. You should also discuss if there any limitation of the study.

7) Appendices (if any)

Your appendices may contain, for example, detailed tables of data, details of how you did a calculation, interview records if included, or photographs if of some interest.

8) References

The project is directed at the collection and analysis of data, if you use material from another source then references it properly. A video link for referencing style (APA referencing style) for UTS Business School is available is attached in the Assessment section. You should cite at least 15 references.

Notes on the Group e-Presentation (Assessment task 2b):

Presentation will be delivered via online.

A good presentation is short, interesting, and delivered without notes. You might like to consider the following as you set up the slides for your presentation.

• Your presentation should long 10 minutes and 5 minutes for Q & A.
• All members should participate in presentation.
• Ensure that the slides can be read by those far from the screen.
• The first slide should introduce the group and the topic.
• You should use the slides to concentrate on the case material. Few slides to define the problem and company background and more slides to show your solution, analysis and recommendations.
• Photographs are always an effective addition

Other important notes:

Use Font 12 Times new roman with 1.5 spacing, single column, justified and 2.5 cm margin in all four sides for the report body and submit a Microsoft Word file.

All assignments must include a group cover page which is downloadable from CANVAS.

While your experience and views are the essential components of your assignments, the appropriate use of literature is required to provide evidence-based suggestions.

You should include a list of all references you use in writing your assignments. Note that all assignments will be checked for originality (similarities to existing sources) on Turnitin. You should follow instruction of your tutor for attaching Turnitin report with your assignment.

The criteria to assess your work will take into account:

• Relevance of your answer to the question or task set
• Clarity of expression
• Creativity/innovation
• Citations beyond the given subject material
• Logical planning and sequence
• Appropriate written and/or video presentation of the work.

The assessment for individual group members may be moderated by students’ peer assessment (evaluating the performance of each group member).

Total mark for Report and Online Presentation is 30 %

(Report:20% and Presentation: 10%)

Marking criteria of the Group Report (20%)

Criteria	F(Fail) Z <50%	P (Pass) 50%- 64%	C (Credit) 65% – 74%	D (Distinction) 75%- 84%	HD (High Distinction) > 85%
Introduction and background of the organisation Mark: 4	Fails to establish relevance of the problem statement and the case with any data or information. Scope not defined. Fails to establish minimum appeal for the rest of the report to an expert.	Presented effort to convey the problem statement and the relevance of the case with some key information and data. Properly introduce the company with good background information. Define scope of the report and a small outline of the content covered.	Satisfactorily established the problem statement based on the studied context and the selected case. Defined scope of the report with appropriate use of relevant data or information.	Create strong statement regarding the problem statement considering the bigger aspects of the issue with excellent data or information. Presents clear justification of the case selection and practical relevance.	Professional standard: Strong arguments to create a compelling significance about the findings of the report. Contains succinct problem definition, scope of the report, introducing the chosen case with strong connections between theories and practices supported by critical data or information. Establish bold statement regarding the contribution and implications of the report based on evidence.
Data/information collection Mark: 4	No information or data. No explanation of data collection methodology. Presented data without disclosing source.	Some useful information or data collected and presented. Explanation of data collection methodology requires clarification.	Satisfactory information or data collected and presented. Explanation of data collection methodology needs further clarification and justification.	Meaningful information or data obtained through applying an appropriate methodology with comprehensive explanation and data presented appropriately considering the problem statement.	Professional standard: Obtained and presented critical information or data to support observations, analysis and recommendation. Robust and appropriate methodology with clear justification executed flawlessly and can be replicated in different context and time.
Analysis Mark: 8	No analysis presented. Analysis with inappropriate tools, concepts or theories	Analysis presents limited application of concepts, tools or knowledge learned in the subject. Analysis presents limited competency in applying tools of operations and supply chain management with appropriate data set.	Partial analysis that presents good evidence of application of tools and concept with more room for further analysis.	Good analysis that demonstrate competent applications of knowledge of operations and supply chain. Analysis is presented with tables and figures for effectively interpretation of the key findings.	Professional standard: Analysis uncovers multiple aspects of the problem statements by selecting and applying appropriate tools from the contents covered in the subject in a creative manner to produce meaningful outcomes. Analysis demonstrates expert level knowledge on the tools or concepts presented in the report.
Discussion and Conclusion Mark: 2	No discussion presented. Discussion does not relate with the findings, analysis and the problem statement.	Discussion presents lack of connections between the findings, analysis and the relevant literature. Inappropriate tools and concepts are selected with minimum demonstration of appropriate application. Demonstration of understanding in selecting appropriate tool, however, mostly applied in an inaccurate manner and supportive arguments contains subjectivity and inappropriate evidences and reasoning.	Discussion connects the relevant literature and the findings in a weak manner leaving further room for discussion. Discussion presents absence of strong logical flow and coherence, rather presents narratives surrounding concepts around topic areas in an isolated manner.	Discussion offers sufficient effort to identify the relevance of the key findings in the practical context in lights of academic literature. Offers reasonable and practical recommendation supported by findings and analysis. Maintains logical flow, coherences and sequences while transitioning between ideas and concepts. Research limitations are not disclosed.	Professional standard: Discussion connects the findings with the relevant literature to justify the contribution and to articulate practical implications that will create strong avenue for appreciation of this scholarly work by the experts and managers. Recommendations can be practically adopted with defined advantage supported by the analysis. Practical implications should be convincing to practicing managers Research limitations are disclosed and suggestions offered for further improvement.
References Mark: 2	No or irrelevant citations. Absence of in-text or end of report reference list.	Few citations. Inaccurate referencing style. Frequent mistakes in both in-text and end of references list.	Good citations from relevant literature with frequent mistakes.	Adequate citations covered within relevant literature with occasional mistakes.	Professional standard: Citations cover top tier journals. In-text citations are incorporated thoughtfully. Listed with accuracy following UTS APA referencing style.

Marking criteria of Presentation (10%)

Structure and conventions	Marks	Z <50% (Fail)	P (Pass) 50%- 64%	C (Credit) 65% – 74%	D (Distinction) 75%- 84%	HD (High Distinction) > 85%
Content of the presentation	4	Poor content No cohesiveness No clear conclusion Poorly organized	Satisfactory – visuals are relevant and support the message and the content. Visuals may need better formatting, design, and proof reading. Some effort made to structure the whole presentation and coordinate each stage.	Uses visual aids effectively to support the overall content message of the presentation. Well organised, but lacks cohesiveness in some areas. Some lack of clarity in content, or the order of information	Uses visual creatively to support the message. Well organised and cohesive in all stages of the artefact.	Professional standard visuals and content Highly cohesive and structured
Oral presentation	4	Doesn’t engage audience & Visuals are poor All members do not evenly participate No creativity/ innovation	Engagement of students and visuals are somewhat satisfactory Slightly creative/ innovative Some effort made to involve all team members, though coordination may be lacking.	Engagement of students and visuals are satisfactory Clear sense of an effort made to present a coordinated team work. Some attempt at creativity and innovation.	Engagement of students and visuals are good Excellent attempt at creativity and innovation. Strong evidence that it is a collaborative effort. All members evenly participate and give an impression of a strong team	Communicative effective, and engaging, Highly innovative and creative Strong teamwork
Graphical presentation	2	Graphical presentation is neither clear nor attractive	Graphical presentation is somewhat satisfactory	Graphical presentation is satisfactory	Graphical presentation is good	Graphical presentation is excellent