Operations (BUSA90227)

Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)

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Overview

Availability(Quotas apply)
April
April
July
September
FeesLook up fees

In fiercely competitive global and dynamic environments, companies face increasing pressures to exceed customer expectations along multiple performance measures, such as cost, quality, flexibility and innovativeness. To outperform their competitors, many firms make the mistake of mimicking their rivals, rather than focusing on developing the organizational capabilities that competitors will find difficult to match over the long term. And although operations are at the core of a firm’s value adding activities, few firms have sought to build a sustainable competitive advantage around these capabilities.

Operations deals with the design, management and continuous improvement of business processes. It aims at providing some of the core concepts in operations that are essential for leveraging a firm’s operational capabilities to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. This course provides a logical and rigorous approach to plan and control process structure and managerial levers to achieve desired business process performance.

Intended learning outcomes

On completion of this subject, students should be able to:



  • Analyse real-world processes and evaluate the fit and consistency they offer with respect to the firm's overall strategy and positioning in the marketplace
  • Perform detailed process analysis to identify existing bottlenecks and improve processes through de-bottlenecking approaches
  • Understand the role that inventory plays in real-world situations, identify relevant managerial levers for controlling the level of inventory, and apply simple analytical frameworks for estimating the optimal order size and the level of safety stock that a firm should carry for its chosen level of service
  • Identify the drivers of variability in processes and propose managerially relevant solutions to contain the effects of variability using queuing models
  • Use robust statistical process control techniques to ensure that a given process under consideration is both capable and in control to deliver the products and services that satisfy customer needs
  • Apply six-sigma and lean (Toyota Production System) principles to improve the performance of processes

Last updated: 8 November 2024

Eligibility and requirements

Prerequisites

Prerequisite

25 credit points from

Code Name Teaching period Credit Points
BUSA90480 Leadership
September (On Campus - Parkville)
April (On Campus - Parkville)
Summer Term (On Campus - Parkville)
June (On Campus - Parkville)
April (On Campus - Parkville)
 6.25
BUSA90481 Managerial Ethics & Business Environment
April (On Campus - Parkville)
June (On Campus - Parkville)
April (On Campus - Parkville)
September (On Campus - Parkville)
Summer Term (On Campus - Parkville)
 6.25
BUSA90060 Data Analysis
January (On Campus - Parkville)
July (On Campus - Parkville)
September (On Campus - Parkville)
April (On Campus - Parkville)
 12.5
BUSA90482 General Management 1
September (On Campus - Parkville)
 62.5

Note: The subject below can be taken concurrently.

12.5 credit points from

Code Name Teaching period Credit Points
BUSA90193 Managerial Economics
September (On Campus - Parkville)
July (On Campus - Parkville)
January (On Campus - Parkville)
April (On Campus - Parkville)
 12.5
BUSA90483 General Management 2
January (On Campus - Parkville)
 43.75

Corequisites

None

Non-allowed subjects

None

Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)

The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.

Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home

Last updated: 8 November 2024

Assessment

April

DescriptionTimingPercentage

Contribution to class learning

Throughout the teaching period5%

4 quizzes

  • 15 minutes (each)
Throughout the teaching period20%

2 x syndicate case assignments; Equivalent to 300 words per student per assignment. Week 4 and Week 8

  • 600 words (each)
From Week 4 to Week 830%

Final examination

  • 3 hours
Hurdle requirement: students are required to pass the final examination to pass the subject		End of the teaching period45%

January

DescriptionTimingPercentage

Contribution to class learning

Throughout the teaching period10%

4 quizzes

  • 15 minutes (each)
Throughout the teaching period20%

2 x syndicate case assignments; Equivalent to 300 words per student per assignment. Week 4 and Week 8

  • 600 words (each)
From Week 4 to Week 825%

Final examination

  • 3 hours
Hurdle requirement: students are required to pass the final examination to pass the subject		End of the teaching period45%

Additional details

Gerardo Berbeglia: (April)

  • Contribution to class learning (5%)
    • Throughout subject
  • 4 quizzes (20%)
    • 15 minutes each
    • Throughout subject
  • 2 x syndicate case assignments (30%)
    • Equivalent to 300 words per student per assignment
    • Week 4 and Week 8
  • Final examination (45%)
    • hurdle requirement
    • 3 hours
    • End of subject

Kannan Sethuraman: (January)

  • Contribution to class learning (10%)
    • Throughout subject
  • 4 quizzes (20%)
    • 15 minutes each
    • Throughout subject
  • 2 x syndicate case assignments (25%)
    • Equivalent to 300 words per student per assignment
    • Week 4 and Week 8
  • Final examination (45%)
    • hurdle requirement
    • 3 hours
    • End of subject

EMBA:

  • Class Contribution (15%)
    • Throughout subject
  • Class preparation activities (15%)
    • E.g. completion of short basic questions/exercise sets
    • Total: 1,000 words
    • Throughout subject
  • Ongoing syndicate case studies (30%)
    • Total: 2,500 words
    • Throughout subject
  • Final Exam (40%)
    • Hurdle requirement
    • 90 minutes
    • End of module

Last updated: 8 November 2024

Quotas apply to this subject

Dates & times

  • April
    Mode of deliveryOn Campus (Parkville)
    Contact hours
    Total time commitment140 hours
    Pre teaching start date 5 April 2024
    Pre teaching requirementsstudents are expected to complete approximately 10 hours of readings to prepare for the subject.
    Teaching period 8 April 2024 to 2 June 2024
    Last self-enrol date 4 February 2024
    Census date19 April 2024
    Last date to withdraw without fail17 May 2024
    Assessment period ends 9 June 2024
  • April
    Mode of deliveryOn Campus (Parkville)
    Contact hours30 hours
    Total time commitment140 hours
    Pre teaching start date 1 April 2024
    Pre teaching requirementsstudents are required to complete approximately 15 hours of readings to prepare for the subject during pre-teaching period
    Teaching period 8 April 2024 to 14 June 2024
    Last self-enrol date 4 February 2024
    Census date19 April 2024
    Last date to withdraw without fail24 May 2024
    Assessment period ends21 June 2024

    April contact information

    Melbourne Business School

    Degree Program Services

    Email: programservices@mbs.edu

  • July
    Mode of deliveryOn Campus (Parkville)
    Contact hours30 hours
    Total time commitment140 hours
    Pre teaching start date24 June 2024
    Pre teaching requirementsstudents are required to complete approximately 15 hours of readings to prepare for the subject during pre-teaching period
    Teaching period 1 July 2024 to 6 September 2024
    Last self-enrol date21 April 2024
    Census date12 July 2024
    Last date to withdraw without fail16 August 2024
    Assessment period ends13 September 2024
  • September
    Mode of deliveryOn Campus (Parkville)
    Contact hours30 hours
    Total time commitment140 hours
    Pre teaching start date16 September 2024
    Pre teaching requirementsstudents are required to complete approximately 15 hours of readings to prepare for the subject during pre-teaching period
    Teaching period23 September 2024 to 29 November 2024
    Last self-enrol date14 July 2024
    Census date 4 October 2024
    Last date to withdraw without fail 8 November 2024
    Assessment period ends 6 December 2024

    September contact information

    Melbourne Business School

    Degree Program Services

    Email: programservices@mbs.edu

What do these dates mean

Visit this webpage to find out about these key dates, including how they impact on:

  • Your tuition fees, academic transcript and statements.
  • And for Commonwealth Supported students, your:
       -  Student Learning Entitlement. This applies to all students enrolled in a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP).
     

    Subjects withdrawn after the census date (including up to the ‘last day to withdraw without fail’) count toward the Student Learning Entitlement.

Additional delivery details

This subject is only available to students admitted to GD-BA, MC-BAPT, MC-BAPTME, or students with permission of the MBA Course coordinator

This subject has a quota of 80 students. Students will be selected on a first come, first serve basis. However if any student is approaching their completion date, they will get priority in enrolment.

This subject is equivalent to BUSA90228 in MC-BAPTME

Last updated: 8 November 2024

Further information

  • Texts

    Prescribed texts

    There are no specifically prescribed or recommended texts for this subject.

  • Subject notes

    This subject is only available to students admitted to GD-BA, MC-BAPT, MC-BAPTME, or students with permission of the MBA Course coordinator

  • Related Handbook entries

    This subject contributes to the following:

    TypeName
    CourseMaster of Business Administration
    CourseGraduate Diploma in Business Administration
    CourseMaster of Business Administration
    CourseMaster of Engineering Management
  • Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students

    This subject is available to students studying at the University from eligible overseas institutions on exchange and study abroad. Students are required to satisfy any listed requirements, such as pre- and co-requisites, for enrolment in the subject.

Last updated: 8 November 2024