Essay Innovation and Continuous Improvement Project – Management Assignment Help

Assignment Task

Using an organisation you have access to:

(a) Determine those organisational systems and processes most critical to its success. Determine also, the performance standard required of the critical system/s or processes and any appropriate benchmarks or benchmarking opportunities. Standards are typically expressed quantitatively (in terms of numbers) to ensure that performance expectations are clear and easily measured. Quantitative standards are usually expressed in terms of one or a combination of the following dimensions:

• Physical or productivity – quantities of products/services, numbers of customers/clients, etc

• Budget or Monetary – ROI, break-even point, liquidity, labour costs, materials costs, sales revenue, gross profit, etc

• Time – scheduling, critical path timeframe, process time, waiting time (queuing), etc

Qualitative (subjective) standards also play an important role although performance is much harder to measure. These may include ‘qualified’ personnel, ‘team players’, ‘appropriate dress’, ‘satisfaction’, ‘expectations’, and the like. Determine also whether these are reflected in the organisation’s strategic or department/unit business plans. If you don’t have easy direct access to an organisation, interview a manager in an organisation you know.

(b) Use the appropriate assessment tools and associated benchmarks to analyse the performance of all critical processes within the supply or value chain of one organisational sub-system (ie, Marketing, Finance, HR, Operations, Procurement, etc). Describe the processes and discuss your own process of analysis in undertaking this task. Was performance variation identified? If positive variation (achieved/overachieved), is there a recognition mechanism used by the organisation to ensure motivation? If negative variation (under achievement), what corrective action is recommended to the organisation’s sub-system or its processes? How could innovation or continuous improvement be used to address variations and ensure efficiency and competitive advantage?

(c) determine the changing macro and market trends that most affect it. Thinking of its predicament, how could innovation be used as an opportunity to redesign or realign systems/processes and gain competitive advantage where such environmental influences are at play?

(d) Using the analysis of the performance of the organisation’s sub-system processes, together with recommendations made, contact a specialist in order to identify whether there is a technological or e-business opportunity. Provide some examples of opportunities in the following memo field together with a summary of the costs and associated benefits and the reasons for the opportunity.