1. Make sure you use company specific examples in discussion to show what budget hotels do to provide exceptional quality service to their clients thus maximizing their business success.
2. Do not forget to produce a set of managerial recommendations.
1.0 AIM
This is a standalone unit but draws on examples from the international hospitality industry. Students must, therefore, either: have previously studied the International Hospitality Management pathway unit: OR have undertaken a first degree in hospitality; OR have gained extensive management experience working in the hospitality industry.
The nature of operations management is considerably less tangible in services management than in manufacturing. This unit seeks to address the issues which distinguish hospitality and tourism operations from those in other fields. Systems theory forms a useful basis for understanding and analysing the function and management of operational systems. The ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ systems techniques used provide a broad conceptual framework. In line with this general systems perspective, hospitality and tourism operations are treated in a flexible, synergistic and systematic way, which draws parallels between food, beverage and accommodation operations wherever possible.
The unit, by focusing on the inter-relationships between systems, service and technical factors, product quality and capacity and productivity, aims to provide a multidisciplinary framework to explore the wider inter-relationships between operations, marketing and accounting.
2.0 INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES (ILO)
Having completed this unit, the student is expected to demonstrate:
1. a conceptual understanding of general systems theory; hospitality as a system and the role operations management could play in it;
2. a critical understanding and application of technical aspects including forecasting demand, capacity planning and management, and balancing supply and demand
3. a critical awareness of operations management techniques used in the international hospitality industry, including scheduling, overbooking/production, yield management, queuing and simulation.;
4. a critical evaluation of productivity and performance on product and service quality
3.0 LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
The unit encompasses a range of lectures and tutorials which have been designed to provide theoretical underpinning to the topics outlined below. These are supplemented with the HOTS simulation game which equips the students with first-hand experience of running / managing their own hotel.
Indicative Unit Content
There are seven major areas of study:
I. Operations and systems
• Operations management – investigate the key definitions and areas of operations management, typical problems and solutions, specific service issues of operations, specific hospitality issues.
• General systems theory – introduction to and reasons for the systems concept, characteristics of a system, inputs, conversions, outputs, boundaries and structure, ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ systems, open and closed systems, sub- and super-systems. Examples of food and beverage, reception and accommodation and reservation information systems.
• Hospitality environments – systems as an element of super-systems, the social, technological, political and legal environments of hospitality operations.
II. Forecasting
• The requirements of forecasting, forecasting time scales and processes, forecasting techniques.
III. Capacity and capacity planning
• Work study and capacity – work study and work measurement, direct and indirect techniques, the nature and significance of operational capacity, identification of capacity, capacity planning and management.
IV. Managing Supply and demand
• Scheduling – scheduling activities and processes, network scheduling processes, scheduling for batch processing, queuing theory and service systems, queuing management.
• Techniques available to assist with the management of supply and demand including overbooking/overproduction, yield management and queuing theory, economic order quantity.
V. Productivity
• What is productivity? – anoverview of general definitions, a systems view: outputs versus inputs, the basic productivity equation, effectiveness and efficiency, productivity and profit, productivity and quality.
• Productivity and performance – costs, revenue, outputs and inputs, expansive and contractive approaches to productivity management, issues of operational integration, the productivity index.
• Productivity management – steps in achieving a total productivity culture: management support, company mission, organisational framework, implementation, monitoring and review.
VI. Product and Service ‘Quality’
• Quality – interpretations and objectivity; typology and acceptability of classifications in Operations Management. Quality control as a route to poor performance. Determining customer needs and the role of quality in product/service specifications. Service Quality and the managing of intangibility.
• Fundamentals of conceptual management to achieve customer needs focus. Operations Management using systemic quality assurance techniques. Designing complete Operations Management systems with the potential to deliver 100%. Service quality within the context of Total Quality.
• Hospitality classification approaches and their acceptability.
VII. Sustainability management
• The principles of sustainability management and their applicability in the context of hospitality operations
• The role of the ‘experience economy’ in changing traditional approaches to hospitality operations management
4.0 OUTLINE OF LECTURES AND SEMINARS
The indicative outline of lecture titles is presented in the table below.
The detailedscheme of work is available on _____
The unit employs approximately 5 hours of ‘tutor-student’ contact timeper week. The total contact time equates to 40 hours.
Week No Calendar week
Subject area Subject area
44 9-15 May Introduction to the hospitality industry, operations management and systems theory
Introduction to unit assessments Marketing I
45 16-22 May Marketing II Forecasting
46 23-29 May Revenue management Capacity management
47 30 May-5 June Introduction to HOTS
48 6-12 June Quality management HRM
49 13-19 June Sustainability management The ‘experience economy’
50 20-26 June __________________________________________
51 27 June-3 July ___________________________________________
In addition to the ‘tutor-student’ contact time students are expected to manage their own learning. Self-learning is expected to amount to about 10 hours per week.
5.0 UNIT ASSESSMENT STRATEGY
There are____ pieces of assessed coursework.
ASSIGNMENT
Theassignment takes the format of students working individually to prepare a consultancy report of approximately 2,500 words on a topic of their choice. The topic selected should be of importance to the international hospitality industry. Examples of the broader areas / topics which your report can look into are outlined in the assignment brief below.
This assignment reflects upon ILOs 1, 2, 3 and 4.
6.0 ASSIGNMENT BRIEF
Rationale:
This is an individual piece of work that allows the students to explore, in detail specific aspects of operations management, applied to a preselected sector of the hospitality industry.
Learning Outcomes
o a conceptual understanding of general systems theory; hospitality as a system and the role operations management could play;
o a critical evaluation of productivity and performance on product and service quality;
Overview of Assessment
Title: An investigation into operations management issues within the hospitality industry
The title above is a broad title and you must develop a more narrow focus within your report – giving it an appropriate title and clear aim.
This assignment tests Learning Outcomes 2-4 shown in the unit specification
This assignment is 100% of the Unit’s marks.
Word limit: 2,500+\- 10% words.
The assessment is to be submitted electronically through Turnitin/—— and full submission instructions can be found in the unit’s —- folders.
The submission deadline is Friday, 7th June 2016 at 12.00
ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
Weighting
Presentation, overall layout and structure
15%
Abstract
10%
General (literature) review 20%
Analytical Content 20%
Application 15%
Other (Conclusions) 10%
Sourcing/Referencing 10%
The Situation
You are employed as a junior consultant and your first role is to produce a report for an external organisation. The organisation, set within a sector context, is within the hospitality industry and you have been requested to submit a report of 2,500 words, which provides academic insight, support and development of your professional reflections on the topic and its application to the specific sector of the hospitality industry. This report should be individually authored. You are to choose one of the sectors below against which your report will be allied. Whilst the general title reads:
An investigation into operations management issues within the hospitality industry
more specific titles are up to the student and some examples are shown in the list below. The subject area should be from those covered above on pages 4-5. Please confirm your chosen title with client’s management team of ——————————–
• An investigation into operations management issues within the hospitality industry: balancing revenue, marketing and human resources – a hospitality industry dilemma.
• An investigation into operations management issues within the hospitality industry: if the HR practices are right then the revenue will follow.
• An investigation into operations management issues within the hospitality industry: capacity planning and forecasting – essential competence for all operations managers.
• An investigation into operations management issues within the hospitality industry: quality control is the only way to success.
• An investigation into operations management issues within the hospitality industry: balancing productivity and marketing leads to well managed supply and demand.
• An investigation into operations management issues within the hospitality industry: revenue management is the future for yield management.
• An investigation into operations management issues within the hospitality industry: a systems approach is the only approach.
You may wish to consider the following sectors with the hospitality industry for your reports:
Luxury Hotels Restaurants
Budget Hotels Fast Food outlets
Licensed Retail Houses (Pubs) Contract Catering
Bars and clubs Coffee shops
Cruise ships Street food
In order to assist you in keeping to the comparatively short deadline, it is suggested that you consult the client’s management team of ————and/or ——–should you have any queries. Please note that merely regurgitating current material in your report will not be acceptable. You are expected to synthesize material and develop and explain the application of the issues raised, using academic and other research, against the selected sector. It is important that you substantiate your assertions and conclusions.
To assist you in your role as a consultant the guidance below has been given to you. You are strongly advised to conform to these requirements.
NOTES FOR JUNIOR CONSULTANTS
1. Report requirements
One hard copy of the paper should be submitted by the agreed date via —-. The paper should be no more than 2,500 +\- 10% words in length (excluding references and abstract); 1.5 line spacing; 12 point font. Please provide your word count on the front page of your report. Do not forget to include the assignment briefing sheet as a cover sheet.
2. Title
A title, prefixed with An investigation into operations management issues within the hospitality industry:…..
3. Headings and sub-headings
These should be short and to-the-point. Headings should be typed in capitals; sub-headings should be typed in upper and lower case in bold. Headings should not be numbered.
4. References
References to other publications, primarily other journal articles should be complete and in the Harvard style. They should contain full bibliographical details and journal titles should not be abbreviated. Further detail can be found on the University website. Do not use Wikipedia, Google or other generic search engines as references.
5. Abstract
Authors must supply an abstract of no more than 200 words (not included in the total word count). It should be a succinct, accurate representation of the content of the paper. Major results, conclusions and/or recommendations should be given. It should contain sufficient information to enable readers to decide whether they should obtain and read the entire article.
Assessment Criteria
Please see the assessment criteria sheet for the full breakdown of grades for this assessment. Feedback will be electronic, through ——.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this assignment brief is correct at time of publication.
In the unlikely event that any changes are deemed necessary, they will be communicated clearly via e-mail and/or —– and a new version of this assignment brief will be circulated.
UNIT RESOURCES
Books
Ball, S., Jones, P., and Lockwood, A. (2003) Hospitality Operations A systems approach. London: Continuum.
Brotherton, B. (2003) International Hospitality Management. Oxford, Butterworth Heinemann.
Burgess, C. (2010) Essential Financial Techniques for Hospitality Managers. Oxford: Goodfellow
Hayes, D., and Miller, A. (2011) Revenue Management for the Hospitality Industry. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons.
Johns, N. and Edwards,J.S. (1996) Productivity Management in Hospitality and Tourism. London. Cassell.
Jones, P. (ed) (2002) Introduction to Hospitality Operations.London: Continuum.
Kandampully, J., Mok, C., and Sparks, B. (2001) Service Quality Management in Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure. NY: The Haworth Hospitality Press.
King, J.H.,JR. and Cichy, R.F. (2006) Managing for quality in the hospitality industry. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Lashley, C. and Morrison, A. (2000) In Search of Hospitality: Theoretical Perspectives and Debates. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann.
Slack, N., Chambers, S. and Johnston, R. (2004) Operations Management. 4th ed. Harlow: Financial Times, Prentice Hall.
Journals
The Service Industries Journal
International Journal of Service Industry Management
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management
International Journal of Hospitality Management
Web-based sources
A number of Web-based sources will be identified throughout the programme to provide up to date information, for example, information in respect to specific companies. There are plenty of good websites. Start off with:
http://www.instituteofhospitality.org/
The Institute of Hospitality
The professional body’s site. You can gain access to their library.
www.mintel.com
Excellent industry reports.
http://www.caterersearch.com
An excellent site and you need to log on for weekly updates.
www.catereronline.com
A career and job site
www.ons.gov.uk/
Office for National Statistics
www.statistics.gov.uk
UK in figures
http://www.bized.co.uk
Useful economics site. Has some case studies and company reports on all aspects including tourism