Discussion Questions for Operational Management
Discussion Questions for OM 5016
Class 2
Ch 1 &2. Operations Management Introduction and Strategy
1. What is Operations Management? What are major OM decisions? 2. What are the key differences between goods and services? 3. What a role does productivity play? How to measure productivity and what challenges do we have in measuring and improving productivity? 4. What is mission and strategy? How important is it for an organization to develop a mission and strategy? 5. What is OM strategy? How can operations management help a company achieve competitive advantages? 6. What is SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity and threat) analysis? Under what circumstances do you think should we conduct SWOT analysis?
Class 3
Southwest Airlines 1. Why has Southwest Airlines been so successful? 2. What recommendations would you make about the issues raised on pages 13 – 15 of the case? 3. What are the implications for Southwest of the actual or threatened bankruptcies of other major U.S. airline?
Class 4
Ch 05. Product and Service Design 1. Why do companies need to continuously develop new products? How to generate new ideas? 2. What factors should be considered in product development? Describe the typical phases of product development and evaluate their relative importance. 3. What is the role of quality function deployment (QFD)? How is Quality of House working in product development? 4. Describe the main techniques used in designing products. Give some real world examples. What strategic advantages do techniques provide? 5. Describe the documents used to define and produce a product? How are they important and necessary? 6. Describe four organizational approaches to product development. What pros and cons do they have? 7. What are the key differences between product design and service design? 8. What an impact does environmental friendly design have on product development? How do you address
Class 2
Ch 1 &2. Operations Management Introduction and Strategy
1. What is Operations Management? What are major OM decisions? 2. What are the key differences between goods and services? 3. What a role does productivity play? How to measure productivity and what challenges do we have in measuring and improving productivity? 4. What is mission and strategy? How important is it for an organization to develop a mission and strategy? 5. What is OM strategy? How can operations management help a company achieve competitive advantages? 6. What is SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity and threat) analysis? Under what circumstances do you think should we conduct SWOT analysis?
Class 3
Southwest Airlines 1. Why has Southwest Airlines been so successful? 2. What recommendations would you make about the issues raised on pages 13 – 15 of the case? 3. What are the implications for Southwest of the actual or threatened bankruptcies of other major U.S. airline?
Class 4
Ch 05. Product and Service Design 1. Why do companies need to continuously develop new products? How to generate new ideas? 2. What factors should be considered in product development? Describe the typical phases of product development and evaluate their relative importance. 3. What is the role of quality function deployment (QFD)? How is Quality of House working in product development? 4. Describe the main techniques used in designing products. Give some real world examples. What strategic advantages do techniques provide? 5. Describe the documents used to define and produce a product? How are they important and necessary? 6. Describe four organizational approaches to product development. What pros and cons do they have? 7. What are the key differences between product design and service design? 8. What an impact does environmental friendly design have on product development? How do you address