Introduction

In order manage all the operations in an organisation, it is vital to implement operational management
processes in an organisation. There are many operations in an organisation including, production,
manufacturing of products and services, delivery, management, customer care, etc. Operations
management helps to improve these operations in an organisation. It also aims to add value to these
processes and operations. Operations management will take the strategic business units of the
organisation into consideration even if they are big or small when improving and managing the
operations. Quality management is a set of process that deals with determining, maintaining and
improving the quality of the operations, products and services. Operation and quality management
helps an organisation to enhance its value and reputation (Pfeifer, 2002).
In order to analyse these concepts and theories in a real organisational environment MG is chosen.
MG is a small automobile manufacturing company based in the UK, which is well known for its
smaller sports cars and roadsters in the 1970s. However, the company went bust in the early 2000s
and now making a comeback to the British Car industry in the recent years with its cheap and small
consumer vehicles. MG now operates as joint venture based in Birmingham, UK under a Chinese
mother company. Since their launch of the new supermini MG3 in 2013, the company has managed to
regain some of its loyal customer base which they lost during the closure. They have several positive
points which can make MG a leading manufacturer in the automobile industry.

Task 01

Importance of Effective Operations Management

The process of designing, developing, and supplying the products and services of an organisation can
be defined or described as the operations management. This will also include the careful ensuring and
management of the entire production process and the distribution process of the goods or services of
an organisation. The effective utilisation of the important van valuable resources will be ensured by
the right operations management practices and strategies. This will help the business organisation
achieve its strategic objectives. The quality of the products and services of an organisation is
determined by the demands of the customer. Operations management will also ensure this quality in
on organisation. Operations management will be used to define the correct expectation of the people,
designing and developing the products and services according to the expectations, manage the
inventory and manufacturing process in an organisation. Efficiency of each process in an organisation
can be analysed using effective operations management. Effective operations management will also

help to analyse the actual capacity of the existing operations and how to improve them to enhance the
lifecycle of the products and services offered by the organisation.
There will be several technologies associated and implemented in each process of the organisations.
Operations management helps to properly manage these technologies to make better use of them.
In MG, operations management is determined as the major process that determines the perfection and
quality of all the operations that converts their resources and raw materials to manufactured vehicles
and other related products. Key functions of MGs operations management include selecting products
and processes for the developing and manufacturing of the vehicles and components, controlling
performance management operations, determining the quality and quantity of the products, designing
changes methods to improve the existing processes and operations to enhance productivity,
determining performance and quality to standards, determining standards for the operations and
processes of the organisation, and improving the overall efficiency, productivity and quality of the
organisation.

Existing Operations Management in MG

The effectiveness of the existing Operations management of an organisation can be analysed and
measured using variables including productivity, performance, and irritability of that specific
organisation. MG is has two major processes going on for them. They are lean manufacturing and the
outsourcing of the operations management process. These two processes make up the core processes
of the company. This helps them to focus on each aspect with better concentration, which has brought
them reasonable results in the recent years. Lean manufacturing is a process introduced by Ford and
followed by many other manufacturers in the car industry. This helps to streamline the value flow for
the stakeholder by reducing the wastage of the resources and raw materials in the inventory.
Outsourcing the operations management process helps them to reduce the cost, and hassle so that they
can focus mainly on the lean manufacturing process. These two characteristics are the result of the
company being managed by the Chinese management. This has made very positive impact on the
companys performance after the re-launch. This helped them to make their products to have
competitive pricing which helped to achieve competitive advantage after the re-launch. According to
ford, this process of combining lean manufacturing and outsourcing of operations management is
named as Lean Management Outsourcing, and has been adapted by many smaller can manufacturers
in recent years, MG being one of them.
The lean thinking and effective use of resources has helped MG to achieve the perfect balance
between production quantity and quality which helped them to make their MG3 supermini a market

leader in its class. This process however can be improved to make them more successful on other
classes of the industry, such as sedans, roadsters, and classic British sports cars.

Task 02

Quality Management Systems

Quality management practices help to ensure effective and perfect products or services, and the
quality of them to be high. Operations management and quality management can be called as the two
sides of the same coin. They both are critical in determining the successful achievement of the
organisational goals and targets. Quality management consists of three functions. According to quality
Guru Juran, these three functions are planning, assurance, and control of quality. In recent times,
improvement of quality has been added to this trilogy of functions.
MG has implemented good quality systems, through which they accurately identify the quality
requirements for the products and services and the different methods to adopt to meet the quality
requirements. These quality standards helped MG to have one of the most successful re-launch in the
history of British Automotive Industry. These quality standards helped MG to gain trust and loyalty
among consumers, which will help them to achieve competitive advantage and long term
sustainability. Existing MG enthusiasts were regained during the re-launch and new customers were
attracted because of the quality management systems MG implemented. The main objective of MGs
quality management system is to help them regain the market spot and the loyalty MG had in the late
1970s. Customer satisfaction was one of the main objectives of these QS functions practiced in MG.
This is done through using the Six Sigma strategy. This strategy is implemented in all the
departments. They have managed to develop well trained group of people managed by efficient
managers. Six Sigma strategy mainly focuses on the customers, their demands, philosophy and the
perfection. This is considered as the best strategy practiced in quality and systems management. Many
organisations follow this strategy.

Evaluation of Existing Quality Management Systems

MG managed to achieve high quality in their products and services by implementing the six sigma
strategy, which ensures high levels of customer satisfaction and staff satisfaction. These traits helped
theme to achieve enhancements in profitability and increased revenue after the re-launch. The wastage
of resources was reduced because of the enhanced quality management, and this helped them to
develop competitive pricing strategies for their products and services with reasonable profit margin.
As a result of these high quality systems and development of quality standards, the employees become

highly motivated, and they work as effective games to achieve the organisational objectives. Apart
from the six sigma strategy they have also implemented quality management strategies as DMIAC,
and DFSS. Several tools like Pareto Diagram Tree Diagrams, Process Mapping, Root Cause Analysis,
Etc. are also used to improve the quality management systems in MG. MG managed to achieve their
quality standards through implementation of these quality management systems and tools as a
combination.
MGs quality management system focuses on three factors. Customers: All the processes and
functions in the QSM are focused in developing customer satisfaction by delivering high quality
products and services, while meeting their expectations. Processes: Every operation in the system was
analysed from the customers perspective. They were analysed on the basis of identifying essential
improvements for ensuring high levels of quality. Employees: Employee satisfaction is plays a major
role in ensuring customer satisfaction. The employees were given proper training and development as
a preparation for the implementation of the six sigma strategy.
The introduction of the six sigma strategy helped MG to achieve high class of quality for its products
and services, which helped to have a successful re-launch market success.

Task 03

Strategic Quality Plan

The strategic quality plan ensured high quality products and services. It should also to enhance the
organisational performance. In order to formulate and execute this plna is not the easiest thing. it is
considered to be a tough job for all the professionals and management of operation management and
quality system management to make critical analysis and identification of the existing issues. It is also
tough to introduce methods and techniques to overcome these identified issues. This process can be
divided in to several steps to implement this quality plan.

Finding out the quality initiatives

Identifying the expectations and demands of the customers

Ensures the involvement of the employees in maintaining quality.

Facilitates benchmarking

Setting up of the long term goal and vision

Developing new standards for quality

Ensuring the effectiveness of the operations

MG has developed a strategic quality plan based on the popular ABCDE plan, which helped them for
proper introduction and management of quality change. This model is a step by step approach that is
used to develop the plan and will be implemented in all parts of the organisation. This will ensure
high quality standards all over the company.
Assessment: The internal and external environment of the company is thoroughly analysed in this
step of the plan. Availability of resources, information gathering, existing situation analysis, SWOT
analysis for finding strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, etc. are the main functions of
this step.
Baseline: This is the step where the company identifies where they were in the past. Present
situations, current status in terms of quality, quality forecasts for the future, future quality
requirements, and the formulation of plans to achieve them are analysed in this step. The gaps that
exist and the plans to fill these gaps are analysed in this step.
Components: Required vital resources, values and mission of the organisation are analysed in this
step. The strategic vision and targets are also set in this step.

Down to Specific: The actual plan for the achievement of targets, incorporation of several
performance analysis systems, etc., are developed in this step.
Evaluation: The process of the entire plan should eb monitored and evaluated on a regular basis.
Several techniques could be used for this purpose. These techniques include balance scorecard, 360
feedback, etc.
While goals are being developed they should developed as a SMART objective. The explanation is
given below.
Specific: The target should be a specific one and it should help the management in supporting other
organisational goals.
Measurable: When a change in strategy is being implemented, the results achieved or the targets met
should be measurable in order to understand whether the organisation has achieved the desired target
or not.
Achievable: The strategies and plans should be able to formulate goals and targets that achievable.
Only then the targets can be achieved and the change in quality management strategy will work.
Realistic: The changes in quality management and goals should be realistic. When optimistic and un
realistic targets are set, it will affect the process of quality management as a whole.
Time Specific: All the targets and desired changes should be designed in a way they should be
achieved within the desired time frame. A definite time period should be available for the
implementation of the change system.
When one of the SMART objective is achieved, the company can then focus on the next SMART
objective.

Resources, tools and systems to support business processes

Resource implications:
All the functional activities including operations management and quality system management in MG
must be based on the availability of the vital resources. The main resource implications and
requirements are given below.

Human Resources:

The most potential resource in an organisation is considered to be the human resource. They are
responsible to bring most of the changes inside an organisation. The employees are responsible to and
they are considered as the agents of change in MG. Proper training and development was given to the
employees in order to meet the standards. This was done before the implementation of the six sigma
strategy in MG during their re-launch. The staff were being motivated throughout the process and
their performance were enhanced.

Financial Resources:
All organisations consider this as the main resources they have access to. This is needed for the
smooth running of the organisational activities. These activities include quality management too. The
quality management processes and strategies are devised based on the available financial resources of
the company.

Tools and techniques:

MG uses several tools and techniques to bring the desired quality change, introducing the change, and
evaluating the change process. Various tools are used to measure and evaluate the success and
progress of the whole quality change. Model of continuous development has been used as one the
most powerful tool for the management.
Various internal systems are used in MG for the purpose of monitoring the performance and progress
of the whole quality change process. These systems are specially designed for the purpose of
continuous monitoring and measuring the quality management change process in MG.

Wider implications of the planned strategy:

The strategy can be implemented in various other places in both the internal and external environment
of MG.
Financial performance
Usually financial stability and performance is a great indicator of an organisations improvement in
performance. If one organisation has shown poor and unstable financial performance, the efficiency of
the organisation cannot be enhanced. They cannot afford to implement an effective strategy change in
quality management. In order to implement an effective change strategy they should have the
necessary financial stability.

Customer satisfaction:

MG can increase the levels of customer satisfaction by enhancing their customer service activities.
They can improve the level of service they provide to their customers and achieve their desired
customer service goals. When they increased the service provided to the customers, MG realised that
they could gather more information about their customers and their needs.

Employee Satisfaction:
Only when the employees are satisfied and motivated, they could deliver the maximum level of
customer service. The results of the organisation often reflect the employee satisfaction levels. In
order to increase employee satisfaction and motivation, organisation should analyse the root causes of
failure and eliminate them. The process and procedures should always be enhanced to improve
quality. Internal and external factors should be analysed and the information should be gathered to
analyse the data carefully. In order to successfully implement the quality change, the flexibility of the
employees and organisation is vital.

Systems to Evaluate and Monitor Change

it is vital to continuously evaluate and monitor the quality management process and the change
procedures after the implementation. This helps to achieve the successful implementation of the
quality management system. Many organisations have the ability to formulate and implement great
quality change systems; however they fail with in effective monitoring and evaluation of the
implemented change. The entire process fails when this happens. MG followed Ford and implemented
Total Quality Management system for the monitoring of the whole process. The Plan-Do-Check-Act
model of TQM is used in MG for this purpose.
MG uses the PDCA model to formulate the accurate TQM strategy, implement the formulated
strategy, and recheck the efficiency of the TQM process and actions to improve the process. Proper
quality management is achieved in MG by this model and process.
MG Conducts several techniques performance measurements such as benchmarking, assessments, and
reassessments. This is done on a regular basis. This helps MG in improving the participation of the
employees and ensuring successful change in Ford.

Task 04

Monitoring Change in MG
The implementation of the monitoring and evaluation strategies for the evaluation of the process of
the change implemented in MG was more difficult that the actual implementation of the change
process itself. Common methods are used to monitor the change in MG are given below.

Surveys:
Customer surveys, stakeholder surveys and employee surveys are conducted to gather information and
monitor the change process.

Action Planning:
This process made MG to become more focused and help them to set realistic targets which are
measurable, are used to measure the effectiveness of the implementation.

Quality culture
MG has developed their quality culture based on the following principles.

Togetherness in work for the accomplishment of the common target

Lack of subsidiaries and superiors

Facilitate effective communication

Free access to all information

Take every success/failure as experiences

Task 05

Outcomes of a Strategic Change Implementation

The major improvements and outcomes of the strategic change implementation of MG can be
explained as below. The increase in product and service quality will increase the customer satisfaction
and loyalty. This will help MG to achieve competitive advantage in the British Automotive market.
The system will enhance customer satisfaction and motivation. The performance of the employees
will be increase because of this. The CSR will be also improved because of the implemented strategy.
They will also experience increased revenue and profit.

Recommendations to improve the strategic change implementation

MG can improve their current quality systems by the following steps.
Introduction of advanced and continuous monitoring systems that have real time monitoring,
continuous evaluation of the process and continuous monitoring of the operation management
process.
Facilitation of action learning within the organisation. This is a unique way of collaborative learning
that should be implemented in MG. Team learning will help to share ideas, opinions, feedbacks and
issues related to quality and operations management. Action learning will help people to face
problems and the possible solutions for them.
The employees of the company should be empowered. This should be done by increasing the
motivation of the employees. This will help the employees to feel more committed.
Systems to manage performance can be implemented. The performance should be managed
continuously during all the stages of the process.

Reference
Pfeifer, T. (2002). Quality Management: Strategies, Methods, Techniques. Hanser
MG Motor Uk. [Online] Available from: http://mg.co.uk/ [Accessed: 28 Oct 2015]