Operations Management
Spring 2016 Online
rjMoodle, Course Calendar, Notes & Resources
Syllabus quick links: Course Objectives, Course Format, Texts, Additional Resources, Basis of Grade
Course Information
| Days & Times: | Thursdays. Online. Although this course is online, Thursdays will serve as a placeholder. |
|---|---|
| Location: | Internet, Asynchronous |
| Credits: | 3 hours |
| Prerequisites: | MBA600 |
| Instructor: | Dr. Richard Jerz |
| Contact Information: | Email:Rick@rjerz.com Phone: (563) 447-0180 (voice mail) Office: 408 Ambrose Hall |
Catalog Description
Improving the operations of both manufacturing and service organizations. Techniques from quality, learning, forecasting, process design, scheduling, waiting lines, inventory and MRP are utilized. Underlying principles such as trade-off analysis, Pareto, process control, and optimization of resource usage are emphasized throughout. The objective is for the student to understand how organizations actually achieve results and how to identify opportunities to improve their operations.
Course Objectives
To provide a conceptual understanding of managing the operations of a business that produces a product or provides a service, and to gain insight on how organizations actually operate.
To describe necessary improvements in the organization's operations in order to be competitive in the changing "world" markets.
To investigate analytical techniques that support and build insight into management decision-making, and to gain experience in using these techniques.
Course Format
This is an 8-week "online" course. Each week you will get an email from me as each set of topics are made available.
All electronic course materials will be delivered asynchronously, meaning that you do not have to be behind your computer at any specified time (you can work when you are most productive).
You will receive a "Welcome" email from me about a week before class that will provide access to all course materials on Moodle, and explain how the course is conducted. Watch for this email!
The Course Calendar webpage shows topic and exam dates.
This course makes intensive use of lecture videos that I have created. These videos are provided in "Flash" format and as podcasts. See MBA670_Videos_Podcasts_iTunes for more video information.
Texts
"Operations Management", 12th Edition, by William Stevenson, McGraw-Hill (Irwin), Copyright 2015. This is found by a number of different ISBN numbers (hard-copy, soft-copy, with DVD). Make sure it is the 12th edition. The DVD is not needed.
Additional Course Resources
This course assumes that the student has some computer skills and understands how to use products such as email, browsers, word processing, and spreadsheets. A good share of this course's materials are mobile device compatible.
A computer, access to the Internet via a high speed connection (such as DSL or cable) for playing course videos, a modern browser (at least at IE9, Firefox 25, Safari 6, Chrome 30, or equivalent or newer) with Flash installed, Adobe PDF viewer, MS Word and MS Excel (2010 or later recommended). If you want to download the videos to your multimedia device, iTunes (iDevices) or Podcast Republic (Android) software works well.
Basis of Grade
Participation in Discussions: 25%
Self-Assessments: 25%
First Exam Score: 25%
Second Exam Score: 25%
A:93-100, A-:90-93, B+87-90, B:83-87, B-:80-83, C:70-79, F: Below 70.
Participation: Participation in online discussions is an important class participation. It will help you obtain the full course benefits. You are encouraged to provide personal experiences, logical opinions and discussion of subject material. Unlike some courses in which all the learning is of factual nature, this course deals with a variety of approaches, some are more applicable in certain environments than others. By making between four to eight posts, approximately half to the discussion topics and half to other students' post, you can earn up to eight points each week. These posts can occur anytime between the release of a chapter, and its due date shown in Moodle. You do not get points for late posts. To improve discussion, posting early is suggested.
Assignments/Self-Assessments: You should read the assigned chapters before each class. For each chapter, you must complete "self-assessments" on Moodle to assess your learning. You may take these assessments prior to lectures, or shortly after the lecture. If you do not do as well as you wanted on the assessment, you may retake it. The questions may change each attempt, however, and your highest score counts. You are allowed to work alongside of others on assignments. You will almost always have two weeks to complete any assignments or self-assessments.
Exams: There will be two 40 question exams. The exams will contain questions from the self-assessments that you may or may not have already seen. Review your notes and assessments to prepare for each exam. Each exam includes the chapter materials covered for each half of the semester (refer to Course Calendar). You should work on exams independently. You will be given adequate time to work on exams, and they can be repeated. As such, exams must be completed by the due date. No exceptions!
If you are having difficulty with any self-assessment or exam questions, you can post your question in Moodle and the professor will help. If you post your question the day the assignment is due, there is no guarantee that the professor will help and you will have to accept your score. Also, since adequate time is always provided for all assignments, if you wait until the due day and encounter any problems completing the assignment on time, you will not receive any extension. You should recognize that it can be risky waiting to do assignments on the day they are due, and I encourage you to always start early.
Bonus Points: Occasionally, bonus exercises are provided. In the spirit of quality and continuous improvement, whenever you are the first student to identify an administrative error about any component of this course, you will receive one (1) bonus point..
Administrative Items
Rectifying Scores: During the semester, I will post all your grades on Moodle for you to view. After you get your homework or exam grade, you have a week to complain about your grade. Beyond this period, I will not entertain any complaints.
Accommodations: Students with disabilities who believe that they may need accommodations in this class are encouraged to contact the Student Disability Services office as soon as possible to better ensure that such accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion. (SDS Student Handbook)
Classroom etiquette: Please pay a professional courtesy to the instructor and your classmates. In general, please avoid behavior that distracts from the learning experience of you and your classmates. In online discussions, a courteous tone and politeness is expected. (SAU Student Handbook)
Academic Integrity Policy: For St. Ambrose's policy, please click here.