Introduction – Operations Policy

Operations is a broad topic from producing the right products cost effectively, all the way to “handing” or delivering the product to the customer.  Companies have dozens of written operations policies in many different areas from supplier selection, quality control, customer service, customer handling or returns, legal hiring practices, safety and many, many more operations topics.   

It doesn’t matter how wonderful your product or service is if the business operations are not efficient, effective, legal, and ethical. In this week’s textbook reading, you’ll read about the tremendous amount of effort that goes into operations planning management and planning.

Strategic planning begins with determining a need, a production schedule, supply chain management and then creating and delivering what was promised in a way that creates repeat business from the same customers. Capacity planning and inventory control are all key components of operations. Company’s select reputable vendors and suppliers, develop customer service policies and conduct sales and customer service training.  

Read the module content about operations policies.  Review the examples of Policies and Not Policies, before you begin your assignment.

Instructions

• For this assignment you will identify, analyze, and share one (1) operations policy for any company you choose.  Select one operations policy from either a for-profit company or one operations policy from a non-profit organization. 
• Visit the company’s website for this corporate information.  Use only the company’s website.  Do not gather information from news articles, announcements, Wikipedia or other resources.   
• Prepare by completing your textbook reading and read the module content first. See the module content demonstrating how to find company policies.  Read the examples that are Policies and Not Polices, just information.  Follow the links in this module to see more examples of operations policies.   
• It’s wise to choose a couple companies to research, so you have time to find one great operations policy for this assignment. Do not use the companies listed in this week’s online content.    
• Copy and paste a single (1) policy into your homework paper. Do not simply include a link to the policy.  See the examples of individual policies in this module to understand what one (1) policy is.   

Formatting Your Written Homework Paper

• Typed paper, that is uploaded through this assignment area. Single spaced. Standard size 12 font. Typical 1 inch margins.  Spell and grammar check your work.  Check sentence structure and punctuation before submitting your work. 
• Read and analyze the one (1) policy you chose.
  1. Copy and paste one (1) entire, individual operations policy into a blank homework paper.  Do not simply provide a link to the policy, in case the link malfunctions. 
  2. Underneath the policy you pasted in your homework paper, write an analysis that addresses the questions below:   
  3. Why you think the company has this policy?  (write 1 well constructed paragraph that demonstrates your own critical thinking skills)
  4. Think from the company’s perspective — not the customer’s view point. (write 1 well constructed paragraph that demonstrates your own critical thinking skills)
     • List the pros of having this policy   
     • List the cons of having this policy  
  5. Include the company website URL (Unique Record Locator), web address, where you found the policy.   

Quality, complete, thoughtful, error-free work has the potential to earn up to 60 points.  Review the rubric below, used to assess your work.