OPERATIONS ANALYSIS - 2020/1

Module Overview

An important part of the manager’s job is to be able to identify and respond to problems that occur in hospitality operations and to take corrective action to return the operation to an appropriate position. This module builds on the student’s understanding of key concepts and allows them to apply that understanding to a realistic and constantly changing scenario.

Module provider

Hospitality, Tourism & Events Management

Module Leader

ASHTON Mark (Hosp & Tour)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 5

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• Operations strategy and operations synergy


• Business and operational planning


• Control and performance measurement


• Performance analysis and evaluation


• Understanding group behaviours

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

Where a student cannot attend the group report this will be replaced with the individual assignment detailed below, in the Assessment Strategy, for August resits.

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to draw on the student’s experiences through the simulation exercise to build up a picture of the rationale and principles used to manage the business and explain the results achieved. In addition students are asked to comment critically on the performance of their business as a whole and identify where alternative actions could have been taken. The first individual assignment requires the student to explore the theoretical frameworks underlying operations analysis and propose applied operational control measures.

The summative assessment methods include:

The assessment for this module is based 50% on group work and 50% on individual work.

In the Individual assignment, you are acting as an external consultant and have been asked to advise the operation’s management team on the key measures of operational performance that they should use to help control their business. 

The group assignment is to submit a summary of your management of the hotel based on its performance and your competitors, identifying and explaining the key factors that you feel have affected the performance of your operation and ways in which performance could have been improved.

Alternative Assessment Instrument

Where a student cannot attend the group report this will be replaced with the following individual assignment for August resits

Analysis of Results

You will be provided with a set of results for a single hotel business covering a given period of operation. From your analysis of these data, submit a report summarising these results providing an explanation of your understanding of the key operational rationale for the business, identifying and explaining the key factors that you feel have affected the performance of the operation and where you feel the management team were successful and unsuccessful. The report should be between 1500 and 2000 words in length, excluding tables, graphs and references as appropriate.

Students will only be allowed to resit components of assessment that they have previously failed. 

Formative assessment and feedback

Each week students participate in group based workshops. At these sessions, each group will receive feedback on the performance of their group and areas for improvement.

Module aims

• The aim of this module is to provide students with the opportunity to apply the skills and knowledge gained in previous modules to the analysis of a simulated business operation, to take decisions about the future of that operation and evaluate their results.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The teaching and learning strategy is designed to allow students to experience the pressure of managing a business operation using a business simulation exercise and to link these experiences through a series of inputs and exercises to a series of  underlying theories, concepts and models.

The teaching and learning methods include the use of the HotelSim business simulation which is a competitive management exercise approximating a real world environment in which several free-standing organisations are competing for business in a closed, but elastic, economic system. Each exercise runs optimally with eight competing teams and is fully interactive, so that no two years can experience exactly the same results, although the underlying economic model ensures that the key drivers can be identified.

In addition to the simulation exercise there will be a series of lectures and seminars to expand on some of the key underlying principles and the issues discovered through the discussion of the simulation exercise.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: MAN2113

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2020/1 academic year.