BUSI3211 Service Operations Management – SUMMATIVE ASSIGNMENT

Component Weighting: 100%

In the form of an individual report, the summative assignment requires you to conduct a critical analysis and discussion of the service delivery of an organisation of your choice using theory, tools, techniques and frameworks from this module.

You may either decide to analyse and critically review the overall service delivery or one particular key dimension in depth (e.g. co-production, human factors in service delivery, design of the service scape, customer satisfaction, service analytics).

You should cover the following points:

o Provide a brief description of the case organisation and its strategic context. (20 Marks)

o Analyse the service delivery for your chosen organisation using selected theory, frameworks, techniques or tools from this module. (40 Marks)

o What recommendations would you make to improve the service delivery of the organisation? (40 Marks)

Overall word limit: 4000 words

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

A penalty will be applied for work uploaded after 12:00 midday as detailed in the Business School Students SharePoint Site. You must leave sufficient time to fully complete the upload process before the deadline and check that you have received a receipt. At peak periods, it can take up to 30 minutes for a receipt to be generated.

Assignments should be typed, using 1.5 spacing and an easy-to-read 12-point font. Assignments and dissertations/business projects must not exceed the word count indicated in the module handbook/assessment brief.

The word count should:

▪ Include all the text, including title, preface, introduction, in-text citations, quotations, footnotes and any other items not specifically excluded below.

▪ Exclude diagrams, tables (including tables/lists of contents and figures), equations, executive summary/abstract, acknowledgements, declaration, bibliography/list of references and appendices. However, it is not appropriate to use diagrams or tables merely as a way of circumventing the word limit. If a student uses a table or figure as a means of presenting his/her own words, then this is included in the word count.

Examiners will stop reading once the word limit has been reached, and work beyond this point will not be assessed. Checks of word counts will be carried out on submitted work, including any assignments or dissertations/business projects that appear to be clearly over-length. Checks may take place manually and/or with the aid of the word count provided via an electronic submission. Where a student has intentionally misrepresented their word count, the School may treat this as an offence under Section IV of the General Regulations of the University. Extreme cases may be viewed as dishonest practice under Section IV, 5 (a) (x) of the General Regulations.

Very occasionally it may be appropriate to present, in an appendix, material which does not properly belong in the main body of the assessment but which some students wish to provide for the sake of completeness. Any appendices will not have a role in the assessment – examiners are under no obligation to read appendices and they do not form part of the word count. Material that students wish to be assessed should always be included in the main body of the text.

Guidance on referencing can be found on Durham University website and in the Business School Students SharePoint Site.

MARKING GUIDELINES

Performance in the summative assessment for this module is judged against the following criteria:

• Relevance to question(s)
• Organisation, structure and presentation
• Depth of understanding
• Analysis and discussion
• Use of sources and referencing