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Master of Business Administration - MBA Semester 3
OM0010-Operations Management
(Book ID: B1934)
Assignment (60 Marks)
Note: Answer all questions must be written within 300 to 400 words each. Each Question carries
10 marks 6 X 10=60
Q1. Write short notes on:
a. Origin of operations research
b. Levels of Strategies in an Organisation
c. Consumer Pricing Expectations Range
Answer. a. Origin of operations research
Operations research as a discipline originated in Britain during World War II. At that time, the
military forces were having very limited resources and they were forced to allocate those scarce
resources in an effective manner. To deal with this problem, the British military management
hired a number of scientists and asked them to perform research on military operations. The
scientists developed several effective methods for using radar and managing convoy and anti-
submarine operations. Using these methods, the military forces were able to win the Air Battle of
Q2. Explain following Models of Operations Research
a. Iconic model
b. Analogue model
c. Symbolic model
d. Descriptive model
Answer. a. Iconic model: This model is an exact representation of a particular entity. It includes
various diagrams, graphs, and charts that aid a manager in the decision-making process. This
model can be full-scale, scaled-down or scaled-up in size, as discussed below:
 A full-scale model refers to a working model, for example, a model of sawmill, which
shows the moving sawmill.
 Scaled-down models are used to represent bigger objects, such as buildings and highways.
These models are the small picture of big objects so that they can be easily seen.

2. Q3. Case Study: Services Operations Management at XYZ Restaurant
XYZ restaurant has been performing satisfactorily overthe last 30 years. It opened its first outlet
in the year 1980 in Pune, and since then it has grown to 1000 outlets in the mid-east Asia. In the
year 2000, XYZ restaurant enjoyed the maximum footfall in almost all the nations it was
present. By 2005, it added Italian and French food in its menu to compete with the established
international brands in this field. XYZ followed a process of service operations management,
which focuses on delivering excellent services to the customers.
After some time, XYZ faced a problem of low quality of French and Italian food that was not at
par with other restaurants. The nations of mid-east Asia did not welcome the change in the
image of XYZ from local food chain restaurant to internationalrestaurant. The customers found
lower quality of French and Italian foods in XYZ than they used to get in other restaurants. The
offering, delivery and image of XYZ could not match the new services and customers avoided to
visit XYZ for Italian and French foods. The market of this restaurant was still favouring its local
sense of cooking food. XYZ soon reverted to the earlier service operations and policies of local
belongingness and thus recovered the lost customers.
Discussion questions:
1. What can be the reasons for the failure of XYZ restaurant in introducing French and Italian
foods?
2. What strategies could have helped XYZ restaurant while introducing new services?
1. What can be the reasons for the failure of XYZ restaurant in introducing French and Italian
foods? (Hint: The reasons can be failure of making planning activities, monitoring and controlling
activities and quality assurance activities)
2. What strategies could have helped XYZ restaurant while introducing new services? (Hint:
Following SERVQUAL and evaluating the performance of services)
Answer. 1. Service operations management can be defined as a process that focuses on delivering
excellent services to the customers. Other definitions are as follows:
 Service operations management ensures that the attention is given to the correct
functional service delivery areas.
 Service operations management refers to a process that focuses on the design and
management of systems for services.
Q4. Explain the following criterions that a decision maker may adopt under uncertain
conditions.
a. Maximax Criterion
b. Maximin Criterion
c. Minimax Regret Criterion
d. Realism Criterion
e. Insufficient Reason Criterion
Answer. a. Maximax Criterion: It is the criterion in which a decision maker selects the alternative
that provides the maximum payoff. This criterion is based on the assumption that all available
alternatives would provide the best possible outcome. Maximax criterion is a strategy that

3. maximises the maximum gain. The maximax criterion is also known as the optimistic criterion or
rule of optimism. Following are the steps under the maximax criterion:
Q5. Solve the assignment problem shown in the following table:
1 2 3 4
A 10 12 19 11
B 5 10 7 8
C 12 14 13 11
D 8 15 11 9
Also determine the total assignment cost.
Optimal assignment total assignment cost
Answer. Conduct row and column operations as the assignment problem is balanced. The row
operations involve selecting an element having a minimum value in each row starting from row A
and subtracting that element from all other elements in that row. After completing row
Q6. There are four jobs, namely D, E, F, and G, which need to be sequenced on two machines,
namely machine 1 and machine 2. The processing time of the jobs D, E, F, and G on machine 1
are 2, 6, 4, and 8, respectively. However, on machine 2, the processing time of D, E, F, and G is 3,
5, 7, and 4, respectively. Determine the job sequencing for this problem and Total flow time for
four jobs.
Optimum Sequence - 5
Total flow time - 5
Answer. The steps involved in solving the preceding sequencing problem are as follows:
1. Prepare a table that contains the processing time of the four jobs on the two machines, as
shown in Table below:
Spring-2016
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