Operational Management Issues at the Olympics - Essay Example

Managing Business Operations: UPS Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Inserts 31-10 Operational Management Issues at the Olympics The Olympic Games is the major sporting event worldwide to host and manage. Such responsibility is associated with considerable amount of public expenditure, facilities and infrastructure building, urban reconstruction, and revitalization goals (Peter, Jon, Gary and Hobbs 2). This can have positive or negative lasting outcomes for public stakeholders (Gratton, & Preuss, 20). Public stakeholders who consist of area residents, local entrepreneurs, and foreigners touring the area in question are some of the many stakeholders drawn in with issues affecting the Olympic Games. Other major stakeholders include the government, sports and tourism organizations, volunteer organizations, and the Organizing committee for the Olympic Games. Officials from each host city strive to host the best games possible, envisioning the longevity of positive impacts. Mega sporting events such as the Olympics, Paralympics and the FIFA World Cup have significant potential to leave a social, economic and infrastructure legacy for the host community and country (Coward, & Konstantinidis, 25). In fact, the events are often marketed on this basis. The potential legacies are recognized in the charters of both the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympics Committee (Dickson, Edwards, Darcy, Benson, & Blackman, 34). Operational management was a huge part of preparing for the Olympics (Nick 4). All characteristics of project management including performance time and costs were to be analyzed and properly executed. It is important for a logistics person to keep in mind having time to plan, good communications, careful tracking and control, meeting the deadline and meeting goals (Richard 12). Risk management was also a big part of the management issues. Risks can stem from the area of security, public health, technology, economics or natural ecology (Chopra, Deshmukh, Mieghem, Zemel & Anupindi, 55). In the run up to the Olympics, ensuring readiness for games involved strategic pre emption through stress testing and scenario planning (Séguin, & O’Reilly 12). UPS Operations Strategies Operations strategies provide an overall direction that serves the framework for carrying out all actions in an organization. It shapes up the long term capabilities of any type of operations and contributes to the overall strategy by bringing together market requirements and operations resources. It is an instrument which helps in defining the processes of producing goods or services offered to customer (Chase, Jacobs & Aquilano 108). UPS Values include integrity, teamwork, service, quality and efficiency, safety, sustainability, and innovation (Deepa 8). The company aims at growing worldwide business by offering excellence and value in all that they do and by meeting all the logistics needs of their customers. The company maintains strong finances and broad employee ownership; this leads to a long-term competitive return to the share owners. UPS aims at Inspiring by offering chances to individuals and business partners to do their best, for personal development and success (Greg 3). They lead by example as a caring, responsible and sustainable organization developing the society they serve. UPS Enterprise Strategy UPS strategy is based on Creation of value for customers (Lambert , Miriam & Susan 3) - This is through demonstrating how the power of logistics can create a competitive advantage for our customers. By offering products and services, that expands customers’ access to global markets. It can also be done through configuring a broad portfolio of solutions for targeted industries. And finally, by offering industry-leading technology that simplifies and improves customers business processes (Jesse & Ronald 7). The Company also wants to continually transform to strengthen its leadership position. UPS aims at delivering an exceptional customer experience. Applying marketing and sales excellence to drive profitable growth and enhancing performance through quality, efficiency, and technology (Heizer 14). Another key component of UPS’s strategy is investment to accelerate growth in key markets and new opportunities. This is by; accelerating growth by leveraging their global network and scale. Building infrastructure and establishing a presence in key emerging markets (Jurian, & Erik-Hans 13). To cap it all, the strategy aims at expanding the business of integrated logistics solutions to customers. Principles of Lean and Agile Thinking UPS applies Lean-Agile methods that help the company to significantly increase their productivity and efficiencies. This means increment greater than 50%. The firm’s solutions are uniquely planned to speed up development however, the underlying lean principles and the majority of agile methods they use are applicable to almost any service based company (James & Daniel 3). Lean-Agile method combines Lean Thinking and Agile disciplines. Lean corresponds to the ‘What’ while Agile corresponds to the ‘How’ (Craig & Bas, 18). Applying Lean-Agile methods can create a cultural upheaval within a firm. It is an organizational state of doing and managing work by performance indices (David, 4). Project Managers or Product Owners should not just than just deliver the approved project or approved requirements (Charles 88). Optimizing the business value and optimizing Total Cost of Ownership are areas that are often neglected by some firms. Most firms think that it a good practice to have an Owner for a group doing prop up and hot fixes and another Owner for another group working on the new release for the same product. These firms have not considered the whole value flow of activities and how they combine. Having an Owner responsible for the product, Total Cost of Ownership and full value flow is a strange idea in many big organizations. This is not the case with UPS. UPS’s expansion strategy is to increase the number of customers of supply chain solutions, especially in healthcare, high tech sectors and retail sectors. The firm also aims to increase the levels of small package hauling from the above mentioned sectors. The company’s theme of Sustainability highlights the reality that sustainability is a dynamic term defined by our stakeholders and that ultimately it is our employees who deliver on the promise of responsible behavior. UPS not only understand their customers and related needs, but also have found out ways to deliver more value to their customers. They have extended the roles they play in the overall value chain by leveraging their infrastructure and expertise. As sustainability continues to rise in importance as an important global business issue, UPS is dedicated to stepping up its disclosure, actions and goals to match these growing expectations. UPS has been aggressively looking for new revenue sources with existing and new customers. UPS attempts at reducing the environmental impact of its operations. UPS did an excellent job in the control of environmental degradation during the Olympics. The firm employed certain strategies that are considered important in environmental management during big events (Athens Institute for Education and Research 2006). The first strategy was aimed at reducing effects of traffic disruption caused by the Olympic Games. This was done in three main stages. The first stage involved planning. Analysis of route usage was done by gathering information from customers who would be affected by the changes made (Beder 56). Key staffs were restricted from going on vacation/ holiday to maximize availability of the manpower needed. Drivers had to be trained and advised about traffic hotspots and alternative routes (Waitt 7). System limitations had to be changed to provide practical travel time estimates. Environmental protection during such big events like the Olympics contributes a big percentage to the overall success of the events (May5). The second issue of consideration was responsiveness. Drivers had to access dynamic updates on the road reports made. a journey analysis and central information team was set up to advice customers and to plan and monitor Responsiveness • There were daily meetings for evaluation of progress and to address issues. Strategies to reduce carbon emitted to the air UPS possesses one of the strongest and thorough programs for gauging and reporting the effect of carbon emitted as a result of their own operations, and that of their customers. The network’s competence helps in calculating the carbon dioxide. They keep up a remarkable series of strategies to reduce carbon in the environment (Bradish 12). These strategies include: Combined effort for decarbonization of Energy and Emissions This simply means that UPS simultaneously pursues multiple strategies concurrently to avoid carbon pollution in an approach that makes each strategy stronger and more successful than it would be on its own. These strategies include; Modal shifting which is the use of the most efficient mode of fuel transport or combination of modes to meet service requirements. UPS has the capability to handle express, domestic, international, ground, commercial, and residential shipments via one incorporated compilation and delivery system. The most energy rigorous mode of transport which makes up the major percentage of carbon footprint is the Air fleet efficiencies. UPS frequently measures and manages this impact on the environment by using one of the newest and most efficient fuel air fleets in the parcel delivery division. UPS also maintains low flight speeds; optimizes computer flight plans; manage aircraft gate departures and arrivals and taxi times using computers; fuel efficient bio-diesel towing tugs; environmentally-friendly paint that reduces drag and cleaner engines(Ralph 23). To uphold effectiveness on the ground UPS employs a wide range of strategies like using telemeters, which is a technology started by UPS to monitor performance of vehicles; plans to reduce miles; experimentation and execution of alternative technology vehicles like using a composite car. UPS won dogmatic approval for their pilots to fly more proficiently, leading to decreased engine emissions (Stevens, Lathrop, & Bradish 54). Continuous Advancement UPS constantly makes progress in improving technology, systems and workforce skills development: Carbon balancing facilitates compensation for the discharge of emissions in one place such as tailpipe emissions from vehicles transporting parcels moving all the way through the UPS network, by getting rid of them in another place in the world. the worlds population is growing and mounting utilization is anticipated to bring about a three-fold rise in energy requirements during the next century. This is thought to cause a 2-4ºc rise in normal global temperature as stated by The Carbon Neutral Company. UPS carbon neutral shipping allows their clients to buy offsets to lessen the impact of shipments. UPS has a strong process, certified by the Carbon Neutral Company as adhering to the Carbon Neutral set of rules, and confirmed by Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS). It is a futuristic strategy that deals with the CO2 which cannot be simply eliminated within the supply chain. UPS handles the particulars; starting from obtaining high quality carbon offset projects, to the procuring necessary retirement of the offsets. The types of offsets needed consist of; Gold Standard, Climate Action Reserve (CAR) and Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) certified offsets. UPS supports international projects in Thailand, China, Columbia and the US. The span of projects they fund ranges from methane gas destruction, to forest conservation management and alternative energy use. Supporting these projects trims down shipment impact on the planet and encourages up-and-coming innovation that helps the environment without negative costs to the communities in which they operate (Preuss 45), Carbon offsetting and how it works. In general, carbon counterbalance is measured and traded in metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Purchasing carbon offsets means an equivalent decrease of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere somewhere else. Carbon offsetting provides businesses and consumers a chance to trim down the negative impact of their activities. Environmental responsibility is a significant issue for business strategy and ethics. It helps the environment and wins the trust of communities around the business. The company also gains respect from the countries in which it operates. However, balancing business growth with an aim of making maximum profits and taking care of the environment will always be a challenge. Sometimes entrepreneurs claim that their environmental responsibility is restricted to what the law requires and what will generate a profit. However, ethicists dispute this and say that businesses should find more credible reasons for environmental responsibility by looking past profit motive and legal regulations. Many environmental problems get graphic representation by the media, such as, dead fish in seas due to oil spillage or chemicals dumped in rivers. This can intensify negative public opinion towards the responsible company. If a companies like UPS does not take action in a proper way, it would appear arrogant and uncaring, which greatly harms its reputation. Works Cited Athens Institute for Education and Research (2006). How to Monitor Olympics; Longitudinal Surveys on Winter Olympics: International Research on Sports Economics and Production, Athens. Beder, S. (2000). Global Spin: The Corporate Assault on Environmentalism. Carlton North: Scribe. Bradish, C. (2010). 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Peter F, Jon C, Gary A and Hobbs D, (2011).Securing and Sustaining the Olympic City: Reconfiguring London for 2012 and Beyond. Ashgate Publishers, Farnham England. Preparations for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games: Progress Report .Great Britain. National Audit Office. Preuss, H. (2007). The conceptualization and measurement of mega sport event legacies. Journal of Sport & Tourism, Volume12. Ralph D, (2007) Packaging for the small parcel environment  by United Parcel Service, originally published by The University of Michigan. Richard L. (2007). Organization Theory and Design South Western College Publishing,Cincinnati. Séguin, B. and O’Reilly, N. (2008). The Olympic brand, ambush Marketing and Clutter. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing. Stevens, J., Lathrop, A., & Bradish, C. (2005). Tracking generation Y: A contemporary sport consumer profile. Journal of Sport Management, Volume 19. Waitt, G, (2003). Social impacts of the Sydney Olympics. Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. ... 2003 Elsevier Science, London. Read More