HADM 7030 - Operations Management

Fall, Spring. 3 credits. Letter grades only (no audit).

Enrollment limited to: MMH, EMMH and M2 students or permission of instructor. Satisfies MMH, EMMH and M2 Core.

Fall: E. Belavina, V. Slaugh; Spring: E. Belavina, R. Zhu.

The purpose of this course is to introduce “world-class” service operations management concepts and approaches for the hospitality industry. This core course focuses on understanding levers for structuring, managing, and improving a firm’s recurring business processes to achieve a competitive advantage in customer responsiveness, price, quality, and variety of products and services in the hospitality industry.

Processes within firms, as well as between firms, i.e. supply chains, are explored. The fundamental principles underlying state-of-the-art practices are explored so that students learn to critically evaluate these and other operational improvement programs, as well as develop their own operational improvements.

Students learn how to manage and improve the operations of a firm, and how operational issues affect and are affected by the many business decisions they will be called upon to make or recommend in their careers.

As such, this course is essential to the participants working/aspiring to work in hospitality consulting, entrepreneurs, or general managers. Working knowledge of operations is also indispensable to those working/aspiring to work in marketing, finance, and accounting, where the interface between these functions and operations is critical. Finally, an understanding of how firms become market leaders through operations is important in investment careers.

Outcome 1: Students will critically evaluate a hospitality management problem and formulate a solution based on principles from a least two management disciplines.

Outcome 2: Students will analyze a management situation within a global hospitality context and defend a course of action.

Outcome 3: Students will plan and deliver a professional-quality oral presentation.

Outcome 4: Students will demonstrate effective behaviors within a diverse team based on their analysis of team needs.

Outcome 5: Students will evaluate the ethical consequences of their business decisions on various stakeholders.

Outcome 6: Students will demonstrate in-depth expertise in a self-selected area of the hospitality industry.