Course PM TEK165 Operations Improvement Projects (preliminary 2024-12-19)

A. Course Literature

Main book used for literature seminars: Svenningsson, S. and Sörgärde, N. (2023) Managing change in organizations, Sage. The book will be available to borrow from the course team during the course.

Course literature from the courses TEK146, TEK150 and TEK161.

Additional literature applicable for your project work.

B. Schedule (with reservation for unforeseen circumstances)

The classroom FL41 is booked every Tuesday 8.00-11.45 except for week 12, 15, 16 and 17. Not all scheduled times in TimeEdit  are used for activities so always check the schedule on Canvas. Remaining times the room can be used for your team work.

All scheduled activities are mandatory except for the ones marked with *.

Supervision will be part of the project meetings unless other arrangements are made with the supervisor. Supervisor is assigned to you when the projects are introduced in study week 2.

A preliminary schedule for the course can be found here:

Preliminary schedule TEK165 2025 december.pdf

C. Course Design and Examination

C1. Aim and learning outcomes

The basic pedagogical philosophy of this course is to deepen the student knowledge of operations management and development by working with a real problem in a company. In the course there will be literature seminars and guest lectures about the challenge of managing development work and change, and on agile project planning.

The main aim of this course is to allow the participants to apply the knowledge gained from previous courses in the master’s program Quality and Operations Management to a practical project. Students will work with an actual problem inside a company. The project will allow for the integration of several subject areas:

• Students will be able to apply the knowledge gained in other parts of the program
• Aspects of project management will be practiced.
• The project will force students to learn to work in a team.
• Change management will be an integral part of the project, accomplishing real changes in a company.

Learning outcomes (after completion of the course the student should be able to):

• Understand what is needed to work with practical projects in the field of Operations Management
• Have the ability to identify, formulate and solve complex problems
• Have the ability to improve organizational processes, through selected scientific and analytical approaches
• Apply quantitative as well as qualitative tools to improve organizational processes
• Plan, and manage, accomplishment of an actual improvement project inside a company
• Have the ability to communicate their conclusions
• Understand some of the issues in managing a change project in a company
• Ability to take into account different ethical aspects when doing interviews

C2. Examination

The examination is based on three different parts:

• the team-based project work
• the project diary
• an indivudual reflection on the project work

Attendance on lectures, literature seminars, project meetings, presentations of planning reports and final reports is needed to pass the course.

More details are provided during course introduction.

D. Course Evaluation Committee and Staff

D1. Course Evaluation Committee

TBD

D2. Staff

The course is delivered by IRDM (Innovation and R&D Management) at Technology Management and Economics. IRDM reside at floor 4 by staircase A in Vasa house 2 at Campus Johanneberg.