Introduction To Operations Management: 4LO501Mohammed Shafiq Hanif: 100134260Management Report For Markeaton Park ProjectWord Count: 3191

Markeaton ParkManagement Report

Context pageContentsIntroduction4Executive summery5Current operations at Markeaton Park6The four Vs of operations6Slacks model of operations 20107Performance objectives9Smart objectives9Polar diagrams10Strategy for Markeaton Park11The 4 perspectives of operations strategy11Recommendations121 Increase range of audiences122 Conserve and enhance heritage123 - Increase volunteers and knowledge124 - Management and maintenance135 Other recommendations13Conclusion13Appendix 1 photos14Appendix 2 data15Appendix 3 recommendations brainstorms and other191 - How will you increase the range of audiences using and enjoying the park?192 - How will you conserve and enhance the heritage value of the park?203/4 - How will you increase the range of volunteers involved in the park and how will you improve skills and knowledge about parks through learning and training?215 - How will you improve management and maintenance?226 - Other recommendations22References23

Introduction This report has been commissioned to make recommendations to improve the services on offer within Derby citys premier Markeaton Park. It contains 207 acres of forgotten heritage and free services that are used on a seasonal basis. This is also the most popular park in the East Midlands and attracts over one million visitors per year. Recently they have received funding from the heritage lottery fund. With this funding the HLF expects 5 key out comes to be met by completion of the renovation of the park. These requirements are; How will you increase the range of audiences using and enjoying the park? How will you conserve and enhance the heritage value of the park? How will you increase the range of volunteers involved in the park? How will you improve skills and knowledge about parks through learning and training? How will you improve management and maintenance?The HLFs main goal is to help create a long lasting resilient heritage economy. Along with these requirements there are also other stakeholders that have been identified and their expectations need to be met. The recommendations made in this report will match these criteria and be justified with relevant operations management theories. (Markeaton Park, 2013)Executive summery Although Markeaton Park is one of the most popular within the east Midlands it has been neglected due to lack of council funding and falling behind with expectations of its stakeholders. This is due to the park not being treated as a business that needs to be self sustaining. (Kellogg, W, K) This report provides an analysis of the current state of Markeaton Park and the importance of being a lean operation. For this report data needed to be gathered on many things concerning the park such as entry and exit points, what heritage is important to the community, who uses the park and how often, how the public gets to the park what activities they do within the park. This data will be collected through questionnaires done through the post and first hand within the park and data already available from the council. (Derby City council, 2013)The research shows that the access to the park is substandard and has no real world use for disabled people. Also routes around the park are not up to modern standards. The heritage is not known and there are no easy methods of accessing this information within the park. Among this the heritage structures have lost their charm due to improvements made and now dont look like heritage structures at all. This has lead to a decline in visitor experience which has had the knock on effect of reducing the range of people who visit the park. (Valarie A, 1996) The recommendations made within this report have been based smart objectives which includes variables such realistic, deliverable, measurable and time banded to keep them applicable from an operations stand point. Also there will be a before and after comparison of the 4 Vs of operations to check if any changes have been made.

Current operations at Markeaton ParkMarkeaton Park has various operations that the managers regularly monitor and amend, these have been identified in Slacks model of operations and are planning and control, design, improvements and operations strategy. These functions form the basis of every organisation and every other function within Markeaton Park is linked to them. (Slack, N, 2010) These operations need to be done efficiently to give the customers the best products and services. Currently there is a mix of products both tangible and intangible such as the physical free to use rides for kids and various cafes and shop in the craft centre and the intangible services such as unquantifiable services like giving customers space to have fun, exercise and relax.The four Vs of operations (Franco, G, Derby University online, 2013)To understand what type of operation Markeaton Park is we can use the 4 Vs of operations; these are volume, variety, variation visibility. These are important as they shape the operational process of the park. Volume the park has seasonal demand but when there is demand for the park it is really high. The park doesnt offer a wide range of services and new ones are implemented over a long period of time.Variety the products and services that are supplied are little in variety and generic.Variation as mentioned earlier the variation of demand for the park is seasonal and has left the park under demanded during most of the year.Visibility the services that are on offer within the park are highly visible but are lack lustre and need updating or modernising. As it stands the 4 Vs model looks like;

The first visit to the park was exceptionally lack lustre even though the weather was bad that day, the expectations for the heritage and green areas were high as even old broken things have a certain charm. The first impression of the park was that it looked cheap, from the rear entrance to the craft village from the mundy play centre it looked like the wrong type of old. Walking past the small skate park was depressing and the grass lands were damaged by an infestation of moles. Having too often visit childrens play centres, it was clear the mundy play centre was out dated and its key features in a poor state. After this we took a walk to on poor paths past a broken water wheel, a blocked body of water and a small lake. We arrived at the craft village which looked tired and worn out, the so called crafts men specialise in expensive niche products that the average person would not buy like tree houses or natural honey that was sold in a cramped space with a sales person with too much pride in his bees and not enough knowledge to answer why is this better than any cheaper supermarket brand. One of the highlights was the rose garden and the trees. The rose garden was littered with old memorial benches that had been neglected and some of the trees had numbers but there was no way to find out what they meant as most of the shops were closed and there was no information desk, centre or signage. On towards the orangery `which didnt look like a heritage building, this might be due to the improvements they made though, and inside it looked like an average cafe with no real re-deeming qualities other than you had to travel all the way from the car park on broken ground to get there. The signage was poor and lacked consistency but there was a waterfall though which we stumbled across. Even in the cold weather it was a joy just to stand there and look at it. Another redeeming feature was the miniature train line which was not running but walking along the tracks was pleasant.

Slacks model of operations 2010 (Slack, N, 2010)Nigel Slacks model of operations is used for analysis of a business for the purposes of improving the effectiveness of operations management to increase efficiency and customer service which in turn increases profit by means of streamlining the company and delivering more effective products to the customer. Below is a visual illustrations of this model and Markeaton Park will be analysed with this;

Input resources The input resources the park currently uses;Capital funding from the council and heritage lottery fund, also from the various shops around the park paying rent etc. Natural resources the 207 acres that the park contains, including trees, grass land, play areas, cafes etc. Materials products for the various cafes and craft shops, materials to protect the heritage and to keep the park in good conditions.Information information provided by the council to show who, when, why and how people use the park. Human resources the staff used in the shops and people employed to maintain the park and run the miniature train.Operations management Design the park currently operates a mass service design to maximise service potential. This includes only opening some shops in line with demand. The park is only near 75% capacity when in demand in summer. They also have no policies when in place to deal with under capacity or demand. The layout and flow of people travelling also needs attention. Planning and control park managers only tend to plan for long term, for seasonal use, this includes sequencing, loading, scheduling and monitoring and control for out of season. Their short and medium planning consists of basic park maintenance and service scheduling. Improvements the park uses the DMAIC (define, measure, analyse, improve and control) improvement cycle to implement long term incremental services to improve quality. The park operates within in its own culture of not improving and falling behind the times. Operations strategy this includes achieving the overall goals from a top down perspective such as, keep the park running for the year with the funding available, finding financing projects and improvements. Among this they use long term goals and dont bother with daily running. (Ward, P, T, 1998) Outputs, products and services The biggest and most important outputs produced are un-measurable and intangible such as enjoyment. The parks performance is measured by the number of people who attend on a yearly basis.

Performance objectives The performance objectives that will be used in this report are smart objectives and polar diagrams. These are the best way to identify planning, control and development aspects of the recommendations for the park, also any amendments that might be needed. Firstly we will need a way to measure the recommendations in terms of quality as the park is mostly serviced based. The best way to do this would be to introduce total quality management (TQM) which includes all parts of the organisation, staffing, costs and systems. (Cua, McKone, and Schroeder, 2001, pg 675694)Smart objectives Smart objectives are co-operative agreements to attain specific work outcomes, the benefits of setting these objectives are that they create a direct link between the employees and organisations; they do not include contractual obligations that are set when people are recruited. This helps the employee to use their own initiative and see where they fit in within the organisation which in turn creates job satisfaction. Objectives are important in any type of organisation as they create focus on the main aims the organisation sets. The smart method of objective setting uses five variables to increase their chances of success;Specific is the task easily understood to employees that have the basic skills needed to complete the task? Measurable is the task achievable and what stage of completion it is at, also is it known when the task has been completed or is it a recurrent undertaking. Achievable is the task realistic and is there common ground with all parties involved know as to what the goals should be.Realistic can the task be completed with current resources. Timely is there sufficient time to complete the task and is the time being used efficiently to reduce wastage. (Lee, A.J, 2011, pg 54-58)

Polar diagrams (Slack, N, 2010)A polar diagram helps judge five aspects of performance within an operation; these are quality, speed, dependability, flexibility and cost. This helps managers understand their customers and adjust operations to better meet their needs. Quality quality for the park means matching customer expectations such as keeping the park feel safe and modern. Also there is an infestation of moles ruining the grass lands which doesnt look appealing and makes you ovoid stepping on the grass. When the park is demand quality falls.Speed speed for the park means being able to access services within the park in an acceptable time frame, also being able to directly access areas of the park from wherever you enter the park from for example, the footpaths from the car park lead straight through the mundy play centre. Also improvements take a long time. When the park is demand speed falls.Dependability the park lacks dependability as there is no shelter from the rain except the orangery cafe, the seating is in disrepair and is scattered around the park along with rubbish bins which are a scarcity. The shops have scattered opening and closing times that are not consistent. The restrooms are in a poor state and are uninviting. Flexibility the park is very flexible as they do any work that needs to be done out of season when visitor numbers are at a minimum, but they havent got a proper management structure to handle daily changes to meet changing needs of the park and its users. Cost as most of the products the park offers are intangible they have to be free, but the vendors within the park are charging premium for basic items and there is no value for money as products are cheaper elsewhere. Being excellent in these five areas means the park will be in use for the majority of the year, also customers who attend the park will happy pay a monthly subscription fee as it will meet their quality requirements. (Peter, D, 1996, p123-132)

Strategy for Markeaton Park The data for Markeaton Park is located in appendix 2, this shows that the park does not attract young people, it does not attract a lot of people from out of town, only a few services have high numbers of use and a car is the primary mode of transport for most of the users. With this information recommendations will be made to help improve the park overall and specifics aspects that the data shows needs addressing. The 4 perspectives of operations strategyThese are top down and bottom up perspectives, market requirements and resources. These are important as operations strategy is determined by taking all these aspects into account. Identifying these is also important as they are a requirement for smart objectives. (Martha, C. 1997, p 1-14)Top down also known as the command and control perspective, this is what the business wants the operations to do.Bottom up the suggestions from the staff involved in the daily running suggest what the operations should do.Resource what can be done with current resources. Market requirements what the current position within the market requires operations to do.

Recommendations The recommendations have been split into five categories, four from the HLF requirements and one other; these can be viewed in appendix 3. For each categories a few ideas will be selected and explained. 1 Increase range of audiences Better navigation round the park, better paths with clear signs better quality paths that circle the park with clear signage that is universal across the park. This will also help disabled people enjoy the park.Multipurpose business spaces set zones that people could hire out for their own purposes such as small food vendors and outdoor shisha cafes. Concert area / amphitheatre a roofed zone that can be used for music or videos with patio heaters, this can show live plays or music or pre recorded entertainment. The park can also charge a small fee for entry. This will also help the park when not in demand. Markeaton park paraphernalia small souvenirs that the park can sell to increase their income, these can be sold in the craft village or by volunteers. Gazebos they give shelter from the rain and are needed for British weather.Better seating the park requires more seating.2 Conserve and enhance heritageExterminate infestation of moles the moles have destroyed a lot of the greenery at the rear entrance and this makes the park look cheap. Also people do not want to walk near these areas. Information centre put in or convert a building that contains information regarding the heritage of the park and what it contains. This doesnt have to be staffed as long as the information on display is clear and easy to read. Fix fountain and waterwheel these are set pieces for the park and are in a poor state, as they are focal points they need to be in good working order and visually stunning. Refurbish old buildings the orangery and craft village should be refurbished to look rustic on the outside and modern on the inside, this will keep the charm of the park whilst emphasising how important the heritage is. 3 - Increase volunteers and knowledgeVolunteers from the job centre Markeaton Park can apply for regular volunteers to help from the job centre for up to eight hours a day. This is mandatory scheme that the claimants cant argue against. Volunteer roles for students they can advertise flexible volunteer roles to student at Derby University and provide references and certificates for those students that take part.Primary and secondary school involvement they can invite school children to learn about the history if Markeaton park, this can be done with a set structure of information whilst getting a tour of the park.4 - Management and maintenance Hire a manager a full time manager is required to set tasks in order of importance and to use a bottom up view for the daily running of the park. This will make the park more effective as there will be someone who knows exactly what is going on in the park. Seasonal staff they could recruit extra staff when the park is in demand to meet the needs of their customers better, this will also give a better opinion of the park by increasing the customers perceived quality of the park.Hire grounds keepers - they could hire grounds keepers and use smart objectives to set them tasks, this should help them work independently and also improve the quality of the park overall. Apprenticeships - the park could offer set time apprenticeships to help boost their standing within the local community.5 Other recommendations Solar panels and wind turbines these can be placed out of sight and can contribute to the parks energy usage reducing bills. Composting the waste collected in the park can be composed to help re-grow natural resources. Electric car charging points within the car park charging points can be placed and hired out to encourage local residents to buy electric cars; this will show the community the park is thinking ahead. Hemp uniforms and products hemp has many uses and is the future for most natural products such as clothes, skin care and even plastic. The park should stock hemp products and get their staff to use them also to spread the message of a renewable future. Conclusion To sum up this report has analysed the current state and history of Markeaton Park along with how they run this organisation. There have been numerous flaws with Markeaton Park such as it has been neglected in general, but the defining features of the park have been forgotten and left to perish. Also the park is not seen as an independent business so it is not lean in its operations. The recommendations made within this report have been analysed against operations management theories to best put Markeaton Park back on the map.

Appendix 1 photos

Appendix 2 data

This is the questionnaire that was created within a group that we used to collect information that was available from the council data. The data that was received from this was inconclusive as the times that we went to collect there werent any people willing to fill this form out.1How would you rate Markeaton Park? 12345678910

2What entrance do you use? Markeaton car park Derby UniversityResidential entrance

3What do you think of the pricing of items in shops?Cheap Moderate Expensive

4Do you think the kids play centre is out of date?YesNo

5Do you feel that Markeaton park gives a sense of quality?Yes No

6What dont you like about Markeaton park?

7What would you improve?

8Your opinion of the car park?Poor Average Excellent

9Have you used the restrooms? Yes No

10Would you recommend someone else to use the park?Yes No

11Are the signs clear and easy to read?Yes No

12Do you find it easy to navigate around the park?Yes No

Appendix 3 recommendations brainstorms and other

Increase the range of audiences Multipurpose business spaces set spaces that people could hire to operate in such as small food vendors Space for small traders such as market stalls such as sandwich shops etc and encourageMuseum, roaming exhibits and history of park and alternative fuels etcMarkeaton park paraphernalia and souvenir shops Group activities such as paint ball can use environmentally friendly paint, set weekend events such as treasure hunts, Easter egg hunts and group photos Increased involvement with schools Fruit and vegetable gardens Gazebos using environmentally friendly materials such as hempTheme parkConcert area / amphitheatreBetter navigation round the park, better paths with clear signsClear signageImproved Skate ParkBetter parking, better signage and hopper bus to get to town centre to encourage working people to park their cars there. Park access fee24hour pay and display car park and with small hand car wash that uses spray water bottles to limit water wastagePay to use toilets with changing rooms blended in to the environment to not be an eyesore1 - How will you increase the range of audiences using and enjoying the park?

2 - How will you conserve and enhance the heritage value of the park?

Clearly label heritage structures with information about them and same for rare species of trees also old carriage pathwayConserve and enhance Better signage for heritage structures such as information on rare treesFix fountain and water wheelMake old heritage structures look like they did in the pastRefurbish road garden benches Better access to hidden heritage such as the various streams and channels Information centres Refurbish and expand orangery Set walking paths and bike trails so no damage is done to green areas Getting rid of destructive animalsUnblock water ways

3/4 - How will you increase the range of volunteers involved in the park and how will you improve skills and knowledge about parks through learning and training?

Range of volunteers / skillsVolunteers from job centreIncrease involvement with derby university students can give references to students who helpAdvertise projects for Markeaton Park so people can see whats going on and get involved if they wantExpand friends of Markeaton Park by advertising in local newspapers and radio, also expand activities available.Increased involvement with schools, this can be done by inviting them to take park in eventsWork related trainingE-learningSet educational structure about the history of Markeaton Park Educational facilities or staff to promote home grown produce

5 - How will you improve management and maintenance?

Management and maintenanceHire managerHire grounds keepers Take on apprenticesSeasonal staff

6 - Other recommendations

Wildlife conservation, increase species of fish and rabbits etcComposting and recycling from waste from bins and traders and from allotments Renewable heat None domestic energy efficiency District energy Other recommendationsSolar panelsWind turbines Energy efficient led bulbs Natural lighting techniques Grow produce for shops in green housesBuilding materials brought from environmentally responsible suppliersLow carbon fuels and vehicles Low carbon fuels and vehicles Electric car charging points, offer deals with local residents to leave their cars on charge overnightHemp uniforms Mini steam train to use environmentally sources wood and not coal in boilerPay toilets use the bio waste for energy

References

Anon (2013)Data Publlications ,Available at:http://www.derby.gov.uk/(Accessed: 1st April 2013).Cua, McKone, and Schroeder (2001) McKone, C and schroeder (2001) 'Relationships between implementation of TQM, JIT, and TPM and manufacturing performance',Journal of Operations Management,19(6), pp. 675694Derby City Council . (N/A).Markeaton park.Available: http://www.derby.gov.uk/environment-and-planning/parks-and-open-spaces/markeaton-park/. Last accessed 1st April 2013Franco, G, Derby University online, 2013Kellogg, W,K (1996)Planning tools, Organisation tools. Score[Online]. Available at:http://stevens.usc.edu/docs/NPBusPlan_SCORE.pdf(Accessed: 1st April 2013)Peter, D (1994) 'Setting business objectives and measuring performance',European Management Journal,12(2), pp. 123132Lee, A.J (2011) 'Writing SMART Objectives and Strategies That Fit the ROUTINE',Teaching Exceptional Children,39(4), pp. 54-58Martha C. Cooper (1997) 'Supply Chain Management: More Than a New Name for Logistics',International Journal of Logistics Management, The,8(1), pp. 1-14.Peter T. Ward (1998) 'Competitive Priorities in Operations Management',Decision Sciences,29(4), pp. 10351046.Slack, N (2010)Operations Managment, 6th edn., 2010: Pitman PublishingValarie A (1996) 'The Behavioral Consequences of Service Quality',Journal of Marketing,60(2), pp. 31-64