PLEASE READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS AND INFORMATION CAREFULLY.
This assignment contributes 50% to your final module mark.

Please ensure that you retain a duplicate of your assignment.  We are required to send samples of student work to the external examiners for moderation purposes.  It will also safeguard in the unlikely event of your work going astray.

All research paper based assessments are now required to be submitted via ‘Turnitin’ to check for plagiarism.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

You are required to submit your work within the bounds of the University Academic Misconduct regulations (please refer to policies AQH-F7 for more detail).  This covers: cheating, plagiarism, collusion, falsifying data, impersonation and any other form of dishonest practice. Although you should make full use of any source material, which would
normally be an occasional sentence and/or paragraph (referenced) followed by your own critical  analysis/evaluation.  You will receive no marks for work that is not your own. Your work will be subject to checks for originality using ‘Turnitin’.

Where you are asked to submit an individual piece of work, the work must be entirely your own.  The safety of your assessments is your responsibility.  You must not permit another student access to your work.

Where referencing is required, unless otherwise stated, the Harvard referencing system must be used. Please refer to your Programme Guide and or the library book ‘Cite them Right Cite them right: the essential referencing guide’ By Richard Pears.

In their discussion of “Lean”, Slack et al, said that, “Its principles, which once were a radical departure from traditional operations practice, have now themselves become orthodox”. However, in the attached  paper, Schonberger (2011) describes Lean as “Still an immature adolescent”.

Your task is to carry out a literature review and write a researched based assignment which;

I. Explains and fully describes the nature of Lean practices. (35 Marks)

II. Identifies and examines the main ways in which Lean is considered to be “a radical departure from traditional operations practice”. (30 Marks)

III. Critically examines Schonberger’s paper and the extent to which you consider his conclusions challenge the contention of Slack et al that the principles of Lean have “become orthodox”. (35 Marks)

Word count: 2500 words +/- 10%.

Your answers should be supported by relevant reference material. You will need to demonstrate a wide reading around the subject, with good marks being awarded for well argued, structured answers that are supported by the relevant literature. You need to demonstrate a clear understanding of the key concepts applicable to the question and also be able to critically appraise your position/answer, especially when conflicting views have been shown to exist. Your sources must be referenced correctly within the text and any quotations used must be for illustrative purposes only.