California State University, Northridge

College of Business and Economics

Department of Systems and Operations Management
SOM 306 Operations Management, Fall 2015
Monday Aug. 24, 2015- Tuesday Dec. 8, 2015
Finals are scheduled for Dec 9-15- Please check Solar
Dr. Ardavan Asef-Vaziri
aa2035@csun.edu
Office: JH 4129, Tel: 818-677-3637
Office hours: MW 10:45-11:45, W 5.30-6.30, and by
appointment
Count what is countable.
Measure what is measurable.
What is not measurable, make it measurable.
Galileo Galilei, 1564 -1642.
Prerequisites. To enroll in SOM 306, the student must have passed
SOM 120 (or an equivalent statistics course at another institution) with
a grade of C or higher. Alternatively, the student must have passed
both, Math 140 and Math 103 courses. Students, who have not
passed the prerequisites, are under the risk of receiving an F as their
final grade. It is your responsibility to make sure that you have
passed all necessary prerequisites.
Operations Management. Operations, Marketing, and Finance are
the three primary functions of business organizations. Operations
management focuses on how managers can design and operate
processes in business settings with discrete flow units. Examples
include the flow of cars in a GM assembly plant, flow of customers in a
Wells Fargo branch, flow of patients at the UCLA Medical Center, flow of
cash in Fidelity Investments, and flow of students during their program
at CSUN. In all these systems in, Inputs (natural resources, semifinished goods, products, customers, patients, students, and cash) in
form of Flow Units flow through a set of Processes (formed by a network
of Activities and Buffers) using Human Resources and Capital Resources
(such as equipment, buildings, tools) to become a desired Outputs. The
reason for the being of operations management is structuring
(designing), managing, and improving processes to achieve the desired
output as defined in a four-dimensional space of quality, cost, time, and
variety.
Making a factory [or the service system] operate for the
company just like the human body operates for the individual.
The autonomic nervous system responds even when we are
asleep. The human body functions in good health when it is
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properly cared for, fed and watered correctly, exercised

frequently, and treated with respect.
Taiichi Ohno, Toyota Production System.
SOM 306 is an introductory course into operations management. The
goal is to acquaint the students in Business Administration and
Economics with the scope of this field. During this semester you will be
introduced to classic and contemporary terminology, concepts, ideas,
models, techniques and tools in design and operations of manufacturing
and service enterprises. Operations management techniques, such as
short term and long term forecasting, process flow analysis, waiting line
analysis, capacity planning, throughput improvement, flow time
reduction, inventory management, linear programming, aggregate
planning, quality management, and lean operations are introduced.
These techniques are integrated on the basis of analysis, design, and
management of process flows in environments, such as production and
assembly plants, supply chains, healthcare systems, educational
institutes, and financial enterprises. You will gain a knowledge that will
enable you to perform qualitative analysis of basic operational
situations and decisions. Also, you will have a chance to improve your
quantitative and analytical capabilities in general.
Specific Features of the Course. One of the most binding constraints
of business school students from when they are admitted to college as
raw material from high school to when they graduate and leave college
as the final product is their low quantitative and analytical skills.
According to the CEO of American Express in his 2011 interview with
Fareed Zakaria on CNN, the low level of quantitative capabilities of our
graduates has kept us from excelling beyond the graduates of rising
countries such as China and India. Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) Skills Outlook (2013) compares
the literacy, mathematics and computer skills of U.S. residents with other
OECD countries. In mathematics, U.S. trailed 18 countries and beat only
Italy and Spain.
Believing that managers cannot go far if their quantitative and
analytical capabilities are below a threshold, we have tried to improve
these qualifications through our Operations Management (OM)
classroom. In a typical traditional OM class, about 2/3 of the class time
is spent on delivering the content. The rest is mainly spent on problem
solving and also on case studies, term projects, and simulation games.
We have tried to improve these capabilities through flipping our
Operations Management classroom. By delivering the lectures using
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screen capture technology, the students can learn the material at a

time and location of their choice, when they are in control to pause,
rewind, and fast forward the professor. The class time is no longer spent
on teaching basic concepts, but rather on more value-added activities
such as problem solving, answering questions, creative-thinking,
systems-thinking, as well as real world applications and discussions,
potential collaborative exercises such as case studies, and virtual world
applications such as web-based simulation games. A flipped classroom
is an online course because its online components must compete with
the best of the online courses. A flipped classroom is also a traditional
course because not even a single class session is cancelled while all the
lectures are delivered online. This core concept is reinforced by a
network of resources and learning processes, ensuring a smooth, lean,
and synchronized course delivery system.
The specific features of the course and their relative importance are
depicted below.
Quantitative and Analytical

Systems Thinking

Information Visualization

Interdisciplinary

Team Work

Information
Technology

Quantitative and Analytical. We use Operations Management as a

tool to improve the quantitative and analytical capabilities of our
students. You will learn to develop a structured, data-driven, analytical,
and quantitative approach to discuss the core Operations Management
concepts.
Systems Thinking. We try to improve systems thinking capabilities of
our students by teaching them the basic concepts of operations
management not as isolated islands, but as a total system designed
towards improving process flow. You will learn to implement the

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process view as the unifying paradigm to study the core concepts in the
operations management.
Visualization of Data and Information. Besides quantitative
representation (translating long writings into mathematical relationships),
you will have a chance to practice tabular representation (translating
long writings into tables) and schematic representation (translating
several pages of writing and tables into a graph, flow chart, or picture).
Also, you will exercise how to deal with large, unorganized, or erroneous
big data sets.
Information Technology. We try to enhance the knowledge of the
students in spreadsheet modeling. We have learned that understanding
the knowledge behind these models and developing small pilot
spreadsheets leads to a better understanding of the course material.
Through case studies, as well as web-based games, the stage is set to
motivate the students to develop spreadsheet-based models.
Teamwork. We encourage collaborative learning and creative thinking.
The first day of the class is not spent on the syllabus, but rather on the
importance of teamwork and collaborative learning. I highly encourage
you to have weekly team meetings to go over the already solved
assignments, and gain new insights in the web-based games and case
studies.
Interdisciplinary. We address interfaces of Operations Management
with Accounting, Finance, Economics, and Management concepts through
case studies.
Learning Goals. There will be two games and several learning goal
specific problems in the exams to enable the college to assess your
knowledge in the following areas: (a) To provide definitions or short
explanations of concepts and issues related to the area of operations
management. (b) To be familiar with a basic set of standard operation
problems. (c) To interpret quantitative analysis of various operational
problems and present the results to management.
Text Book. There is no mandatory text book for this course. It
is up to you to buy a new book, old book, or ebook, or rent a
new book or used book, or do nothing.
Recommended (Not Mandatory) Text Book
Managing Business Process Flows, 3rd Ed. 2012. Anupindi,
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Chopra, Deshmukh, Van Mieghem, and Zemel. Pearson Prentice Hall,

2012. ISBN: 978-0-13-603637
Building Lean Supply Chains with the Theory of Constraints.
2012. Srinivasan. McGraw-Hill. ISBN: 978-0-07-177121-4. This book
also has a Kindle edition available on the Amazon web site.
Supply Chain management: Strategy, Planning, and Operation.
5th edition, 2010. Chopra and Meindl. PEARSON Prentice Hall. Print
ISBN: 978-0-13-274395-2 eText ISBN:
Introduction to Management Science. 5th edition, 2014. Hillier
and Hillier. Mc Graw-Hill ISBN: 0078024064. eBook is available
through CourseSmart (www.coursesmart.com). The eBook ISBN is
978-0-07-749893-1.
The books do not replace the teaching material covered during
the semester. Nothing will replace (i) Listening to the
recordings and reading the lectures, and printing the
PowerPoint lectures before coming to class. (ii) Completing the
assignments before coming to class. (iii) Coming to class and
being on time, not leaving the class early, remaining focused in
class, and writing the required notes.
Composition of marks:
Simulation Games ....................15%
Quizzes .......................................25%
Mid-term Exam ..........................25%
Final .............................................35%
Class Participation. Please post a clear photo of your face on
Moodle by the end of the first week. If you have specific concerns
regarding posting your photo that is fine, just come to me to discuss it.
It is up to you to come to class or not. However, if you come to class
you cannot damage the learning environment. What do we partially
mean by creating a learning environment? During the last two
semesters, I have had innumerous complaints from the students
regarding continuous whispering of other students at their side. When
you talk during my lectures (a) you cannot follow the material, (b) Dr.
Asef loses his concentration, and more importantly, (c) you do not allow
your classmates to follow and understand the material discussed. In
order to get 100% of the class participation mark, please do not disturb
the learning environment by creating background noise. Sending text
messages and surfing unrelated sites are other examples of disturbing
the learning environment. All students are expected to turn off their cell
phones during class sessions and not have the cell phone at their
approach but in a backpack or in a not easily approachable pocket. The
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only exceptions are (i) unexpected emergencies or (ii) using the cell
phone for teaching material. In both cases the student must inform Dr.
Asef in advance. Students are expected to use their laptops and tablets
strictly for presentation slides or computations. Any other utilization is
considered as interruption in the learning environment. Thank you for
helping us to create an efficient learning environment. Please come to
class, be on time, do not leave the class early, and remain
focused in class. Being focused in class, reading the
PowerPoint slides, and solving the assignments play the most
important role in your success in SOM 306. If you intend to
leave the class early, you need to leave a note at the beginning
of class and explain the reason.
I encourage all students to go into State 0 at least one minute
before the class starts. State 0 means absolute meditation
mode. Born in Moscow in 1863, Constantin Sergeyevich Stanislavsky
had a more profound effect on the process of acting than anyone else in
the twentieth century. It was his assertion that if the theater was going
to be meaningful it needed to move beyond the external representation
that acting had primarily been. Over forty years he created an approach
that fore fronted the psychological and emotional aspects of acting. The
Stanislavsky System, or "the method," as it has become known, held
that an actors main responsibility was to be believed (rather than
recognized or understand). Today in the United States, Stanislavskys
theories are the primary source of study for many actors. Among the
many great actors and teachers to use his work are Marlon Brando and
Gregory Peck. Many artists have continued experimentation with
Stanislavskys ideas. Among the best known of these proponents is the
Actors Studio, an organization that has been home to some of the most
talented and successful actors of our time. Stanislavsky saw that the
difference between the good actor and the great actor was the ability to
be relaxed, and to be private in public. We learn from Stanislavsky:
As the students relax before the lecture starts; they clean the
slate, going to a zero state, being ready for the best
performance in the learning process.
Quizzes. Our flipped classroom needs to be (1) smooth (the work-load
is uniformly spread over the semester due to well-paced lecture
captures), (2) lean (the students do not have the opportunity to
postpone watching the lectures due to after-lecture-before-class quizzes
), and (3) synchronized (online resources facilitate learning processes
and live face-to-face in-class problem solving and troubleshooting
reinforce the online material). I have prepared screen captures of the
lectures using software such as Camtacia Studio. Each student can
learn the basic concepts at flexible times fitting his/her schedule. If
students do not know the basic concepts streamlined through screen
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captures, there will be no basis for active problem solving, trouble

shooting, creative-thinking thinking, and real world applications in our
face-to-face class times. So, my recorded lectures will give you a
chance to learn the basic concepts via screen captures at a time that
best fits your schedule, and when you are focused. Then, take a simple
online quiz (on Moodle) to assess whether you have listened and
understood the lectures. Next, you need to start solving the assigned
problems. When you come to class after going through these simple
steps, you will be in an excellent position to overcome you weaknesses
throughout the class discussion. In a quantitative and analytical course,
it is the problem solving and profound face-to-face discussions, rather
than delivering the basic concepts, which requires presence of the
teacher. After class discussions, you will take another online quiz on
Moodle, but this time more advanced. Comparing the performance of
the students on simple quizzes after listening to lectures with that of
the more advanced quizzes after class discussion provides basis for
assessment. Group discussions on the lecture material, as well as on
the solved assignments, are very beneficial. Nevertheless, quizzes are
individual tasks and any type of collaboration on the quizzes is
prohibited. Usually, you have 20-50 minutes to take the quizzes.
Time window for the most of the quizzes is from 9:30 am on
Thursday to 9:30 pm on Sunday of the same week.
Students, who share their quiz content with other students who
have not taken the quiz yet, or provide them with supporting
material, may get a grade of zero for one quiz or for all quizzes.
Students who follow specific patterns in taking quizzes may be
subject to academic integrity audit.
Games. During the semester two web-based games will be played in
teams. Each team is composed of four students. Teams of less
than or greater than 4 are not allowed. Students should
register their teams within the first two weeks of the course
using the instructions provided on the access code (details are
below). Each game takes one week. During these games, you will
examine the capabilities of the quantitative and analytical tools that
you have learned in the course. The first game is focused on the
Forecasting Models, Process Flow Analysis, and Waiting Line Models. In
the second game, in addition to these techniques, you will need to
exercise your knowledge on Inventory Models and Revenue
Management models. Game 2 starts from scratch, not from the point
you have finished Game 1. Game grades will be determined by the
financial position of your company at the end of each game. The team
in the best cash asset position gets 100 and the last team gets 60. If a
teams financial position is exactly the same as the do-nothing team,
their grade is set to 0. We have experienced that after playing the first
game, the students realize that knowing the course material plays a
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profound role in their standing, and therefore, they allocate more time
to learn the course material related to the second game.
Please read the following documents to become familiar with the nature
of the games.
Overview of the Games
Game 1
Game 2

To Purchase the access code. The access codes are sold online at
http://mgr.responsive.net/Manager/ShowClient . Our institution name is
"Cal State Univ. Northridge". The product is titled "Littlefield Code for
Prof. Asef". The online price will be $18, payable by MasterCard, Visa,
Discover or American Express cards.
To Register for the games. All team members should register at
http://sim.responsive.net/lt/csun/start.html. To register, you need BOTH
the individual code purchased and the course code which is 'california'
(without ' '). The most common problem is entering the code you have
bought at the bookstore when you are supposed to be using registration
code. On the page you get after entering your registration code, make
up a team name and a password and enter both. This is for the first
student (the second, third and fourth student must follow the team
name and password initiated by the first person). On the page after
that, you enter your names and individual access codes. Please have
your first name first, then a space, then your last name, EXACTLY the
same as your first and last name on Moodle. The best is if you just
cut and paste! Thanks. If your name in the game differs from your
name on your DPR you miss 5%.
To Play. Once the simulator has started, students can access the game
from http://sim.responsive.net/lt/csun/entry.html
Exams. There will be a midterm exam, and an almost cumulative
final exam. Exams are closed book/closed notes, and are a combination
of problems and short questions. Please carefully check the dates and
times of the midterms and the final exams. No make-up exam is
allowed except for medical reasons, and unexpected situations. Such
circumstances must be supported by written evidence. During the
exam you may be asked to change your seat. This by no means
indicates that you have conducted any act of academic dishonesty.
Nevertheless, you must comply immediately. Please note that you
cannot have your cell phone at your approach during the exam. Please
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note, if an on and approachable cell phone will be found, the

student may not finish the exam. Thanks for your cooperation.
Grading
(A)
(A-)
(B+)
(B)
(B-)
(C+)

93-100
88-93
86-88
82-86
80-82
77-80

(C)
(C-)
(D+)
(D)
(D-)
(F)

73-77
70-73
67-70
63-67
60-63
0-60

Academic integrity.
Academic integrity is a core value at CSUN. As such, students are
expected to perform their own work (except when collaboration is
expressly permitted by the professor). When practiced, academic
integrity ensures that all students are fairly graded. Academic
dishonesty, however, undermines the educational process and must not
be tolerated. Simply stated, academic dishonesty is the intentional use
or attempted use of unauthorized material, information, or study aids
on academic exercises. Academic dishonesty demonstrates a lack of
respect for oneself, fellow students, and the professor. It can ruin the
universitys reputation and the value of the degree it offers. We all
share the obligation to maintain an environment which practices
academic honesty. All students need to sign and date the last
page of this syllabus and submit it to Dr. Asef in the first week
of classes.
SOM Tutoring Room JH 4120 Schedule.
SOM tutoring services are available at the following days and hours in
JH4120:
Monday through Thursday: 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Friday: 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Ryan Imhof ryan.imhof.124@my.csun.edu is the tutor who has more
knowledge of my course structure and material. Check with him for his
office hours. For topics such as Process Flow and Waiting Line, Ryan is
the best choice. For other topics all tutors are good.
Honor Students tutoring
Honors students provide free tutoring to students enrolled in COBAE
lower division and upper division required classes. Appointments can be
made anywhere from 2 to 14 days in advance. To make an
appointment, please go to the business honors association website at
http://www.csun.edu/bha, click on the book now icon on the right side
of the webpage and follow the instructions.
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Schedule of Classes
Disclaimer: This syllabus is an invitation for students to engage in an
exciting and interactive study of Operations Management. The intention
of the SOM 306 course is to provide you with information, offer practice
with skill sets, and enhance your capacity to use fundamental concepts
of operations management. To that end, modifications to subjects and
dates of this syllabus, except for exam dates, might be warranted as
determined by the professor as he assess the learning needs of this
particular class of students. The week by week schedule will be
updated on Moodle. Due to modifications in this schedule the
students are responsible to check Moodle at the night after
each class session.

To access course material please

click on CourseWBS

Please note that the material of this link are updated on a weekly basis.
Therefore only download the material of the current week. Please note
that you need to watch the online lectures and go through few
of the solved problems before coming to class.

Tentative Schedule is as follows

In God we trust; all others must bring data.
W. Edwards Deming 1900-1993.

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Statement of Reading and Understanding Syllabus SOM 306

Asef-Vaziri
Last Name
Location: L CL CR R

Row:

First Name
Column:

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I acknowledge that I have read and understood the syllabus of the

course SOM 306, taught by Dr. Asef, very carefully. I, hereby, commit
myself to follow it in its entirety. I restate the followings:
1.
I will not use my cell phone in the classroom, except in the case of
emergency. I will get Dr. Asefs permission in advance.
2.
I will not use my laptop or tablet during lectures except for
viewing the SOM 306 lecture and assignment slides provided by Dr.
Asef and their related computations.
3.
I commit myself not to create background noise or disturb the
learning environment during the lectures.
4.
I understand coming to class just to be marked as present and
leaving the class before the lecture ends is a case of academic
dishonesty. If I need to leave the classroom before the lecture ends
(except in case of emergency), I will inform Dr. Asef at the beginning
of the lecture in a written note.
5.
I have been informed that Dr. Asef encourages teamwork,
especially on solving the assignments and preparation for quizzes.
However, I have been also informed if I share any concept from my
quiz with a fellow student who has not taken the quiz yet, or if I
provide such student with a tool that I have developed individually
before the quiz, or a tool that I have realized its value after taking
the quiz, my grade and the other student(s) grade could be set to
zero for one or all quizzes. I also understand that I cannot have any
coordination with other students while taking my quizzes. In other
words no specific pattern should be observed between timing of my
quiz and quiz time of other students.
6.
I have read and understood the CSUN Student Conduct Code,
printed in the schedule of classes and the CSUN policy on Academic
Dishonesty (2010-2013 Catalog, Appendix E, Student Conduct). I
verify that all of the work I submit in the quizzes and exams will be
my own. I understand the Student Core Values are: Respect,
Honesty, Integrity, Commitment, and Responsibility.

____________________________________________________
Signature
Date

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__________________