Create a Game Structure as Described in "the Goal" by Goldratt

RESEARCH REVIEW: An Excel-based dice game: an integrative learning activity in operations management

Abstract:

The main theme of this paper is to use the excel spreadsheet and create a game structure as described in “The Goal “by Goldratt. This would help in integrating OM concepts practically, thus reinforcing the importance of OM through concept called Theory of Constraints. It explains the application of theory of constraints (TOC) in the field of operations management (OM) concepts including inventory, capacity, and flexibility. The TOC can be used in conjunction with other management techniques such as total quality management (TQM) and just-in-time (JIT) to provide a comprehensive, linked set of techniques that emphasize continuous improvement in all areas of operation. The paper takes us through the unifying experiments in OM, TOC, earlier dice games used through excel. It gives a set of experiments designed which illustrates and integrates various OM and TOC concepts. This will help amateur managers in the field of operations management to have a hands-on experience on various concepts of operations management and provide preposterous results. The uniqueness of the paper lies in the fact that it addresses a wide variety of operations issues which other papers have failed to accomplish. It gives a set of experiments designed which illustrates and integrates various OM and TOC concepts. Finally further scope for work and the limitations has also been discussed.

Introduction:

The authors have explained the importance of Operations management and its importance through practical experiments in a concise manner. Operations Management has become a central business function in many organizations adding value to its internal and external processes. Another important fact is the introduction of manufacturing and service topics to processes, capacity, quality and inventory using a holistic and cohesive framework such as TOC and speculation of The Goal that has been studied at a basic level.  This report narrates how a plant manager implements this framework to improve the performance of a manufacturing plant. To explain the above concepts of TOC and OM, Goldratt introduced an exercise to as “dice game”.

With a continuous change in the global business setting, emphasis is on improving the external along with internal supply chains, organizations have integrated operations management as c core business concept. This is required to optimize the utilization of resources and find out various combinations of input parameters converted to result into the best output. In order to ensure continued prosperity of the OM concepts, we must demonstrate our value proposition in an unambiguous and interesting manner. It has been noted that there is a gap between the OM theory and the actual OM principles which are practically applied. Instead of a theory based modeling approach, a case based empirical approach needs to be developed.