An experiential approach to teaching structural decision areas in operations strategy - The TANGOS exercise

Abstract

The Tangibles in Operations Strategy (TANGOS) exercise provides students with the direct experience of designing a firm's operations function. Specifically, students must engage in decision making with respect to the structural decision areas in a firm's operations strategy, by considering the firm's product strategy and span of control, process choice, capacity, and layout. The exercise, divided into three parts, spans a period of 6-8 weeks, to coincide with the teaching of these operations management topics. Part 1 involves deciding on the product models to be made, the span of control, and the process choice. Part 2 examines capacity issues. Part 3 deals with the plant layout. The exercise is not resource intensive, and it offers flexibility, where instructors could choose to focus on any single part of the exercise, as well as alter constraints to limit or expand the scope of each decision. Student feedback reflects a high rating of the exercise.