Chair, C.H. Sandage School of Business
Professor of Business Administration
Sam Walton Fellow
Graceland University, 1 University Place, Lamoni, IA 50140
Jeffery W. McElroy, Ed.D.
Operations Management
Course Purpose
This course provides a state-of-the-art overview of the activities of the operations function. The most basic objectives of the course are to provide students with a broad introduction to the field of operations in a realistic, practical manner. Students will be exposed to key operations areas including planning, organizing, staffing & controlling of the business operation in both the class room & through on-site visits.
Reflective Statement Interpreting IDEA Evaluations
Overall the student evaluations are quite positive (see IDEA surveys below). Students ranked me as an excellent teacher with a score of 4.0 or greater on a scale of 0-5. Progress on objectives was also good with scores of 4.0 or greater. When reviewing the category "Teaching Methods & Styles", most to all are rated as a Strength to Retain. I continue to focus on experiential real-world learning via company visits. I believe I am doing a good job varying my teaching methods and the IDEAs reflected this.
Learning Outcomes
Students should have a solid understanding of the major decision areas under operations responsibility, the basic interrelationships of those decision areas, and an appreciation of how to apply key frameworks and tools for analyzing strengths & weaknesses of goods & services operations. In combination, then, the course should enable students to recognize, during on-site visits; areas of opportunity as well as best practices and be able to develop executive level reporting on their findings/suggestions.