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What is the operational plan? Use an example of how to be a successful team in your answer.

If possible, consult with the relevant personnel in your organisation regarding an operational plan. Begin to develop the main aspects of an operational plan using the examples of how to be a successful team from your previous answer. Otherwise, work in a group to develop a hypothetical operational plan for a large corporation. You should consider:

• The project lifespan, sustainability and exit strategy
• Financial resource requirements
• Human resource requirements
• Risk assessment

List the ways in which you can communicate consultation processes. Give an example of a time that you may use each on

What is feedback used for in the consultation process

Develop a newsletter which informs staff about the operational plan. Ensure there are opportunities for staff to respond

What are the two key successful factors for a KPI?

Write a KPI related to your position. Write the operational goal that you believe it is related to or provide a brief description of the role that you are writing a KPI for.

What is a contingency plan?

Briefly explain each step of developing a contingency plan.

The operational plan outlined in Activity 1A has failed. Develop two contingency plans which could be used to alleviate the situation.

Describe the steps to writing a winning business proposal in your own words.

When you write a proposal, why is it important to obtain specialist advice?

When you present the business proposal, what information should you include? Give examples of times when you may present information in different ways.

You should now attempt to gain approval for your operational plan from the relevant stakeholders in your organisation.

Write a smart goal for your job.

Briefly explain the importance of the following terms in relation to recruitment:

• Outsourcing versus the HR Department
• Costs
• The recruitment process

Your organisation is looking recruit an individual for a position which has become available within production. Develop a job specification which can be used to advertise the position and is in line with the organisation’s human resources management policies, practices and procedures.

What is a supplier relationship?

What impact has just in time and total quality management had on organisations in supplier relationships?

Who are the internal suppliers?

Why is it important to consider the relationship costs when you build relationships with suppliers? What are relationship benefits?

You have been tasked with recommending a supplier for your organisation. What are some of the factors that will influence the choice of supplier?

For your organisation, what resources and services have intellectual property rights and responsibilities attached to them? What measures do you need to take in order to prevent non-compliance with these?

You are required to monitor the performance of an employee new to the organisation. Develop a system which will enable you to monitor them over a four week period. Think about what measurements you will need to use to establish the employee’s progression.

Describe two factors that may impact upon how much budget is available to the organisation.

Locate your organisations financial information. Analyse the relationship between your profit and loss statement and the rate of sales over the past twelve months, and make two observations about the relationship.

You have identified that there are variations in production in your office/ production line in regards to quality. Draw a flow chart that your organisation uses to identify and correct a problem in quality. Do not forget to demonstrate what will happen if the suggested variation to strategy is rejected.

A gap has been identified between accepted and desired performance problems. What steps do you recommend to support your team?

Why is principle negotiation recommended over hard and soft negotiation?

You want to implement a new piece of equipment into the workplace which will increase productivity. In pairs, act out a negotiation whereby a production manager must convince a member of senior management that the equipment will be profitable for the organisation.

List the documentation that you will need to collect throughout the operational plan.

Why is it important that the documentation from the previous answer is filed away once you have finished with them?

The answers to the following questions will enable you to demonstrate your knowledge of:

Ø  Reading

Ø  Writing

Ø  Oral Communication

Ø  Numeracy

Ø  Navigate the world of work

Ø  Interact with others

Ø  Get the work done

Ø  Models and methods for operational plans

Ø  The role of an operational plan in achieving the organisation’s objectives

Ø  Budgeting processes

Ø  Alternative approaches to developing key performance indicators to meet business objectives

Ø  Legislative and regulatory context relevant to the operational plan of the organisation

Ø  Organisation’s policies, practices and procedures that directly relate to the operational plan

Answer each question in as much detail as possible, considering your organisational requirements for each one.

All answers will vary depending on the learner and the organisation they work for but the learner should be able to answer each question competently.

1.       Identify an area/department/member(s) of staff in your organisation that requires improvement for any reason, for example to increase productivity, advances in technology have made it obsolete or colleague under-performance is affecting output.

Write an organisational plan that details your proposal for the improvement that you are going to submit to the relevant management for consideration.

You will need to include:

Ø  The lifespan, sustainability and exit strategy of the plan

Ø  Financial resource requirements

Ø  Human resource and other capacity requirements

Ø  Risk assessment and mitigation strategy

Ø  How you intend to implement it

Ø  How you intend to measure it (KPIs)

Completed answers should be attached to the workbook.

They must individually, answer the following questions in full to show their competency of each element:

• Develop operational plan
•  Plan and manage resource acquisition
• Monitor and review operational performance

Complete the following and present it as a portfolio (attach it to the workbook):

Project

You have been employed to develop a new department for the training and development of the administrative and sales team for your employer at a personnel recruitment company. Due to demand they have opened two offices, one in Melbourne and one in Adelaide. This expansion has led to a tight budget within the organisation for the fiscal year. You need to keep the budget at a minimal amount.

The strategic goal that you have been asked to concentrate on is to increase sales by 8% by the end of 2011.

Five staff in the administration department handle enquiries in regards to sales to the organisations that they provide with personnel (both permanent and temporary.

There are ten recruitment personnel who have the primary responsibility to manage their case load and follow up leads for new opportunities.

As a well established organisation, Excel Personnel is a family owned company that believes in gaining and retaining customers through customer service excellence. Though the company has managed to retain their long standing personnel, several of their newer clients have changed recruitment companies in the last six months. Concerned with the loss of clients and no trend in the customers’ move, the board of directors have decided to train their team on the latest customer service skills.

For this project:

Ø  All plans, goals and recommendations must flow together to support the strategic plan

Ø  You may vary your plans, goals, strategies and recommendations as you progress through each part of this project. Put a line through the change and briefly outline why you made an update on the operational plan. This is a normal part of the development of a plan. As new information is introduced, you may decide to change your operational plan

Ø  This is a preliminary operational plan that you are drawing up, so use bullet points (unless advised by your trainer).

You have been asked to develop an operational plan. In the report you must:

Ø  Clearly state the operational goals and how they are related to strategic plan

Ø  List resources and funds to meet these goals

Ø  Identify the relevant personnel that you should consult with in regards to the operational goals and the resultant action plans required to meet the operational goals

Ø  Include what communication methods you should use to maintain a record of the consultation process. Why?

Ø  Include what feedback processes you would recommend should be put in place

Ø  Include what KPIs you would recommend to measure organisational performance in regards to the training (Write at least two)

Ø  Create at least two contingency plans if the employees in both departments do not meet the KPIs.

Ø  Develop a business proposal (discuss this with your trainer and as a class using what you have learnt to develop and prioritise your strategies).

Ø  Draw a flow chart of the relevant parties who you should obtain approval from for this business proposal

Ø  You need to also briefly outline how you would recommend that staff have the plan communicated to them. Use at least one smart goal to measure the team members demonstrating an understanding of the proposal

Ø  The organisation has two external recruitment personnel who are contracted as a supplier by referring potential customers to Excel Personnel. They have both recently slowed down in referring customers to Excel Personnel. Briefly outline in bullet points how you would strengthen the supplier relationship with them

Ø  Based on your KPIs, smart goals, communication and feedback processes and the organisation’s operational plans, recommend what and how you will measure performance?

Ø  Develop one tool based on your recommendations. (This tool must reflect the goals)

Ø  How will you monitor financial information? What do you need to watch for when reviewing this information? Why?

Ø  Based on information that you have already received when you spoke to staff, there seems to be a mixture of performance and lack of skills with staff. Some of these problems stem from the department managers. How would you handle any under-performance issues in regards to these skills and the level of performance? In this answer, please refer to the factors that affect output and quality to justify a lack of skills and performance

• There is a lack of openness and trust between the departments and this is having a negative impact on morale. Recommend ways in which you can overcome this
• Draw a flow chart on the processes that you believe should be put in place for the approval of any variations to this plan (Include who you should consult with in this flow chart)
• Using the documents that you have recommended in this project and developed, draw a flow chart on how the variation should be implemented after it has been approved.