Assignment:
Assessment Task 1 - Written Questions
Resources required
Paper and pens
Context and conditions of assessment
The written questions will be completed in the classroom on the date specified by the assessor.
Instructions to student
Complete the questions below. You are required to answer all questions correctly. If incorrect answers are provided, your assessor will identify if there are gaps in your knowledge and understanding and will work with you to make arrangements for reassessment. Your assessor will advise you when and where the written activities are to be completed and the time you will have to answer all of the questions.
You should complete your answers on a separate piece of paper with the questions numbers clearly shown.
1. Discuss in at least two sentences the aim and scope of the Fair Work Act 2009?
2. Briefly describe the role of the Fair Work Commission.
3. Briefly describe the role of the Australian Human Rights Commission.
4. Briefly discuss the purpose and scope of the Age Discrimination Acct 2004.
5. Briefly discuss the major objectives of the Disability Discrimination Act1992.
6. Briefly discuss the importance of a human resources strategy.
7. Discuss four key steps in the human resources strategic planning process. Discuss each step in at least 2 to 3 sentences.
8. Briefly describe the purpose of performance monitoring in relation to a contract?
9. Briefly describe the purpose of performance assessment in relation to a contract?
Assessment Task 2: Human resources requirements project
Resources required
- Computer and Microsoft Office
- Access to Boutique Build Strategic and Operational Plan
- Access to the internet for research
- Space for a meeting
Context and conditions of assessment
This assessment should be completed in the classroom as part of the simulated work environment. The assessor will advise dates for submission.
Instructions to student
All assessment activities relate to a fictional organisation, Boutique Build Australia Pty Ltd.
You are required to determine human resources strategies for Boutique Build Australia and you will need to do this by reviewing the company's strategic plan in order to determine its goals and objectives and resulting human resources needs, as well as consulting with managers on their human resource needs.
Boutique Build Australia Pty Ltd is a boutique building company based in Sydney that specialises in the design and build of high quality designer homes for the Sydney metropolitan and surrounding areas. The company has been operational for seven years. The company employs the following staff:
Managing Director, Marketing and Sales Manager, Sales Consultants (4), Office Manager, Human Resources Manager, Human Resources Assistant, Construction Manager, Site Manager (2), Production Draftsperson (2), 6 Carpenters and a range of contract staff, including plumbers, electricians, tilers, painters and plasterers.
The workforce is predominantly male with the only three females employed (the Office Manger and the two Human Resources positions). As indicated in the Strategic Plan, the company wishes to increase the number of women in its workforce.
Another current staff issue for the company is that while the use of contractors e.g. tillers, painters and plasterers reduces the company's ongoing staff overheads, at times it is difficult to ensure that all the required contractors are available to work on the company' s projects.
The company's vision as stated in its Strategic Plan is to be the best boutique home builder in Australia. Its values are listed as quality, innovation, leadership, respect and honesty and reliability.
As the Human Resources Manager for the company you have been tasked by the General Manager as part of the ongoing continuous improvement of the company to review and report on human resources services.
Complete the following activities:
Part A: Prepare for the meeting
At least a week prior to the meeting, send out an Outlook invite to the Managing Director, Marketing and Sales Manager, Office Manager and Construction Manager staff inviting them to attend a meeting to discuss their human resources needs and strategies.
Note that your assessor will advise you of the students who will role play the staff members (your assessor will be the Managing Director) and the date and time that you should conduct this meeting. Your assessor will also provide you with the email addresses to send your invitation to the meeting.
Your Outlook invite should indicate the date, time and duration of the meeting as well as the purpose of the meeting, including a request to managers to consider prior to the meeting their human resources needs so that this can be discussed at the meeting. Advise managers that they should consider a range of areas as part of human resources needs, for example, workforce planning, recruitment strategies, professional development and so on.
You should inform Managers that the meeting will last for at least 30 minutes.
In preparation for the meeting you will need to research and develop a briefing report that addresses the following:
• An analysis of the company's strategic priorities and their relationship to human resources.
• A PESTLE analysis that identifies and analyses external factors that affect or are likely to affect the human resources requirements of Boutique Build.
• As the company has also identified that it would like to increase female representation in the workplace, you should also research and document potential strategies for increasing female representation.
Your briefing report should be written in clear and concise English and must address all of the above content. Your briefing report should be approximately 2 pages.
You should email your briefing report to your assessor at least 2 days prior to the meeting. You will be assessed on whether you have addressed all of the required content and whether your document is at least 2 pages and written in clear and concise English.
Part B: Conduct the meeting
At the meeting, you will need to introduce the meeting by discussing the purpose of the meeting, as well as providing all attendees with the briefing paper.
Review the briefing paper with the managers and seek feedback on both your report and managers' human resources needs.
Your assessor and fellow students will be role-playing the staff invited and will give you specific feedback about their human resources needs.
You should listen carefully to the feedback provided and ask questions to explore issues further and to confirm information.
You will be assessed on your use of effective communication skills, including speaking clearly and concisely and asking questions and active listening.
At the meeting, you should facilitate the discussion such that some concrete recommendations for human resources requirements are discussed and agreed upon. These will be documented in the action plan as per Part C.
You will be assessed as to whether you have addressed all of the required content in the meeting, as well as your use of effective communication skills.
Part C: Develop human resources strategy action plan
Following the meeting you will be required to develop a 12-month human resources action plan that draws on your research and analysis as documented in your briefing paper, as well as the outcomes of the meeting.
Your action plan should include clear strategies and actions based on agreed human resources requirements, as well as roles and responsibilities and timelines.
Your assessor will provide you with a template to use.
Once you have completed these documents, send it to your assessor in the role of Managing Director. Your assessor will provide you with feedback on your action plan, as well as approval to proceed once the changes are made.
Update your plan based on the feedback provided and send a final version to your assessor in the role of the Managing Director.
Save all your work in appropriate folder/s and provide a screen shot of this to your assessor with the final version of your report and action plan. You will be assessed on your effective organisation of folders/files and information.
Assessment Task 3: Develop a service level agreement
Resources required
Computer and Microsoft Office
Access to the internet for research
Context and conditions of assessment
This assessment should be completed in the classroom as part of the simulated work environment. The assessor will advise dates for submission.
Instructions to student
Part A: Develop a service level agreement
Imagine that the Managing Director has agreed to strategies included in the Action Plan and that one of these strategies is to develop a service level agreement for core human resources services.
The aim of the Service Level Agreement is to clearly document the services to be provided by the human resources department, as well as the performance standards for the provision of the services.
As a start you have been asked to develop a Service Level Agreement for recruitment and selection.
Line Managers are now to be involved in the recruitment process as set out in the company's new recruitment and selection policy.
The Service Level Agreement you develop should include as a minimum roles and responsibilities and specific targets in relation to:
• Job analysis
• Advertising
• Preparation of documentation
• Interview
• Appointment offers.
The agreement should clearly set out the services that the HR team will provide in relation to the recruitment and selection, as well as the responsibilities of the line manager and performance standards. The responsibilities of each party should be documented as brief dot points and be based on the Boutique Building Company recruitment and selection policy and procedure provided to you by your assessor.
You task is to develop a service level agreement that includes the following:
• Purpose of the service level agreement
• Responsibilities of Managers (in relation to the SLA inclusions as above)
• Responsibilities of Human Resources Team (in relation to the SLA inclusions as above)
• Monitoring and evaluation arrangements
When you have completed your service level agreement, send it via email to the Managing Director and all other senior and line managers (this will be your assessor) seeking feedback and approval.
In your email, you should also identify how the service level agreement will be monitored, as well as a program of training for managers with regard to aspects of the service level agreement that they will now be responsible. The program of training should cover 12 months and occur at least once every quarter. In your email you should provide brief details of the training that will be provided, as well as when.
You should also save all your work in appropriate folder/s and provide a screen shot of this to your assessor with the final version of the SLA, as well as the recruitment policy and procedure. You will be assessed on your effective organisation of folders/files and information.
Part B: Manage underperformance
Imagine that the Service Level Agreement has been in operation for 3 months and for the following activities includes the targets as indicated:
Activity Detail Responsibility SLA target
Advertising On receipt of completion position description template and approval form, post job advertisement on relevant advertising forum
HR Team Within 2 days of receipt of position description template and approval form
Shortlisting
Compile applications for review and forward to line manager
HR Team Within 1 day of closing date of application
Shortlist applications and return to HR
Line Manager Within 3 days of receipt of applications
Candidates contacted Inform successful and unsuccessful candidates
HR Manager Within 1 day of receiving shortlist
There have been 3 new staff recruitments (a sales consultant and two carpenters) in the last 3 months and so you are required to analyse the following data to see if targets have been achieved.
Sales Consultant position
• Position description received by HR from Marketing and Sales Manager on March 2 2015.
• Advertisement developed and placed by HR on 4 March 2015 with a closing date of 13 March 2015.
• Applications forwarded to Marketing and Sales Manager on 17 March 2015.
• Shortlisted applications received by HR on 23 March 2015.
• Successful and unsuccessful candidates contacted on 25 March 2015.
Carpenter position 1
• Position description received by HR from Marketing and Sales Manager on 12 March 2015
• Advertisement developed and placed by HR on 15 March 2015 with a closing date of 24 March 2015.
• Applications forwarded to Construction Manager on 27 March 2015
• Shortlisted applications received by HR on 7 April 2015
• Successful and unsuccessful candidates contacted on 8 April 2015.
Feedback received from Construction Manager that shortlisting delayed because of Easter.
Carpenter position 2
• Position description received by HR from Marketing and Sales Manager on 4 May 2015.
• Advertisement developed and placed by HR on 6 May 2015 with a closing date of 15 May 2015.
• Applications forwarded to Construction Manager on 17 May 2015.
• Shortlisted applications received by HR on 26 May 2015.
• Successful and unsuccessful candidates contacted on 27 May 2015.
Following your analysis, you are required to develop a memo to send to the managers that have not achieved their targets. Each of the memos you send should restate the target in the service level agreement and clearly explain which targets have not been met and the variances between actual performance and required performance. You should also explain your intended actions to ensure targets are met and seek feedback as to the Manager's experience of the achievability of the targets and whether there needs to be any role adjustment.
Your assessor will advise the date for submission of this assessment task. Your memo must be written in clear and concise English and address all of the above.