PURPOSE - The purpose of Assessment Task 1 is for you to present ideas and requirements regarding business plans and modified operations clearly, using language and non-verbal techniques appropriate to the audience.
You will be required to conduct a staff meeting, develop policy and procedures and effectively distribute and implement new operational changes.
ASSESSMENT TASK
Assessment Instructions
This assessment task consists of two parts where you will be required to record a role play of a meeting and complete a range of written tasks. A number of the tasks that need to be completed will require information coming from internet research, learning resources and the prescribed textbook.
Role Play and Case Study Background Scenario
You recently joined a Nails Salon ‘Jazzy Nails', as one of two fulltime and two part time Nail Technicians. The other fulltime Nail Technician is the owner, who hired you to also take on management of the clinic's day to day operations. Your role and responsibilities include major functional areas of inventory control, human resources management, and systems quality.
The owner of the salon has developed some new strategies and business goals with the aim to improve current operations and has provided these to you to look over.
After reviewing the current business plan, current practices and the new business goals you notice some inefficiencies across the salon. Each Nail Technician seems to operate their own system in ordering inventory and scheduling appointments. When you ask the owner where the Operations Manual is located so you can review the practice policies and procedures, you are told, "we are quite independent here, and each Nail Technician has their own system".
You feel somewhat alarmed as you recently completed a course in management and know an ad hoc approach exposes the practice to a range of risks including WHS, and will undoubtedly be cutting into profitability. Upon your further questioning, all three Nail Technicians admit they sometimes experience frustrations with inventory problems and appointments dropping out, and they suspect profits should be higher for the amount of appointments taken.
It is clear the Jazzy Nails Salon needs systems to be implemented and documented policies, to ensure effectiveness, maintain compliance and mitigate operational risk. You have identified you will need to:
- develop operational strategies and procedures,
- implement these plans,
- monitor business performance according to those plans, and
- regularly review them for improvement.
There is no doubt some innovation will be included; it looks challenging and fun!
Part A: Role Play (Staff Meeting)
You are to draft an email addressed to relevant staff advising them of an upcoming meeting and that its purpose is to discuss the introduction of new standardised policies and procedures. Having joined the practice recently the owner has provided you with some new business strategies and goals for you to look over, and after reviewing the current business plan, current practices and the new business goals you have noticed some inefficiencies.
You are to prepare notes for the meeting to support a discussion of total 5-8 minutes that you will conduct with staff. Be sure to provide clear explanations using language and features suitable to the audience. In the short discussion you are to use questioning and listening techniques that ensures all staff understand the issues and are willing to implement changes.
As part of the task you are also required to add a brief new general policy on inventory control and distribute it to the relevant people to ensure the new policy is implemented, and an email to the owner reporting back on the meeting.
Requirements
Prior to the meeting:
1. Draft an email that advises the relevant staff of a meeting where decisions will impact company operations and will involve team consultation. Provide all necessary details of the meeting, including the reason for the meeting and an outline of the topic including reference to regulatory issues, and the reasons it is important for staff to attend. Include in your email that a team discussion will ensure that all have input towards your developing a new Policy that will resolve issues around inventory control, which all staff will need to implement. The e-mail should be two (2) brief paragraphs. Save the email into a Word document.
At the meeting you need to:
2. Introduce the reason for the meeting and its purpose. Provide an overview of the inventory issue described in the background scenario provided and a comprehensive list of possible efficiency, safety and financial implications to the business. You are to then present the need for an appropriate Policy to be developed and adopted.
3. You must give opportunity for participants to raise problems, ask questions, make suggestions and give feedback on changes you propose. In your role-play ensure at least one staff raises an objection and demonstrate your effective negotiation skills to achieve an effective outcome.
4. To finalise the consultative meeting, you are to gain verbal feedback from participants in order to confirm clear understanding by all.
You may conduct the meeting as a role play with work colleagues or other learners. Record the meeting and discussion on your mobile device or other suitable video recording equipment. Submit your recording with accompanying meeting notes and word documents.
After the meeting you need to:
5. Write a new policy and procedure that addresses the issues and objectives indicated by the background scenario, and reference all relevant legislation. Save the Policy into a Word document and name it "Inventory Control Policy and Procedure".
6. Draft an email to relevant staff that advises them of the new policy and what steps they should take to acknowledge their understanding. Include instruction about the location and accessibility of the record for all staff. Also review points on how these changes will impact business viability and your reflections on the effectiveness of the team's decision making process. Save the email into a Word document.
7. Write an email addressed to the business owner containing a report that summarises the meeting held. Your report should cover what the owners new goals were reviewed against, the operational issues identified, how you have/will approach the issues, and the corrective action to be taken. You should state that you agree these corrective actions will work to improve business operations, and that the business plan should be amended to include the new business strategies and goals.
PART B: Inventory control & WHS standards
Refer to the Background Scenario above, and for this task take particular note of the four steps of operations management process outlined there.
Additional Scenario
After conducting a further review of all stock there appears to be some chaos in ordering and storage habits. Issues you identify include: some perishables are close to expiry date, older stock sits behind recent purchases, various products and consumables are over-stocked and others close to running out. It is not clear which stock relates to which Nail Technician's ordering.
In addition, in a back storage room you find a second printer and more surprisingly, an expensive looking Nail Technician's ergonomic chair. The salon owner informs you, "We replaced this printer recently because it broke down in a busy period, though I think it's still under warranty." She also says the chair is damaged but "I don't want to throw it out yet because it was an expensive one."
As you survey the damaged equipment, you start formulating ideas about policies and procedures that are needed for the Salon to both minimize this sort of waste and ascertain safety in the workplace, and how information can be stored to be readily accessible to the Nail Technicians.
Requirements
1. Identify and analyse all the issues raised by the above scenario and write a report, ensuring that you consider all aspects of inventory control. Refer also to WHS and relevant legislation.
2. Develop a comprehensive process for inventory and procurement control, including hazardous products/supplies and perishables, that addresses the following and refers to relevant legislation as necessary:
a) Stock/supplies: ordering, receival, storage, use and disposal.
b) Equipment: sourcing and approval process, warranty records, maintenance schedules.
The process in this document will form new systems for the practice. Add your process to the original "Inventory Control Policy" and rename the document, "Procurement and Inventory Control Policy and Procedures".
3. Present an action plan to ensure the new policy and procedures are implemented and
practised consistently across the practice. Select effective method/s of communication and accessibility of the information, which will support staff in achieving these objectives.
4. List all equipment you would find in a salon such as in these scenarios. Create a form that you can use for monitoring product warranty periods and servicing schedules, that includes appropriate sign-off. Complete the form using your list of equipment and how it will be stored for accessibility by staff. You may use the internet to research standard Warranty times.
5. Create a template to record inventory for the practice. Ensure you include a section to record;
- Quantity of products approaching expiry or expired.
- A section for comments on the rate of wastage and effect on cash flow. Create this document as a table in Word or spreadsheet in Excel.
6. Outline a new system for categorising stock for this Salon that facilitates effective tracking from the point of order through to point of sale (by the correct practitioner). For the purpose of this assessment, this practice is multi-modal and the facility has multiple rooms. Storage has to incorporate some hazardous and perishable supplies. Explain how you would later review this system to more effectively support business performance.
7. Outline what quality systems and principles are and identify where this was practised throughout this Task. Provide any additional steps if necessary.
Scenario: Three months have passed, over which time the Salon has been operating according to the new inventory control systems. You are now reviewing the changes to measure their impact on performance and cash flow and identify further possible areas of improvement.
8. Create a template that records operational improvements for Nail technicians with products/supplies, improvements in wastage and cash flow for the practice and enhancement to regulatory compliance. Include a section to enable notes for analysis and comparison on these improvements. Create this document as a table in Word or spreadsheet in Excel.