As a new manager, you want to change the way your team thinks about and responds to the needs of customers and suppliers. Over the last few years, as the previous manager approached retirement, team members have developed an attitude that customers are just an interruption to their work. They can't see the point in team meetings because they just expect you to tell them what to do and how and when to do it. That's what the previous manger did and, in their minds, it seemed to work well. They are not interested in undertaking training because when they return from a training session, they know that you will expect them to implement changes. When you talk about performance management processes, they immediately think that this is when you tell them of all the things that they have been doing wrong since the last time they were 'performance managed' by the previous manager.
You know that things must change. The performance of the business has now declined to a point where, unless the quality of the customer service improves, some of the team may not keep their jobs. You have already realised that new job roles and clear performance targets need to be created. The previous manager did not let the team know how well the business was performing. Strategic plans were never discussed and the team was simply given weekly targets, most of which were not achieved. Either way, there was no reward for those who did achieve their target and no action taken for those who did not reach their target.
You are now starting to understand what your manger meant when he said at your selection interview that there would be many challenges for you in managing the team
4 P0044030 - LA011653 Case Study - BSBMGT502B Ed 1
©State of New South Wales, Department of Education & Training 2009, Version 1, June 2009
Question 1:
a. Describe to the team the relationship between strategic, operational, team and individual plans
b. You decide to re- allocate the work to be done in various job roles within the team. Briefly describe five things you would consider when making this decision
Question 2:
The team members seem to have no idea about what is expected of them in their job. They also have a poor opinion about how their performance has been managed in the past. You decide to have a team meeting to discuss the changes you are proposing to introduce.
a. Explain to the team what key result areas / critical success factors are; how these influence the choice of key performance indicators/ standards; and why these are written using SMART principles. Include an appropriate example of a key result area / critical success factor and a key performance indicator/ standard in your explanation.
b. Justify to the team why documentation is so important in a performance management system and explain the risks in not effectively managing this type of information
Question 3:
Formal and informal feedback has not been provided to the team in the past. Individual team members are critical of the lack of direction in their job and in their career with the company.
a. List the four ways in which informal feedback can be given to individuals and evaluate two different formal feedback approaches, such as Management by Objective, that would provide individuals with more formal feedback
b. Explain how you as a manger can motivate staff through this formal appraisal of performance and how self- appraisal by the staff member can also motivate future performance
c. List four different ways in which you could reward and recognise the performance of individuals and explain the advantages and disadvantages of using on-the-job coaching as a way of confirming excellence in performance P0044030 - LA011653 Case Study - BSBMGT502B Ed 1 5 ©State of New South Wales, Department of Education & Training 2009, Version 1, June 2009