Activity 1:
1. Explain the terms staffing level and staffing mix. (40-80 words)
2. Complete the table, stating the advantages and disadvantages of each type of employment arrangement.
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Employment type
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Advantages
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Disadvantages
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Suitable for your business (Y/N + explanation)
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Full-time
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Part-time
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Casual
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Permanent
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Contractors/ consultants
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Apprentices
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3. Describe the employment arrangements you are likely to use to give your business flexibility with regard to staffing. (40-80 words)
Activity 2:
1. Explain why it is important to focus a TNA on the goals of the business. (75-100 words)
2. Conducting a TNA is a useful exercise, even if the owner of the business is the only employee. Explain. (75-100 words)
Activity 3:
1. Define the terms policy and procedure. (75-100 words)
2. Outline the key topics that you will include in a recruitment and selection policy for your business. List at least six.
3. Policies and procedures can help to ensure that the business achieves its goals. Explain why. (75-100 words)
Activity 4:
1. Create a job and person specification for a vacancy in your business or proposed business. If there is no current vacancy, choose a hypothetical position that could become available in the future.
2. Nominate your preferred method for advertising a job vacancy and explain your reasons for choosing it.
3. Explain how job competencies differ from job tasks. Give an example of both.
Activity 5:
1. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of using a panel to select staff. (75-100 words)
2. Describe a method of short-listing and interviewing candidates that compares each applicant to the specified job competencies. (75-100 words)
3. When interviewing short-listed candidates, what should the interviewer/s look for in each person's answer to determine their ability to complete the job competencies? (75-100 words)
Activity 6:
1. Respond to the following statement:
'Inductions are not needed in small businesses as people can just pick things up along the way.' (100-150 words)
2. Create an induction checklist for your business.
Activity 7:
1. State at least three methods of ensuring that a worker knows their responsibilities and the performance expected of them.
2. Describe the benefits of coaching an employee who is unfamiliar with the job requirements. (100-150 words)
Activity 8:
1. Explain the benefits of following a systematic approach to training and development. (100-150 words)
2. Informal training methods, such as discussion, are sometimes not considered to be as valid as formal methods. Give an example of an informal training method that is or could be used to train team members in your business.
Activity 9:
1. Summarize the obligations an employer has to employees. (75-100 words)
2. Where might a small business employer find the necessary information to meet their obligations with regard to the following:
a. Payment of correct wages.
b. Provision of correct leave entitlements.
c. Provision of a safe working environment.
d. Forwarding PAYE tax installments to the taxation office.
e. Making appropriate payment under the superannuation guarantee legislation.
Activity 10:
1. For what reasons might employees underperform at work? List at least 10.
2. One of your employees has been underperforming. The employee is young and inexperienced. Unfortunately the poor performance of this person is affecting the performance and the morale of other people in the workplace. This is a problem that must be addressed and resolved quickly. Explain, in detail, how you would go about addressing this problem. (100-150 words)
3. What records should be kept when an employee receives performance counseling? (75-100 words)
4. When raising an employee's underperformance you might be met with hostility or disagreement, some employees will even want to lodge a grievance. What is a workplace grievance? Who can lodge a workplace grievance? What are grievance procedures? What are the customary grievance resolution steps? (100-150 words)
Activity 11:
1. What information might be held in an employee's personnel file? List eight types of information.
2. Conduct some research of your own and describe how privacy legislation impacts on the type and amount of employee information an employer can collect, record, store, use and disseminate. Consider, and demonstrate in your answer, that you understand the concept of confidentiality, that you are aware of how to apply the privacy principles and that you understand the conditions under which e freedom of information legislation is applied. (100-150 words)
Activity 12:
1. Maintaining security and confidentiality of personnel and payroll records is essential. Describe how you will monitor your systems to ensure that this occurs. (75-100 words)
2. When might it be appropriate for a business to seek specialist advice with regard to personnel records and payroll management? (75-100 words)
Activity 13:
1. Why should the owner of a business initiate a performance review program? (75-100 words)
2. List five of the critical elements of a performance review meeting.
Activity 14:
1. Explain the importance of regularly monitoring staffing levels/ ratios. (75-100 words)
2. List the factors that have the potential to affect the staffing of your small business. (10-25 words)
Activity 15:
Create a list of five things you can do to recognize or reward staff achievement. Include tangible and non-tangible rewards. Explain what each costs you and its benefits to your business.
Activity 16:
1. What processes can be used to ensure that employees are consulted and involved in decision-making? (10-25 words)
2. Why is consultation and collaboration necessary? (50-75 words)
Activity 17:
1. What is a contingency plan? (50-75 words)
2. List three areas of risk for which your business will develop a contingency plan.
Activity 18:
1. Describe the observable behaviour that you might see in a team that enjoys a positive and constructive relationship. (50-75 words)
2. List five behaviours that help to establish and maintain positive and constructive relationships between team members.
Activity 19:
Explain the advantages of setting both individual and team objectives. (75-100 words)
Activity 20:
How can the strengths and weaknesses of teams be assessed and how should assessment results be used? (100-150 words)
Activity 21:
1. List some likely impediments to reviewing work operations if specific times are not allocated. (10-25 words)
2. Describe the methods that you will use in your business to schedule team reviews and nominate the frequency with which they will happen. (50-75 words)
Activity 22:
1. Explain why teams that are empowered to monitor their own performance are beneficial to a small business. (75-100 words)
2. To get the best out of the people with whom you work with or who work for you it is necessary to provide suitable supports. How do you think you can best do this in your business? (75-100 words)
Activity 23:
1. An employee gives notice due to ill health. Six months later you hear they are working at the local hardware store, part-time, as a sales assistant. Would you include them in your staff turnover figure? Explain reasons where you would and would not include them. (75-100 words)
2. You own and operate a hairdressing salon. At the start of the year you had eight cutters. At the end of the year you still had eight but four girls are new, replacing others who left during the year. One of the girls who left resigned to have a child. Another left because she heard you were going to close the business, although that is not the case. Calculate the turnover rate.
Summative Assessment 1:
Question 1: There are a number of key provisions of relevant legislation and regulations from all levels of government that may affect aspects of business operations, such as:
o anti-discrimination legislation
o ethical principles
o codes of practice
o privacy laws
o health and safety legislation
o consumer law
o financial legislation, credit procedures legislation and regulations
Why is it necessary to have a working knowledge of the legislation involved in business? (100-150 words)
Question 2: What is the aim of health and safety legislation and what responsibilities does it place on employers? What records need to be kept under health and safety legislation? (100-150 words)
Question 3: What are industrial awards and issues covered by them? (100-150 words)
Question 4: What is the purpose of career management or planning? How are career plans developed? What are the benefits of career planning for employees and organisations? Why should organisations take the time to develop the careers of existing employees? (100-150 words)
Question 5: Discuss training and development options for staff development in 250 to 300 words.
Question 6: What are the features and benefits of a good grievance procedure? (75-100 words)
Question 7: If employers decide that an employee's performance is so poor as to necessitate dismissal, they must be aware of the requirements and possible consequences of dismissal under unfair dismissal laws. Under unfair dismissal legislation, employees can claim that their dismissal was harsh, unjust or unreasonable and, thus, unfair. Determinations as to whether dismissals were unfair will be based on three main factors. What are they? (100-150 words)
Project 1: Create a staffing plan for your business. (750-1,500 words)
Give an example of what the business is, what it will do and how many staff will be required. Explain why you will need these numbers of staff and detail the positions to be held (roles) and the competencies these employees will need to demonstrate.
Will you employ permanent, casual or contract staff? Explain and give reasons for your choices, taking into consideration contingency plans in the case where you have (or could have) staffing problems.
Explain how you will:
o recruit and select staff
o comply with relevant legislation and awards
o induct new staff
o provide for initial and ongoing training
o monitor and evaluate performance
o conduct performance reviews
o reward or motivate staff
o undertake career planning with staff
o encourage feedback from staff
Project 2:
You own a small retail clothing sales outlet. Two full-time employees, Peter and Andrew, work with you. Both have been up until now, hardworking, reliable and sufficiently skilled to provide good customer service. They often, however, disagree on the ways that the business should be promoted. Sometimes the discussion becomes quite heated about it and you are thinking that these disagreements will affect the performance of both employees. They seem to be more preoccupied with the disagreements than with getting their work done.
You decide that both would benefit from some counselling.
It would be best to role-play this, with your assessor present; however, if this is not possible, then you can write a paper outlining what you would do, how you would do it and why you chose your actions to be the most appropriate.
o You will need to explain:
o how you would notify each employee of the proposed meeting
o how you would make the employees feel at ease in the meeting
o how you would explain the problem and your concerns regarding performance
o the negotiation procedures you would follow to develop resolution strategies
o whether you think an objective mediator should be present and why you think this
o what should be documented and recorded
o how plans might be put into action
o how plans might be monitored and followed up
(750-1,500 words)
Project 3:
'Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organisational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.' (Andrew Carnegie)
Do you agree or disagree with this idea? Discuss it in approximately 500 words.
Attachment:- Manage A Small Team.rar