Case Study: Logan Employment Innovation Fund
Meeting workforce needs through targeting recruitment effort on mature aged and disadvantaged job seekers
Logan City Council comprises a large suburban area of Queensland, with a highly disadvantaged population. The total resident population is 167,808, with mature aged (45 -65) representing 29.5% of the population. Overseas born comprise 24.9% of the population; and reflecting its popularity as a destination for refugees, there are an estimated 161 different cultures represented in Logan.
The Logan Employment Innovation Fund (EIF) Pilot Project is an innovative project focused on the recruitment and workplace requirements of employers in Logan City (Brisbane), with emphasis on assisting mature-aged and humanitarian entrant job seekers to gain employment with participating employers.
The identified challenges included transport availability and English proficiency
Many jobseekers had limited English proficiency, requiring post-placement ESL training. Inflexible timetabling resulted in many employees facing the difficult prospect of either continuing to work or attending ESL classes.
In addition, many jobseekers had no access to private transportation, and there was little or no access to public transport in the areas of work.
Many employers were unaware of the number of humanitarian/refugee jobseekers looking for work, and were concurrently considering temporarily sponsoring overseas workers to fill vacancies. This suggested that enhanced communication and dissemination of information to jobseekers and employers might improve employment opportunities and placement rates.
Identify the challenges in this case study that you would need to address in your operational plan and how they could be solved. Develop a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis.
Assessment Task - Project Assessment
To be completed as well as the theory assessment.
To be assessed as competent in this unit you must demonstrate the ability to:
• develop operational plan
• plan and manage resource acquisition
• monitor and review operational performance
You must be able to demonstrate your knowledge of:
• models and methods for operational plans
• budgeting processes
• alternative approaches to improving resource usage and eliminating resource inefficiencies and waste You will also need to demonstrate:
• your literacy skills to access and use workplace information and to write a succinct and practical plan
• your technology skills to use software to produce and monitor the plan against performance indicators
• your planning and organisational skills
• your coaching skills to work with people with poor performance
• your numeracy skills to allocate and manage financial resources You must also provide evidence of:
• your ability to develop an operational plan with details of how it will be implemented and monitored
• your knowledge of models and methods for operational plans
Assessment Task
Ques 1.
You are responsible for developing an operational plan for your organisation. The strategic plan has already been written and sets the following direction for the coming year.
Company A strategic plan
Our strategic goals for the coming year are to:
1. Expand our market share in the high-end, high-price point, luxury goods market.
2. Increase the proportion of our productive capacity devoted to the manufacture of luxury goods.
3. Become known as the premium luxury goods manufacturer in our product category.
4. Become known as an employer of choice for highly skilled people.
Based on the broad statements of strategic intent, you are charged with developing an operational plan. For each strategy goal outlined, come up with two short statements describing an operational activity that could be implemented to achieve this. Your operational activities should reflect an understanding of the types of details included in an operational plan.
Your operational activities should be accompanied by a budget, measurement, responsible person (for example job title) and a timeline. Your activities might encompass manufacturing, sales, marketing, HR, or administrative responsibilities. Use the table to complete the plan.
Activity 1
Question 1
What is an operational plan and what details does it contain?
Question 2
Describe the purpose of the operational plan and its relationship with the strategic plan.
Question 3
Why is it important to consult with other relevant personnel, colleagues and specialist resource managers and who might some of these personnel be?
Activity 2
Question 1
Consultation can be undertaken both formally and informally. Outline some of the tools that can be used for formal consultation and discuss their various merits.
Question 2
Why is the consultation process such an integral part of the operational planning process?
Activity 3
Question 1
Explain why key performance Indicators (KPIs) are an important part of the operational planning process.
Question 2
Why is it important that employees receive formal indication on commencement with an organization?
Activity 4
Question 1
What is contingency planning and why do we incorporate it as part of the operational planning process?
Question 2
Explain the role of an impact assessment in contingency planning and outline the steps within it.
Activity 5
Question 1
Proposals for resource requirements may outline alternatives to the project under consideration. Why?
Question 2
Where might you source this information and what specialist advice might you need to seek?
Activity 6
Question 1
Obtaining approval for the plan does involve effective consultation and approval from all relevant parties. What things need to be evaluated and approved and why?
Question 2
What does active consultation involve?
Activity 7
Question 1
Outline some of the key stages in the recruitment process and briefly explain what should be achieved at each stage.
Question 2
Explain what the acronym SMART stands for, and why it is important for objectives and targets to be designed with this in mind.
Question 3
Write down a SMART objective that would relate to your workplace or about yourself.
Activity 8
Question 1
What should be included in purchasing strategies for physical resource and services?
Question 2
Outline some of the advantages of using a purchase order.
Activity 9
Question 1
When an operational plan has been developed and implemented, why must its performance be monitored and review?
Question 2
When monitoring and reviewing the organizational plans in terms of performance system and process, you need to prepare an implementation plan progress report. What sort to things should this report address?
Question 3
Describe a mechanism for ensuring that operational activities are proceedings according to plan.
Activity 10
Question 1
Name three types of financial reports that can be used to track progress and monitor performance.
Question 2
Why is it important that the information gathered through your analysis and interpretations of financial information be accurate?
Activity 11
Question 1
What is a gap analysis?
Question 2
Apart from a gap analysis, what is another way you can identify areas of under-performance and explain?
Question 3
When you have identified the areas of under-performance, why is it important to rectify the situation promptly?
Activity 12
Question 1
Why are professional development activates such as mentoring or coaching programs an effective way of ensuring operational plan are implemented effectively?
Question 2
Describe the different types on mentoring.
Activity 13
Question 1
Discuss the role of performance monitoring in negotiating variations to operational plan.
Question 2
When might operational plans need to be varied?
Question 3
Who might be some of the designated person/groups you will need to gain approval from?
Activity 14
Question 1
Outline some of the things that organizational policies in relation to documenting performance should cover. Learners should answer the following questions either orally or in writing as agreed with the trainer/assessor. Written response may be recorded in the pace provided or entered in a work processing document.
Project
1. List some of the details that should be outlined in an operational plan.
2. Broad consultation with other members of the organization, from team members to senior management is a good way to contribute to the success of operational planning. When, in the planning cycle should it be carried out? What outcomes would you be looking to achieve from the process?
3. Why do budgets need frequent review and adjustment? Who is responsible for ensuring that budgets and other financial are accurate? When creating financial reports, what sources of information need to be analyzed?
4. Resources can mean many things when you are preparing an operational plan. What kinds of resources might you have to plan for?
5. Today more and more business understand that being successful is about more than just economics performance, but that it is also about their environmental and social performance. They are aware that increasing use of the earth's natural resources places a strain on the planet. Responsible businesses are, therefore making every effort to ensure that they use resources efficiently. What do the term resources efficiently refer to? List 5 things an organization could do to reduce the amount of paper and energy used and wasted.
6. Research models, tools and methods for operational plans and make a list with a brief description of those models and/or methods.
7. List some alternative approaches that could be developed or implemented to improve resources usages and eliminating resources inefficiencies and waste.
Project 2
From your response to project 1, describe how you would implement these measures. Why are some other systems needed to ensure that procedures and records associated with performance?