Part -1: Leadership
TASK 1:
Prepare a presentation for inducting new employees (who are from diverse background) to the organisation. Your presentation should be brief and should not exceed more than 10 slides. The presentation must state:
- Vision, objectives and values of the organisation
- How the employees should assist in reaching those organisational goals
- What you expect from all new employees
- What they are entitled to do and what they should not do (based on your workplace culture)
- How you will help them and assist them as a leader
Scenario 1
Jane is newly employed as an Assistant Manager who has to manage an existing services team at a large local government department. Being new to the organisation, Jane must become familiar with the expectations of her new employer and with the key objectives of her team as a priority.
Jane has inherited a team that was dissatisfied with the previous Assistant Manager, who was described as a controlling person who withheld information from the team and took credit for their ideas. As a result many team members feel disillusioned and the team is consistently underperforming (it is not meeting operational objectives).
Jane's new team is diverse. Team members' cultural backgrounds, age, education and skills levels vary widely. Jane needs to develop strategies to build the team's commitment to their set objectives so the team can start to succeed and grow.
On Jane's first day, one team member tells Jane there is an unresolved incident that she needs to deal with. A customer slipped and fell when paying a bill in the reception area and as this is part of Jane's team, she now needs to deal with the incident. The incident occurred two weeks ago when the team was in transition between leaders and follow-up has not occurred.
Jane reviews the WHS policies and procedures, and finds that the organisation doesn't have a comprehensive procedure for investigating and reporting incidents in its administration areas. There is a template for recording the incident's basic details and an incident register that is kept in the human resources unit. The health and safety representative for Jane's area is on long-service leave. The WHS policy merely states:
Incidents are defined as any event that causes injury, potential injury or may be classified as a ‘near miss'. All incidents shall be recorded in the incident register, which must be readily accessible.
TASK 2: Suggest a communication strategy for Jane to review the organisation's objectives with her team.
TASK 3: Jane needs to prepare an electronic presentation to her new team to communicate expectations in a way that builds commitment. Provide an outline of the points Jane should include in her presentation.
TASK 4: Jane is to develop an incident investigation and reporting procedure that incorporates the assessment and treatment of risks to injury in the workplace. What should she include?
TASK 5: Outline the legislation, regulations, standards, codes or bylaws that Jane needs to abide by in resolving all incidents or workplace related issues such as employment laws, employment standards, employee performance, work safety, diversity & discrimination, information privacy, and environmental regulations. Explain and guide her why she needs to clearly understand them for her leadership role.
Scenario 2
Jane has been working in her new job as a team leader in a local government department for two months. She is working towards building a positive team environment and culture but there is still a long way to go. Jane strives to be a positive influence and role model by sharing information, helping and assisting team members, supporting team members with resources and information and also encouraging discussion and team work. Jane has been informed by senior management that the long-awaited and much-dreaded computer system upgrade is to be implemented in her department in the next three months. This is because the organisation wants to update with new technologies.
She is asked to provide feedback and decide which of the two proposed systems will suit her department's activities better: option one is the PRO356 and option two is the LXS841 system. As well, Jane needs to develop a risk management plan for senior management covering the introduction of the new system for her department. Jane is concerned about how her team will respond to the IT changes. Jane has turned to you as her mentor for support. Read the questions below and provide some strategies for Jane that address the needs outlined in each question.
TASK 6: List and explain any four actions that Jane can take to ensure she has the trust and confidence of the team.
TASK 7: Outline any four methods Jane could use to effectively include and consult with her team about the proposed changes.
TASK 8: List three resources/considerations Jane will need to take into account to ensure the new computer system can be implemented successfully.
TASK 9: Identify the potential risks and risk management strategy for Jane in her implementation of the new system.
TASK 10: What leadership style/s (Autocratic, democratic, Situation or transformational) should Jane demonstrate to effectively promote the change? Explain your reasoning based on the situation.
Scenario 3
Jane has now worked in the local government department as a team leader for six months. Her team is beginning to work more effectively together. Jane's objective is to continue to develop her team members so they feel empowered and encouraged to suggest new and innovative ways of working.
A key strategy to further develop the team is through increasing team members' responsibilities. This will provide training and development opportunities for the team. Jane needs to consider how to delegate so she can assign new tasks to team members. She identifies three team members who have expressed an interest in taking on more responsibilities. Jane begins to delegate tasks to these three team members.
Gill is the currently the team's administrative assistant and is interested in managing the budgets. She is also keen to undertake further studies in managing finances. Dephti is interested in marketing and wants to become involved in the marketing strategy. Mai currently does data entry but is more interested in customer service and sales.
Read the questions below and provide some strategies for Jane that address the needs outlined in each question.
TASK 11: Outline the steps in delegation that Jane should follow.
TASK 12: Jane needs to conduct a training needs analysis for the team members to ensure they can take on increased responsibilities and new tasks, as well as develop a training plan to address gaps. As a leader you participate and provide support to Jane so that she can conduct a training needs analysis and develop recommendations to address gaps for Gill, based on the following template. To complete this template use one of your co-workers to act this role-play as Gill while you be the manager who is Jane. This is the first section of the role-play. Attach a script after the template.
TASK 13: Outline how Jane can support her team to complete their delegated tasks. To complete this task use one of your co-workers to act this role-play as Jane while you be the manager. This is the second section of the role-play. Attach the role-play script inside the textbox below.
Scenario 4
Jane has been a team leader in a local government department for 12 months now. Her key achievements during that time have included changing the culture of her team to one that takes pride in achievement, implementing the new computer system and facilitating positive work relationships. Jane reflects on the skills she still needs to develop and identifies the following list:
- Increase knowledge of leadership strategies
- Increase knowledge of industry best practice
- Represent the organisation at industry seminars and conferences
- Develop more business networks
- Improve negotiation skills
- Increase knowledge of IT communication systems such as video conferencing
- Improve skills in conducting performance reviews
Read the questions that follow and provide some strategies for Jane that address the needs outlined in each question.
TASK 14: Consider three professional development opportunities for Jane in the next 12 months. Prepare a learning and development plan based on the following template for Jane to improve her knowledge and skills. To complete this task use one of your co-workers to act this role-play as Jane while you be the manager. This is the third section of the role-play. Attach a script after the template.
TASK 15: Develop a three minute PITCH to encourage and explain Jane the benefits of participating regularly in business networks. To complete this task use one of your co-workers to act this role-play as Jane while you be the manager. This is the fourth and last section of the role-play.
Scenario 5
Statement of business ethics
The purpose of this Statement of Business Ethics is to raise private sector awareness of public sector values. It is critical that Council and its private sector contractors, suppliers, consultants, tenderers or business partners have mutual expectations of the relationship. This Statement defines the principles of conduct that are expected of both parties in order to ensure the integrity and professionalism of both organisations is enhanced and is a statement of Council's values and systems of accountability.
The Council is committed to ethical business practices based on public duty principles. Council's business principles are as follows:
- All procurement is conducted on the basis of value for money
- All business relationships with external parties will be transparent
- Procurement and appointment decisions will be based on merit and will be impartial and will not take extraneous issues into account
- Council procurement decision making processes will be open (where practicable) and accountable.
Value for money means an estimate of the worth or desirability of the goods or services offered. This can include such factors as initial cost, whole of life cost, quality, the extent to which the goods or services meet the specified requirements and also social and environmental responsibilities. Transparency means visible and verifiable confirmation of the integrity of the purchasing process and compliance with relevant legislation and adopted Council procedures. Impartiality means the purchasing process must be undertaken in a fair, objective, consistent and businesslike manner, leading to improved performance and cost effective methods of doing business for Council. It does not mean pleasing everyone. We strive to be impartial by ensuring that our processes are appropriate.
TASK 16: Prepare a meeting presentation that you plan to deliver to your department (that includes Jane, other team leaders and other team members) in regards to business ethics and employee ethical conduct. Your presentation slides must not exceed more than 10 slides and must cover the following topics:
- What is business ethics?
- State your own personal beliefs to your staff members.
- Why our organisation needs to be ethical?
- What do you expect from the council staff members?
- What are the expectations of contractors and other business partners?
- Develop and mention your rules and policies to Incentives, gifts, benefits, hospitality, meals, travel & accommodation.
- Explain your staff members what conflict of interest is and how they are supposed to avoid such situations.
Part -2: Employee Relations Strategy Report
ASSESSMENT INSTUCTIONS
The review should follow the structure below (although some sections may not be applicable and some sections may need to be broken down into further sections):
- Provides a Company introduction, overview and description
- Company's mission statement
- A brief on the company's employee relations strategy
- Brief on Recruitment and Selection strategy
- Brief on Employee Benefits of the organisation
- Employee Safety and well being
- Performance development and training
- Discuss strategies for collective employment agreements, contracts and Awards
- Highlight on conflict and negotiation
- Review of diversity policy with recommendations
- Highlight on work-life balance practices or otherwise suggest
- Develop an employee relations risk management strategy. Use risk analysis.
- Review of organizational HR services to employees
- Termination and disciplinary issues. Include processes for unfair dismissal rules
- Overall recommendations
REPORTING INSTRUCTIONS
1. The research report must address each of the above listed components or areas of employee relations for the case organisation.
2. If a component was not addressed, explain the reasons why it was not addressed. For example, you may say that the organisation did not have a "selection policy" and thus it could not be reviewed.
3. The report must provide an employee relations risk management strategy
4. The report is to be approximately 2,000 words in length however this benchmark is only a guide and is not mandatory in the overall context of the assessment
5. The analysis and strategy demonstrates a knowledge and understanding of relevant Human Resource Management principles, Risk Management, business, management or industry theory.
6. Evidence of review of organisational employee relations such as recruitment, selection, work health & safety, performance, union agreement, EEO & diversity, employee benefits and termination.
7. The strategy critically discusses and analyses the topic, performance and knowledge evidence of the unit descriptor
8. All sources are referenced consistently and comprehensively if
9. Overall presentation is professional including spell and grammar checked judicious use of headings, font size, layout etc.