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BSBMGT516 Facilitate continuous improvement

assessment
Activity 1.
1.
You work for an organisation that does not actively
encourage its employees to participate in
decision-making processes, and to assume responsibility
and exercise initiative as appropriate
what would you say to convince the organisatios
management that they should activity
encourage employees to assure responsibility and
initiative? Write a transcript of what you
would say.
I would say that decision-making procedures can facilitate
the positive attitudes necessary for
cooperative relations in decision-making teams. The
workers need to feel a sense of belonging to an
organization.
When employees participate in the decision-making
process, they improve understanding and
perceptions among colleagues and superiors, and enhance
personnel value in the organization.
In a participative decision-making process, each team
member has an opportunity to share their
perspectives, voice their ideas and tap their skills to
improve team effectiveness. As each member can
relate to the team decisions, there is a better chance or
their achieving the results. There is a positive
relationship between decision effectiveness and
organizational performance. The better the
effectiveness, the better the performance. When everyone
in an organization participates in the
decision-making process, organizational communication is
much more effective and everyone produces
more efficient results.
2.
Do you consider group decision-making to be a valuable
tool that will aid in encouraging
employees to participate in decision-making processes, and
to assume responsibility and
exercise initiative?
I strongly believe any decision-making process privileges
that one can grant to employees can
be very beneficial as stated above in the example. This
shows trust in employees, and I believe
giving employees extra responsibilities can have a very
positive effect. In a group decision
making environment, this also promotes team work. Having
a department making decisions
together is a great way to encourage this.
Activity 2.
1.
Your organisation has changed the way it accepts
payments from customers/clients to make the
process easier for clients/customers. What would you do to
ensure that the organisations
continuous improvement processes are communicated to
all stakeholders?
I believe this is something the whole organisation should be
aware of, this way any client facing
employees can better explain this to customers/clients in
the event questions or queries are raised.

Stakeholders would include clients/customers so I believe a

communication in the form of a letter/email
should be sent out to all the client base explaining how the
new payment process works and how it will
benefit them. The most important part is to promote it as a
positive change for the client/customers.
Assessment Activity 3
1.
Define sustainability and outline why organisations should
develop workplace sustainability
policies. Sustainability in a business sense is the
management the impact the organisation has in
its environment. The impact can cover areas that not only
include the environment but also the
staff, client base and even the finances of the organisation.
Developing Sustainability policies is very important in a
number of ways. It can be promoted by the
organisation that they follow this policy in order to achieve a
smaller carbon footprint, however at the
same time this could be saving the organisation money. For
example, the organisation decides to
implement double sided printing, now this is reducing paper
usage which is fantastic to the environment,
however it is also reducing the amount of paper the
organisation is purchasing, therefor reducing
expenditure.
2.
Research environmental management issues for the
workplace and state why these issues should
be taken into consideration when planning and managing
an organisation an organisations
operations.
The main issue as with most organisations is their impact to
the environment and their footprint. This can
affect a number of areas within the organiastion, including
reputation to their companys finances. In an
office environment, such as status industries. The main
concerns are overuse of paper and printing
products, lighting usage and power consumption. These
can all be addressed. See table on text page how
status industries has engaged these issues with policies.
Activity 4.
1.
Your organization has asked you to develop effective
mentoring and coaching processes ro
ensure that individuals and teams are able to implement
and support the organisations
continuous improvement processes. What would you do to
achieve this? Explain how you think
coaching or mentoring can contribute to encouraging
employees to participate in continuous
improvement processes.
staff meetings that review what happened and decide on
improvements
cyclical audits and reviews of workplace, team and
individual performance
evaluate and monitor effectiveness
improving systems, processes, services and products
policies and procedures that allow the organization to
systematically review and improve the
quality of its products, services and procedures
comparing performance to industry benchmarks
seeking and considering feedback from a range of
stakeholders

Coaching and mentoring are increasingly used mainly for

professional development, to indicate a
positive change in individuals and to encourage the transfer
of knowledge from the coach / mentor to
the individual. Organizations and companies find coaching
and mentoring highly beneficial for the career
growth of their employees so coaching and mentoring has
been applied by many entities in their
organizational practices.
Activity 5.
1.
What strategies can be used to capture and share
information?
Best practice transfer
Community of practice
Expert directories
Knowledge brokers
Mentoring
Post project reviews
2.
Consider an organization that would benefit from capturing
and accessing insights and
experiences from business activities. Discuss the current
situation and how a knowledge
management system can be implemented to meet the
organisations needs.
Establish Knowledge Management Program Objectives
Prepare for Change
Define High-Level Process
Determine and Prioritize Technology Needs
Assess Current State
Build a Knowledge Management Implementation Roadmap
Implementation
Measure and Improve the Knowledge Management
Program
3.
An organization uses a knowledge wall. The wall contains a
whiteboard. And employees use
post-it notes to post information for other employees use.
A.
Is this a knowledge management system?
Yes it is .Knowledge management systems refer to any kind
of IT system that stores and retrieves
knowledge, improves collaboration, locates knowledge
sources, mines repositories for hidden
knowledge, captures and uses knowledge, or in some other
way enhances the KM process.
B.
What are the main disadvantage to this system?
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Knowledge management systems are complex and hard to

understand for the average worker, and
training workers to use knowledge management systems is
costly. When employees fail to collect and
input data into knowledge management systems properly,
the organization cannot take full advantage of
the system's major benefits. Organizing company
information by relevancy within knowledge
management systems can be a greater challenge. In
addition, knowledge management systems must be
integrated into the rest of the company's information
systems for it to work well. Such systems require
internal updates to function efficiently, and companies often
fail to keep up with new technologies that
affect knowledge management systems.
C.
What are the advantages?
People make better decisions when they use timely and
relevant information. The advantage of a
knowledge management system to decision support
includes finding only relevant information because
of the added context and relationship data. KM systems
often offer intelligent search and display
technologies that facilitate understanding patterns and
relationships.
Activity 6.
1.
You have been asked to develop strategies to ensure that
systems and processes are used to
monitor operational progress and to identify ways in which
planning and operations could be
improved. In particular, your organization wants you to
determine whether processes currently
carried out by employees are as efficient as possible. How
would you do this?
Firstly, you could perform an audit of the current processes.
Lets look at a new employee process and
how this is setup from at an IT viewpoint.
The current process below;
Now there have been several flaws in this process. Mainly
the communication breakdown with human
resource and it which has resulted in accounts not been
created in time. There are ways to alter the
current process and instill new procedures to ensure the
process is more successful. The proposed
changes are blow: a timeframe of at least 10 days for
human resource to allow for the completion of its
account creation and asset allocation accountably to one
staff member in human resources to
communicate with an IT staff member regarding any
change to the process and vice versa. a written and
ISO approved document on the procedure. This is from the
beginning stages with HR to the finishing
touches in the IT stages. This is to be given to all staff
members in both departments and signed by each
staff member. So it is on record as being understood by
each employee in case further action/ education/
discussion is required.
Activity 7.

1.
You have determined that adjustments should be made in
yours work them. Changes need to be
made to the way customer complaints are recorded and
dealt with. How would you
communicate the need for change to strategies to relevant
stakeholders?
Relevant stakeholders internally are first and foremost the
executive team, they are the ones that make
the organization impact decisions. Changing the way
customer complaints are dealt with is something
they will need to provide input for. Once they have the
customer base. This can be done by posting
letters, emails and on the main page of a website. In
executive management, would be a good first step.
Explaining and selling the seasons why this should be
changes.
The main goal in mind of marking a change that effects
customers, is to ensure it is a better solution A
good example of this a large organization such as Telstra.
They have a reputation for having less than
satisfactory customer service via phone. Customers have
complained about being transferred multiple
times and not getting a solution. Telstra has made large
steps to improve customer service and have
introduced a Chat service. This is ideal for people who have
a desk job and dont have the time to be on
a phone. You speak to one representative and can explain
information a lot easier. This is a very positive
step that other organizations in the industry have followed.
selling the vision to relevant stakeholders,
explaining how it will benefit the customer base.
Remembering and perhaps even allow for expansion of
customer base.
Activity 8.
1.
Your organization has implemented changes to the way in
which goods purchased to customers
are delivered and the time within which they are delivered.
The feedback you have had from
customers suggests that they are more satisfied with their
dealings with your organization and
would be more likely to purchase goods from your
organization in the future, why is it important
to establish processes tat will inform employees of the
outcomes of their continuous
improvement efforts in this area? How could you
communicate outcomes to employees?
Because if the evaluation results are not communicated to
employees they will not know whether to go
on with improvement
Investigate and ask how employees want to be
communicated with. Dont assume you know
their motivation or comprehension levels.
Choose the right tools. This may mean multiple tools
depending on the diversity of employees
you have in the company. Texting is appropriate for some
messages and some groups but not all.
Not everyone reads posted notices or pays attention to
emails. So understand your demography.
Communicate with some empathy. Listen intently and solicit
feedback. This may help you
identify with employees and increase your chances of true
communication.
Activity 9.
1.
Using the table, create a check sheet that could be used to
record data of work team
performance to aid the identification of improvement in the
scenario.

You are counting the number of defects on a production line

that is turning out gadgets. There are three
main types of defect. These are
:
misshapen gadgets, undersize gadgets and oversize
gadgets. You will
collect data for three 12-hour shifts, but need to be able to
separate the data for each of the shifts.
Types of defect
Time
Misshapen gadgets
4HR
4HR
4HR
Undersize gadgets
3HR
4HR
3HR
Oversize gadgets
2HR
1HR
2HR
2.
Give examples of aids/tools that can be used to document
the data from a checklist.
Several graphs and tables can aid the recording of this
data and also to report on the data collected.
Such Graphs that could be used in this instance are Pie
Graph to show the amount of a certain defect on
a certain shift to compare where most of the errors are
occurring Line Graph to show where the peak
period of errors occur Histograms to show similar to the
above Example of a Pie Graph for the above
table
3.
Why do graphs and charts provide a good representation of
data?
Graphs and charts provide a graphical view of the overall
picture. As shown above in the Table of Data
and also the Pie Graph. Straight away by looking at the Pie
Graph you can see the trend. When analyzing
data Graphs are the best way to do this instead of tables. It
can be a quick reference guide compared to
sifting through a large amount of numbers. On the subject
of trends. Line Graphs can show this better
than most methods in some cases where using a line graph
is applicable. For example, to see how many
defects over a 24-hour period took place in a factory
environment. Here you can see where defects
dipped and were at a minimum and also peaked and
showed a maximum. From this data, you can easily
see where pain points are in a situation and then provide a
possible resolution.
Activity 10.
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You have been asked to consider areas identified for further

improvement when undertaking future
planning. What are some of the areas that organisations
need to take into consideration when planning
for future improvement?
Organizations around the globe develop strategic plans.
They carefully create a vision of their future and
the strategies needed to get there. But many fails to realize
their vision and fail to deliver the expected
strategic results. Unfortunately, executive teams cannot
pinpoint the reasons for this dilemma so they
repeat the strategic planning cycle over and over, always
hoping that the next strategic planning session
will bring better results. There are 5 critical factors that will
ensure your strategic plans are successfully
implemented.
Engagement
Communication
Innovation
Project Management
Culture
Question 1.
What is continuous improvement?
Continuous improvement is an infinite process to improve a
service, product or process. Depending on
the type of industry the organization is in will determine
what areas of will utilize this type of method.
Lets look at an IT department, who has an inbuilt database
every employee uses for the day to day
tasks. A prototype has been created of this software, and it
is in production. However, there will always
be room for improvement for any software, so constant
updating is done on the software, the
applications team within the IT Department work each day
on add-ons or improvements. What started
out as version 1.00 has now turned into 2.34 in the space of
3 years.
Question 2.
What can you do to support improvements now and in the
future?
Improvement in an organization comes with ideas from the
team. This can be suggestions raised in
meetings, feedback and communication. The only way to
improve processes, products or services is to
communicate with departments and key members of staff.
Having evidence in front of employees such
as graphs is a great way to visually demonstrate where
improvement is needed in certain areas.
Concentrating on weak points in the organization is the key
to improvement.
Question 3.
What processes might be used to ensure that team
members are informed of outcomes of continuous
improvement efforts? Why is this necessary and how will
this contribute toward further improvements?

Reports can be sent to team members on a set time frame

(monthly, quarterly) this could include data
and graphs/tables. Graphs are a great way to visually see
trends and also to gauge whether there has
been improvement in a certain area. It also determines
where there are possible issues. It allows the
team to strategize where and how they can improve.
Question 4.
How can an organizations continuous improvement
processes be communicated to all stakeholders and
how can individuals and teams be encouraged and
supported to embrace it?
Communicating change in any organization is important.
Stakeholders in certain situations depending on
the scale of change could include almost every employee.
Best practice is to have a seminar or training
session to highlight the need for certain changes or
continuous improvement. For example, if the
organization wants to be ISO accredited in a certain area,
then it becomes vital for all employees to play
a part. Explaining the positives, the improvement will entail
will certainly sell the vision.
Question 5.
Having made a decision about what to do to improve an
organizations processes, what should you do to
plan for the implementation of that change?
A Project Plan is always a good start. This can outline the
schedule and resources required, identify the
tasks and objectives associated. Communication again is
very important with any change, to ensure all of
the organization (if applicable) is aware of the change. The
key thing to remember is, people dont like
change if they havent been advised.
Question 6.
In approx. 150 words for each explain how each of the
following can be incorporated into business
system:
a.
Continuous improvement models
To close the gap between actual and desired performance,
decisions need to be made. Decision making
involves making a selection from among alternative courses
of action. Implementation and evaluation of
the implementation provide feedback into the next cycle of
group decision making. Effective problem
solving and decision making processes follow an ordered
format, requiring you to:
Examine the current situation, in measurable terms, to
discover or identify the discrepancy (this
could be a problem, issue or opportunity).
Diagnose symptoms and root causes.
b.
Knowledge management systems

You must thus try to evaluate or assess the variety and

quantity of the information that your business
has stored in databases, on the web, as well as that which
employees possess through their personal
experiences and knowledge. Efforts must be made to do a
cost-benefit analysis, evaluate the complexity
of system structures, get to know training costs, security
issues, updating costs and analyze existing
business practices.
c.
Quality systems
Clarify Vision, Mission and Values
Identify Critical Success Factors (CSF)
Develop Measures and Metrics to Track CSF Data
Identify Key Customer Group
Solicit Customer Feedback
Develop Survey Tool
d.
Sustainability principles
Diversity.
The firm needs a diverse set of resources, people and
investments to be resilient. While diverse
investments are seen to draw on resources and absorb
managerial attention, a single line of business,
single sources of revenues, or people with similar mindsets
can expose the firm to greater risks. Firms
can no longer simply stick to the knitting.
Modularity.
Matrixed organizations are often seen as facilitating
knowledge flows. However, such organizations are
not only resource intensive, they expose the whole
organization to shocks as they reverberate through
the organization. Organizations need to be less
interdependent, and focus on modularity, so they can be
insulated from shocks.
Openness.
Resilient firms must know whats going on outside their
boundaries. These firms can sense issues on the
horizon. They are constantly monitoring the external
environment, and drawing scenarios of possible
futures. They expect not only to react to those potential
futures, but also help to shape them. The link
between the organization and the external business and
natural environment is vital, permeable, and
malleable.
Slack resources.
In an era of just-in-time production, slack resources are
often seen as costly and wasteful. However,
innovation and adaptation requires both financial and
creative investments, and the space to change
direction. Firms that can ride storms must allow for a little
more time to accommodate new ideas,
scenarios, and shifts in thinking.
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Matching cycles.
Firms often think about optimizing performance and getting
more from less. But, this thinking puts firms
on a treadmill, doing the same thing faster every dayand,
it has them bumping up against resource
constraints. Resilient businesses think, not about constant
growth, but rather about cyclical processes:
cycles of growth and contraction, cycles of production, and
cycles of consumer purchase patterns.
Understanding the rhythms of business and the
environment will allow the firm to synchronize with
them meaningfully, and not overreact to what is likely just a
cycle.