Assessment Task 1:

Questions:

1. Why should a business be involved in continuous improvement and how does a continuous improvement philosophy benefit a business?

2. Who should be encouraged to be actively involved in the development of continuous improvement processes? Explain your answers indicating the reasons why these people should be involved and what they can input into the development process.

3. As a manger what strategies are able to be implemented to support staff in the implementation of continuous improvement practices within the workplace? In your response include communication strategies, training requirements, and how effective support can benefit the continuous improvement process. What learning skills do you require to coach and mentor staff, and what types of methods could be used?

4. What information can be sought and gained to monitor the effectiveness of any continuous improvement efforts?

5. Outline why it is important to monitor any continuous improvement efforts in line with the business goals and operational progress and how this can be done.

6. When continuous improvement strategies are implemented there are often changes associated with operational planning, tasks, and objectives. How should these changes be communicated and implemented to ensure all stakeholders are informed of the operational changes.

7. List sustainability requirements that improvement practices may have to meet.

8. Within your own state and industry area identify the relevant environmental legislation and the basic purpose of each act or regulation for sustainability practice.

9. How can a manger ensure that team members are kept informed of their continuous improvement efforts and the effect it has on the operational goals? Relate your response to how feedback or lack of feedback can affect staff and the team.

10. What information can aid the ability of a manger to correctly identify areas that require improvement or could benefit from improvement in future planning for the business? Explain why this information should be considered.

11. What is a knowledge management system?

Assessment Task -2:

Case Study

'Fast Forwarding' is a Melbourne courier company which was established 5 years ago. It has rapidly grown over the last 12 months and the business has expanded their operations nationally. Fast Forwarding has always prided themselves on being able to deliver anything to anywhere in Australia that the customer requires - and fast. Services the business offers range from same day, overnight and standard courier services.

Starting as a small courier company, Fast Forwarding has become successful because initially all 5 staff starting with the business were informed about the organisational processes and policies. Value was and is still placed on keeping staff informed on any operational changes and what impact these will have on the business. All staff had been given clear guidelines on their roles and responsibilities and any problems or concerns have always been dealt with immediately- this was the communication strategy for the organisation.

After some considerable growth in the business, it now employs over 85 staff across three offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane in varying roles of warehouse, administration, sales and marketing. Recently Fast Forwarding has hit a lull and business has dropped. A major account with an engineering spare parts supplier has just been lost in the last month due to a lack of support that the current IT system could offer in tracking deliveries. The client, Build with Us, required on-line ordering of services and tracking of their deliveries at all times. In the past there have been delays in the delivery of items and this has been attributed to the manual recording of dispatch items that Fast Forward uses.

You have been hired as the Continuous Improvement Manager to streamline their practices, improve productivity and help put practices into place to get the business back on their feet.

On your investigation you have found that employees are nervous as to the impact that losing the major client will have on the business. There have been many formal complaints made to Management on the lack of information that is being discussed with them, and that they do not feel valued anymore. There is a site manager in each state and they hold a phone conference meeting each month, but the meetings with site department managers and their teams do not occur regularly.

As part of your investigation on current work practices, you also identify that many of the staff are making costly mistakes as they try and implement operational changes that management enforces. Many of the staff you speak to explain that they receive no support or training to implement the new work practices and they are upset that management is blaming the staff for the loss in production.

You have found that the company grew at such a rapid rate that the management systems were not updated and reviewed to meet the needs of the larger operations, and therefore formal policies and procedures have not been updated to suit appropriate actions required. Fast Forwards Continuous Improvement Policy is listed as Appendix 1.

Par A

You decide that you need to re-build the structure of the continuous improvement process before you can implement making any improvements.

You are to review the companies Continuous Improvement Policy and Procedure, and strengthen this strategy by developing new ways in which the company can actively encourage and support staff members to participate in decision making processes.

Update the current Continuous Improvement Policy and Procedure and ensure that your new process and system includes:
- How all the organisations continuous improvement systems will be communicated to all stakeholders
- How all team members are informed of outcomes of continuous improvement efforts
- Sustainability requirements

Part B
You realise that there is still a major missing gap regarding supporting staff to implement the company's continuous improvement processes- mentoring and coaching.

From further investigation with Senior Management, you identify that that there currently is no process to support staff via coaching and mentoring.

You are to develop an effective mentoring and coaching process to ensure that individual and teams can be supported. Ensure that it includes an easy to understand overview of the definitions of mentoring and coaching and then communication skills required by the mentor/ coach to undertake that role for an employee.

Part C
It was a massive shock to all staff when the company Build with Us decided to take their business elsewhere. It is very clear to you that Fast Forwarding has not been monitoring the companies' systems and performances closely, and this in turn did not allow them to recognise company performance improvements to be implemented.

Develop a new company strategy that will ensure that all systems and processes are used to monitor operational progress and customer service and in turn help to identify ways in which planning and operations could be improved. This should also include how work team performance will be monitored against customer service, and what formats can be used to present this information clearly.

Part D
Following the communication strategy used to inform staff of new changes that you listed in the Continuous Improvement Policy and Procedure, you are now required to inform all stakeholders of the new company strategy to monitor company operations.

Part E
You realise that future planning for Fast Forward is going to be very important for the success of the business. List how you will ensure that future planning is undertaken.