Question Communications And Project Work

Communications And Project Work

Complete Part A and Part B. Use Appendixes at the bottom as an information and template.

Part A: Communications planning portfolio

1. Review the scenario in Appendix 1, particularly the background to the simulated organisation, current change issues, communication and consultation needs, and information about your role as Communications Consultant.

2. Review JKL Industries simulated business documentation, including strategic plans and operational plans. Note what the organisation does, how it does it, what its goals and objectives are, and who its stakeholders and customers are.

3. Develop a draft communications strategy for meeting organisational needs that

includes:

a. 2–3 communications objectives

b. at least two different audiences, for example, senior management, work teams, or individual employees

c. at least two methods of communication or media

d. at least two provisions to facilitate bottom-up consultation (from employees to management); for example, consultation on employee health and safety, consultation on continuous improvement of work processes, consultation on employee conditions and pay, or consultation on job roles and performance expectations.

Note: Ensure you also provide for management feedback on consultation back to employees.

4. Develop a short (one page) grievance procedure ensuring that it is consistent with and supports the grievance policy in the JKL Industries simulated business documentation.

5. Draft an information memo/email to all team members introducing the new policies and procedures across the entire organisation, seeking feedback and providing information from the consultation process with management.

Appendix 1: Scenario – JKL Industries JKL Industries overview JKL Industries is an Australian-owned company, selling forklifts, small trucks and spare parts to industry. They also have a division that leases forklifts and small trucks. The company’s head office is in Sydney and has branches in Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Canberra. Change After 12 years in business, focusing on forklifts and small trucks, JKL Industries has negotiated the sales rights to a range of medium and large trucks from an overseas supplier. This opportunity will provide JKL Industries with an advantage in range over its competitors. Sales results over the past five years have indicated strong growth in forklift and truck sales, which have averaged 10% sales growth per annum. The rental market has been in decline for the past three years due to the reduced costs of these vehicles and some taxation benefits to industries who purchase these vehicles. Taking the sales rights opportunity will, however, entail some significant changes, including significant changes to the current organisational structure. The company will reposition itself to focus solely on retail sales and service and exit the rentals market, in which forces such as competition and consumer choice reduce potential profitability. In accordance with the organisation’s values, JKL Industries intends (to the extent feasible) to recruit from within the company and up-skill or re-skill existing employees presently working in rentals who wish to remain with the company. Given the company’s previous history of employee grievances over pay and conditions and current plans to restructure, JKL Industries has identified poor communications and an organisational climate of conflict as a risk to business goals. Moving forward, the organisation intends to build and maintain a positive organisational culture, reduce risk and achieve organisational goals through:

? developing an effective policy framework for managing internal communications and consultation, in accordance with organisational objectives, business ethics, and compliance requirements ? communicating and building support for organisational initiatives and objectives ? managing information flow to:

? provide managers and employees with at-hand information to perform their work responsibilities ? communicate ideas for improvement (top-down and bottom-up) ? facilitate feedback both to and from employees and management on relevant work performance and outcomes of consultation.

Communication and consultation issues An internal management review of the organisation has uncovered the following issues:

? A lack of an overarching approach to information management that helps to promote common understanding of team goals and organisational values and to build strategic relationships. ? Slow responses to internal and external customer needs. ? Slow and ineffective communication of and implementation of ideas for improved processes. ? Ineffective or no use of modern communication technologies and social platforms. ? Inadequate consultation, resulting in risks to compliance (particularly WHS consultation requirements) and too little bottom-up information flow from employees to management. This latter results in poor organisational take-up of improvement ideas identified by teams and individuals at lower levels of the organisation and by customer-facing managers and employees. ? Inconsistent application by managers of grievance procedures posing a risk to employee relations. ? Poor sense of employee engagement, empowerment and accountability for work performance. ? Poor general awareness of (and therefore poor support of) organisational goals, ethics, values. Your role You are a communications consultant. You have been engaged by JKL Industries to revise and update strategies and processes to manage communications and information flow within the organisation. Note that the senior management team may be resistant to changes to communication strategies, policies and procedures. In particular, they are concerned that a new approach to communications may result in a less cohesive organisation. You will need to ensure your communications strategy and processes address organisational issues, while using your highly developed interpersonal skills to engage and motivate the senior management team to embrace your proposed changes.

Part B: Project work and role-play

1. Read the scenario and role-play information in Appendix 2.

2. Review and familiarise yourself with the JKL Industries simulated business documentation, including strategic plans, operational plans, and policies and procedures sections. Note what the organisation does, how it does it, what its goals and objectives are, and who its stakeholders and customers are.

3. Plan to follow and implement strategies to identify and resolve grievances at the

lowest possible level within JKL Industries by leading a role-played guidance session for a peer manager in response to the scenario.

4. Complete the first section in the action plan template provided in Appendix 3 to record the nature of the grievance.

5. Plan how you will:

a. build trust with your colleague through assuming a calm, professional and emotionally receptive attitude and demeanour.

b. adjust your personal communication style appropriately to meet the needs (both emotional and technical) of your colleague.

c. discuss relevant grievance policies and procedures for resolving conflict in

accordance with organisational and legislative requirements. \

d. discuss strategies for identifying root causes of conflict and for resolving the conflict.

e. collaborate with your colleague to develop an action plan (completing the

one from Appendix 3 you have already begun to implement by leading this session), including at least three actions your colleague can take to resolve the issue with their employee.

Appendix 3: Workplace difficulties action plan template Meeting date Time Attendees Brief

description of grievance or area of concern

Issue identified by

HR meeting with manager (Rental) and HR Business Partner (role played by training candidate)

Required action/activity

Timeframe/ deadline

Person/s responsible Description of strategy/tactic/ rationale for action

Resources, if required

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