Advanced Diploma in Purchasing and Supply. Management in Purchasing and Supply L5-01 LEVEL 5. Senior Assessor s Examination Report.

Transcription

1 Advanced Diploma in Purchasing and Supply Management in Purchasing and Supply L5-1 LEVEL 5 Senior Assessor s Examination Report May 21 Series

2 SECTION A Q1 Recommend ways to monitor and control the impact of the purchasing development programme at CM The question requires the candidates to consider the current situation regarding purchasing practices and put forward ways to improve the situation via a purchasing development programme. Candidates need to also consider how to monitor and control the situation via the programme. Planning the answer - Candidates should approach this question by considering the range of resources needed to monitor and control the purchasing development programme which should involve people, financial, physical and time. Wider considerations should also include legislative, quality management and stakeholder involvement. Answering the question - Good answers will consider the changes that are needed and ways to ensure that the plans are going ahead as intended. Candidates were expected to consider the purchasing development plan to be like a project which needs managing in terms of budget, measuring performance (e.g. KPIs, timelines and critical path), reporting and communication, quality standards and kitemarks etc. The key consideration for this question involved rationalising the supplier base to improve the quality of service and reduce problems. Candidates were expected to suggest ways to assess the performance of current suppliers and reduce the workload with underperforming suppliers and even withdraw from some contracts and no longer do business with providers who cannot meet the required standards. This question was given a variable response by candidates. Most candidates appreciated the need to monitor supplies by various means including rationalisation, supplier development, Early Supplier Development (ESI), audits, selection criteria and communication. Candidates sometimes fell down on mentioning the use of technology or kite marks. Better answers not only identified the problems from the case but aligned them to ways to resolve the problems and monitor and control the impact of the purchasing development programme. L5-1/SA report/may-1 2

3 Q2 Formulate plans to overcome resistance to change and to implement the restructuring of the purchasing function at CM successfully. This question required candidates to firstly consider the reasons for human resistance to change and then put forward plans to overcome the resistance and implement the restructuring of the purchasing function. Planning the Answer - Candidates should approach this question by firstly considering the factors that cause staff to resist change. Once those factors have been identified then the candidate should suggest ways to reduce the resistance to change which often involves communication methods and reassurance. Candidates should also suggest ways to implement the new structure successfully. Answering the Question - Good answers will typically identify all of the factors that can cause human resistance including fear of the unknown, possible redundancies, role changes and takeover implications. Candidates would then go on to make suggestions to reduce the resistors and put plans forward to implement the new structure at CM. Equal emphasis was expected to be placed on both aspects in answering the question. The main consideration with this question is that the toughest role for a manager when implementing change is winning over members of staff by convincing them of the need for change and involving them actively in the process. Most candidates outlined ways to overcome resistance to change by citing communication methods, rationalising suppliers and managing change (in various ways). Candidates were variable with their responses in identifying resistors to change. Some candidates gave a comprehensive range of reasons for resistance whereas others only cited one or two. Better answers combined both reasons for resistance to change and ways to overcome them while implementing the re-structuring of the purchasing function. L5-1/SA report/may-1 3

4 Q3 Evaluate the impact of different organisational structures on company development and performance This question requires candidates to consider the range of organisational structures available and their impact on company development and performance. Planning the Answer - Candidates need to consider from their own work experience and the wider business world the range of organisational structures that are used and their direct impact on the way that an organisation operates. Answering the Question - Good answers might typically start with a definition of what an organisation is or why they are so important for an organisation. Candidates should then consider organisational structures from their experiences or examples from the business world across the public, private and third sector. Candidates should then explore their impact on factors such as decision making, communication, responsiveness to customers and staff working together. Candidates are expected to make the link between organisational structure in terms of organising staff, span of control, level of bureaucracy, communication routes and cultural considerations and impact on company performance and decision making. On the whole this was a well answered question in which candidates gave a range of organisational structures such as tall, flat, functional, divisional, geographical and matrix. When they had identified the structures and maybe drawn them (which many candidates did) the candidates considered levels of management, bureaucracy, speed of decision making and effectiveness of communication. Better answers cited real company examples and blended these with the different structures and impact on company development and performance. L5-1/SA report/may-1 4

5 Q4 Culture can be termed as the way we do things around here. Explain what this statement means to organisations and outline the components and models of culture that exist within organisations. This question required candidates to consider the statement put forward and what implications it has for organisations by considering models of culture and implications for organisations. Planning the Answer - Candidates should consider the components of culture and how they impact on the operation and performance of an organisation. Answers, as requested in the question, should also cite models of culture to discuss. Planning the Answer - Candidates need to consider the components or constituents of culture which includes values, beliefs, behaviours, traditions, rituals, stories/customs and rules. Answers should also consider the various theories which include the Cultural Web, E Schien, C Handy and Deal and Kennedy and their implications for organisations. Answering the Question - Good answers may typically start with a definition of what culture is or alternatively re-iterate the quote given in the question and expand on how important culture is to an organisation. Candidates should then go onto explore the components of culture and how they impact on organisational performance by referring to models of culture in their responses. The core theme of this question is that culture underpins everything that happens with an organisation. Candidates were expected to explore the quote using experiences and examples to demonstrate their understanding. A variable response was given to this question. Some candidates were confident in citing the theorists such as Handy, Deal and Kennedy and the Cultural Web. Most candidates understood how culture is developed and its components such as values, beliefs, rituals and stories etc. Unfortunately all too often candidates answered this question using a theory dump approach without exploring the impact on organisations. Better answers blended theory, company examples and what it means to organisations. L5-1/SA report/may-1 5

6 Q5 Evaluate the recognised techniques for formally dealing with conflict within teams and between individuals in the purchasing and supply function This question requires candidates to show an appreciation of the formal methods of dealing with conflict between teams and individuals in the purchasing and supply function. Planning the answer - Candidates should approach this question by considering the different formal ways of dealing with conflict which include arbitration, mediation, negotiation and dispute resolution. A good way to deal with the above is to consider the types of conflict in which these conflict resolution methods should be advocated. Answering the Question - Good answers might typically commence with a definition of what conflict is and the types of conflict that exist within a team or between individuals. Better answers should then evaluate the use of the different formal types of conflict resolution considering which situation they are best deployed and the possible consequences. Factors that should be considered include use of resources and the cost and time to deal with conflict situations. The core of this question when dealing with conflict situations is to consider the cost, time and use of resources to resolve. It is always in a manager s and the company s interest to resolve disputes as early as possible and hopefully though informal methods. If they cannot be brought to satisfactory conclusion via this route then formal methods are sometimes required. This is the route that should have been considered in this question. A variable response was given to this question. Some candidates started with reasons for conflict between individual and teams and then went on to explore informal ways to deal with the situation. Better answers not only cited reasons for conflict but also explored formal ways of dealing with conflict such as mediation, arbitration, negotiation and dispute resolution and the possible impact e.g. agreements, court rulings and time and resource needed. L5-1/SA report/may-1 6

7 Q6 Create a set of rules for ethical behaviour for an organisation of your choice, giving a clear rationale as to their rationale. This question requires candidates to put forward a set of ethical rules that a suggested organisation can follow. It should also be explained why these rules are so important. Planning the Answer - Candidates need to first of all consider the areas in which a business should be operating ethically e.g. hospitality, CSR, outsourcing, treatment of staff etc Candidates should then prescribe rules that their chosen organisation can follow to ensure the company s reputation is protected and that it operates within up to date ethical practices. Answering the Question - A candidate may start off with an overview or definition of what ethical behaviour is and/or why it is needed within organisations. Candidates should then cite the areas where ethical rules are needed and ideally the actual rule and the benefits/reasons for their implementation. The core theme of this question is that many organisations have created bad publicity for themselves by not adopting sufficient ethical rules to abide by. This can have dire consequences such as heavy fines, loss of business, staff leaving and a long term impact to customer and supplier relations. To protect an organisation from these unwanted outcomes rules are needed. Most candidates who tackled this question made a good effort at it. Most candidates considered hospitality and bribes, recruitment and discrimination, CSR, protecting information and child labour. Better answers also explained their relevance and importance such as the impact on PR, fines and creating a good working environment. APPENDIX: Syllabus matrix indicating the learning objectives of the syllabus unit content that each question is testing L5-1/SA report/may-1 7

8 SECTION A SECTION B Question No Learning Obj a b c a b c a b c a b c a b c a b c 1 The challenges of management x Organisation structures and culture 2.1 x x Management decision making Managing work groups and teams x Managing change x x 5.7 Marks distribution by section L5-1/SA report/may-1 8

9 L5-1/SA report/may-1 9