DEVELOP WORK PRIORITIES CANDIDATE RESOURCE WITH SIMULATED ONLINE BUSINESS ASSESSMENT BSBWOR404A

Transcription

1 DEVELOP WORK PRIORITIES CANDIDATE RESOURCE WITH SIMULATED ONLINE BUSINESS ASSESSMENT BSBWOR404A

2 Precision Group (Australia) Pty Ltd 9 Koppen Tce, Cairns, QLD, info@precisiongroup.com.au Website: BSBWOR404A Develop Work Priorities ISBN: Copyright Notice No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by an information retrieval system without written permission from Precision Group (Australia) Pty Ltd. Legal action may be taken against any person who infringes their copyright through unauthorised copying. These terms are subject to the conditions prescribed under the Australian Copyright Act Copying for Educational Purposes The Australian Copyright Act 1968 allows 10% of this book to be copied by any educational institute for educational purposes, provided that the institute (or the body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to the Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act. For more information, info@copyright. com.au or visit for other contact details. Disclaimer Precision Group has made a great effort to ensure that this material is free from error or omissions. However, you should conduct your own enquiries and seek professional advice before relying on any fact, statement or matter contained in this book. Precision Group (Australia) Pty Ltd is not responsible for any injury, loss or damage as a result of material included or omitted from this material. Information in this course material is current at the time of publication.

3 Table of Contents 2 Legend 3 Qualification Pathways 4 Qualification Rules 5 Introduction 7 BSBWOR404A/01 Plan and Complete Own Work Schedule Key Points Workgroup plans are prepared to reflect consideration of resources, client needs and workgroup targets Work objectives and priorities are analysed and incorporated into personal schedules and responsibilities Factors affecting the achievement of work objectives are identified and contingencies established and incorporated into work plans Business technology is used efficiently and effectively to manage and monitor planning completion and scheduling of tasks 21 True or False Quiz 23 BSBWOR404A/02 Monitor Own Work Performance Key Points Personal performance standards are identified and analysed through self assessment and feedback from others on the achievement of work objectives Feedback on performance is actively sought from colleagues and clients and evaluated in context of individual and group requirements Variations in the quality of service and products are routinely identified and reported in accordance with organisational requirements 33 True or False Quiz 35 BSBWOR404A/03 Coordinate Professional Development Key Points Personal knowledge and skills are assessed against competency standards performance descriptions to determine development needs and priorities Opportunities for improvement and sources of learning are researched and planned in liaison with colleagues Feedback is used to identify and develop ways to improve competence within available opportunities New skills are identified and professional development activities are accessed and completed to facilitate continuous learning and career development Records and documents relating to achievements and assessments are stored and maintained in accordance with organisational requirements 43 True or False Quiz 44 Summary 45 Bibliography 47 Assessment Pack 1

4 Use considered risk taking in your grey area...and others will follow you! Legend This symbol indicates the beginning of new content. The bold title matches the content of the competency and they will help you to find the section to reference for your assessment activities. Activity: Whenever you see this symbol, there is an activity to carry out which has been designed to help reinforce the learning about the topic and take some action. This symbol is used at the end of a section to indicate the summary key points of the previous section. This symbol is used to indicate an answer to the Candidate s questions or notes to assist the Facilitator. 2

5 Qualification Pathways There are always two choices. Two paths to take. One is easy. And its only reward is that it s easy. Source Unknown This unit of competency is provided to meet the requirements of BSB07 Business Services Training Package although can be used in a range of different qualifications. The BSB07 Business Services Training Package does not state how a qualification is to be achieved. Rather, Registered Training Organisations are required to use the qualification rules to ensure the needs of the learner and business customer are met. This is to be achieved through the development of effective learning programs delivered in an order which meets the stated needs of nominated candidates and business customers. 3

6 Qualification Rules You re either part of the solution or part of the problem. Eldridge Cleaver Qualification requirements include core and elective units. The unit mix is determined by specific unit of competency requirements which are stated in the qualification description. Registered Training Organisations then work with learners and business customers to select elective units relevant to the work outcome, local industry requirements and the qualification level. All vocational education qualifications must lead to a work outcome. BSB07 Business Services Training Package qualifications allow for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) to vary programs to meet: Specific needs of a business or group of businesses. Skill needs of a locality or a particular industry application of business skills. Maximum employability of a group of students or an individual. When packaging a qualification elective units are to be selected from an equivalent level qualification unless otherwise stated. 4

7 Introduction Whether as an individual, or as part of a group, real progress depends on entering whole-heartedly into the process and being motivated to make you a more deeply satisfied human being. Source Unknown This unit of competency is all about being able to implement work priorities. It will help you with the skills you need to demonstrate competency for the unit BSBWOR404A Develop Work Priorities. This is one of the units that make up the Certificates in Business. This manual is broken up into three distinct sections. They are: 1. Plan and complete own work schedule In this section we will examine how you should organise your work schedule and learn ways of completing it as required by your organisation. 2. Monitor own work performance In this section we will look at the importance of monitoring your progress towards your work goals and how this can be used to find ways of improving your performance. 3. Coordinate professional development In this final section we will look at the area of personal development, and how to develop a plan for your own improvement. At the conclusion of this training you will be asked to complete an assessment pack for this unit of competency. The information contained in this resource will assist you to complete this task. On conclusion of this unit of competency you will have demonstrated you have the skills and knowledge required to plan and complete own work schedules, monitor and obtain feedback on work performance and development. 5

8 6

9 PART 1: Plan and Complete Own Work Schedule Key Points Section 1 As part of your planning process, it is important that you are able to generate a plan that reflects the resources, needs and targets of both yourself and your organisation. Such a plan should be reviewed on a continual basis to ensure that the plan will meet the needs of stakeholders into the future. An important part of any such plan is the ability to write objectives and priorities. You should carefully assess the objectives and priorities of your work team and your organisation and attempt to incorporate these into your own personal schedule and responsibilities. The achievement of your work objectives can be affected by a range of factors. It is important to be able to establish what these are in advance and develop contingency plans based on these factors. Always be prepared. Business technology can take a range of forms. In terms of monitoring and completing projects you may use a diary, PDA and other technology to keep on top of what you are doing. 7

10 Establishing Work Goals Think about what the goals are, your goals set for yourself, and your goals set by your organisation Are you fully aware of what is expected of you as an employee? In order to be an effective employee it is important that you are able to answer these questions. After all, how can you do your job well if you do not know what your job is? If your job involves you in working with other individuals within your organisation in a managerial or supervisory role this becomes even more critical. If you are to achieve your goals and objectives as a team you need to be aware of what those goals are, you need to be able to manage your resources in such a way that you are able to meet those goals. The key to achieving goals within a workplace is to develop a plan, and one of the keys to effective planning is knowing what your overall goals are. When developing plans you need to: Developing Plans Ensure that you focus on the issues that are important to your organisation by setting relevant goals and objectives. Look for areas where problems may develop that will prevent you from reaching your goals and develop plans to overcome these. Identify what you need to do to achieve your goals. We will examine each of these areas in detail. To begin, let s examine how the level you are within the organisation determines the type of goals and objectives you need to set. As you know, your organisation is broken up into different levels each of which has a different set of plans to undertake. Where you sit is likely to have a significant effect on the type of goals and objectives that you will be setting and working towards. Employees: Generally, the majority of an organisation is found at the individual employee level. At this level, you are not responsible for anyone s actions but your own therefore at this level you will find yourself only setting goals and objectives for yourself. Frontline management: Frontline managers are also known as supervisors or middle managers. At this level you will be responsible for others, and therefore will set goals and objectives for teams within the organisation, or for your area of responsibility. Senior management: Like frontline management, senior management have a broader responsibility, in this case over the organisation as a whole. Here strategic decisions are made, and goals and objectives are also strategic in nature so goals are set for the organisation as a whole. 8

11 Types of Goals Now that we have examined the goals and objectives that exist within an organisation, let s move on and examine the types that may exist. We will start with individual goals and work upwards through the organisation looking at the goals as they exist at different levels. Objectives The simplest type of goal that you can set yourself is the objective. Put simply, an objective is a short term goal that states what you want to achieve in the short term. You may for example use a series of objectives to list the steps that you need to undertake in order to achieve a goal. They describe how you plan to reach your goal. Think for example of the goal Complete the report into cost cutting measures. You may take this goal and break it up into a number of objectives such as: Gather relevant information by tomorrow Write draft report by Thursday Get feedback on report and revise draft by the following Monday Complete final report by next Thursday. As you can see, this list of objectives has broken the goal down into its component parts, and this forms an action plan, outlining exactly what it is that you wish to achieve by certain dates. Your plan can then be used to examine how you are going with regards to your timeline and assist you in determining where problems lay. Goals Goals can exist on two levels. You can have individual goals that are set just for you and your work or you can have work group goals which are normally set by middle management and establish goals for your team or department. Individual goals: At this level, you are establishing goals simply for yourself. You may like to think of individual goals as being your contribution to the achievement of work group goals. Workgroup Goals: These goals are generally established by frontline managers, however in a self managing work group you may find that they are set by the group itself. They are aimed at telling all members of the group what is to be achieved. Goals allow you to state exactly where it is you want to be and how you plan to get there. 9

12 Vision Statement We now move into the more strategic area, with goals and objectives that are established by senior management. We will begin by looking at the vision. Essentially, a vision statement sets out to communicate the values that the organisation holds dear. It attempts to tell everyone what it is that an organisation actually does. A vision statement should attempt to communicate the core values and business of your organisation and will be used as the core principle behind the development of policy in any organisation. Your vision tells you where you want your business to go. It is a very general statement of the purpose and philosophy of your business. If you are charged with writing a vision statement you need to ensure that it is: Written in very general terms Clear and colourful Enduring Future oriented Brief Challenging Inspirational. Mission Statement The mission statement is similar to the vision statement in that it is strategic rather than operational in nature. If the vision statement attempts to state what we do, a mission statement states how we will do it. Be Smart! Your objectives, as we have previously mentioned, are specific short term goals that you will attempt to meet on a day to day basis in order to help you keep tracking towards your longer term goals and the overall vision and mission of the organisation. All objectives need to be SMART this means that they must be: Specific exactly what is required? Measurable can they be measured? Because if they can t, how can you know that they have been achieved? Achievable is a particular objective actually possible in the context of your business and the environment within which you operate? Realistic given the resources you have to hand, and the money and time that you have available, is the objective realistic? 10

13 Time bound when must it be completed or achieved by? At what point in time can you look at what you have done and say whether your objectives have been achieved or not? Objectives in different types of industry will often look quite different but still conform to this same SMART philosophy. Take for example the following list of objectives that could be applicable in service based industries: To see all clients within 15 minutes of their original appointment time. To process all invoices due for the current month by the 30th or 31st of that month. To ensure that we follow up and obtain all documentation within 48 hours from the time of the request. You can compare this to the following SMART objectives for a manufacturer: To produce 10,000 Widgets each quarter of each year. To ensure that no more than 2% of widgets are rejected through quality control. To increase productivity on the manufacture and sale of widgets by 10% before the end of the financial year ended March 200X. There is no such thing as a self-made man. You will reach your goals only with the help of others. George Shinn 11

14 Types of Measure Time Percentage Prohibition Averages Frequency All phone calls to be answered within 60 seconds 92% of all deliveries made within requested time frame No smoking An average of 3000 words to be written each day All stock in inventory is to be checked for freshness weekly For you to achieve a task, it is important to know in which direction you are required to head. The overall direction of your organisation can be established through writing objectives. Essentially objectives are a statement of desired performance. They state where you want to head, and what level of performance you wish to achieve. For objectives to be most effective, they must meet criteria that will ensure that they are useable in a particular situation, and allow them to be used to assist in developing work plans, and monitoring. If your objectives do not meet these criteria, you are likely to find that while you have objectives to work towards, you will never actually know for sure if they have been reached or not. The first criterion is that objectives must be clear. Clarity of expression makes the objectives simple for everybody to understand. If you think about it, clarity is one of the most important components of any piece of written communication. After all if someone can not understand what is being said, how can they possibly be required to follow or reach it? Clarity comes about by ensuring that you use simple language that is unambiguous in its intent. What this means is that you should avoid using jargon, and any term that is complicated or may require further explanation. There are simpler terms for just about every complicated term, so think carefully about what you are writing, and try to think of alternative terms that could be used. Double negatives are also another common barrier to clarity. When you use a double negative, the reader has to stop, and think about exactly what you are trying to say, avoid these statements at all costs! Measures are the most effective way of determining how well you are measuring up to your organisation s requirements. An important part of being clear is conciseness. If you are being concise it generally means that you are being clear. The less words you use, the less chance there is for confusion. Therefore it is important to try and write an objective in as few words as possible (while still retaining meaning). Objectives should also contain a number of pieces of information that make them useful for managers and other staff. These include: 12

15 What Objectives Should Contain Measures of Performance Actions Timeframes For any objective to be effective, it must be measurable. If it is not, there is no way that you, as a manager can attempt to actually measure your performance. Without measurement, it is impossible to know whether or not you have actually met your objectives. So think about the numbers that are required to meet an objective. Don t just say, An improvement in sales ; say a 25% increase in net sales ; don t say a decrease in production defects ; say a 15% decrease in production defects. State the actions that are required, what do you require to happen, and who should do it? By explicitly stating this information, it is easier to develop plans to meet the objectives. Improvements can not just happen overnight, but you should set timeframes for their achievement. For illustration in our example above about reducing defects by 25%, this is a significant decrease in defects and will not be achieved in a matter of days. Therefore it is useful to add a timeframe to state when this type of objective should be met. By doing this you have also set yourself a timeframe for monitoring the situation. Finally, you should ensure that the objectives you write are related to your actual area of responsibility within an organisation. It is not appropriate to write objectives for areas outside your responsibility. Therefore, go back and check that the objectives you write are appropriate and within your responsibility. If they are not, you should hand the responsibility for writing them on to the appropriate person within the organisation. Objectives Are Not Set in Stone Objectives are unlikely to remain a constant. Team s responsibilities and roles are constantly changing as changes occur in the organisation. This means that it is important to go back, and evaluate the objectives that you have written in the past to ensure that they are still relevant today. Individual s areas of responsibility within an organisation may also change, and so you should go back and attempt to analyse who a given objective will actually apply to. As people move around an organisation this is likely to change. Organisational change refers to changes within the organisation that are likely to affect the overall organisation s objectives. This may include changes in strategy, changes to the organisation s product line, and overall direction. Some organisations may expand their operations while others may be forced to retract their operations and form a smaller, more compact organisational structure. In each of these cases, it is likely that the net effect will be changes to company policy and strategy, the company will be wanting to head in a new direction. As your company changes direction, your objectives should be changed to allow your programs within the organisation to comply with the overall strategy. 13

16 The changes required to be made regarding organisational change are likely to result in different measures needing to be applied. For example as an organisation retrenches their operations, performance measures may fall slightly, in order to reflect the smaller operation. As new products are introduced, new performance measures for performance may need to be established. Objectives also need to be kept in line with the overall requirements of both the organisation and teams within it. Think carefully about the purpose of the operation, and the groups you are developing objectives for. If they are not aligned carefully, it is likely that you may find the organisation, and the groups within it, are moving away from each other in terms of their performance. You want both groups to be moving towards the same goals; however you can t get to the same goal if you are heading in different directions. In order to ensure that your objectives are correctly aligned with organisational requirements (or group requirements) you should compare the objectives you have created with the unit s mission statement, and overall strategies. These two documents should clearly state the direction the company is heading, and your objectives should in some form or another work you towards that overall direction. Let s look at an example: If the overall objectives state that production should rise by 25% over the following year, it would be inappropriate for individual group objectives to state that production should only rise by 10%, as this would mean that the overall production aim does not meet with the groups production aim, and thus they are not working together towards a specific goal. 14

17 Working with Others Often, you will find that work teams work with others and this will mean that you need to consider what their point of view is and take this into account. Whenever you are charged with developing goals and objectives for a team, it is also important to work with other team members. If you don t, you are likely to alienate your staff. This does not mean of course that the final authority should rest anywhere but with you However it does mean you should work with your staff in developing plans and goals and negotiate with them. Do not simply force a goal on your staff. They are in the best position to know what is possible and what is not so use that knowledge to your advantage. The resources that you have are also an important consideration when developing goals and objectives. The types of resources that you should consider include: Physical Resources This includes all the materials and the physical space that will be needed to achieve your goals. They may come in the form of raw materials which you transform, or materials which you purchase in order to undertake certain tasks. Financial Resources Money makes the world go round! And money is a key requirement of any operational plan. You need to carefully consider the cost of the activities that you and the rest of your team will undertake in order to achieve your goals. This will generally require you to develop a budget and analyse this on a regular basis to ensure that you are spending the financial resources you have been allocated wisely. Technical Resources - This includes all the machinery that you will need in order to achieve your goals. You need to consider whether you have all the machinery and technology you require, is it available when you need it, and what about if it breaks down? What will you do then? Human Resources Last, but by no means least, you need to fully consider the human resources. This includes all the people that you will use to carry out the various tasks that will allow you to meet your goals. Will they be available? Do they have appropriate training? Will you have enough staff? The Planning Process Planning is a process, and this process must be followed if you are to work through the goal setting phase correctly; essentially in order to develop a plan that will allow you to determine that you are working towards the correct goals and objectives. The typical planning process can be summarised as: 1. Determine what your goals and objectives are: What do you want to do? 2. Think carefully about how you wish to go about achieving this: What needs to be done? Who will do it? Where will we do it? How is it to be done? When should it be completed by? 3. Schedule: Once you have set yourself a set of goals and objectives, look at sequencing the events in such a way that you will meet your goals. 15

18 4. Get your plan out there: Communicate your ideas to all who need to know. It is no good having goals if no one knows what they are. 5. Implement: Carry out the plan undertake all the relevant activities in the appropriate order. 6. Monitor: Gather information on the implementation process. 7. Review: Compare your results against your goals and objectives to determine where any problem areas lay, and find ways of improving them. Developing an Action Plan Action planning typically includes deciding who is going to do what and by when and in what order for the organisation to reach its strategic goals. The design and implementation of the action plan depends on the nature and needs of the organisation. Action planning is quite an interesting topic to investigate. In many ways it is quite pedantic in the way that it operates. It doesn t involve looking at the big picture; rather it is about picking up on the little details. This makes action planning an aspect of the planning process that often gets ignored, simply because no one is really interested in the type of work that is needed. People are more interested in the big picture and drawing big sweeping pictures of where they want to be in the future. However, without carefully planning how to execute a plan, this strategic plan becomes next to useless. If your strategic plan is to be effective, you must have action plans in place that allow you to actually reach the goals and objectives that you set earlier in the process. An action plan attempts to specify what it to be done by the organisation in order to reach the goals and objectives that have been set. There is also a need to determine who is responsible for a given task and by when the actions are to be completed. When developing an action plan within an organisation: 1. Develop a major action plan that outlines how each of the big picture objectives are going to be achieved. 2. Next, develop a series of action plans that outline how each function of the organisation is going to improve itself in order to reach the desired goals and objectives. The functions may include: your finance staff, managerial structure, marketing, human resources and payroll. Each plan should combine together to form the overall action plan for the organisation as a whole. This means that each individual action plan should run inline with one another allowing the organisation as a whole to reach its desired goals and objectives. 3. Next, work with your managers, supervisors and employees to try and find ways in which they can contribute towards each action plan. Assign responsibilities based on these discussions, so that all staff members are aware of what they need to do. 16

19 Every organisation is likely to have its own structure for what it likes to see in a good action plan. The plan might, for example, include: A guideline into the goals that need to be achieved A discussion of each of the goals and how they relate to the overall strategic goals of the organisation The results that the organisation expects to see when the goals and objectives are reached A discussion of how individual results are going to be achieved A timeline for the achievement of the goals. Contingency Planning Contingency plans are the plans that you make against the possibility that something will go wrong. They are an essential aspect of successful business management because there is nothing more certain than that something, somehow, will go wrong sooner or later. When it does, you will need to be prepared to deal with it. What to plan for Your own contingency planning will depend very much on the sort of business you are in, and how it operates. Issues to think about include: Timeframe delays on particular jobs Staffing problems Difficulty finding or buying resources Health and family problems Lack of money Insufficient customer demand. Let s look at a contingency plan that might be put in place for an organisation that has purchased new machinery on a loan. Contingency Plan: If additional sales will not cover the additional loan repayments we could: Reduce expenses to cover the loan Sell other equipment that is not used to pay for the outstanding debt Resell the new machinery. 17

20 Such a plan is important because you never know what is going to happen in business, so having a plan in place well in advance allows you to determine where problems may lie and what you can do about them. Using Time to Your Advantage Often times you will find that the achievement of goals is directly related to your ability to control your use of time. If you had enough time, reaching all your goals and objectives would be no problem at all. In this section of this manual, we will examine a number of strategies that you can use to integrate your goals and objectives into the amount of time that you have in the workplace. Before we begin, let s look at two tools that are particularly useful in managing time. Diaries: Diaries and personal organisers allow you to keep a record of your daily schedule, as well as addresses and contact lists. They can be paper-based or electronic. Electronic ones may be either on your desktop computer, or on a hand-held personal digital assistant (PDA). Planners and Calendars: These are usually for tasks and events that happen over a longer period of time, such as a month or a year. They can be particularly useful when scheduling the activities of several people in a work team. Goals and Time Management Let s now look at the processes involved in setting goals. The setting and achievement of goals is a crucial stage of planning for the way that you and your organisation do work together. In order to achieve what it is that you and your business want to achieve, you need to have a set of goals in place that facilitate that achievement. Setting goals and objectives allows you to examine your life closely and determine where it is that you hope to go professionally and personally. By knowing where it is that you want to go, you can find new and exciting ways to get yourself to that place. Goal setting gives you a look at your long-term visions as well as allowing you to determine the short-term actions that are needed for you to achieve that long-term goal. A solid set of goals, well defined and focussed on what you want to achieve, lets you aim for wherever you want, as well as allowing you to actually measure your performance where it is that you want to go and how far you are from reaching it. These goals can: Give your professional life focus Allow you to move forward Raise your self-confidence in your abilities. 18

21 A good place to start is examining the way that you use your time and setting goals that facilitate an improvement in the use of your time. Look at your goals and whether you can break them down into smaller goals and objectives rather than one big goal, make each of them 3 or 4 smaller goals. Next, assign each of your goals a priority. Prioritisation is a critical time management skill in that it allows you to determine what is most important to you. Then take your goals and work them into a 5 year plan, then a 1 year plan, then a 6 month plan examining what you hope to achieve at each stage of the process. Finally, once you have broken things down enough, you can take that final step and turn them into a daily to-do list, which lists the small things you will do each day to allow you to reach your broader goals and objectives. Your to-do list is the document that you will use to determine exactly what it is that you need to do at every stage of the process. It lists what you actually need to do, rather than just setting the lofty goals you hope to achieve. This can be taken a step further still by looking at trying to prioritse your daily tasks as well. The To-Do List is an essential part of your planning. It allows you to make sure that you are working in a way that actually facilitates the achievement of your major goals every single day. A goal without a plan is just a wish. Antoine de Saint-Exupery 19

22 Activity One - Planning your Work Schedule Briefly describe how you develop a work schedule for yourself. Do you follow any set procedure or just develop it ad hoc? 20

23 Section 1 - True or False Quiz Please tick True False Goals can be set for individuals, groups or even an entire organisation. Objectives are unlikely to remain a constant. Objectives should not contain a deadline. SMART means objectives should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound. An objective is a goal that states what you want to achieve in the short term. A vision statement and mission statement are similar in intent. Contingency plans are the plans that you make against the possibility that something will go wrong. Prohibitions are not measures. When developing plans, you need to take into consideration what your overall objectives are. Frontline managers are charged with responsibility for strategic planning. 21