Workplace Communication System

Plan and Present the Workplace Communication System

Assessment Description

This Assessment Task is a Portfolio and Presentation of a Workplace Communication System. Using the simulated business information provided, and in response to a scenario, you will prepare a portfolio of communications planning documentation that includes a communications strategy and grievance procedure. You will also prepare and deliver a presentation to the senior management team on your plans for managing communications
and consultation.

Assessment Task Procedure

Part A: Communications planning portfolio

1. Review the scenario in Appendix 1, particularly the background to the simulated organization, 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 organization 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 organizational needs that includes:

• two to three communications objectives
• at least two different audiences, for example, senior management, work teams, or individual employees
• at least two methods of communication or media
• 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 (less than one page) grievance procedure.
5. Submit your portfolio in accordance with quality specifications outlined below.

Part B: Presentation to the senior management team

Research, plan and deliver a 10-15 minute presentation to senior managers on your proposed communications planning.

1. Prepare a business presentation in response to the scenario described in the scenario. Determine and prepare to discuss:

a.  Audience needs and relevant interpersonal skills you will need to deploy to win support for your ideas.

b. Organizational needs:

• internal strategic needs, goals, and objectives;
• external regulatory or legal requirements, such as for WHS consultation, anti-discrimination or industrial relations; and
• business ethics requirements.

c. Your proposed approach to communications and consultation to meet organizational and audience needs:

• Prepare to explain your draft communications strategy, organizational policies and procedures, and how such communications systems and policies can support a coordinated approach to developing effective work relationships.

2. Arrange a time and location to deliver your presentation to the senior management team.
3. Deliver the presentation to the senior management team. Ensure you deliver your presentation in accordance with deliverables and quality specifications outlined below.

Assessment Task Specifications

You must:

• submit a communications planning portfolio that includes:
  • a communications strategy,
  • a short grievance procedure;

• deliver a 10-15-minute presentation on your proposed communications strategy.

Your assessor will be looking for evidence of your ability to:

• provide leadership through your own behavior including professional conduct that promotes trust with a business audience;
• explain how communications systems, policies and procedures can support the development of effective work relationships;
• explain how your communications strategy addresses legislative or regulatory requirements;
• interact with others through:
  • building professional trust,
  • demonstrating high-level support and facilitation skills and your ability to engage and motivate others,
• get the work done through:
  • taking public responsibility for planning and sequencing complex tasks to achieve organizational goals;
  • developing processes and plans for complex communication activities with strategic importance;
  • analyzing information to inform decisions about organizational communications strategy;
  • identifying opportunities for improvement in communications;
• develop processes to manage ideas and information including:
  • communicating information to support others to achieve work responsibilities;
  • facilitating employees’ contributions to consultation on work issues;
  • providing feedback on the outcomes of consultations;
  • resolution of issues raised or referral to relevant personnel;

• demonstrate writing skills through:
  • researching and preparing plans and policies incorporating appropriate vocabulary, grammatical structure, and conventions.

Appendix 1: Scenario – JKL Industries

JKL Industries overview

JKL Industries is an Australian-owned company, selling forklifts, small trucks, and spare parts to the 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 that purchase these vehicles.

Taking the sales rights’ opportunity will, however, entail some significant changes, including significant changes to the current organizational 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 organization’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 organizational climate of conflict as a risk to business goals.

Moving forward, the organization intends to build and maintain a positive organizational culture, reduce risk and achieve organizational goals through:

• developing an effective policy framework for managing internal communications and consultation, in accordance with organizational objectives, business ethics, and compliance requirements
• communicating and building support for organizational 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 organization has uncovered the following issues:

• A lack of an overarching approach to information management that helps to promote a common understanding of team goals and organizational values and to build strategic relationships.
• Slow responses to internal and external customer needs.
• Slow and ineffective communication 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 organizational take-up of improvement ideas identified by teams and individuals at lower levels of the organization 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) organizational 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 organization.

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 organization.

You will need to ensure your communications strategy and processes address organizational issues while using your highly developed interpersonal skills to engage and motivate the senior management team to embrace your proposed changes.

Source: Business Institute of Australia, BSBLDR502, Assessment Task 1

 

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