Australian Hardware National Business Plan (in brief)
One of the possible problem facing the rapid expansion of Australian Hardware is the lack of a national and consistent approach to the Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) compliance. The Wollongong Australian Hardware is committed to providing a safe workplace by following all the legal and ethical obligations. Last year`s company record on the time lost to the frequency rate of injury commonly known as (LTIFR) was 13: 9. The company benchmark is currently at 10: 11. Most injuries related to the manual lifting of outdoor furniture and hardware goods and the hazardous materials handling. The main objective of this project plan is to update and train employee on the changes made on the policies and procedures made to the Wollongong Australian Hardware to the newly acquired store in Newcastle. The company wants to create a new section on its existing website. There is great need to make operational adjustments inside the company by updating on the policies and procedure of Wollongong and add the same to the Newcastle store. The project requires updating of the information on the website as well as prepare the workers to deal with the new changes or amendments. The project thus aims at providing necessary training to the staff about the policies and procedures and help them adapt to the new to policies and procedures and make the transition process smooth for the company.
Australian Hardware National Business Plan (in brief)
Australian Hardware limited is a public company in Australia that has been in operation since 1982 and is floated in the Australian Stock Exchange. The company has its headquarters in Sydney, NSW. The business owns and operates over 138 stores with plans to continue opening up 2-3 stores per year. The Company`s date of establishment is 26th January 1921 whose initial name was Percy`s Home Goods but was changed in 1952. The company offers hardware and home improvement products and services. In addition, the company offers expert advice and service. The target market for Australian hardware is divided into three divisions, namely the home improvers, the Do It Yourself segment and the tradespersons. The marketing strategy for Australian Hardware is encamped with product and service differentiation integrated with selected target market activities. The strategic directions for the company are to increase sales revenue and maximize profits. In addition, the company aim at increasing or maintain the market share. In addition, the company aims to control direct and indirect operational costs and maintain a superior quality of the products and services produced by the company. The company also aims to establish a reputation as a socially and environmentally responsible company. Profits plowed back from the previous year`s operational activities and investments are used to run the operations of the company.
Goal and Responsibilities of Various Stakeholders in the Project Implementation
|
Item |
Milestone Date |
Responsibility |
|
Document any additions or subtractions to be made in Wollongong policies for integrating them into the Newcastle store |
5th sept 2018 |
Store Manager and Project Manager |
|
Create a new section for Newcastle on Wollongong website. These include listings of products and services as well as updating of the policies and procedures and make an announcement to the internal staff |
IT manager and Newcastle Store Manager |
|
|
Make amendments to the policies and procedures |
8th sept 2018 |
Content Manager |
|
Communicate these amendments on policies and procedures to the staff through the COO address as well as inform them about the training program that they need to attend in order to get further details about the policies and procedures that would be adopted as a result of the acquiring Newcastle store |
10th sept 2018 |
Project Manager, New castle Store Manager, |
|
Develop a training program for the employees on the new policies after gathering requirements from the training program and store managers covering concepts on policies and procedures (Stevenson, Hojati & Cao, 2007) |
18th sept 2018 |
Training Manager |
|
Execution of the training program after hiring program on the new or updated policies and programs and making arrangements for the delivery of the same on the scheduled date. |
1st October 2018 |
Training Manager and Project Manager |
The main people working on this project include;
Project sponsor
The project sponsor will be in charge of approving the budget or the execution of the entire project. The project manager will present the project plan with the costing structure for approval. In order to meet timelines and budget requirements for the project, Pant and Baroudi (2008) hold that the project sponsor should agree to the required funds which would be possible if the project sponsor receives as much information as possible. The project manager would thus submit a detailed project proposal along with the budgeting details so that decisions can be taken on the budget.
Goal and Responsibilities of Various Stakeholders in the Project Implementation
The CEO would be responsible for managing an overlooking the working if the project by giving guidance and support to the project manager in project planning and approvals. The COO will have the plan of the project which includes elements such as the delivery schedule, deliverable details (Assudani & Kloppenbrg, 2010). The COO will thus be in better position to assess the needs for controlling and directing and provide necessary support to the team. It is the responsibility of the project manager to keep the CEO informed of the milestones and achievements of the projects such that the CEO can take control of the things when needed.
COO has the mandate of addressing the staff and giving information about the changes that are made to the policy and procedures of the company. The COO will also inform the staffs of the upcoming training and encourage them to attend. COO also acts as the project manager and thus is responsible for planning, execution, and control all the activities and processes of the project (Assudani & Kloppenbrg, 2010). The project manager would gather the requirements form from the store manager and training manager to prepare the project plan for which he would require support from the store manager and CEO. Thomas and Mengel (2008) add that project managers take care of activities such as planning, monitoring, scheduling and establishing control over them. He will also ensure that there is close coordination between people working on the project including employees and developers, store anger, HR manager among others.
Inputs of the policies and procedures of the Wollongong would be provided to the store project manner by the Wollongong store manager. He would also help the project managers get trainees by encouraging them to participate in them. Wollongong store manager would also help to prepare the team to take over the roles required for management for the new Newcastle store. He would also be required to understand all the policies procedures of the Newcastle stores should be part of the training programs for learning.
The inputs of the policies and procedures of Newcastle would be provided to the project manager by the store manager. He would encourage trainers to participate in the training process. Newcastle store manager also needs to be aware of the procedures and process of the Wollongong for which the project manager would be providing him the deal and use the ideas for amendments required in the Wollongong store procedures.
IT managers would take care of the IT software and hardware. The IT manager would also make requirements or the development of the website including assigning of the developer for the website in the provision of the systems as for the development.
The webmaster would take care of the development needs of the website and would get the change or additions made by the developer. The webmaster would also be involved in the training and should understand how the policies and procedural additions would be positioned on the website such that the staff could be trained on the same thing.
Project Sponsor
The content manager makes additions to the website pages and about new policies and procedures. The content manager would thus is needed to develop the content referring to the policies and the procedure documentation of the Newcastle store, which could be provided by the project managers.
Training manager would get trainers to develop on or the training, coordinate them, ensure staffs attend the training and assist the trainers during the execution plan.
Staffs both of Wollongong and Newcastle would act the trading program and incase that are unable to more ap, the oil informs the respective sure manger advance.
|
Position |
Name |
|
CEO-Chief Executive Officer |
Holden Greenwright |
|
CFO-Chief Finance Officer |
David Mifsud |
|
COF-Chief Operating Officer |
Mary Chu |
|
Marketing General Manager |
Elizabeth Madden |
|
HRM-Human Resource general Manager |
Susan Black |
|
Store General Managers |
*132 |
|
Position |
Quantity |
Expected employee turn over |
Skills and experiences required |
|
Store General Manager |
2 |
4%/ year |
Have four or more years of experience in running/managing a Small Medium Enterprise |
|
Plumbing and electrical product manager |
1 |
5% |
Leadership skills Trade-specific knowledge/ skills |
|
Timber Manager |
1 |
5% |
Leadership skills Trade-specific skills/knowledge |
|
Garden Product Manager |
1 |
5% |
Leadership skills Trade Specific/ Knowledge |
|
General Store Operations Manager |
1 |
5% |
Leadership skills Trade Specific/ Knowledge |
|
Sales consultants |
1 |
20% |
Sales specific skills set |
|
Cashiers |
1 |
30% |
Some experience in sales |
|
Garden and Home Products Manager |
1 |
5% |
Leadership skills Trade Specific/ Knowledge |
|
Admin and Office Staff |
1 |
10% |
Various accounting skills and clerical skills set |
Table 2: Resource and Cost estimates
|
Deliverable/milestone/phase |
Resource |
Cost |
|
Documentation |
Stock manager |
– |
|
· Hardware store Section · Products and services will be listed · Newcastle staff interface will be added |
IT Manager IT systems |
$300 |
|
· Online Amendment · Details of all the amendments to be made in the policies and procedures |
It Manager and Store Manager |
– |
|
· Employee communication · Minutes required in the meeting · Email about the training |
Project managers, Store Managers, and Staff Intranet and Emails |
|
|
· COO address to staff · Changes made in the policies and procedures and other announcements are made by the COO. |
Project Manager, Store Manager, and Staff Meeting room |
$ 170 |
|
· Training schedule Project manager and training manager prepare the training schedule · Hire a trainer for the scheduled date of training · Email the schedule to all employees of the organization |
Project Manager and Training Manager |
– |
|
· Program execution ensure and confirm the attendance of the employees · Make the trainer to deliver the training program · Record the training program · Record the recorded training on the intranet for employees |
Staff, Trainer, project manager, and Newcastle store manager Training Hall |
$ 1010 |
Risks management involves identification of risks, their assessment on the basis of whether their level of impact on the project outcome and the response strategy that the management can adapt to a risk. A risk can either have a low, medium or high level of impact on the project (Meredith & Mantel, 2011). If the impact level if a risk is low, the risk can be ignored while in cases where the impact levels are high, the risk can be transferred, avoided or mitigated.
Table 3: Risk Evaluation
|
Risk Involved |
Impact level of the risk |
Management Strategy |
|
The trainers don`t avail themselves for training on the day of the training |
High |
Avoid: Confirm trainer`s schedule to confirm their availability on the planned date. Mitigate: If for some reasons the trainer cannot come on the training date due to unavoidable circumstances, staffs can be informed about the same and a new date can be communicated. Risk Transfer: Ask a trainer to book himself for another appointment for the same cost in compensation for not showing up the date agreed. |
|
Some employees fail to attend the training |
Medium |
Mitigate: Minutes of the training should be recorded as well s the session and post the same on the intranet so that employees who could not make to attend could also get the information Risk Transfer: Make the store manager responsible for providing training to employees who could not attend the training to also get the information. |
|
Some employees fail to get information about the training |
Medium |
Avoid: Keep the employees informed via emails o the training programs and take support from the store managers to communicate about training to their juniors Mitigate: Take record of those employees in attendance and if anyone is absent, try to get them to attend. If that is not possible. Send them the information about the session records |
|
The training program as scheduled is not completed on time |
Medium |
Avoid: Take inputs from staff and trainer to make an assessment of the time required for training and keep buffer time for the actual training schedule so that it does not exceed Mitigate: Try extending sessions and seeking permission from staff if a small part is remaining but if its a larger portion remaining, try asking for new additional training sessions on a future date. |
|
Some policies and programs could not be covered during the training |
High |
Avoid: Allocate sufficient training time that could cover all decided topics or the only train only the important topics during training so that they are not left out. Make trainees ask questions at the end of the training so that to ensure that no topics are left out during presentations Mitigate: Inform the store managers about the content left out and ask him to train the employees. In addition, the trainer can send the remaining or uncovered content to the staffs over emails to read. |
|
The training room is not available on the day of training |
High |
Avoid: Check the availability of the venue a day before the day of the training and if there any problems, get another venue fixed then inform the employees about the new changes. Mitigate: If for any reason the room is not viable for training purposes, make alternative arrangements by taking an author meeting room to finish the work. |
|
The occurrence of technical hitches during training |
High |
Avoid: Check all the equipment and electronics required in training and see if they are working well before training. In case of any problems or equipment failure, make immediate alternative arrangements. Mitigate: Have a backup plan arranged so that in case of any hitches that may arise during the presentation, they can be used to take over. |
|
Trainers fail to get sufficient learning from the training. |
High |
Avoid: hire a good and experienced trainer for delivery, someone who knows how to explain concepts and how to engage the audience. Make the staff understand the importance of paying attention to the training content so that they take it seriously. Mitigate: If any important topic is left out, make arrangement for another training n the future to cover them. |
Table 4: Information or Communication Strategy
|
Stakeholder |
Information Required |
When is the Information required |
Format |
|
CEO |
Detailed project plan |
Before the beginning of the project |
· The project plan is emailed to the COO and CEO · CEO and project manager hold a meeting for project approval purposes |
|
CFO |
Timelines and schedule of the project |
Before the beginning of the project |
· The project plan is emailed to CFO · Meeting between the project manager and CFO |
|
Project manager COO |
Amendments Needs of the training Resource Requirements |
Before creating a project plan |
· Meeting between the training and store managers to get details of required amendments of the policies and procedures |
|
Store managers |
Training schedule Resources required |
Before training |
· Meeting between the training managers and store managers · Send an email to staff informing them of the training program and schedules |
|
Staff |
Schedule of the training |
Before training |
Email training to managers, trainers,and staffs |
|
Training managers |
Requirements for the training |
Before the development of the training program |
· Gather all the training requirements from staff · Collect and send requirements to training manager · Meet the training manager to finalize the content |
|
Regulators |
Regulatory or legal compliance |
Before the development of the training program |
· Document all requirements as far as legal and regulatory requirements are concerned · Communicate the regulatory need to COO through email |
Project deliverables include amending the policies and procedures of Newcastle Store to Wollongong Store. Further, create a new section for the Newcastle Store on Wollongong website. The plan is also to publish amendments on the new section of the website and communicate to staffs about these amendments and training plan. Finally, is to deliver the training to staff.
Project Plan: Update and train employees on the changes made in the policies and procedures of Wollongong to add to the Newcastle store.
Names of those in attendance: Project manager, Training Manager, Project Sponsor, Newcastle store manager, and Wollongong store manager.
A training program was successfully developed and the date for COO address for informing the employees was well chosen. The actual training went on well and as per the plans.
Table 5: Review by a team of the course goals, objective /deliverables
|
Met |
Missed |
Partially Met |
comments |
|
|
Project goal |
Yes |
· The project was completed within the stipulated schedule in the project plan. · The project was delivered within the budget as stipulated in the project plan. · The project operated within the stipulated scope of the terms of reference. |
||
|
Objectives/ Deliverables |
||||
|
Hardware Store selection |
Yes |
|||
|
Amendments |
Yes |
|||
|
Communicating with employees |
Yes |
|||
|
COO address |
Yes |
|||
|
Schedule of the training |
Yes |
|||
|
Program execution |
Yes |
Some of the policy topics were left uncovered but they are simple areas to understand thus an email containing these details would be sent to the staff. |
||
|
Success Evaluation Criteria |
||||
|
All activities completed with the scheduled time and budget |
Yes |
|||
|
Training quality was good/ did training result in objectively defined in the project plan |
Yes |
The trainer was highly experienced and engaging the staff thus providing value addition to employee learning |
||
|
Budget/Value for money |
Yes |
$1500 |
||
|
Did training operate within the scope of the terms of reference |
Yes |
|||
|
What worked well and what could have been done better: Staffs were well engaged but were asking too many questions, which consumed a lot of time that is why some topics were left uncovered. Trainees thus could have been restricted to the number of questions to ask |
||||
|
Worked Well |
Could have worked better |
|||
|
Schedule Creation |
Training schedule |
|||
|
Training delivery |
||||
|
Store sector selection |
||||
|
Policy Amendments |
References
Assudani, R., & Kloppenborg, T. J. (2010). Managing stakeholders for project management success: an emergent model of stakeholders. Journal of General Management, 35(3), 67-80.
Holtom, B. C., Mitchell, T. R., Lee, T. W., & Eberly, M. B. (2008). 5 turnover and retention research: a glance at the past, a closer review of the present, and a venture into the future. The Academy of Management Annals, 2(1), 231-274.
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Meredith, J. R., & Mantel Jr, S. J. (2011). Project management: a managerial approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Pansiri, J., & Temtime, Z. T. (2008). Assessing managerial skills in SMEs for capacity building. Journal of management development, 27(2), 251-260.
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Ramazani, J., & Jergeas, G. (2015). Project managers and the journey from good to great: The benefits of investment in project management training and education. International Journal of Project Management, 33(1), 41-52.
Samuel, M. O., & Chipunza, C. (2009). Employee retention and turnover: Using motivational variables as a panacea. African journal of business management, 3(9), 410-415.
Stevenson, W. J., Hojati, M., & Cao, J. (2007). Operations management (Vol. 8). Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Thomas, J., & Mengel, T. (2008). Preparing project managers to deal with complexity–Advanced project management education. International journal of project management, 26(3), 304-315.
Vessey, J. A., DeMarco, R. F., Gaffney, D. A., & Budin, W. C. (2009). Bullying of staff registered nurses in the workplace: a preliminary study for developing personal and organizational strategies for the transformation of hostile to healthy workplace environments. Journal of Professional Nursing, 25(5), 299-306.
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