Activity 1

Question 1

You work for an organisation that does not actively encourage its employees to participate in decision-making processes, and to assume responsibility and exercise initiative as appropriate. What would you say to convince the organisation’s management that they should actively encourage employees to assume responsibility and initiative? Write a transcript of what you would say.

“I would strongly advise you encourage your employees to participate in decision-making processes because of how positively it would impact them as workers and the business overall. The better decisions they make the greater results will start to come into position. By letting workers make their own decisions, it only boosts their initiative and brings out positive results.

When you let an employee take the lead and run their own project or run a major part in a specific project, you will notice that they bring back results in an incredibly positive manner, showing increased results. They would be extremely excited to run their own project.

This is something I would like to encourage you all to consider. I believe this is a way to gain more results.

Question 2 

Do you consider group decision-making to be a valuable tool that will aid in encouraging employees to participate in decision-making processes, and to assume responsibility and exercise initiative? Explain.

Activity 2

Your organisation has changed the way it accepts payments from customers/ clients to make the process easier for clients/ customers. What would you do to ensure that the organisation’s continuous improvement processes are communicated to all stakeholders?

Activity 3

Question 1

Define sustainability and outline why organisations should develop workplace sustainability policies.

A sustainable company is a company whose determination and movements are grounded in financial, environmental and social concerns. 6 effective ways to build a sustainable business include:

1. Building your business on belief

2. Standing still and embracing change

3. Focus on creating value proposition

4. Growth and comfort don’t co-exist

5. Focus on excelling in a specific area

6. Focus on constant reinvention

Sustainable businesses are able to cut down on energy costs and waste costs which will benefit them in the long run.

Question 2

Research environmental management issues for the workplace and state why these issues should be taken into consideration when planning and managing an organisation’s operations.

Activity 4

Your organisation has asked you to develop effective mentoring and coaching processes to ensure that individuals and teams are able to implement and support the organisation’s continuous improvement processes. What would you do to achieve this? Explain how you think coaching or mentoring can contribute to encouraging employees to participate in continuous improvement processes.

Activity 5

Question 1

What strategies can be used to capture and share information? List at least six. 3 Marks

1. Mentoring

2. Expert directories

3. Knowledge brokers

4. Project review (once finished)

5. Community of practice

6. Best practice transfer

Question 2

Consider an organisation that would benefit from capturing and accessing insights and experiences from business activities. Discuss the current situation and how a knowledge management system can be implemented to meet the organisation’s needs.

Question 3

An organisation uses a knowledge wall. The wall contains a whiteboard, and employees use Post-it notes to post information for other employees use.

1. Is this a knowledge management system?

2. What are the main disadvantages to this system?

3. What are the advantages?

Activity 6

You have been asked to develop strategies to ensure that systems and processes are used to monitor operational progress and to identify ways in which planning and operations could be improved. In particular, your organisation wants you to determine whether processes currently carried out by employees are as efficient as possible. How would you do this?

Activity 7

You have determined that adjustments should be made in your work team. Changes need to be made to the way customer complaints are recorded and dealt with. How would you communicate the need for change to strategies to relevant stakeholders? Give examples.

Activity 8

Your organisation has implemented changes to the way in which goods purchased to customers are delivered and the time within which they are delivered. The feedback you have had from customers suggests that they are more satisfied with their dealings with your organisation and would be more likely to purchase goods from your organisation in the future. Why is it important to establish processes that will inform employees of the outcomes of their continuous improvement efforts in this area? How could you communicate outcomes to employees?

Activity 9

Question 1

Create a check sheet that could be used to record data of work team performance to aid the identification of further opportunities for improvement in the scenario.

You are counting the number of defects on a production line that is turning out gadgets. There are three main types of defect. These are: misshapen gadgets, undersize gadgets and oversize gadgets. You will collect data for three 12-hour shifts, but need to be able to separate the data for each of the shifts.

Question 2

Give at least four examples of aids/ tools that can be used to document the data from a checklist.

Question 3

Why do graphs and charts provide a good representation of data?

Activity 10

You have been asked to consider areas identified for further improvement when undertaking future planning. What are some of the areas that organisations need to take into consideration when planning for future improvements?