What is a plan?
A plan is a proposed or
intended method of getting from one set of circumstances to another.
They are often used to move from the present situation, towards the
achievement of one or more objectives. They provide clear goals and
map the activities needed to reach them efficiently and effectively.
Without a plan managers would not know what to organise, lead or
monitor.
Planning takes time and
resources and all these are an investment that does not always pay
up, as not all plan work well and not all plan achieve the desired
outcome.
Although not all plans are
successful they provide the back bone structure to adhere to during
the four major phases (creation, implementation, monitoring and
evaluation) of the planning process.
Having a structured formal
plan to achieve a goal or objective provide also an opportunity to
measure and evaluate where the plan has failed and highlight reasons
for the failure., so plan are never useless or meaningless.
Remember that “If you
fail to plan, you plan to fail” or “those who plan make
things happen, those who don’t plan things happen to them”.
Categories of plans
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Plans may be long term (3 to 5 years) or short term (1
month to 3 years)
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They may be for a one off situation (Single use plan)
or for multiple use (standing plans).
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They may involve groups of managers or be for personal
use.
By establishing a
hierarchy of interconnecting plans, an organisation can continually
monitor and control its direction and overall effectiveness. These
elements represent success factors for the organisation. An
organisation cannot complete one element without the other. The aim
is not to produce a plan. It is to produce consistent successful
results through a planning process.
Benefits of planning
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Provide direction
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Establish and coordinate effort
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Reduce wasteful activities
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Facilitate control
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Improve performances
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Anticipate change
A strategic plan
determines the future direction of the organisation. A well thought
out strategic plan ensures long term success through competitive
advantage. This advantage is developed through an understanding of
the environment and organisational resources. These plans are the
highest level plans made within an organisation. They are long term
– usually 3-10 years. They identify the core business and goals of
the organisation, it’s strengths and weaknesses, where it can be
vulnerable to threat from competition or takeover and where it can
develop further opportunities based on existing skills, knowledge or
experience (SWOT analysis) (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities
Threats)
You have to decide your Strategic plans first
so then you can work out what your operational plans are. An
operational plan clearly details what has to be done to achieve the
goals and objectives of the strategic plan and we will discuss
operational plans shortly.
In
general usage, a financial plan can be a budget, a plan for spending
and saving future income. This plan allocates future income to
various types of expenses, such as rent or utilities, and also
reserves some income for short-term and long-term savings. A
financial plan can also be an investment plan, which allocates
savings to various assets or projects expected to produce future
income, such as a new business or product line, shares in an
existing business, or real estate.
Financial forecast or financial
plan can also refer to an annual projection of income and expenses
for a company, division or department. A financial plan can also be
an estimation of cash needs and a decision on how to raise the cash,
such as through borrowing or issuing additional shares in a company.
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A
marketing plan is a written document that details the necessary
actions to achieve one or more marketing objectives. It can be for a
product or service, a brand, or a product line. Marketing plans
cover between one and five years.
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A
marketing plan may be part of an overall business plan. The
marketing strategy is the foundation of a well-written marketing
plan. While a marketing plan contains a list of actions, a marketing
plan without a sound strategic foundation is of little use.
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A
marketing plan includes the level of demand for the product or
service and the strengths and weaknesses of competitors
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A
marketing plan generally contains:
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Description of the product or service, including special features
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Marketing budget, including the advertising and promotional plan
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Description of the business location, including advantages and
disadvantages for marketing
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Pricing
strategy
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Market
Segmentation
An operational plan is derived from the
strategic plan, and is a detailed action plan to accomplish the
established objectives of an organisation or entity.
It generally describes:
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Short-term business strategies (what needs to happen in order to for
the organisation or entity to achieve the Strategic plan).
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How a
strategic plan will be put into operation
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The
basis for, and justification of, an annual operating budget
Operational plans can be both of the short or
long term.
Operational plan format
The operational plan is normally completed in
sections by the individual or group who are responsible for the
operational plan delivery.
There are five key areas to successful
planning
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Develop perspective. This is where the person or
entity investigates the current situation and finds that there is a
need for something to change or happen in order to improve the
current situation of the organisation.
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In other words is at this point that gaps and failure
are identified and new prospectives and objectives are developed.
The achievement of this objectives will demonstrate the changes or
improvement of the situation of the organisation
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Prepare for planning. At this stage the person or
entity comes to terms with identifying resources required to ensure
the successful achievement of stated objectives.
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Hence the need to define who, what, how, where and by
whom planned objective must be achieved
Create
the plan.
While initially plans
are created as an abstract thought, at this stage of the planning
cycle they became formal. They are likely to be written down, drawn
up or otherwise stored in a form that is accessible to multiple
people across time and space. This allows more reliable
collaboration in the execution of the plan.
Implement the plan.
In this phase all actions identified in the plan are implemented and
are executed accordingly by the designated people and according to
scheduled timelines. In other words the plan take physicality and
all planned activities take place.
Monitor and
evaluate the plan.
This is the final phase of
the planning key areas. The monitoring process ensures that all
actions included in the plan do take place and measures resources
inputs and outputs in a quantitative and qualitative fashion.
The evaluation stage is
concerned with the efficiency and effectiveness identification of
the processes and systems used to achieve the desired objective or
goal of the plan. it also provides an opportunity for the people
involved to find better, cheaper and faster ways to achieve the goal
(Continuous Improvement Process).
Definition of an “Operational plan”
Operational plan refers to
specific types of plans that show exactly how the organisation or
part of it will achieve the goals set by the organisation. An
operational plan contains the details about how the strategic plan
will be achieved for the area in which you work. Operational plans
should be written, formal and structured in a logical and sequential
way to guide the daily operations of workers and management in the
organisation. These plans also inform senior management of how the
organisation is progressing towards the strategic objectives.
Frontline managers who are
planning for their department usually implement them. They provide
managers with a blueprint so that they can check that the
organizations activities are effectively meeting short term goals.
They work best when the team is involved in the development of the
plan. Operational plans usually detail what needs to be done on a
daily, weekly or monthly basis and cover periods of up to one year.
The content of these plans will vary according to the type of
organisation, however some areas that might be included in an
organisational plan are:
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Marketing
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Communication
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Human resources
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Finance
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Purchasing
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Production
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Research and development
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Service and/or delivery
The term operational plan
can be interpreted as any plan that may be required to support
day-to-day workplace operations like:
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Introduction of a new product or service
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Staff re-organisation, e.g. rosters or meetings
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Impacts of marketing initiatives or
campaigns/advertising
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An office relocation or refurbishment
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Upgrading of facilities
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Changes in work practices or procedures
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Business expansion or contraction
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Introduction of new system
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Staff training
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You and three friends are planning
a holiday to a destination of your choice.
a.
Write here the goal of your holiday.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
b.
Make a plan for your Holiday.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
c.
Write a clear ‘Mission statement’
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
d.
Provide details that will support your planning process.
Include who will be going on the holiday, how long for, where about
and why.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e.
What: What are the likely expenses you will encounter?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
f.
What are the likely legal issues you may encounter?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
g.
When: When are you planning the trip?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
h.
Where: Where will the group be going on holidays?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
i.
How: How much will it cost and how you came to a decision as
a group?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Single-use plans are
implemented for “one-off projects” or programs and are usually sales
or market driven. Single-use plans are often re-assessed throughout
their development and implementation.
Examples of Single-use plans
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The Sydney Olympic games
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A food and wine festival stall
They cannot be replicated
exactly for use at another function because the demographics and
geographical location will differ.
Multiple use plans are
those plans that can be used more than one time. These plans are
designed to be repeated whenever there is a need.
Example of Multiple use or standing plans.
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Evacuation plan
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Recruitment plan
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These plans are standard in an organisation and they
repeat in the same way every time they are put in action. None of
the plan criteria and action change ever even if the circumstances
or reason for their need change.
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What are some other examples of
single use plans?
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What are some other examples of
multiple use or standing plans?
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Operational plans are
impacted directly and continually by external and internal factors
or environments. It is therefore fundamental that people involved in
the making of plans have a good understanding of the environment and
how do those environment impact on the plan and what are the
consequences of these factors.
We will look at these as
below.
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The internal environmental factors
within the organisation that mainly affect planning can include:
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Leadership styles – The managerial
style (authoritarian, democratic or lassaiz-faire) of the
management team.
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Company structure -
The hierarchy of
control of the organisation and what people and policies are
affected by the plan. Who should be informed about the plan, what
procedure the organisation has in place to make decision.
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Company policies and procedures –
The rules and regulation that govern the organisation to which
everyone has to abide and adhere to.
Communication
systems –
The formal and informal way with which information is exchanged
among people within the organisation.
Capabilities and
resources –
The systems and processes in place to change inputs (ingredients,
ideas, material and equipment) into output (the finish product or
service).
Human resources
–
The people that work in the organisation, their skills, knowledge,
attitudes and experiences.
Financial
resources –
The capital (money, assets, investments) that the organisation has
to manage its operations.
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The external
environment impacting on plans can include:
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Marketplace factors - E.g. a
growing or a shrinking market
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Competitors in the same marketplace -
Lots of competitors or a few
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Industry trends -
Any changes within the industry
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Economic factors - Is the economy
in a boom or recession
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Politics - Tax, wages and
regulations, laws made
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Technological factors - What
changes will affect your company
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World situations - The forces that
are beyond the control of individual organizations
Social and
cultural changes –
Peer groups pressure and cultural influences
Trends and
developments in the marketplace –
Customer demand and product and services sales trends
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Discuss in small teams the impact
of both Internal and External forces that may affect your plans.
List in relative importance all of the above internal and external
factors.
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You
always have to consider all legal issues surrounding any activity or
planning that you are undertaking in a hospitality business. The
main areas of concern to consider from a legal perspective could be
any combination of the following:
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Changes to licensing laws in your state
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Legal Operational opening and closing times
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Service of alcohol to minors and intoxicated persons
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Correct Legal food handling issues
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Legal use of chemicals
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Legalities surrounding waste disposal
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Employment terms and correct payment of wages and
superannuation
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Correct payment of taxes to the A.T.O. e.g.: GST and
Income and Payroll tax
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Discrimination and Harassment laws
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In small teams or individually pick
any three of the legal issues from above and discuss what would
happen to your company if you broke the law in these three areas?
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To be effective
“Operational Plans”, like all plan need to include the elements that
makes them work. Operational plans managers must evaluate the
situation the organisation is in at the moment prior the planning
process takes place and measure the areas that require improvements.
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It is important that
before a plan is devised and formalised the person or entity
involved in the planning process consider and address the points
listed below.
Planning elements include:
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Operational analysis – This element
refers to the examination of a particular area of work with which
the organisation is unsatisfied with and for which an operational
plan is required to resolve the issue or situation the organisation
find itself in.
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Key results areas – Refers to the
areas identified in the operational analysis which the plan must
consider to attain the desired results.
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Short term objectives – This
element refers to the identification and creation of specific
desired targets that must be met by the operational plan and they
are an indicator that the plan is being rolled out correctly.
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Action plans -
A series of actions, tasks or steps designed to achieve an
objective or goal.
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Indicators of performance (KPI’s) –
Key Performance Indicators are financial and non- financial measures
used to quantify objectives to reflect performance of an
organisation. Before formalising the plan an organisation will need
to know what objectives needs to be achieved and how will me
measured and quantified.
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Budgets –
Is a reasonable
expectation of future income and expenses of the operational plan.
This element cost the resources required to create and implement the
plan and it also forecast the monetary return of the plan.
We need to understand what
is occurring in our workplace to manage and plan effectively. A
situation analysis can help us to achieve this. A Situation
analysis is a marketing term, and involves evaluating the situation
and trends in a particular company’s market. It is normally the
first part of a Marketing Plan so it will only be covered here as
brief, additional information.
A Situation Analysis
normally consists of the following components:
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Background of the company – where the company is and
where it wants to go
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Research on the marketplace – eg: business, customer,
government markets.
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Customer analysis and market segmentation- work out
exactly who your customer is
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S.W.O.T. analysis of the business and environment - (
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)
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Competitor analysis – find out your direct and
indirect competitors
This type of situational
analysis can help the organisation define what operational tasks
need completing in the workplace.
Planning is an ongoing
process, with the achievement of one plan often leading to starting
on another one.
1.
Establish a realistic goal: Make this measurable
and time oriented. Set a target, as this will make achieving your
goal easier.
2.
List all the things that will need to happen:
Brainstorm all the tasks, using the four “W’s and one “H” trigger
(What? Who? Where? When? How?)
3.
Sequence the activities: Some things will need to
be done before we can begin to do others. We can do some things
simultaneously.
4.
Communicate your plan: Make sure everyone who will
be involved in it or is affected by it is informed. Involving others
increases your chances of success.
5.
Implement the plan: This is where the plan is put
into action.
6.
Monitor progress: Make sure your original target
and time frames are being achieved and make adjustments as required.
Monitoring is a form of checking the progress.
7.
Evaluate and Analysis: Make sure that original
targets and time frames are being achieved. Plans need to be
analysed and evaluated to improve future planning.
Thinking things through
and planning them out helps you take charge of events and
circumstances. Plans are projected courses of action aimed at
achieving future objectives. They provide clear goals and map the
activities needed to reach your goals efficiently and effectively.
Without planning managers would not know what to organise, lead or
monitor.
Planning involves two important elements:
1.
Clear goals
2.
Planning abilities (A mix of critical, conceptual
thinking skills and organisational, technical skills).
A goal
is something the organisation or department want to achieve. It
offers to benefit the department and/or the organisation in some
way and will be the motivation for your action.
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Goals are desired outcomes for individuals, groups and
entire organisations.
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Goals need to be clear and concise explaining the
reasons why effectively.
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Goals provide the direction for all management
decisions and form the basis for which actual work accomplishments
can be measured.
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Goals will be set once the organisation has defined
its vision, mission and objectives.
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When you write your goal clearly express what do you
want to achieve.
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Make your goal a general statement describing your
broad purpose or intent, expressed in positive language.
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What do you want!
Objectives are a
clear, specific measuring post indicating progress towards achieving
a goal. It is like a shorter term goal. Once the goals have been
established, written down and communicated, a Manager is ready to
develop plans for pursuing the goals
The goal setting process consists of five steps
1.
Review the mission statement
2.
Analyse situation and resources
3.
Determine the goals
4.
Write down the goals and communicate them
5.
Review results and see if the goals are being met.
If not change them
How do objectives fit
into a plan
Plans should specify who
is responsible for achieving each result, including goals and
objectives. Dates should be set for completion of each result, as
well. Responsible parties should regularly review status of the
plan. Be sure to have someone of authority "sign off" on the plan,
including putting their signature on the plan to indicate they agree
with and support its contents. Include responsibilities in policies,
procedures, job descriptions, performance review processes, etc.
Manager in charge of
creating and implementing operational plans use the SMART
acronym to remember the criteria that need to be included when
determining an objective that the plan must achieve. SMART means:
S pecific
list percentages, times, dates levels
M easurable
must know how you have achieved the result
(quantifiable)
A chievable
must be within the authority and resources
R ealistic
must be a challenge but within capacity
T rackable/Timeframed
should be at the right time and in the right time frame for
best results
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How would you write goals for your
team and ensure they are achieved?
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Write your own S.M.A.R.T. goal for
a workplace?
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How would you solve the following
work goals? Ask your team for help.
To achieve a 70%
capacity in a restaurant?
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To ensure a high
level of customer satisfaction with a dining experience?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
To ensure that
meals arrive at the table within ten minutes of ordering?
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CSF’s are the key areas of
activity in which favourable results are necessary for a company to
reach its goal. CSF’s are those things that must go right for the
organisation to achieve its mission. They focus the attention on
major concerns and are easy to communicate and monitor. CSF’s can
also be called Key Result Areas (KRA’s).
KPI’s are financial and
non-financial measures used to quantify objectives of staff to
reflect the level of performance of an organisation.. KPI’s are used
in Business Intelligence to assess the present state of the business
and to prescribe a course of action. They help an organisation to
measure progress towards their organisational goals.
A KPI is a key
part of a measurable objective, which is made up of:
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A direction
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A benchmark
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A target
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A time frame
KPI’s should not be confused with CSF’s
Example
Objective: “Increase
Average Revenue per Customer from $10.00 to $15.00 be EOY 2009”.
In this case, ‘Average
Revenue per Customer’ is the KPI.
For the example above, a
critical success factors would be something that needs to be in
place to achieve that objective; for example a product launch
�
Write your own K.P.I. and C.S.F. for a
staff member who works in a Bar
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If your business is doing
well in terms of profits, then chances are the operational plan is
working well. One way of keeping track of the finances is via a
budget. Budgets are a forecast in monetary or quantitative terms;
it’s the level of operational activity at which a business will
operate during a given period. Once strategic and operational plans
have been established the managers must identify what resources are
required which will ensure that the goals are achieved. Budgets are
a financial plan with measurable outcomes. Budgets translate
management policies and goals into measurable outcomes.
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Budgets provide organised estimates
of:
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Revenue
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Expenditure
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Staffing levels needed
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Equipment needs
Budgets:
1.
Allow for the evaluation of business decisions
2.
Sets targets in quantifiable terms
3.
Provides benchmarks
4.
Is a good means of communication
5.
Summarizes large amounts of information
6.
Allows for controls and checks
7.
Ensures accountability by managers
Money (or funding) is a
basic necessity of any organisation, since it is used to pay for the
human and physical resources of a company. This resource is provided
mostly by lending institutions, such as commercial banks, although
there are private providers as well. Such borrowing may be long term
or short term.
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The costs of a plan can be shown in
a basic budget.
What are the approximate
costs for the activity?
Will the changes affect
the turnover of the business? If yes, then by how much?
How will the plan be paid
for? Where is the money coming from?
There are many ways of paying for
your plan.
Don’t just look at cash.
Changes in the way you do things may result in major savings in
labour costs. By purchasing and installing new or updated equipment,
the savings may be in higher productivity. Increasing customer
comfort may lead to increase spending. By making something more
visually appealing, it may lead to increased sales.
�
You will need access to the
internet for this activity.
�
In small teams or individually
research “Coca Cola Amatil Australia” and ascertain what their
company did to their main production plant to save money on labour
cost, and then report your findings to the rest of the class.
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Look at the following
example for the purchase of a new ice machine
Purchase of ice
machine
Purchase price:
$2000.00
Installation:
$ 300.00
Running costs:
$ 200.00
TOTAL:
$
2500.00
Normally the business
purchases ice @$3.00 per bag and uses an average of 20 bags per
week, so $3.00 x 20bags X 52 weeks = $3120.00
Other variables and
costs may also be included:
Staff member drives to
collect the ice: The return trip takes 20 min, so 3 trips per week
is one hour of staff time at $12.00 per hour = $ 624.00 p/annum
A freezer will be needed
to keep the ice which is an additional cost this requires floor
space and will also incur running costs
Wastage may also be an
issue
So total current costs are
$3120.00 + $624.00 = $ 3744.00
A saving
of $1244.00
An effective manager must
be able to interpret the strategic plan and convert that plan into
tangible, workable operational objectives and strategies. As a
manager you are required to ensure that staff is able to meet the
targets and goals established. This involves an understanding of and
an ability to organise and manage work operations.
Scheduling work it means
to organise work in a manner that enhances efficiency and customer
service quality. It can be seen to involve prioritising work, and
then organising an appropriate workflow to achieve the set targets.
Scheduling work means
planning and
allocating what tasks have to be done in a specific period of
time and by whom.
To plan and allocate tasks effectively for
staff, you need to know who your staff is and what they are capable
of achieving within a specific time frame. An effective manager also
need to know how to delegate effectively task to others.
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Operational managers must be able to schedule all
tasks that are part of the plan and not only the tasks that are
deployed during the implementation process. The initial work of an
operational manager is to envisage what has to happen in order to
maximise the efficiency of the plan, ensuring that everyone involved
in the planning process is aware of what need to happen and have a
clear understanding of the task.
The four
Management Functions
Planning:
Setting goals and targets to achieve organisational goals.
Overseeing the development of plans, systems and processes for
achieving goals within a set budget.
Organising:
Co-ordinating resources, staff, plant and facilities to achieve
goals.
Leading/Staffing:
Providing the direction, support, encouragement, guidance and
feedback staff need to do their job well.
Monitoring:
Supervising staff and monitoring and adjusting systems and
procedures to make sure goals are achieved as planned.
The essential elements of scheduling work are:
�
Prioritising work
�
Determining staff workloads
�
Contingency planning
�
Organising workflow
�
Delegating work effectively
�
Motivating staff
Prioritising means
deciding on and placing tasks in their relative order of importance.
This order must match with the identified goals and targets of the
organisation and the objectives of individual work units/teams or
departments. Managers look to organisational goals for a lead as to
which task should take the highest priority. Prioritising doesn’t
necessarily mean that you do the most important things first, but it
does mean that you fit them in ahead of less important jobs. As the
old saying goes “First things, first”.
Always involve staff in the process wherever possible.
There are different types of tasks:
1.
The essential tasks that absolutely, positively
must be done no matter what with no excuses.
2.
Those tasks that are non-essential but that add
quality to the performance of the department/unit.
3.
Those tasks that it would be nice to do if there
is sufficient time – but which are in no way important or essential.
�
Understanding the job role and workload of the staff
chosen to be playing a part in the plan is fundamental to the
workability of the plan. Managers must be abreast with what task
staff has to complete during the workday and decide if there is
sufficient and reasonable time for the action that is required to
occur in the plan.
�
Have an honest and realistic view of what it takes to
undertake and complete the required tasks you want to assign to the
staff members will ensure the support of the staff member.
It is possible to determine staff workloads by:
�
determining the skill level of the employee
�
the level of responsibility within the company
�
identifying under-utilised or over utilised staff
members?
�
asking the staff members for their input and feedback
about extra work
�
considering time management factors
�
consider and evaluate work priorities and timing
issues
�
avoiding overload staff with unnecessary tasks
When developing plans, management will need to
identify
�
What they want staff to do
�
Timelines about when things are going to happen and by
when
�
Specific details of how things are going to be done
�
Actions will need to be prioritised and listed in
order
�
You will need to develop a system of how you will
measure results
Written plans are also
easier to communicate to others and are there for future reference.
You can take remedial action quickly because your plan shows what
should have been done, who should have done it, how it should have
been done and when and where it should have been done. This makes it
easy to spot where things are going wrong and fix them.
Contingency Plans
Contingency planning is
the ability to have a “what if” plan in place. It is an alternative
plan of action that avoids the business being disrupted in the event
that economic and market conditions change. Contingency plans are
built into a business plan and need to be included in the strategic
planning process. It is also imperative that operational plans are
ready to change. Contingency refers to specific alternate action
“for every action there is a reaction” A contingency plan is
sometimes referred to as a backup plan
Disadvantages of a Contingency Plan
�
Competitive disadvantage due to an inability to
continue business functions
�
Loss of revenue and cash flow
�
Increased cost of production
�
Increased cost in insurance
Keep them flexible:
Plans sometimes don’t go
as planned:
a.
A supplier cannot deliver on time and you don’t
receive the material you need.
b.
Employees are absent from their shifts or resign
from their job leaving a business short staffed.
c.
A flexible plan lets you adjust quickly to
changing conditions but still move towards achieving the desired
objective and result.
�
What would you do if your plan goes astray?
�
What is a contingency plan?
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The Planning
Cycle
Plan:
This is where goals,
objectives and targets are set
Do:
This is the process of
doing the job to achieve the goals
Check:
This is where the
actual performance is compared against a standard
Act:
This is where
appropriate action is taken in regard to the performance
This cycle is
continuous i.e. cyclical
Plan:
You plan to make improvement to a
process or way of doing things by finding out what its current
results are. Then you set a target to improve them.
Do:
Next, you develop a plan to achieve your
improvement target and trial them.
Check:
Then check your results.
Has the plan worked? Does it need to be refined?
Act:
Now, take action. Implement your plan. Standardise
the changes to the way things were done before. Communicate them.
Document them.
Plan:
Plan for change that
brings about the improvement that the organisation require to change
its current situation.
Here below are some
techniques that can be used in the planning stage.
�
Flowcharting and mind mapping
�
Brainstorming in meeting
�
Consult specialist and professional
Here below are some tools
that can be used in the planning stage.
�
Customers/ Suppliers mapping
�
Evaluation matrices
�
Cause and effect diagrams
Do:
Do changes on a small
scale first to trial them.
Some tools and
techniques that can be used in the planning stage are:
�
Small group leadership skills
�
Experiment design
�
Conflict resolution
�
On-the-job training
Check:
Check to see if changes are working and to
investigate selected process.
Some tools and
techniques that can be used in the planning stage are:
�
Data checksheets
�
Graphical analysis
�
Control Charts
�
Key performance indicators
Act:
Act to get the greatest
benefit from changes.
Some tools and
techniques that can be used in the planning stage are:
�
Process mapping
�
Process standardisation
�
Formal training for standard processes
�
Continuous Cycle
�
PDCA is an essential part of every supervisor’s job.
Remember! You
need to have trained and efficient and motivated staff and
supervisors working with you to be effective at the operational
level. The planning of the workflow is very important as it enables
the team to achieve a high level of productivity by increasing the
efficiency and reduction in delays.
Remember you have to
be organised before you can organise others!
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