Operational Plan Improvement for BBQ Fun

This assignment analyzes the operational plan of BBQ Fun, a company in the food industry. It identifies areas where the plan deviates from requirements and suggests improvements to enhance efficiency and performance. The recommendations focus on reducing resource wastage, improving employee training, expanding online sales channels, and implementing a robust feedback system for customer service.

Running head: OPERATIONAL PLAN
Operational Plan
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Executive Summary
The main purpose of this assignment is to analyze the case study given in the assignment. The
assignment will be preparing a plan for monitoring the performance of the company. For the
purpose monitoring performance, the analysis will be including budgetary and financial
performance, productivity performance, employee performance and similar performance criteria.
The assignment will be identifying employee performance based on criteria and also suggest
remedial actions for the same. The assignment will be analyzing the case study BBQ fin
performance management policy.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Plan for Monitoring Performance....................................................................................................3
Budgetary and Financial Performance.............................................................................................5
Productivity Performance............................................................................................................6
Employee performance in line with performance management policy.......................................6
Dates for Monitoring Activities...................................................................................................7
Resources for Monitoring............................................................................................................7
Progress Reporting.......................................................................................................................8
Performance Management of Online Staff..................................................................................8
Employee Underperformance Plan..................................................................................................8
Coaching an Underperformed Employees.....................................................................................11
Analysis of Operational Plan.........................................................................................................13
Key action update..................................................................................................................16
Risk update............................................................................................................................17
General comments.................................................................................................................18
Approval of the Plan......................................................................................................................19
Reference.......................................................................................................................................20

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Introduction
The main purpose of this assignment is to develop a plan in order to measure the
performance of the BBQ fun in different areas. The company wants to incorporate an e-
commerce functionality to the websites which was developed by the business previously
(Laudon and Traver 2013). The management of the company wants to measure the performance
of the new e-commerce strategy considering its overall impact on different areas.
Plan for Monitoring Performance
The management has formulated a plan which will be measuring the performance of the
company and how much the company can achieve while using the new e-commerce strategy.
The focus of the management will be to measure the performance of the online sales services
which the management is providing and in case of any discrepancies appropriate measures are to
be taken. The action plan given below covers specific areas of business where the management
needs to focus in order to improve the overall efficiency of the company (Goetsch and Davis
2014).
Action Plan Template for Milestones Achievement
Milestone: Action and/or objective
(to achieve strategic aims of physical or
human resourcing)
Date Person
responsib
le
Budget or
resources
(where applicable)
Approval of E-commerce project 25th
January
2018
Project
Manager
Various
Documents, Charts
and plans along
with PowerPoint
Presentations.

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Development of Plan 15th
February
Planner Planning Charts
and basic
requirement details
as were approved.
Incorporation of E-commerce Functionality
in the website of the company
25th April Online sales
and
operations
team planner
and
technical
staff.
Designing Website
tools and systems
developers kit.
Promotion of E-commerce Facilities
available
30th May Marketing
and Sales
team
Marketing
Manager and use of
different kinds of
promotional tools.
Launching of Website with E-commerce
Facilities
24th
August
Technical
and
Information
Technology
Team
Websites IP, login
ID, General
Settings,
Configurations.
Project is Completed and Successfully
Implemented
1st
October
Senior
Managers
and Top
Various
Documents and
Project Reviews.

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level of
Management
The Target of the management is to ensure that the new e-commerce facilities is
implemented and is running from 1st October 2014. The management wants to follow the
milestone achievement plan in order to successfully implement the new project as soon as
possible.
Budgetary and Financial Performance
The financial data about the performance of the company is to be obtained from the Chief
Financial officer of the company. The management measures the performance of financial aspect
as well as Budgetary performance by the % of overruns. The set target for the same is 0.
However as per the analysis of the financial performance of the company during the quarter, it is
revealed that the number of Budget overruns de (Bussy and Suprawan 2012). The current
performance of the business shows that the budget overruns amounts to 10%. The budgeted cost
overruns can be attributed to wastage from order mistakes and over stock piling due to misuse of
system and there is also the case of duly overly long customer interactions. For the purpose of
controlling such a situation the management has to take appropriate steps which are given below:
1. The management should clarify with the customers when they place orders and finalise
the transaction in order to avoid order mistakes and ultimately avoid wastages of
resources.

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2. The management should avoid piling of stocks and adopt strategies which can be
appropriate for the earliest sales of the stocks.
3. The management also needs to inquire into other causes for the budget cost overruns and
identify the possible reasons for budget cost overruns.
Productivity Performance
The productivity performance of the company is measured by the overall performance of
the staff and employee working in the organization (Mallick and Yang 2013). The management
of BBQ Fun needs to ensure that the overall productivity of the business is maintained and for
this purpose the management needs to take certain steps which are given below:
1. The management of BBQ Fun should supervise the different areas of business in order to
ensure that the productivity of the areas is not hampered in any way. This can be done by
analysing the performance charts of the areas, setting different targets based on the
previous performance of the areas.
2. The management of the company needs to ensure that all the requirements are there
which can enhance the productivity of an employee such as working conditions, incentive
scheme.
Employee performance in line with performance management policy
The employees are the lifeforce of any organization and therefore for any organization to
perform well the skilled employees of the organization are to be retained and new skilled
workers are to be recruited. In the case of BBQ Fun, the business is introducing new E-
commerce facilities which require employees who have proper training to handle the website and
technical issues involved with the same. The management of the company measures the quality
of services provided by the online sales employee on the basis of % of mistakes made by the

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person. The target as set by the management is 1%, however currently the rate of mistakes is
around 10%. In order to combat the situation, the management needs to investigate into the cause
for occurrence of mistakes. The management needs proper supervision over the activities of the
employee to ensure that mistakes are not repeated. In addition to this, the average time required
to resolve a customer enquiry as set by the company is less than 10 minutes. As per current
operations, the average which the sales team takes is around 20 minutes. The management needs
to ensure that the employee which are engaged in online sales activities must be properly trained
and if need arises such employees can be retrained but mistakes are to be avoided at any cost.
Moreover, the management needs to recruit such employees who are skilled and have problem
solving ability which will the improve the average time taken to solve a client’s problem and get
the average online enquiry time below the standard set by the company.
Dates for Monitoring Activities
As per the plans of the management, the company will a be following a schedule which
will be ensuring that the objective of the business to incorporate the new e-commerce facility.
The planned schedule which the management will be following is provided in the milestone
achievement plan as given above. As per that, the management has decided to implement the
new e-commerce strategy to increase the overall sales of the company is by 1st October 2014.
Resources for Monitoring
The management has appointed supervisors for each department and the progress of the
week is to be reported to the management so that the management can control the performances
of individual employees and the departments as a whole. Moreover, as the plan of the
management, the employees will be provided with all facilities which can motivate them such as
incentives scheme, insurance coverage, medical claims and other facilities as well so that the

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employees are motivated to give their best in the performance. This will increase the
performance of the company as a whole. In addition to this, the management can use surveillance
cameras, Biometric entry system to have a record of attendance, production report as resources to
measure the performance of individuals.
Progress Reporting
The departmental head of various department like Finance, Cost, Marketing, Sales and
Customer Services Departments need to submit a progress report which states the performance
and target achieved by the departments during the week or month. The reports will be both
qualitative and quantitative in nature which means it will be containing charts, analysis,
standards set and the actual results which were achieved by the company. The monthly or weekly
progress report is an important technique which is used by many companies to measure the
overall performance of the company as a whole.
Performance Management of Online Staff
As per the operational plan of the company, the management did not want to recruit
members for the online sales team but instead wanted to train the present employees so that they
can operate and handle the online operations of the company. The online sales team will be
reporting to the sales manager and the human resource manager. The employees are to submit
the online sales report to the human resource manager who will be supervising the online sales
team of the company.
Employee Underperformance Plan
The employees of an organization play a vital role in the overall development of the
business. Every organization requires skill workers in order to get the best performance and

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results. In the case of BBQ Fun, the company is in need of skill workers who can handle the new
e-commerce facility which the company will incorporate by 1st October 2014. The current
employees of the management will be trained by the company so that the new e-commerce
facility can be operated by them as well. However, in certain areas the employees have not been
able to deliver the best possible results as per the management targets which the management
plans to identify and take remedial actions (Kotola 2016). Firstly, some employees of the sales
team are still facing problems in operating the systems and also the websites which is a major
cause of underperformance by such employees. Secondly, certain employees lack the skills
which are necessary to tackle a situation or solve customer’s grievances and therefore such leads
to underperformance which can be improved. Lastly there are certain general problems which
can be identified such as increased % of mistakes which is in excess of the target which is kept
by the management, poor communication skills, improper customer services and other types of
general problems.
The management can improve the situation which is identified by implementing
appropriate remedial plans for improving the efficiency of the employees:
1. The management needs to ensure that all the employees who are engaged in the sales and
website handling department must know how to operate a system and should also have
knowledge about how a website can be handled. The management has also incorporated a
training schedule where employees who do not know how to operate a system can be
retrained so that general level of efficiency is present.
2. The management needs to recruit new employees who have the necessary skills and
problem-solving ability as required by the work requirement. The management must also
place employees to respective designation as per the strengths of the individual so that

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right person is present on the right job. This way the company will be able to extract the
best out of the employees and the overall performance standard will rise.
3. The general problems which are related to lapse of communication and improper after
sale services can be improved by providing the right amount of motivation to the
employees and develop a network will be focusing on after sale services and customer
redressal as per the plans of management.
The management also needs to measure the performance of each individuals to ensures that
the productivity of employees can be achieved. Individual performance table is given below
which:
Name/position: Sales
Department
Manager: Review
period:
Reference
from
operational
plan
Key result area Indicator of
success/
performance
By
whe
n
Statu
s
repor
t
Online Sales
employee
Quality of online
sales services
Achieving 1% or
lesser amount of
mistakes which the
employee can make.
25th
April
Work
in
Progres
s
System and
Website
developer
Customer servicing,
operating websites
Better handling of
websites reducing the
mistakes and losses
15
Augu
st
Work
in
Progres
s

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Manager’s comments: Signature:
Date:
Staff member’s comments: Signature:
Date:
Figure 2: (Table showing individual performance standard)
Source: (Created by Author)
Coaching an Underperformed Employees
A per the plan of the management, the company will be requiring skilled employees and
also correct certain employees who are underperforming. For the purpose of coaching an
underperforming employee the management will be following GROW model (Grant 2012). The
GROW Model stands for Goal, Reality, Options and Will which are discussed below:
1. Goal: The management need to ensure that the employee is aware of the goals and vision
of the company. In addition to this the employee must understand the performance
standard of the business and then the management should ensure that all the motivational
factors which affect an employee’s performance in a workplace are present such as
proper working conditions, incentive scheme and other facilities as well (Fletcher 2012).

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2. Reality: The management will then provide the actual performance results from the
quarter to the employee so that the performance gap between the actual performance and
the standard set can be established (Yamoah and Maiyo 2013).
3. Options: As soon as the employee recognizes the performance gap between the standard
set and the actual performance which is achieved by the employee, then the management
can move to the option phase. In this phase the management will be providing different
ways in which the situation in hand can be overcome. In this phase the management will
be communicating with the employees and clearing any problems which the employee
might be facing.
4. Will: The last phase deals with the motivational factors which drives the employees to
achieve better performance. The management will be encouraging the employee to drive
towards better performance and thereby improve the overall performance of the
company. If the employees are motivated from within then achieving the performance
standard will not be an issue for the employees.
The coaching plan as developed for underperforming employees of BBQ Fun company is given
below:
Employee: Online Sales Expert
Coach/Manager: Sales Manager
Date of session: 24th April
Questions

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Goal What are the goals of the Organization? What are the problems which the
employee is facing? Is there a remedy available for the problem which is faced by
the employee?
Reality What is the set standard which measures the overall performance of the employees?
What is the actual performance which is achieved by the employee? How much is
the performance gap?
Options How can the employee overcome the performance gap? What are options which are
available to the employee to improve his/her performance?
Will What are the motivational factors that influences the employees? How well can an
employee who is motivated, perform in the business?
Analysis of Operational Plan
BBQfun operation plan status report Date:
Plan
goal
Implement e-commerce strategy Departmen
t
Operations

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Plan
objectiv
e/s
● redevelop website and
acquire physical resources
● recruit and train staff
● achieve profit targets
● adhere to budget
● adhere to timelines.
Person
responsibl
e
Project Officer
Key performance
indicators
Current
status
(Red,
Green,
Amber)
Comments
All members of the Online sales
team have completed training and
have skills required for websites
operations
Green All members are trained to handle online
sales and e-commerce activity, two or
three batch still will be undergoing
training. Therefore, this will be improve
the overall productivity of the business
(Berman 2015).
All new employees need to be
proper skills and qualification
required for the post.
Amber Some members of the sales team do not
have the skills which includes old
employees who have been transferred to
the online sales team.

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Key performance
indicators
Current
status
(Red,
Green,
Amber)
Comments
Meeting standards as per Budget
and financial plan of the business.
Amber The management has started to
implement the budget and ensure that
everything is as per the schedule,
however it is expected that every part of
the budget may not be followed in time
(Mezhov, Rastova and Shmatko 2014).
The management as per the performance
is trying to achieve the financial target of
the company which is $ 30000, however
the company is currently earning around
$ 20000. The management expects that
with the introduction of the new e-
commerce facilities the company will be
able to increase the overall sales of the
company.

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Key performance
indicators
Current
status
(Red,
Green,
Amber)
Comments
Achieving Profit Targets Red The management is not expecting to meet
the profit targets as certain initial
unproductive costs and cost overruns
have already been incurred by the
company.
Milestone Achievement Green The management as per the plan schedule
of the company, is achieving the targets
of as previously set by the management.
Key action update
Key action Accomplishments Comments
Initiate a training program
which educates and trains the
employees to handle situations
in new e-commerce facility
All the members of the online
sales team will be attending the
training program.
The batches which have
undergone training
program have all given
positive feedbacks which
shows that the program is
useful
Develop a proper sales strategy The sales strategies also cover The management is of the

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which looks out on all areas. all areas of consideration the
customer redressal programs
and feedback policy which will
facilitate the sales effectively.
opinion that the new sales
strategy will be aiding to
the e-commerce facility
which is to be introduced
in the business.
Risk update
Risk Contingency Comments
1. Order Mistakes which are
committed by the team
In case of order
mistakes the
management plans
to incorporate a
back plan so that
there is no instances
of wastage.
The management expects the back
plan to hold up in case of such order
mistakes, however the management
does not want such mistakes to occur
in the first place.
2. Employee turnover If the online sales
wants to function
appropriately the
management needs
to ensure that the
employee turnover
ratio is kept at
minimum. For such
purposes the
The management expects that the
plan will be helpful to manages the
employees force of the company.

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management has
introduced
motivation facilities
and also have
resources to
incorporate new
employees if some
of the current
employees leave.
3.
4.
General comments
The plan of the management is progress as per requirement with certain discrepancies present.
The timeline for implementing the project may extend a bit.
The recommendations which are suggested to the company in order to improve the operational
plan of the business are given below:

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1. The management needs to incorporate a backup plan for combating the mistakes which leads
to wastage of resources. If the management can control the wastages of resources then it will
be increase the overall revenue of the company.
2. The management needs to retrain the employees which are not performing up to the mark so
that underperformance of the employees can be reduced and overall performance of the
organisation will be increased.
3. The company needs to expand the online sales time and recruit new drivers and delivery
serviceman to ensure fast services to the customers and also incorporate feedback policy to
improve the services further.
Approval of the Plan
The external consultant will be conducting a meeting with the operational manager of
BBQ Fun and communicate with him the overall changes and incorporation which are required
in the operational policy of the company. As per the recommendations the management needs to
incorporate sales strategies which has a backup plan which can reduce the wastage which arises
due to invalid order. The management needs to appoint supervisors in order to control the overall
performance of every department. The management needs to incorporate a strategy which
obligates every departmental heads to submit weekly progress reports to the organization in
order to monitor performance. This can be communicated to the operational manager by means
of a proposal documents or a presentation as provided by the external consultant.

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Reference
Berman, E., 2015. Performance and productivity in public and nonprofit organizations.
Routledge.
de Bussy, N.M. and Suprawan, L., 2012. Most valuable stakeholders: The impact of employee
orientation on corporate financial performance. Public Relations Review, 38(2), pp.280-287.
Fletcher, S.J., 2012. Coaching: an overview. The SAGE handbook of mentoring and coaching in
education, pp.24-40.
Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: pearson.
Grant, A.M., 2012. An integrated model of goal-focused coaching: An evidence-based
framework for teaching and practice. International Coaching Psychology Review, 7(2), pp.146-
165.
Kotola, H.M., 2016. Managing Underperformance.
Laudon, K.C. and Traver, C.G., 2013. E-commerce. Pearson.

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Mallick, S. and Yang, Y., 2013. Productivity performance of export market entry and exit:
Evidence from Indian firms. Review of International Economics, 21(4), pp.809-824.
Mezhov, S.I., Rastova, Y.I. and Shmatko, A.D., 2014. Theoretical and methodological bases of
forming the operational and innovation program of the company. Advances in Natural and
Applied Sciences, 8(5), pp.451-458.
Yamoah, E.E. and Maiyo, P., 2013. Capacity building and employee performance. Canadian
Social Science, 9(3), p.42.