Lead and Manage Effective Workplace Assignment

Running head: LEAD AND MANAGE EFFECTIVE WORKPLACE RELATIONSHIPS
Lead and manage effective workplace relationships
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note:

LEAD AND MANAGE EFFECTIVE WORKPLACE RELATIONSHIPS
Part A: Communication planning portfolio
 Background to the stimulated organization
JKL is an Australian-based organization. This company sells forklifts, spare parts as
well as small trucks in the market. It possesses the division which leases forklifts as well as
small trucks.
 Current change issues:
It has been observed that JKL industries have to change their organizational
culture in order to conduct its business in Australian market smoothly. The employees are
complained that they are not getting their expected wages from the respective company.
In addition to this, communication issues exist within the workflow of the respective
business firm. It has been observed that absence of an overarching approach to the
information management creates a problem for the management to achieve the
company’s goals as well as objectives. Not only this, lack of this approach to the
information management creates a hindrance for the organizational managers to promote
the core values of the respective company. Manners (2017 ) commented that an absence
of this approach to the information technology has created an obstacle in developing
effective strategic relationship (Manners 2017). From the case scenario, it has been
noticed that the management of the respective company does not respond timely to the
needs of internal as well as external stakeholders.
In other words, slow responses of the managers to the requirements of internal
customers as well as external customers is considered as a serious communication issue
that exists within the working environment of JKL industries. Besides, the employees
working at JKL industries are not satisfied with the working conditions of the respective

LEAD AND MANAGE EFFECTIVE WORKPLACE RELATIONSHIPS
business organization. From the perspective of von Platen (2015), ineffective
communication takes place between managers and employees of this company. In
addition to this, it has been noticed the late implementation of ideas takes place within the
working environment of the respective business organization ( Aalbers and Dolfsma
2015.). In this regard, Blackstone et al. (2015) commented that poor communication
between its managerial section and skilled professionals causes late implication of ideas
or thoughts. As a result, decision-making procedure gets delayed in the due process. It
should be noted that no modern technologies are used for increasing the flow of
information between top-level managers and their subordinates.
No social networking site such as Facebook, Twitter, Hangouts etc are used for
exchanging information between skilled professionals and top-level manager working at
JKL Industries. Insufficient consultation creates a problem for management of JKL
Industries to act in compliance with WHS consultation requirements. From the case
scenario it has been observed that communication gap exists between the managerial
section and employees of this organization (McDonnell et al. 2015). It has been noticed
that grievance procedure is not clear which makes the employees feel disappointed
towards the respective organization (Fernandez, Sheppard-Law and Manning 2017). In
this context, it can be stated that ineffective grievance procedures causes a problem for
the employees when it comes to express their complaints against JKL industries in a
formal way. Moreover, it has been found that the managers are not competent enough to
handle these complaints in an effective manner. As a result, the complaints lodged by the
skilled workforce against the respective business firm remains unresolved in the due
procedure.

LEAD AND MANAGE EFFECTIVE WORKPLACE RELATIONSHIPS
It has been observed that good performance of the skilled professionals is not
recognised and appreciated by the senior management of JKL industries. In other words,
employees are not involved in the decision-making process of JKL industries. It is seen
that the employees working at JKL Industries are not clear about the goals, ethics along
with values of the respective business firm.
 Communication and consultation needs:
It is required for the management of JKL Industries to organize formal meetings for the
employees. This meeting should be organized at least per month in order to resolve the
communication gap between the managers and the employees. In accordance with the opinion of
Heide and Simonsson (2014), training sessions would be organized by the management in order
to educate the organizational employees about the core values, business ethics and goals as well
as objectives of the respective business company. In this context, Heightman et al. (2014)
commented that training sessions would be organized by the managers at least once in a month.
The main purpose is to generate awareness among the employees regarding the organizational
values, business goals as well as business ethics.
 Information about your role as Communications Consultant:
It is the responsibility of the Communication Consultant to inform the Human Resource
Managers for improving the grievance procedure of the respective organization. As opined by
Beach et al. (2017 ), managers working at JKL Industries need to incorporate social media
within its working procedures. It is the role of Communications Consultant to work in
conjunction with managers of JKL Industries for developing community pages in popular social
networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Hangouts. Communication Consultants should
advise HRM to change their management style from autocratic style to participative style. This

LEAD AND MANAGE EFFECTIVE WORKPLACE RELATIONSHIPS
particular management style will involve the workforce in decision-making procedures. A new
grievance procedure will be developed by the Communication Consultant. Communication
Consultants should introduce feedback system in the working procedures in order to check the
fact that whether the employees are satisfied with the new grievance procedure or not. Top-down
communication approach should be incorporated in the organizational workflow by the
Communications Consultant.
 Introduction to JKL Industries simulated business:
JKL Industries is an Australian company that sells forklifts, small trucks as well as
small parts in the market. It offers value to its customers as well as investors through its
highly experienced and trained skilled professionals. Its vision is to become the top-
ranking supplier of the forklifts, small, large and medium trucks in the existing market of
Australia.
 Strategic plans and operational plans, goals and objectives:
Goals:
 Offers value to the investors as well as owners
 Develop the potentiality of its workforce
 Constantly improving the operations as well as improving the efficiency of the
management.
Strategic objectives:
 Enhnance profitability by 10% in next 3 years.
 HR forms partnership with the business in order to meet financial goals.
 It wants to increase market share by 7% by next 12 months to 18 months.
 HR partners with the business to meet customer’s expectations.

LEAD AND MANAGE EFFECTIVE WORKPLACE RELATIONSHIPS
 Offering training for mitigating needs of the workforce.
 To recruit.
 To become the Employer of Choice.
 To manage the performance and compliance to the organizational values.
 Monitoring the performance in every areas of the strategy along with operational
efficiency
Operational objectives:
 Decreases price by negotiating with the suppliers
 Decrease price through the HRM efficiencies.
 Enhances revenue by offering increased value to its consumers
 Exiting from the underperforming markets
 HR finishes scan of the external conditions along with industry forces influencing
competitiveness along with capability development
 Offering quality consumer service
 It will sell medium as well as large trucks by next 18 months. It wants to expand its
current branches by the next 18 months
 HR forms partnership with the frontline managers in order to train the staffs so that
they can understand the needs of the consumers
 To offer training to the up-skill rental workforce.
 To provide ongoing training sessions to its workforce
 To provide leadership training for becoming a good leader in future
 To organize workforce planning via FY 2016-2017
 Complete implication of employee planning for FY 2014-2015

LEAD AND MANAGE EFFECTIVE WORKPLACE RELATIONSHIPS
 Conducting the skills audits
 It must be ensured that every critical role is filled to fulfil the revenue targets
 Offering personal development plan to each and every employee
 Retain the talented managers by offering them rewards, promotion as well as training
 Offering incentives
 Increase workforce as well as industrial relations
 Applying the new grievance along with dispute resolution processes
 Finish enterprise bargaining
 Finish twice-yearly performance reviews
 What the organisation does:
It sells forklifts, small trucks as well as spare parts across Australia.
 Stakeholders and customers:
Service improvement will be the targeted objective of the company for its
customers. Maximizing the overall profitability will be the targeted objective of JKL
Industries for its stakeholders.
3. Draft communication strategy
a) The case of JKL industries was reviewed to find out that the company needs an immediate
communication strategy to overcome employee grievance and work upon their poor
communication structure. This is because lack of effective communication is leading to internal
conflict within the organization and therefore, the business goals are at stake.
The communication objectives are outlined below:

LEAD AND MANAGE EFFECTIVE WORKPLACE RELATIONSHIPS
 Objective 1- to develop an effective policy framework for improving internal
communication of JKL industries
 Objective 2- to generate communicating and building support for the organizational
initiatives and goals
 Objective 3- to facilitate feedback from both ends of employee and management
b) The audience for the communication strategy is given below:
 The senior management
 The employees
The targeted audiences are selected based on the issues faced by the JKL industries. It was
found out that the company has a history of employee grievance due to unsatisfactory pay, weak
communication structure from both ends and internal conflicts between employees and
management. The company was facing productivity issue due to the heated environment within
the organization. Furthermore, there was no proper channel of communication using which the
management or the employees could reach each other.
c) The two methods of communication or media are given below:
 Oral communication
 Written communication
These two methods of communication were found suitable with respect to the selected target
audience. The communication strategy will be appropriate when the management will be open to
oral communication such as conducting, interpersonal communication, meetings and conferences
with the customers. On the other hand, employee grievance can be reduced when they will be

LEAD AND MANAGE EFFECTIVE WORKPLACE RELATIONSHIPS
provided with the scope of writing their complaints to the higher authority. An effective practice
of feedback sharing will lead to smooth flow of communication both top- down and bottom- up.
d) The two provisions two facilitate bottom- up consultation are given below:
 The management can enquire about employee health and well- being
 The management can arrange for a group discussion with the employees to know about
their expectation from the company
These two provisions will let the employees open up to the management and share their
grievances.
4. Grievance procedure
As per the grievance policy of JKL industries, every employee has the right to lodge a
grievance with their manager when they consider any decision, behavior or action to be unfair.
Both the management and the employees of JKL industries should work as per the norms so that
the issues are addressed at the grass-root level. The grievance procedure of JKL industries need
to be based on the following five points:
I. An employee might present verbal grievance to the immediate supervisor, which needs to
be responded within 48 hours. The employee has the right to move to the next step if he
is not satisfied with the response.
II. An employee might lodge written complaint within 3 days by using the Grievance form
of the company. Both the management and employee should meet within 5 days to
resolve the grievance. In case the grievance is not attended within 3 days then the
employee can proceed towards the next step.

LEAD AND MANAGE EFFECTIVE WORKPLACE RELATIONSHIPS
III. The senior administrative officer should respond to the employee grievance within 5 days
of the written complaint. If the employee is still not satisfied with the response then he
has the right to lodge written complaint to the President within 3 days.
IV. The President must respond to employee grievance within 5 days by submitting the form
to his cabinet in lieu of in addition to his review. The cabinet must respond within 5 days
and the resident should respond within 10 days. The decision of the President is
considered final.
V. The employee holds the right to interact with the management for resolving his grievance
and the management has no other option than to respond to the issue.
VI. The employee has the right to supervise each of the steps and raise his voice if any of the
steps are not followed properly.
5. Memo
To: the employees, JKL industries
From: the management, JKL industries
Date: 15. 05. 2018
Subject: New policies and procedures
This is to notify all the team members of JKL industries, Australia that the company has
amended its policies and procedures in terms of communication and grievances. It was found out
that there was a gap in communication between the employees and management. There was no
proper method of communication and therefore, the employees could not voice their opinions. It
was resulting in internal conflicts and the productivity of the company was hampered.

LEAD AND MANAGE EFFECTIVE WORKPLACE RELATIONSHIPS
In order to overcome these issues, we have drafted a communication strategy, which will
be helpful for focusing ion employee well- being. The communication strategy is attached along
with for the employees to be acquainted with it. From now onwards, the employees need to
follow the processes outlined in the strategy or they can come up with their opinions and discuss
the same with the management.
Furthermore, we have amended the grievance policies of the company and a clear outline
is designed for the new procedure. It was found out that the employees were unable to resolve
their grievance, which led to dissatisfaction. Therefore, the new grievance procedure is designed
in such a way that it will consider the issue of the employees and lead t them to potential solution
from the suitable person. The six steps that are attached with the grievance procedure are only
assumptions and they can be adjusted. If the employees have any opinion regarding the content
of the procedure, they can come up with better suggestions.
This memo was intended to make the team members aware of the new policies across
JKL industries. However, if any employee has any feedback, opinion or complaint regarding the
new policies, they are always welcome to communicate to the management. The contact details
are given below.
Phone: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

LEAD AND MANAGE EFFECTIVE WORKPLACE RELATIONSHIPS
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