BSBMGT517: Manage Operational Plan - Short Answer Question Solution

This document provides a comprehensive solution to the BSBMGT517 Manage Operational Plan assignment, addressing key aspects of operational management. The solution begins by outlining procedures for determining resource requirements, including market research and strategic planning based on available resources. It then details steps a project manager should take when targets are not met, emphasizing communication, training, and contingency planning. The document further explores the development of contingency plans, including risk analysis, prevention strategies, and communication protocols. It also presents three mechanisms for monitoring team performance: quantitative analysis, stakeholder satisfaction index, and inter-employee mentoring. The solution concludes with discussions on resource management using budgetary control and Gantt charts, and the role of external specialized firms in managing operational plans. The answers cover topics such as resource allocation, contingency planning, performance monitoring, and the utilization of various tools and techniques to ensure effective operational management.

Running head: LEADERSHIP AND WHS
Solution to BSBMGT517 Manage operational plan

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LEADERSHIP AND WHS
Answers to assessment task 1:
Answer 1:
The operation manager should follow several procedures to determine requirements of
resource in an operational plan. The first step which the operations manager should take is
considering the target which the operation seeks to achieve. For example, the operation aims to
enhance the safety standards of a hospital, then the succeeding steps would follow the aim. The
second step would conducting a market research concern the political, economic, social and
technological research of the market. The operations manager should then form strategies
according to the resources available to him and in the light of the opportunities and challenges
available in the external market. For example, as far as Australia is concerned, the country is
technologically very strong. Melbourne, one its top cities alone has over 8000 ICT companies
which includes international players like IBM, Microsoft and Intel (invest.vic.gov.au, 2018).
Thus, the operational manager can use software to control and manage the operation of their
projects in the country. The manager can use technology to keep a vigil over the entire office
premises to minimise risks. Operational manager can gain this information about the resources
available in the market of Australia and abroad using several means. They can conduct
secondary researches by consulting magazines, books, journals and official websites of different
organisations like the Department of Industry, Government of New South Wales
(industry.nsw.gov.au, 2018). The operation manager can take help of the marketing department
which remains in direct contact with the customers and suppliers. The marketing department can
provide the operation manager with substantial information about the market conditions like
changing preferences of the customers or clients, the changing strategies of the suppliers and
other significant changes which are capable of impacting the operation of the company. The

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operation manager would take these factors into account to develop strategies regarding
requirement of resources for the upcoming operations and projects (Dabari & Saidin, 2014).
Answer 2:
The project manager should follow several steps if he learns that the team he is heading
will not be able to meet the targets assigned for the quarter or month. The first step which he
should take would be holding a meeting with the team he is heading to gain information on the
actual achieved. The meeting should also bring fourth the factors responsible for not achieving
the target and also the degree to which this not achieving could have been reduced. For example,
the clients which have placed orders may have cancelled or postponed their order delivery dates
which resulted in the team not achieving the targets. Again, if suppliers fail to deliver certain raw
materials, it may result in delay in manufacture of products and subsequent delivery to clients.
The outcome of this delay would eventually the sales team not meeting the sales target. One can
point out in this case that these situations which led to the non-achievement of target were not
under control of the staff of the company and thus, the latter cannot be held responsible for them.
The manager in this case escalate the issues to the senior management and communicate the
customers and suppliers accordingly. They can then ask for the tentative date when they can
either place orders or supply the materials respectively. The mangers can then communicate the
feedback from these stakeholders to the apex management. If the operations manager discovers
that the team will not be able to achieve the target due to deficiencies like lack of trained staff or
joining of many new members who still needs time before they can deliver results, they should
communicate the same to the apex management. The next step which the operations managers
should arrange for training the employees and mentoring them, especially the newly hired
employees. The fourth step would be holding a meeting with the team members to decide on a

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tentative future date when they would be able to deliver the portion of the target not achieved.
The fifth step would be formation of strategies to achieve the target which should realistic as
well. The sixth step would be informing the apex management about the date within which the
target would be achieved.

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Figure 1. Steps of dealing with non-achievement of target
(Source: Author)
Holding meeting with the team tpo understand the
reasons behind not achieving the target
If external stakeholders are responsible,
carry on appropriate communication with
them.
Inform the same to the apex
management
Hold meetings with the team and form
strategies
Set tentative future date within which the target
would be acheived and intimate the apex
management

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Answer 3:
The operations manager should follow the following steps to develop a contingency plan
and negotiate variations:
1. The operation managers should prepare contingency policy statement which would point out
the contingency being dealt with. The statement would also enable the contingency management
team to form the strategies based on the target mentioned.
2. The business impact analysis would analyse the risk factors and the influences they can have
on the company and its business performance. The analysis should aligned to business needs,
visions and mission of the organisational. The operational managers can prepare templates which
the staff of the organisation can utilise to during implementation of the risk management.
3. The third steps requires the operational managers to identify steps which they can take to
prevent the risks, if possible or at least mitigate them. They should take steps to minimise the
disruption of factors which may lead to management of the risk. They should also report the
variations in outcomes of the business like revenue generation which the risks can result in.
4. The operational managers should create contingency plans to deal with the contingent
situation.
5. The fifth steps consist of creating a strong communication within the company to
communicate the employees across departments and branches about the contingency plan. This
would enable the apex management gain cooperation and support of the employees in dealing
with the contingency. This would also enable the departmental heads, the apex management and
the company altogether in dealing with the contingency more effectively.

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6. The operation managers in presence of all the managers should test the effectiveness of the
various contingency plans against the target set in the first step. They should also determine the
degree at which they can accept the variance (actual performance against the target
performance).For example, if the contingency plan aims to revive the brand value of the
company which has suffered downfall, the contingent project manager assigned to the project
should set target of the rate to which the brand value of the company can be revived say 50
percent taking into account the prevailing business environment. The manager can accept a
variance within 10 percent which means an increase of minimum 40 percent in the brand value is
accepted and negotiated. An increase of less than 40 percent is not accepted.
7. The contingency operations manager should train the employees to work under the newly
adopted contingency plans. He should at regular intervals test the actual contingency
performance achieved against the predetermined target and decide whether the variance is
acceptable. If the variance is not acceptable, he should consider alternative methods of dealing
with the contingency.
Answer 4:
The following are the three mechanisms which the operational managers can employ to
monitor the performance of their teams against an operational plan:
Mechanism 1: Quantitative analysis:
The operational manager should segregate the target among his team members and assign
them specific targets. For example, if the total target assigned to the team is $ 1 million, the team
leader should segregate the target among his subordinates. He must divide the target based on
factors like experience and qualifications. He must take reporting of the achievement of targets

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assigned to weekly monthly. The team leader must compare between the target and the actual
achieved performance. He should reward the high performers and mentor the low performers.
Mechanism 2: SSAT (Stakeholder satisfaction index):
The operations manager can mandate each staff dealing with external stakeholders like
suppliers and customers should be asked to obtain ratings from them which would show the
stakeholder satisfaction index or SSAT. A high SSAT would show high stakeholder satisfaction
which would mean that the concerned employee is a superior performer.
Mechanism 3: Inter-employee mentoring:
The operations mangers can apply inter-employee mentoring to monitor team
performance against the predetermined operational plan. The employees with high SSAT
consistently should be asked to mentor employees wiith poor SSAT. The improvement in the
SSAT of the weak employee post-mentoring phase would enable the operations manager
measure the leadership skill of the senior employee. Thus, it can inferred from this discussion
that the third mechanism would not only enable the operations manager to measure the target
achievement of employees quantitatively but also qualitatively.
Answer 5:
Operations managers should measure the measure and monitor physical and human
resources against operational plans using several tools and techniques. They can use budgetary
control to monitor and manage the resources (Attached). The budgets would enable to capture
data regarding the target usage of human and physical resources actual the actual usages. They
would be able to measure the variance between the actual usage and the target usage and take
appropriate measures to correct them. For example, according to the given budget, the risk

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management expenditure of the firm was just 2000 USD though the actual expenditure was 2100
where the variance was 5 percent. The expenditure was not able to meet the risk management
requirements of the organisation and was hence increased 5000 USD. The actual expenditure to
manage risks in the second year was 7000 USD which was 40 percent more than the actual
estimate.
The second tool which the operations managers can use to control their resources, both
physical and human is Gantt chart. The operations managers can show attributes like project start
date, the working hours, activities and work breakdown structure. This would enable them to
gain superior control over the operations of the projects, thus enabling better contingency and
risk management if the situation demands.
The operations managers can use methods like critical methods to manage project risks
and save resources. They can assign more manpower and resources to the crucial jobs in order to
ensure better execution.
Answer 6:
Operations managers can use methods budgeting and financial control can form the basis
of operational plan, management of operations and monitoring of the same. As discussed earlier
budgetary and financial charts can enable the project managers monitor the actual allocation of
resources against the budgeted amounts. If the operations find excess amount of resources, they
can allocate the excess resources into other projects which need them. Again, if they recognise
shortage in one particular resource, they would acquire it to execute the project operations. This
shows that the operations managers can use budgetary and financial control to measure the actual
resource allocation and take appropriate decisions.

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Answer 7:
The operations managers can consult external specialised firms to manage operational
plans based on tools like budgets. For example, in the first year, actual human resource varied by
100 percent against the budgeted human resources which led to a huge expenditure. Such an
immense variance of 100 percent is not accepted and the firm in question might have consulted
an human resource consultant firm and allocated excess employees to other projects, thus
managing its staffs more efficiently. The stakeholders involved in the process are the consulting
firm, the apex management and the employees concerned. They should be consulted in order to
ensure that the risk management of the operations proceed efficiently.
Answer 8:
The operating firms should consider the certain criteria while recruiting and inducting
employees for itself and its contractors. They should ensure high degree of safety of their
employees. The human resources departments should of these companies should ensure that they
implement of laws pertaining to recruitment of these employees and their safety. They should
also ensure that they train these employees and plan their career succession as well. The
companies should abstain from resorting to any unethical and illegal policies while employing its
own as well as the employees of its contractors.
Answer 9:
The three specialists which business organisations consult while developing operational
plans are engineering consultants, risk management consultancies and financial consultants
firms.

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Answer 10:
The operational managers while preparing operational plans must involve their
subordinates right at the ground level of the plan. They should involve their subordinates in
forming the strategies and assess their actual competencies in the light of the strategies. They
should identify the gaps in the employees in the light of the plan. The managers should then train
these employees so that they can understand the new operational plan and perform better.
Answer 11:
The first step which the operational managers should take in order to ensure that workers
do not use the machines in unsafe manner should provide them with train. Every employee
should be provided with work, health and safety training to ensure that they are aware about the
consequences of inappropriate handling of machinery both to their coworkers as well as
themselves. If the employee still does not abide by instructions, the managers should take steps
to ensure safety by controlling them.
Answer 12:
Amanda would undergo an all-round training right from behavioural to product
knowledge aspects.
Answer 13:
The business organisations should treat their wastes and try to re-use them to the extent
possible to reduce wastes. They can in addition to treating the wastes, acquire plants which
release less wastes. However, total elimination of wastes is not feasible in reality.

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Assessment 2:
L’Oreal is the largest cosmetic company in the world and has succeeded in achieving
profits and productivity in spite of the market risk it faced due to ban of the Australian
government on its products containing plastic beads (abc.net.au, 2018). The company in order to
retain its top position in cosmetic industry and comply with the ban imposed by the governments
in the various host countries, introduced skincare products containing clay. This operational plan
had several positive implications as far as achievement of target is concerned.
First, the clay based skincare products enabled L’Oreal to introduce new products in its
product line and earn immense target sales of 26.02 billion EU. The French cosmetic giants
holds 34 brand globally which makes it world’s largest cosmetic brand. This proves that L’Oreal
is able to achieve its target profits by introducing clay based products.
L’Oreal has underperformed in several products besides performing highly and failed to
withdraw products containing chemicals in entirety. This failure has left the company exposed to
further government actions and bans on its products containing chemicals, thus leaving scopes of
further losses.
Answer 2 2nd part:
Key Result Areas
The company has a vision of achieving success in economic terms keeping in mind to achieve
balance in environment as well as the health of their workers. They strive to provide quality
products without ensuring any harm to environment and the health of their valued workers.