Analysis of Effective Workplace Relationships: Woolworths Group Report

This report examines the management of effective workplace relationships, using the Woolworths Group as a case study. It begins by outlining the purpose of legislation like the Fair Work Act, Independent Contractor Act, and Privacy Act in fostering a positive work environment. The report then explores networking strategies and the significance of a code of ethics. Task 2 delves into training techniques to overcome language barriers, feedback mechanisms for training sessions, and considerations for developing training programs for non-native English speakers. The report identifies issues in a case study involving a new employee and discusses the impact of seniority in training decisions. Finally, it addresses communication strategies, policy frameworks, and processes for managing information, resolving employee issues, and ensuring organizational culture and diversity, including equal opportunity, harassment, discrimination, and health and safety policies.

LEAD AND MANAGE
EFFECTIVE WORKPLACE
RELATIONSHIP

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1(1) Purpose of legislations in managing effective workplace relationships..............................1
1(2) Answer the following questions..........................................................................................2
1(9) Purpose of code of ethics in the workplace.........................................................................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................2
2(1) Different training techniques used by trainer to overcome language barrier......................2
2(2) Feedback questions to ask about training sessions..............................................................3
2(3) Key considerations while developing a training program for a person who has English as
a second language.......................................................................................................................3
3(1) Identification of five things that went wrong with Larry....................................................3
3(2) when employee is selected to do training, how seniority factor impact decision making. .4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Workplace relationships are defined as unique interpersonal relations within employees
which are working at a same workplace. Relationship among worker directly impacts the ability
of a worker to perform work and achieve success. This assignment is based on Woolworths
group which is a Australia based retail company headquartered in New south Wales, Australia.
Organisation has divisions in supermarkets, liquor, general merchandise, finance, hotel and
gambling etc. This report will cover purpose of different rules and legislations in managing
workplace relation. Along with this, different aspects related with workplace such as hiring,
termination, promotion of employees are discussed.
TASK 1
1(1) Purpose of legislations in managing effective workplace relationships
Fair work Act and Fair work regulations, 2009
This act is passed to reform industrial relations system in Australia and came into
operation in July, 2009. under this act, all employees will be treated equally and will be given
work according to their job role (Noe and et. al., 2017). By this, employee will be able to work
according to their capabilities due to which workplace environment of Woolworth group will
became effective.
Independent contractor Act, 2006
This legislation protects independent contractors form abuses of freedom, action and
coercion of associations. To decide if a contract is unfair, government will consider terms of
contract, bargaining power and unfair tactics used by both parties etc. This will helps in
sustaining the welfare of independent contractors due to which all the work within an
organisation will be performed in a systematic manner.
Privacy Act, 1998
This law regulates the managing of personal information about individuals. Information
of workers that are working in Woolworth group should not be disclosed by management of
company. Securing their private information will allow them to work more comfortably by
which effective wring environment can be sustained.
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1(2) Answer the following questions
a) What is a network
Networking is a procedure which fosters the interchange of ideas and information among
people which posses a common interest. It can be used either for business purpose or social
interest.
b) Importance of Networking
In today's scenario, networking has became a vital factor in managing business operations
and activities. Interconnection among people will benefits them in enhancing their skills and
knowledge both at personal & professional level (Cardno, 2012). Appropriate networking will
benefits employees in Woolworth to acknowledge latest trends so that expectations and choices
of customers can be satisfied properly. Networking will assists the employees in Woolworth to
keep in contact with mentors, clients, partners, suppliers etc. so that sales of company can be
enhanced and high revenues can be achieved. Appropriate networking and connection with
employee’s in other companies or branches will also benefits an individual in career progression
as new experiences will be gained.
1(9) Purpose of code of ethics in the workplace
Code of ethics is a business document which outlines the professional standard of all
employees and representatives within an organisation. In general, it addresses internal conduct
but it mainly emphasizes on the expected behaviour of employees while engaging with
customers. It states that every employee within a firm have some obligations for instance, a
restriction against insider trading or authority limit for job roles etc. for Woolworth, code of
ethics can go beyond legal standard and employees have to abide them otherwise strict actions
can be taken by management of company (Kazemipour, Mohamad Amin and Pourseidi, 2012).
TASK 2
2(1) Different training techniques used by trainer to overcome language barrier
There are some training techniques which can be adopted by the trainer of a company so
that problems due to training barriers can be removed. Some of them are mentioned below:
 If a company have bilingual employees then, hiring interpreters will ensure that all the
necessary information must be passed to employees.
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 Crash courses and special training classes will benefits the employees in understanding
and speaking a common language so that language barriers will not disrupt the working
of an organisation.
 Trainer can use visual methods of communication. With the help of diagrams and
pictures, all the important concepts associated with a project or business operation can be
discussed without facing any issues due to lingual difference (Branch, Ramsay and
Barker, 2013).
2(2) Feedback questions to ask about training sessions
1. Are objectives of the training are clearly defined.
2. What did you like about training session?
3. How friendly was the training staff?
4. Overall, how would you rate the training session?
5. How helpful and organised was the training session?
2(3) Key considerations while developing a training program for a person who has English as a
second language
An effective training program will helps in enhancing the working efficiency of
employees due to which company such as Woolworth can gain high revenues. Training sessions
will also assists employees in using resources optimally. The major consideration when a
training program should be formulated is that all the sessions will be carried out in native
language of the individual so that all work related duties can be understood properly. If company
is going to provide training in English only, in that case language translators and interpreters
must be made available for those employees which are weak in English (Cooper-Thomas and et.
al., 2013).
3(1) Identification of five things that went wrong with Larry
Larry is a high school kid, hired as a cook for summer job. On his first day, he faced
several problems which are mentioned below:
 Supervisor asked Tyler, a senior line cook to train Larry on his first day but it was
busiest night of the week due to which senior line cook was not interested in training him.
 As Tyler was most qualified person in restaurant, he did not want to get distracted by
training a new comer.
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 At night, Tyler was busy in timing out bills, cooking and calling orders at the same time
due to which no training and guidance given to Larry.
 Due to increased work, stress level was high. This situation has afraid Larry in asking his
queries and questions.
 Tyler asked Larry to bring hamburger meat but due to crowd in kitchen, a cook tuned up
and collided with Larry
3(2) when employee is selected to do training, how seniority factor impact decision making
When a new employee joins an organisation, it is essential to provide them appropriate
training so that they can perform all business operations and activities in a desired manner. To
attain desired results, this task must be given to that employee which is sincere and well familiar
with the work. If new joineries will be given training by a senior employee then their skills and
capabilities will improved considerably (Huber, 2013). This is because senior employee of a
company have experience and knowledge in working under normal & challenging situations due
to which new employees will be trained in a proper manner.
TASK 3
Communications strategies and processes to manage ideas and information
Policy framework to manage internal communication and consultation (30-50 words)
The internal communication can be managed by using software through which the employee
can interact with each other without leaving their places. Such software includes Slack, ERP
etc. which facilitate the manger to check the communication happened among the employees.
Two (2) Strategies and processes to provide managers and employees with at-hand
information to perform their work responsibilities, review of their achievements and to
support them to achieve their work responsibilities.
1. The managers and leaders can be provided with the required information
of their work responsibilities by using the Employees information portal in
which their responsibilities, leaves, holidays etc, are mentioned.
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2. Second process is conducting meeting through which the management can
provide the details to them regarding the work they have to done.
Consultation process to consult employees on different work issues and communicate ideas
for improvement (Use top-down and bottom-up)
The employees can use the bottom up approach for reporting their issues and grievances to
the HR department after discussing them with their respective managers. The HR department
then analyses the situations and listens to the both of the conflicted parties in order to
determine the suitable solution. If the conflict is not resolved by the HR manager then the
employees can go to the higher management or CEO for resolving their issues (Barak, 2016).
Two-way feedback process to facilitate employees and management on relevant work
performance and outcomes of consultation
When the issues of employees are resolved then they can give their feedback to the HR
manager or higher level management so that the satisfaction can be enhanced. Whereas
management can also takes the feedback from the employees so that they can provide their
support and guidance to the members if they are still facing issues.
Two processes to resolve issues raised by employee or referring them to relevant personnel
(If not resolved.
1. The top bottom approach states that the employees can resolve their conflicts by reporting
the issues directly to the higher level management if the lower level is not capable to
resolve their issues.
2. Bottom up approach states that the employees needs to report to their manager for issues.
If managers are not able to resolve the issues then they can approch to HR manager and
then to the BOD (Sandberg, 2015).
Policies to ensure organisational culture and
diversity
Equal
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Opportunity Employer have duty to provide equal opportunities to the employees so that
their morale and confidence level will be always maintained and they
provide better supports for achievement of organizational goals.
Harassment
Employers have responsibility to make proper and effective policies so that
harassment can be removed from the workplace and employees will
perform their duties in proper manner (Anitha, 2014).
Discrimination
If Employers will use discrimination and differences among the staff
members then it will leads to dissatisfaction among the employees it can
also reduce the brand image of firm which will not beneficial for the
policies and regulations of firm. Therefore, Employers must form proper
policies and regulations regarding this.
Health and Safety
It is very essential to the managers to implement proper health and safety
measures in the workplace so that employees gets motivated and perform
their duties in well manner so that brand image of firm can't be affected in
negative manner.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Noe, R. A. and et. al., 2017. Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage.
New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Cardno, C., 2012. Managing effective relationships in education. Sage.
Kazemipour, F., Mohamad Amin, S. and Pourseidi, B., 2012. Relationship between workplace
spirituality and organizational citizenship behavior among nurses through mediation of
affective organizational commitment. Journal of Nursing Scholarship. 44(3). pp.302-
310.
Branch, S., Ramsay, S. and Barker, M., 2013. Workplace bullying, mobbing and general
harassment: A review. International Journal of Management Reviews. 15(3). pp.280-
299.
Cooper-Thomas, H. and et. al., 2013. Neutralizing workplace bullying: the buffering effects of
contextual factors. Journal of Managerial Psychology. 28(4). pp.384-407.
Huber, D., 2013. Leadership and nursing care management. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Barak, M. E. M., 2016. Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Sage
Publications.
Sandberg, S., 2015. Lean in-Women, Work and the Will to Lead.
Anitha, J., 2014. Determinants of employee engagement and their impact on employee
performance. International journal of productivity and performance management.
63(3). p.308.
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