Operational Plan: Introducing Recycled Clothing Product to Market

This report outlines a detailed operational plan for introducing a new recycled clothing product to the market. The plan encompasses several key areas, starting with the establishment of clear objectives and goals, such as targeting specific age groups, achieving profit targets, and increasing market presence. It details the product, which is crafted from recycled fabrics, and identifies key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure business success, including profit margins, customer satisfaction, and employee turnover. The report emphasizes the importance of stakeholder consultation and outlines a contingency plan to address potential risks like material shortages, sales shortfalls, and labor issues. It also covers recruitment and selection processes, human and physical resource requirements, and a sample budget with revenue forecasts and associated costs. The report further addresses monitoring and reviewing the effectiveness of recruitment, the need for frequent budget reviews, and the roles and responsibilities for ensuring financial accuracy. It specifies risk factors and the management of variations in the operational plan, including stakeholder approval and staff training procedures. The document also details the procedures and records associated with documenting staff performance.

Manage Operational Plan-
case scenario

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................3
Part A.....................................................................................................................................................3
Develop Objectives & goals of operation plan...................................................................................3
List product or services offered.........................................................................................................3
Develop Key performance indicators.................................................................................................3
Develop how would you consult with other members of the organization.......................................3
When, in planning cycle, should this consultation should be carried out? What outcomes would
you be looking at achieve from this process?....................................................................................4
Develop a contingency plan...............................................................................................................4
Outline your recruitment and selection of staff?...............................................................................5
Identify and list human and physical resources required..................................................................5
Prepare a sample budget- Anticipate financial resources, associated costs, sales or revenue
forecasts............................................................................................................................................6
PART B...................................................................................................................................................6
How do you monitor and review effectiveness of recruitment process for your event/tasks?.........6
Why do budgets need frequent reviews and adjustments?..............................................................7
Who is responsible for ensuring that budgets and other financial documents in relation to
operational plan are accurate?..........................................................................................................7
When creating financial reports/budget, what sources of information need to be analysed for the
process?.............................................................................................................................................7
Specify risk factors associated with the operation plan? In relation to risk factors how do you
manage variations in operational plan?............................................................................................8
In case of variations in operational plan explain how will you gain approval from key stakeholders?
...........................................................................................................................................................9
Explain how will you train new staff/team members for implementing the operational plan?........9
Explain procedure and records associated with documenting staff performance?...........................9
CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
And operational plan is a detailed statement that provides a clear view of how the
different teams and departments contribute for achieving the organizational goals. It is
prepared for a short period of time from one week to a year. Operational plan helps in
identifying key focus areas and effective allocation of resources meeting the business
requirements. In this report operational plan is formulated for introducing new recycled
clothing product in the market along with the key steps that are required to be taken for
successful implementation which involves risk assessment, budgeting, review and
monitoring.
Part A
Develop Objectives & goals of operation plan
The goals and objective for introducing new recyclable clothing products for
everyone. The key objective are as follows.
 To sell a clothing for all age groups.
 To make a fair amount of profit in the initial year.
 To achieve the target set for each week.
 To keep the cost of operation in control.
 To increase the market presence.
List product or services offered
This product is made up of old cloths that are not used anymore. These products are
crafted from recycled fabrics. It will be made available at speciality shops. The clothing used
are completely worn out and are unusable.
Develop Key performance indicators
The key performance indicator that can be used to measure the performance of the
business are stated below (Develop operational plan. 2020).
 Increasing the net profit margins
 Customers satisfaction level by evaluating the feedback
 Target sales achieved
 Employee turnover by maintaining the proper record of each employee.
Reference:
Develop operational plan. 2020. [Online]. Available Through:< https://aspire-solidus-
production.s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/assets/BXMGT517/samples/
BXMGT517.pdf>.
Develop how would you consult with other members of the organization
To make the plan more effective, the consultation with relevant stakeholders is very
important as they are the ones who will put the plan into action. The relevant stakeholders
include senior level managers, supervisors, employee representatives, different functional

business units (Towbin and et.al, 2018). The consultation process will help in attracting more
contribution from the people in the development and implementation process. Initially,
meeting will be conducted for clearly explaining the plan and after that emails, newsletter and
other sessions will be conducted to analyse the progress.
Reference:
Towbin, A. J. and et.al, 2018. Building and Implementing an Operational
Plan. RadioGraphics. 38(6). pp.1694-1704.
When, in planning cycle, should this consultation should be carried out? What outcomes
would you be looking at achieve from this process?
Timely and in between consultation will help in taking relevant actions as and when
required in order to overcome any tough situation. It will result into positive outcome in
terms of approval.
Develop a contingency plan
It requires a huge research for preparing a contingency plan. For preparing the
contingency plan it is important to carry out two steps which are discussed below.
Identifying and prioritizing the resources
It includes the most crucial resources that are required for running the business
(Huang and et.al, 2019). For introducing new product, the key resources will be clothes,
labours, tools and facilities.
Identifying the risk
The major risk that will be faced by the business is insufficient supply of old clothes,
achieving the sales target on time and lack of availability of skilled labours and increasing
cost (Bokhari, 2016).
Contingency plan for meeting the material and clothes
 Changing the suppliers
 Outsourcing the production to other producers at a lower cost.
Contingency plan for achieving sales and production target
 Using new machinery or changing the layout of production system
 Providing proper training to the staff.
 Using different methods of marketing for promotion.
Contingency plan for getting required labours and reducing cost
 Providing training to the labours.
 Adjusting the wages of the staff.
 Reducing the travel and other accommodation costs.
 Changing the maintenance schedule while keeping in the standards.
Reference:

Bokhari, S. A., 2016. Contingency Planning. The Innovation Tools Handbook, Volume 1:
Organizational and Operational Tools, Methods, and Techniques that Every
Innovator Must Know. p.107.
Huang, A. and et.al, 2019. Contingency plan system and method. U.S. Patent Application
16/419,667.
Outline your recruitment and selection of staff?
The company will be using both internal and external sources of recruitment. In
internal sources, the existing staff from other department will be given opportunity to apply
for the vacant position. Also, an advertisement will be done by putting it on the notice boards
where existing staff can refer their friends and relatives for the position (Furnham, 2017). In
case of external sources, advertisement is made in newspaper, business magazines, university
recruitment and on the official website of the company. Also, on other employment agencies
for getting large number of applications. After the selection of employees, a formal induction
program will be organized to make new employees familiar with the workplace and their
jobs.
Reference:
Furnham, A., 2017. Methods in Recruitment and Selection. The Wiley Blackwell Handbook
of the Psychology of Recruitment, Selection and Employee Retention. p.202.
Identify and list human and physical resources required
Human resources
In this step, the human resources required are identified based on capabilities and
skills for the successful implementation of plan. A report is prepared which assists in
identifying the best people to perform the task. A detailed description is given below.
Team member Decision
making skills
Effective
communication
skills
Management
skills
Industry
knowledge
Business
development
manager
  
Data analyst  
Project
manager
   
Physical resources
It will include all those resources which are the centre point of the plan. Also, licensing
agreement is required to be acquired for the product and services (KRA: Operational
Planning. 2020). These are as follows.
 Raw material to be purchased or ordered
 Stock requirements
 Facilities

 Machine and equipment
 Technology
Prepare a sample budget- Anticipate financial resources, associated costs, sales or revenue
forecasts
PARTICULARS AMOUNT (£)
Estimated revenue (10000 units @ £30) 300,000
Less: Expenditure
Labour 32,083
In-house training provided 47,655
Consultants fee 31,770
Rental equipment 3,916
Travel & Accommodation 800
Marketing & advertisement
expenses
5,000
Public relation expenses 8,000
Software & Licenses 4,500
Material cost 5,000
Total cost 138,724
Estimated profit 161,276
Reference:
KRA: Operational Planning. 2020. [Online]. Available Through:<
https://sielearning.tafensw.edu.au/toolboxes/toolbox316/op/op_t01_c02_frame.html
>.
PART B
How do you monitor and review effectiveness of recruitment process for your event/tasks?
It is very important to have an effective recruitment process system which is targeted
towards hiring qualified and deserving candidates. It is very essential to monitor the
effectiveness of the recruitment process (Akpan, 2016). It can be a difficult process if not
properly recorded. Creating and setting the benchmark will help in evaluating the hiring
practices which can help in taking relevant steps for improving the recruitment process and
strategies. The steps that can eb taken to monitor and review the performance are stated
below.
Creating the organization chart
In this, job description is written for each position for which recruitment is done. It
includes both current positions and also those which will be required in future. Also, which
current position can be combined with or split. For instance, bookkeeping and hiring both are
done by the same person then in this case, business might split it into two positions like
human resource manager and accounting manager.
Setting goals for the workforce management

In this, the goals are established which includes improved employee retention,
improvement in customer satisfaction, increase in productivity, reduction in waste, reduction
in absenteeism etc. All these goals will help in analysing the effectiveness of recruitment
process. It will also help in comparing the current recruitment level with the future.
Employees got the information about the job
It is an important part where the company should inquire abut how the applicant got
the information about the job opening (How to Measure the Effectiveness of Recruiting
Strategies. 2020). Then, the responses can be ranked from total application received from the
different sources and then review the total number and quality of applicants from each source
which will help in future recruitment process.
Reference:
Akpan, E. I., 2016. Monitoring Recruitment and Selection Practice: A Therapeutic Strategy
for Quality Service Delivery in Nigerian Public Universities. Journal of Economics,
Management and Trade. pp.1-7.
How to Measure the Effectiveness of Recruiting Strategies. 2020. [Online]. Available
Through:< https://smallbusiness.chron.com/measure-effectiveness-recruiting-
strategies-66921.html>.
Why do budgets need frequent reviews and adjustments?
Budgets are required to be evaluated and reviewed from time to time in order to make
sure that it is prepared as per the requirement and the future needs. Also, relevant changes
can be done if there is any change in the business conditions or change in prices which can
affect the performance of the business (Budget Periods And Adjustments. 2020). It also acts
as a monitoring and controlling method so that business finances can be managed. It helps in
keeping track of how much has been earned so far and how much spent till date. Timely
review will ensure that there is no unnecessary expenditure incurred and everyone is
following the right direction. Thus, it is very essential to monitor and review the budget in
order to achieve desired goals.
Reference:
Budget Periods And Adjustments. 2020. [Online]. Available Through:<
https://www.principlesofaccounting.com/chapter-21/budget-adjustments/>.
Who is responsible for ensuring that budgets and other financial documents in relation to
operational plan are accurate?
The major responsibility lies upon the finance team and mostly the finance manager
to make sure that relevant documents are properly maintained and are accurate. Also, the
finance team needs to be accurate and responsible for the changes in the budget as per the
changing situations (Ingram, 2020). They are required to carry out timely action plans and
review to make sure that everything is under control. The finance manager also responsible
for proper recording of the documents and reports which can be useful in future in order to
look back.
Reference:
Ingram, D., 2020. Who Handles the Budget in a Corporate Business? [Online]. Available
Through:< https://smallbusiness.chron.com/handles-budget-corporate-business-
70104.html >.

When creating financial reports/budget, what sources of information need to be analysed for
the process?
Business plan
As the business plan keeps on changing with time which has a direct impact on the
budget of the business. It is important for the person involved in budgeting to determine
whether there is any change in strategy, changes in level of business, staffing level,
unplanned maintenance and other such factors which can affect the budget.
Historical information
The budget is prepared taking into consideration the previous year’s financial
information. The past year’s data is useful source of information which can help in
identifying the impact of little change in plan on the overall budget and performance
(Developing a Budget: Sources of Information. 2020). It will help in getting the information
about the different sources of income, gross profit margins, overhead cost like salaries,
electricity cost, maintenance cost etc. Thus, previous data assist in taking into account various
costs which can be easily overlooked.
Knowledge of personnel
It the most important and dangerous part as the employee will develop the budget on
their own. In this strategy, each member of a team is required to provide the estimate of
revenue and expenditure for the department they are responsible. This will likely to provide
accurate data along with the ‘wish list’ which is required to be examined by the for ensuring
financial feasibility.
Reference:
Developing a Budget: Sources of Information. 2020. [Online]. Available Through:<
http://www.leoisaac.com/budget/bud033.htm >.
Specify risk factors associated with the operation plan? In relation to risk factors how do you
manage variations in operational plan?
The major risk factor associated with the operation plan is the non-availability of
required material within the time, not achieving the required sales and production target,
inability to acquire skilled labour and relevant staff and increasing waste (Atan and et.al,
2017). All these factors will affect the budgets prepared and overall operation plan. Thus,
relevant steps are required to be taken in order to mitigate the risk such as outsourcing the
production if available at cheaper cost, changing the supplier, hiring new and skilled staff,
introducing the changes in the working process, providing proper training to the staff with
respect to the work, reducing the unnecessary cost like travel and accommodation, finding
cheaper alternatives and also using marketing tools for advertising the product (Sadgrove,
2016). Thus, all these strategies can be used to mitigate the risk that are associated with the
operation plan.
Sometimes situation might occur that result in manageable negative variance, in such
cases adjustments are required to be made in the operational plan. The negative variance
would mean that expected outcomes will not be achieved without making relevant changes.
For example, the production process is slow then the company should move from manual
task to automated process in order to increase the production (Reducing Variation: The Only

Way to Reduce Cost. 2019). Various other tools should be used to which will help in
monitoring the quality and the entire production process which will consequently help in
meeting the sales target on time.
Reference:
Atan, H. and et.al, 2017. A review of operational risk management decision support tool.
In International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations
Management (pp. 2669-2680).
Sadgrove, K., 2016. The complete guide to business risk management. Routledge.
Reducing Variation: The Only Way to Reduce Cost. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:<
https://www.productionmachining.com/blog/post/reducing-variation-the-only-way-
to-reduce-cost->.
In case of variations in operational plan explain how will you gain approval from key
stakeholders?
In such situation, the clear situation will be presented along with the reason of the
same (VARIATION MANAGEMENT. 2020). Also, a backup plan will be presented to the
stakeholders and an assurance will be provided that everything will go in the right direction if
strategies are properly applied.
References:
VARIATION MANAGEMENT. 2020. [Online]. Available Through:< https://ppp-
certification.com/ppp-certification-guide/7-variation-management>.
Explain how will you train new staff/team members for implementing the operational plan?
For effectively training the employees, the company needs to identify the needs and
skill gap and then prioritize the training program as per the need (Greany, 2019). The
company should either use employee training software which will help in getting a more
personalized experience and then tracking the performance of the employees which will help
in sharpening the skills of the new staffs.
References:
Greany, K., 2019. How to implement an effective employee training program. [Online].
Available Through:< https://www.elucidat.com/blog/employee-training-program/>.
Explain procedure and records associated with documenting staff performance?
For maintaining the documentation of performance of the employee’s proper steps is
required to be followed (Employment Documentation - Who What When How? 2020). First,
an effective system is required both manual and automated. A responsible person should be
assigned to maintain the record of the employees with respect to responsibility, target
achieved, area of improvement etc.
Reference:
Employment Documentation - Who What When How? 2020. [Online]. Available Through:<
https://www.hrserviceinc.com/employee-documentation-what-when-how/>.

CONCLUSION
It can be summarized that for introducing new recyclable clothing product an
effective operational plan is required to be implemented. It covers all the aspects which are
required for accomplishing success in terms of budget, risk analysis, team management etc.
This has helped in enhancing the ability to implement and monitor operation planning
practices.