Analysis of Operational Plan for Woolworth Supermarkets: A Report

This report provides a detailed analysis of the operational plan for Woolworth Supermarkets. It begins with an introduction to operational plans and their importance in supporting strategic goals. The report identifies Woolworth as the chosen organization and outlines its key stakeholders, including customers, employees, suppliers, and shareholders, along with the consultation processes used. It then presents background information about the company, including its vision, mission, goals, and organizational structure. The proposal's purpose is to clarify employee roles and responsibilities in achieving organizational objectives, focusing on the production department's effectiveness. The report outlines the goals and objectives of the operational plan, resource requirements (human, physical, and financial), and performance requirements, including critical success factors and key performance indicators. Contingency plans and expected outcomes, including a cost-benefit analysis, are also discussed. Finally, the report addresses the consequences of non-approval and the process of seeking resource approval, including strategies for staff recruitment.

Manage Operational Plan

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Proposal ...........................................................................................................................................2
Planning and managing ...................................................................................................................6
Monitoring and reviewing operational Performance.......................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
An operational plan is termed as plan prepared by a component of an organization on
order to define actions that will be taken to support the strategic goals and plans of the upper
management (Dwyer and Hopwood, 2013 ). In this the goals and objective of the operational
plan will be stated and how this plan will help the company to achieve its goals and objective
will also be stated in this report.
1. Chosen organization
Woolworth supermarkets is well-known grocery store in Australia. The grocery items
such as vegetables, fruit, meat and packaged food etc is being sold by this supermarket. In the
year 1924 it was founded and it is being owned by Wollsworth Limited. The home delivery
services is also being given by this supermarket in Australia. Every day with great choices this
company is serving a million of customers. The high-quality services is being offered to the
customers who visit the store and also the services that is being given is also good. The goal of
this company is to be in the top-most position among all the brands and also to develop a
customer and store-led culture and team.
2. Identification of stakeholders
A stakeholder is someone who have interest in the value that is being created by the
organization. The owners, customers, sponsors, employees, the community etc can be the
stakeholders in the operational planning.
Stakeholders of Woolworth
The customers – Around the quality of the product , value and sustainability the efforts is being
made by the company to satisfy the requirement of the customers. There are around and nearly
1400 stores are that are made with a vision and mission to satisfy the consumers in terms of
providing quality based services and keep up.
The employees- Across the globe there are about 44,000 people working in this company and
learning opportunities is being given to them. To meet the well being of the employees the
enhancement are made by improving the skills and knowledge by rendering them opportunities
by which the working environment gets benefited.
The suppliers – The direct and indirect suppliers are being chose by this company. In the
development of long term support this company provide favourable terms and support. Either by
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directly or indirectly thousands of services that re provided by suppliers of Wools worth are
taken into concern by providing them profitability.
Shareholders – This company have many shareholders and is a publicly traded company. As it is
a holding limited company they have number of shareholders outside the territories also which
helps in exploring the organisation.
 Use of consultation process- In this the various communication methods and devices such
as internet, new letter meeting , interview etc will be used by the operational manager. In
order to provide the opportunity to the express the views of stakeholders and team
members the communication processes and system need to be set up. In order to give the
outcomes the feedback mechanism will also be set up so that team members and other
stakeholders can give feedback.
 Purpose of consultation-The purpose of this consumption is to make sure that teams
members and other stakeholders are ware of what is going to be there in the company. In
order to offer their knowledge and skills this will encourage them and also the proposed
plan will be accepted by them (Hazletta, McAdamb and Walkerc, 2013).
 Information sought-Among the team members there is a good understanding of where the
bottlenecks and other problems are. From this all the information in between the
stakeholders regarding this operational plan will seek out.
Proposal
3. Background information about the team
In the year 1924 Woolworth limited was funded. The number of employed that are working in
this company are about 111,00.The headquarter of this company is in Australis and in other
countries that is in Australia and in South Africa also it has its branches. The high-quality
grocery food products are being offered by this company .
 Vision, mission , goals and objective of the organization-The goals of this organization
is to develop a customer and store-led culture and team and also generate a sustainable
sales momentum in food. Through end to end and systems excellence this organization
want to become a lean retailer. The vision of this organization is to “Give the customers
high-quality products and services(Hill and Hill, 2012)
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 The structure of the organization- In this organization the hybrid organization structure is
being followed. As a grid, or matrix the reporting relationship are being set up in a matrix
structure. To the both functional manager and product manager the employees have to
report .Also with many people employees will be in contact that will help them to share
the information. The organisational structure of Woolworth is hierarchical as well as flat,
though it is holding limited company, the structure of management starts from top level
management that are described in this report as follows. There are almost five non
executive directors who monitors managing directors in group and CEO till human
resources and financial officers and general managers.
 Organizational chart
4. Description of the purpose of the proposal
The purpose of this proposal is to make aware the employees about their roles and
responsibilities in order to achieve the goals and objectives of the organization. In this a clear
picture, will be given to the department, team or section regarding the achievement of strategic
goals of the organization.
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Illustration 1: Matrix organizational structure
(Source:Matrix structure , 2017 )

Teams that I prefer effective is department of production. As, the department performs well the
supply and other department can work effectively to meet the results of holding limited company
Woolworth. This department I refer effective for operations. Effective process of production can
bring the results out efficiently.
5. Goals and objectives of the operational plan
The goals of the company is to increase its ales by 50% by December 2018.For this the
company will make use of online platform in order to promote the products and services that is
being offered by the company. The social media sites such as Facebook, twitter etc will be used
for it (Hill, 2011).
6. Resource requirements
In order to achieve the goals an objective that is being set up by the company the various
resource such as human resources, physical resources and the financial resource etc will be used.
 Human resources and the skill- The greatest proportion of an organizational operational
cost are the human resources. In terms of each job role and the number of personal in the
role the operational plan need to be identify the human resourcelessness skills that is need
for human resource are that they need to have a good communication skills , decision-
making skills etc. The various decisions are being made by the human resource regarding
the company so they need to posses a good communication skill.
 Physical resources and the skill- In order to fulfil the plan the researching need to be done
in order to discover the goods and services that will be needed by the team. The paper ,
power, good internet connection etc will be needed in order to make use of physical
resources. A lot of researching skills need to be there .
 Financial resources in budget – In this the budget will be made after the physical
resources and human resource shave been decided. In terms of financial terms a budget
will represent the targets of an operational plan (Howell, 2012).
 To achieve the goals and operations effectively and efficiently the goals of the
organisation by taking part in results by means of decision-making and formation of
strategies are to be takes place. The necessary modifications and implementations by
each and every department has to be made to bring out the results effectively. The
integral roles and part are described by physical and human resource department.
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Effective recruitments and selection process explores the results with nuances and
development.
Description Feb Mar Dec
Salaries and wages 30,000
Equipment 17,000
Suppliers 450
Travel and
accommodation
1000
Training to the
employees
1000
Other operating cost 500
Recruiting employees 700
Total 50,650
7. Performance requirements
In order to see to it that whether the goals and objective are achieved it need to be clarified in an
operational plan about how the monitoring of performance will be done.
 Critical success factors (CSF)– For the billing the computer system is being used by the
team. So, it is the objective of one of team is to make sure that computer system is
working at its highest efficiency during all the working hours.
 Task needs for CSF- The needs of the each CSK need to be analysed and also the tasks
that is needed to achieve the CSK is also recognized. In the team, each task need to be
allocated to a specific role. And in order to performance that task that is allocated it is the
responsibility to each team member (Jones, 2010).
 Key performance indicators – Towards the goals and objective the key performance
indicators will help. For an instance of one of the aim of the company is to be most
successful company in the industry then it will have a key performance indicators that
measure profit. The KPI will focus differently of an organization KPI is increased
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satisfaction .The number of units presented by quality inspection will be the KPI for the
manufacturing department.
 While making the management operations the CSR is to be analyse in each and every
terms by meeting the decided objectives which encourages the employees to eporform
efficiently and the critical factors gets reduced.
8. Contingency plans
The likelihood of unexpected events or risk is being confronted by contingency planing.
In order important this operational plan there can be various consequence that management can
face. The best way to deal with it is to be prepared in advance. Before the risk or unexpected
events occur the solutions need to be developed.
The contingency plans of Woolworth id termed as
Drought contingency plans which helps the company to manage the activities by effectively
evaluation and monitoring.
9. Expected outcomes
In order to determine the different in the financial benefits that are provided by the alternative
use of scarce resources the cost benefit analysis can be used (DeMars , 2006).
Benefit cost ratio- B/(I+O)
B- From the use of resources the benefit flows are taken into consideration
I- In the plan the initial investment to analyse the benefits
O- Operating cost of a plan
For an instance
Expected return = $ 1,00,000
Initial investment = $ 75,000
Operating cost - $10,000
Benefit cost ration – 1,00,000/(75,000+10,000)
= 1.17
The use of response of the organization is acceptable of the benefit -cot ratio is more than
one.
10. The possible consequences if proposal not approved
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This would be not good for the business has it may face some issues in the future if the proposals
is not being accepted. It can lead to financial loss or not proper management etc. there are
specific approvals that are not approved in operations in terms of managing.
12. Seeking approval of the resource requirement proposal
By the management the proposal for additional resources need to be approved. This plan ned to
be explained to the management in order to seek the approval from them. In the meeting the
proposal will be discussed and the benefits that will gained from this proposal will be explained
to them.
Planning and managing
13. Strategies to recruit the staff
The advertisement in the newspaper can be given regarding the recruitment process. And also the
job description, roles responsibility etc will also be given in that newspaper. The checklist can be
maintained regarding the recruiting process (Cole, 2010).In the recruitment process the selection
of the deserving candidtae will be there that will help the company in achievement of their goals.
14. The organizational human resources' management polices and practices
15. The recruitment will be done where the deserving candidates will be appointed for the
job.
Before the employee arrives all the necessary preparation and communication need to be done
On their first day on the job employee orientation should be organized.
The employees need to be made aware about the organization polices and practises in the
induction
15. Strategies for physical resources
In order to achieve the organizational goals the acquirement of physical resources and serves is
essential. For purchasing the resource the higher authority that is manager of the company is
responsible for it. For an instance there is a strict guideline in the organization for making
purchasing decisions.
16. Confirming physical resources strategies to the polices of organization
As per the organization the suppliers need to meet quality standards that is set up by the
organization. For an instance the by the internal IT department the computer services can be
given in the organization.
17. Protecting the intellectual property
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Trademark – In order to distinguish product from rival a trademark can be used to recognize a
unique product. For an instance a logo, letter etc .The logo of the Woolworth will be used as a
trademark .
Patents – For an instance if a invention is being done by an employee then usually for 20 year
patents are granted to them (Chase, 2007).
Monitoring and reviewing operational Performance
18. Monitoring and reviewing the progress
The accuracy, timelines, economy , meeting needs etc are the five characteristics that can be sued
to monitor the process.
 The operational process description – On the areas such as cutting cost, enhancing
productivity of employees, enhancing the satisfaction among customers and improving
quality the operational process need to developed
 Quality – The high-quality products will be provided by the company for its customers so
that self-satisfaction will be more.
 Productivity -This will also increase the productivity of the company as better services
will be given.
 Ranking the key areas – If the impact will be positive then it will help the organization to
generate more revenue less . The training programs in order to help the employees to
learn about the new technology in the organization(Jacobs, Chase and Chase, 2010) .The
gaining of the market by 10% is another CSF factors. The first ranking will be given to
the gaining market as with this new customers will be attracted.
 The lag and lead factors- After the training programs is over lag indicator will help to
find out what went wrong, what is achieved through this training. Lead indicator is more
effective in comparison with lag indicator. In this the training was a lag and lead factors
as proper training was not give to the employees.
 The operational monitoring tools – The parto chart, histograms etc can be used to
monitor the performance. It is being selected in order to monitor whether the goals that is
being set up by the company is progressing or not. Through this the barriers or obstacles
can be found out.
19. The perceived problem or unexpected events
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 The possible performance gaps – The poor quality tools poor quality materials ,
equipment breakdown etc can be the responsible performance gaps. If the quality of
materials is not proper then there can be performance gaps .This can be solved by
selecting the supplier whose quality of material is of high-quality
 The action to solve -The adaptive and the correct action need to be taken during this time
to solve the issues.
20. Operational plan variation
There can be three variance that is variance in material, variance in labour and variance in cost
overheads (Anderson, Anderson and Parker, 2013).With this the changes in the plan will be
made so as to make the business more profitable and to gain competitive advantages from rivals.
21 Dealing with team members
 Identifying the performance problems -The employees are not give proper training on
how to sue the technology at workplace and also there is no coordination among them.
 The process to improve the staff performance – The mentoring and coaching will be
given to them.
 The database problem that is faced in this project will be solved by making use of new
database for the work.
22. The system and procedures
Databases and other recording mechanism can be sued that will make sure that records are keep
in accordance with organizational needs.
CONCLUSION
Thus summing up the above report it can be concluded that operational planning can be
sued in order to achieve the goals and objective of the organization. The various tools such as
histogram and parto chart etc can be sued in order to monitor the performance.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Anderson, M., Anderson, E and Parker, G. (2013). Operation Management for Dummies.
Dummies.Com.
Chase, R (2007), Operations Management for Competitive Advantage, McGraw-Hill. 11th ed
Cole, K. 2010, Management: theory and practice, 4th edition, Pearson Education Australia,
Chapters 12, 15, 16.
DeMars L. (2006). Heavy Vetting: Boards of directors now want to talk to would-be CFOs —
and vice versa. CFO Magazine.
Dwyer, J, Hopwood, N. (2013), Management Strategies and Skills, McGraw-Hill Education,
Australia.
Hazletta, A. S., McAdamb, R. and Walkerc, T., (2013). The role of operations management in
public sector policy and practice alignment: a local government analysis. Production
Planning & Control: The Management of Operations. 24(10-11). pp.988-1101.
Hill, A. and Hill, T., (2012). Operations management. Palgrave Macmillan.
Hill, T (2011). Manufacturing Strategy-Text and Cases, . Mc-Graw Hill. 3rd ed
Howell, P. (2012). Snapshots of Great Leadership. London, GBR: Taylor and Francis. pp. 4–
6. ISBN 9780203103210
Jacobs, F.R., Chase, R.B. and Chase, R., (2010). Operations and supply chain management.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Jones, R. (2010), Managing Human Resource Systems 2nd Edition, Pearson, Chapter 6.
Online
Matrix structure . 2017. [Online] Available
through:<http://analysisproject.blogspot.in/2015/07/matrix-organization-structure.html/>
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