Assessment Task 1: Project
Assessment Task Instructions
- This assessment is to be submitted individually.
- This assessment involves a role play, which must be completed in class. If you do not complete this role play, you cannot complete and submit your assessment and cannot be assessed as competent.
- This assessment requires you to deliver a presentation in class. If you do not complete this presentation, you cannot complete and submit your assessment and cannot be assessed as competent.
- To ensure your responses are satisfactory you should consult a range of learning resources and other information such as handouts, textbooks, learner resources etc.
- You must document your responses in the provided template.
- You must be concise, to the point and write answers according to the given word limit to each question and not provide irrelevant information.
- You must write your responses in your own words.
- You will be required to complete all parts of this assessment task.
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Background You are required to lead and manage organisational change. You are required to read and understand a predetermined issue and/or situation and participate in a number of assessment activities. The following are the goals and objectives to complete this assessment task: · Develop change management strategy · Identify major operational change requirements according to organisational objectives, performance gaps, business opportunities or threats, and management decisions · Assess risks and opportunities presented by operational change requirements · Consult stakeholders, specialists and experts to confirm the change management opportunities and process · Implement change management strategy · Assign resources to the project and confirm reporting protocols with relevant stakeholders · Develop communication or education plan, in consultation with relevant personnel · Arrange and manage activities for delivery of communication or education plans · Evaluate change management strategy · Assess performance of communication or education plan against objectives · Identify and respond to barriers to the change according to risk management plans and organisational objectives · Modify communication or education plan according to change program objectives Your trainer will act as your supervisor. The supervisor can answer your questions related to understanding the requirements associated with the assessment task. The supervisor will act according to job role and responsibilities. Roles and responsibilities As part of your job role, you have the following job responsibilities: · Interprets detailed information that may deal with complex ideas related to issues both within and outside the workplace context · Uses clear and precise language to develop information about objectives, requirements, activities and recommendations · Develops complex plans and strategies in appropriate format for the audience and purpose · Discusses and seeks information using appropriate structure and language for the audience · Uses questioning and active listening to clarify or confirm understanding · Interprets, analyses and presents numeric information in complex documents · Takes a lead role in the execution of organisational strategic goals and associated roles and responsibilities · Develops new and innovative ideas through exploration and lateral thinking · Uses a variety of communication tools and strategies to build and maintain effective working relationships · Uses inclusive and collaborative techniques to seek feedback, negotiate and consult with a range of stakeholders · Plans, organises and implements activities required to achieve strategic priorities and outcomes, including consulting with others and sequencing events to minimise uncertainty for staff · Uses problem-solving skills to identify and analyse issues or barriers, and develop responses Task requirements This assessment task requires you to lead and manage organisational change. The assessment activities are mentioned within the assessment task. |
Introduction
“Online Media Solutions” is is a marketing and web development business based in Melbourne, Australia. The business started in operations in 2015 and has seen exponential growth since its establishment.
The business operates in the web service industry to offer superior and unique services to small businesses and institutions (B2B business model). Our experience and expertise in web sales and e-commerce give us the backing to provide solutions that are currently lacking in the market.
There is an all-time high demand for web development and marketing for small businesses with signs of rising further. Interestingly, few web developers have taken advantage of this opportunity, leaving the industry with no dominant participants.
The projects’ high costs and the focus on more prominent companies and institutions could contribute to why this market remains untapped. We will have a system that will reduce the project costs dramatically, allowing us to offer quality services at reduced costs.
Business plan
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Business plan excerpt Company details: Company name: Online Media Solutions, Pty. Ltd Company address: 2/10 Lawn court, Craigieburn, 3064, VIC Mission
Our vision To provide best-in-class web design and development services in a simple, effective, and cost-effective manner to the target audience. Goals and objectives The goals and objectives of Online Media Solutions are as follow:
Keys to Success
Services We currently offer the following services to our clients:
Values
Organisational structure and expertise The foundation team has 30 team members. The business has three (3) departments:
The finance and human resource work are outsourced. All three (3) departments are managed by Managers who are experienced and experts in commercial web development and business-to-business sales. Further, the team members are well-experienced and have years of experience working for MNCs. All the departmental managers report to the Operations. Roles and responsibilities IT Manager
Sales Manager
Marketing Manager
Business model “Online Media Solutions” is a full-service web solutions provider for businesses. The company offers services through the mode of its B2B engagements. B2B services: “Online Media Solutions” service portfolio includes Web Design, Graphics design, Website development, Domain and web hosting, 2d & 3d animation, Blog development, Search engine optimisation and E-commerce. The project cost will be estimated by the appropriate number of hours needed to complete the project. The sales team will aggressively track prospective clients and sell the services provided for businesses. Operational model and strategies B2B engagements Lead generation – Lead generation refers to creating and generating prospective consumer interest or inquiry into a business’s products or services. This will be done by building a database of prospective customers using social networks, business listings, internet search etc. Sales pitch – A sales pitch is a line of talk that attempts to persuade someone or something with a planned sales presentation strategy of a product or service designed to initiate and close a product and service sale. Sales professionals prepare and give a sales pitch using the following methods:
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Marketing plan
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Marketing plan excerpt The growth of the web and graphics design industry is huge. Over the last five years, it has grown almost by 30%. The web has become a tool for communicating, interaction and the growth of businesses. Existing situation ‘Online Media Solutions’ has successfully established itself in the web development and marketing industry with signs of rising further. ‘Online Media Solutions’ implemented a system for cost reduction that reduced the project costs dramatically and helped us offer quality services at reduced costs. We targeted the small businesses, assessed their needs and provided them with quality services at reduced costs. Existing customers The company focuses on small businesses and institutions that are looking to develop or upgrade their web presence. Our service brings onboard any small business that needs an internet presence, but we concentrate more on those that need more details about their operations online. Such companies most likely go for all or some of the following services: • A shopping cart or e-commerce. • Dynamic features and content. • Aggressive marketing of products online. Market opportunity Opportunity ‘Online Media Solutions’ has successfully ventured into B2B engagements. Based on the analysis conducted, the organisation sees exponential growth in developing B2C products and selling them to customers. These products include:
Solution We will target the develop quality products specified above and sell them to the end-users at reduced costs using the existing systems to reduce cost. SWOT analysis Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunity
Threats
Competitor analysis ‘Online Media Solutions’ has an advantage over its competitors as there are not many competitors in the market that provide the products at such a reasonable cost. Further, the organisation has a very good reputation in the market and well-established links that will help them venture into the B2C segment and successfully conduct its operations. Target market segment strategy We will focus our marketing efforts on attracting end-users and small businesses. We reached this decision after careful market analysis and identifying the needs of this market segment. Marketing objectives • To generate 60-70% revenue from small businesses and institutions • To increase brand awareness in the market • To generate 20-30% revenue from the new market segment (B2C engagements) Pricing Strategy Online Media Solutions will establish a pricing system to guide our clients on the nature of the services and the corresponding prices. Since we will be dealing with a market segment that tries to reduce costs, we will charge our services on an hourly basis. It will make the clients understand the services that will most likely cost them more. Expected costs, profits and sales As the organisational pricing strategy, Online Media Solutions will charge for its products and services on an hourly basis. Following are the expected costs associated with the production and delivery of its products and services: • Expected costs for its products and services: o Labour cost: $35/hour o Indirect costs: $40/hour • Net-profit targets: 35% • Expected time to develop its products: 10-15 hours. |
Performance gaps and management decisions
Based on the analysis of performance from the previous year, it was identified that the business has been unable to achieve the sales target by 15% due to the current pandemic situation. To meet the sales target for the upcoming years, the management wants to venture into a new market, i.e. B2C engagements, by selling the products to the end-users.
These operational change requirements are given below.
Operational change requirements
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Operational change requirements “Online Media Solutions” is a full-service web solutions provider for businesses. The company offers services through the mode of its B2B engagements. “Online Media Solutions” further want to venture into B2C engagement by selling its products to the end-users. The products that the business will develop and sell to the end-users include:
B2C Products “Online Media Solutions” product portfolio includes Web Templates, CMS Templates, Graphics Templates, Brochures, Flyers, Business cards and Animated logo templates. The prices are typically listed on the online shop where customers can either take monthly subscription or pay per download as per need. The business will have a database that will act as the repository for all the products. Budget requirements for operating B2B engagements
Operational model and strategies The business will focus on B2C engagements along with the existing B2B engagements. B2C engagements The B2C engagement is primarily done through a dedicated online shop where customers can browse through the repository, select designs or templates or download. The steps in the process are as follow: Key strategic metrics
Strategic initiatives
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Policies and procedures for operational change
‘Online Media Solutions’ has a risk management plan in place to manage risks associated with operational change.
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Risk management plan excerpt The organisation’s risk management plan is prepared in accordance with the ISO 31000 risk management framework. Purpose of the Risk Management plan The purpose of the risk management plan is to allow Online Media Solutions to identify and record potential risks. The plan also allows mitigation strategies to be developed and tracked. Risk strategy ‘In order to ensure that risks are identified in a consistent manner across the organisation, a “Risk Assessment Model” will be applied. This will rank the risks in priority order, and those risks considered important to track will be recorded on the “Summary of Risks”. Mitigation strategies will be developed, recorded and monitored on a monthly basis by the Operations Manager. If new major risks are identified, these shall be recorded. The “Summary of Risks” will be reported to the board on a weekly monthly basis. The following diagram represents the process to be followed: Risk matrix to be used: The following risk matrix should be used to determine the priority of risks. |
Your role and responsibilities
You are working as Operations Manager in ‘Online Media Solutions’. You report to the General Manager of the organisation.
The General Manager wants you to develop and implement a change management plan to lead and manage organisational change.
As part of your job role, you have the following responsibilities:
- Analyse and interpret information about the organisation’s internal and external environment
- Consult with stakeholders to identify requirements and opportunities for changes that support organisational objectives
- Prioritise opportunities for changes with input from relevant stakeholders
- Develop a change management project plan for the priority changes incorporating resource requirements, risk management and timelines
- Develop strategies to communicate or educate the changes and embed them
- Obtain approvals and agree on reporting protocols with relevant managers and implement the plan, including addressing barriers to change
- Review and evaluate the change management project plan and modify as needed to achieve objectives
Project
This assessment task requires you to demonstrate skills to develop and implement a change management plan to lead and manage organisational change for ‘Online Meda Solutions’.
In the course of the above, you must:
- Analyse and interpret information about the organisation’s internal and external environment and consult with stakeholders to identify requirements and opportunities for changes that support organisational objectives
- Prioritise opportunities for changes with input from relevant stakeholders
- Develop a change management project plan for the priority changes incorporating resource requirements, risk management and timelines
- Develop strategies to communicate or educate the changes and embed them
- Obtain approvals and agree on reporting protocols with relevant managers and implement the plan, including addressing barriers to change
- Review and evaluate the change management project plan and modify as needed to achieve objectives.
To do so, you must complete the following activities:
- Activity 1: Identify major operational change requirements
- Activity 2: Develop a change management project plan
- Activity 3: Implement the plan, including addressing barriers to change
- Activity 4: Review and evaluate the change management project plan and modify as needed to achieve objective
The roles and their responsibilities: Relationships with stakeholders such as staff members and General manager
The assessment task requires you to communicate with a number of organisational stakeholders. The main roles applicable to the assessment task includes:
Role number 1: General Manager: The General Manager is the individual who supervises or is in charge of the organisation. They belong to a higher rank or status. Their job role and responsibilities are:
- Assign a team to you to complete the project
- Assist you in understanding the task requirements
- Provide you information about job roles and responsibilities
- Supervise you completing the assessment task and requirements
Role number 2: Departmental Managers: The departmental managers (IT Manager, Marketing Manager and Sales Manager) are the student’s co-worker or workfellow. They are associates that the candidate works with. Their job role and responsibilities are:
- Assist you in completing the project on time
- Collaborate with you to develop a strategic change strategy
- Participate in a healthy and open discussion
Note:
- The trainer/assessor will take on the role of General Manager.
- The trainer/assessor will assign the roles of team members for each activity.
- Each student will be assessed individually for all assessment activities.
Timeframe to complete the project:
Two weeks (You have two weeks to complete the project)
Task requirements
- You will be assessed on your technical knowledge and skills to complete this project
- You will be assessed on working in a team environment and meeting your job role and responsibilities
- You must follow the instructions provided by the General Manager.
- All individuals must complete their role and assigned responsibilities and meet the specified deadlines
- The task must be completed in the specified timeframe.
Activity 1: Identify major operational change requirements
This part of the activity requires you to analyse and interpret information about the organisation’s internal and external environment and consult with stakeholders to identify requirements and opportunities for changes that support organisational objectives.
To do so, you are required to complete the following two (2) parts:
- Part A: Analyse and interpret information about the organisation’s internal and external environment.
- Part B: Consult with stakeholders to identify requirements and opportunities for changes.
Part A: Analyse and interpret information about the organisation’s internal and external environment.
This part of the activity requires you to analyse and interpret information about Online Media Solutions’s internal and external environment.
To do so, you are required to:
- Conduct the SWOT analysis considering the organisation’s internal environment using ‘Template 1’.
- Conduct a PESTLE analysis of the organisation’s external environment using ‘Template 2’.
- Identify change requirements and opportunities according to organisational objectives, performance gaps, business opportunities or threats, and management decisions (Given in the case study) and document using ‘Template 3’.
- Identify risks based on the outcomes of SWOT analysis and PESTLE analysis conducted and document using ‘Template 3’.
Template 1: SWOT analysis
Template 2: PESTLE analysis
Template 3: Change requirements, opportunities and risks
Part B: Consult with stakeholders to identify requirements and opportunities for changes.
This part of the activity is a continuation of part B of this activity.
This part of the activity requires you to consult with the following stakeholders, specialists and experts to identify and confirm change management requirements and opportunities that support the organisation’s objectives and the change management process to be followed.
- IT Manager
- Marketing Manager
- General Manager
- External change management specialist
To do so, you are required to arrange a meeting with the above-given stakeholders.
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Roles and responsibilities during the meeting: Stakeholders, specialists and experts (IT Manager, Marketing Manager, Sales Manager General Manager and External change management specialist)
Student (Operations Manager)
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Before the meeting, the student is required to:
- Create an agenda for the meeting that encourage the participants to discuss the change requirements and opportunities.
- Analyse the outcomes of Activity 1.
During the meeting, you must:
- Welcome the participants
- Provide an introduction to the meeting’s purpose
- Collaborate with them and discuss the key points given below:
- Outcomes of SWOT analysis (Activity 1)
- Outcomes of PESTLE analysis (Activity 1)
- Change requirements and opportunities (Activity 1)
- Risks based on the outcomes of SWOT analysis and PESTLE analysis (Activity 1)
- Provide an opportunity for discussion.
- Listen and comprehend information from a variety of spoken exchanges with the participants of the meeting
- Provide an opportunity for the audience to ask questions
- Respond to questions.
- Acknowledge and respond to differences in opinions.
- Prioritise opportunities for changes with input from managers
- Agree on the change management requirements and opportunities that support the organisation’s objectives and the change management process to be followed.
Close the meeting:
- Summarise the agreed outcomes using the meeting minutes template provided.
After the meeting:
- E-mail the meeting minutes to the participants of the meeting.
Activity 2: Develop a change management project plan
This activity is a continuation of Activity 1.
This activity requires you to develop a change management project plan for the priority changes (Based on outcomes of Activity 1), incorporating resource requirements, risk management and timelines.
The change control board will be:
- General Manager/Project Sponsor
- Operations Manager/Project Manager
- Project Team/Stakeholders
The change management project plan must be prepared using ‘Template 4’ and must be 1000-1200 words in length.
The timeline for implementation of the change is six (6) months.
To develop the change management project plan, you are required to:
- Analyse the information given in the case study and the outcomes of Activity 1.
- Assess risks and opportunities presented by operational change requirements based on the outcomes of Activity 1.
- Prepare the change management project plan using ‘Template 4’ and include the following details:
- Introduction
- Change management opportunities and requirements
- Change Control Board
- Roles and responsibilities
- Change control process
- Resource requirements
- Risk management
- Timelines.
Template 4: Change management project plan
Activity 3: Implement the plan, including addressing barriers to change
This activity is a continuation of Activity 3. This activity requires you to implement the change management project plan, including addressing barriers to change.
To do so, you are required to complete the following parts:
- Part A: Assign resources to the project
- Part B: Agree on reporting protocols with relevant managers
- Part C: Preapre an implementation plan
- Part D: Develop communication or education plan
- Part E: Arrange and manage activities for the delivery of communication or education plans
Part A: Assign resources to the project
This part of the activity requires you to assign resources to the project to implement the operational change requirements.
To do so, you are required to prepare a resource management plan using ‘Template 5’.
The resource management plan must include the following detail:
- Resources required to implement the change (Any five)
- Tasks for which the resources are required
- How to obtain resources?
- Timeframe for which the resources are required
Template 5: Resource plan
Template 6: Meeting Minutes
Meeting Title |Minutes
1.1 Meeting date | time Date | Time | Meeting location Location
2.1 2 Agenda topics
Discussion Conversation
Conclusion Closing
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Action items |
Person responsible |
Deadline |
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Topic 1 |
Presenter Name |
Date | time |
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Topic 2 |
Presenter Name |
Date | time |
2.2
Discussion Conversation
Conclusion Closing
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Action items |
Person responsible |
Deadline |
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Topic 1 |
Presenter Name |
Date | time |
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Topic 2 |
Presenter Name |
Date | time |
Observers Name
Resource persons Names
Special notes Type additional notes here
Part B: Agree on reporting protocols with relevant managers
This part of the activity requires you to agree on reporting protocols with the following managers:
- IT Manager
- Marketing Manager
- General Manager
Note: The trainer/assessor will provide the e-mail addresses of the managers specified above.
To agree on reporting protocols, you need to:
- Develop reporting protocols using ‘Template 6’ for communicating the status of change, such as hierarchy updates for reporting lines.
- E-mail the reporting protocols to the Managers. Follow the e-mail guideline provided:
- Ensure the text written in the e-mail is grammatically correct and free of errors.
- Use business style writing.
- Write an appropriate subject line.
- The text must provide a summary of the attachment.
- Attach reporting protocols to the e-mail.
Part C: Prepare an implementation plan
This part of the activity requires you to prepare an implementation plan using ‘Template 6’ for implementing the change in the organisation.
To prepare the implementation plan, you are required to:
- Identify and document the activities to be completed to implement the change.
- Resources required to complete the activities
- Evaluation criteria/KPIs
- Person responsible
Template 7: Implementation plan
Part D: Develop communication or education plan
Context:
The management wants you to develop strategies to communicate or educate the change and embed them. This is to ensure that the employees are taken into confidence to ensure effective implementation of the change management project plan.
Description:
This part of the activity requires you to prepare a communication or education plan using ‘Template 7’ to address the barriers to change (Barriers given in the ‘Context’).
To prepare a communication or education plan, you are required to:
- Strategies to communicate or educate the changes and embed them
- Resources required
- Evaluation criteria/KPIs
- Person responsible
Template 8: Develop communication or education plan
Part E: Arrange and manage activities for the delivery of communication or education plans
Context:
As per the communication or eduction plans developed, during the initial month of the implementation plan, the Operations Manager need to arrange and manger the following activities for the delivery of communication or education plans:
- Activity 1: Prepare a presentation to educate the change
- Activity 2 Deliver a presentation to educate the change
Part F1: Prepare a presentation to educate about the change
This part of the activity requires you to prepare a presentation to educate and embed the change. The presentation will be delivered in Part B of this activity.
Before preparing the presentation, you are required to:
- Analyse the change requirements.
- Analyse the implementation plan (Activity 3: Part C)
When preparing the presentation, you must ensure:
- Set out your presentation in a clean, simple and not too fussy way.
- Add questions in the presentation to make it more interactive.
- Add visual effects.
- Follow the presentation guidelines.
Presentation guidelines:
- Prepare 10-15 slides.
- Include the following content in the presentation:
- The rationale and vision for the change
- The benefits of the change
- Impacts of the change on operations
- Strategies to be adopted/actions to be implemented to implement the change effectively
Part F 2: Deliver a presentation to educate the change
This part of the activity requires you to deliver a presentation to educate the change. The audience of the presentation will be the staff members.
The trainer/assessor will allocate the role of the staff members to the students in the class.
You need to deliver the presentation in front of the staff members. The purpose of the presentation is to educate the change and embed them.
When delivering the presentation, you must:
- Have good posture
- Smile and act relaxed. It will make you look and feel more confident.
- Make eye contact with your audience instead of reading off your notes the entire time.
- Avoid distracting behaviours, like chewing gum or fidgeting.
- Watch for nervous gestures, such as rocking or tapping.
- Take time to think during your presentation. Make an effort to slow your pace and include pauses.
- Pay attention to your volume. Think about projecting your so that everyone can hear what you have to say.
- Try to speak clearly so that your audience can easily understand your words.
Activity 4: Review and evaluate the change management project plan and modify as needed to achieve objectives
Activity context:
The change is in its implementation phase. During the initial month of the implementation, the following were the outcomes:
- Performance of communication or education plan
- Delivering the presentation was not an effective solution.
- Change program objectives:
- More rigourous training sessions should be implemented to embed the change.
- Coaching and mentoring sessions should be arranged to identify and address the areas of improvement.
- Barriers to change:
- Lack of employee engagement leading to resistance to change.
- Lack of transparency and poor communication from leadership
Description of the activity:
This activity requires you to review and evaluate the change management project plan and modify it as needed to achieve objectives.
To do so, you are required to:
- Assess the performance of communication or education plan against objectives. (Based on the information given in the ‘Activity context’)
- Identify and respond to barriers to the change given in the ‘Activity context’ according to risk management plans and organisational objectives.
- Document actions to address the identified barriers and modify the ‘Change management project plan’ developed in Activity 1, considering the identified barriers.
- Modify ‘communication or education plan’ prepared in ‘Activity 3 – Part D’ according to change program objectives.
E-mail/Submit the following documents to the trainer/assessor:
- Revised ‘Change management project plan’.
- Revised ‘Communication or education plan’.
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