Professional Documents
Culture Documents
493100
ASSESTMENT 1
The Business
Business details/history: Australian Hardware opened its first store under the name of Percy's
Home Goods in George St Sydney in 1921. Percy's Home Goods initially specialized in the
manufacturing and sale of small household furniture. In 1982 Australian Hardware was listed on
the Australian Stock Exchange and was offered to the public in a share float. The business has
continued to expand to now have 138 stores and approximately 10,000 staff across the country.
Products
Australian Hardware supplies products in the following categories to general and trade customers:
• Timber
• Hardware
• Tools
• Paint
• Housewares
• Outdoor
• Garden
The Market
The target market has been divided into three target markets or segments:
a) Home improvers
b) DYIs
c) Tradespersons.
Marketing Strategy
Australian Hardware takes a two-pronged strategic approach characterized by product and service
differentiation along with select-targeted marketing activities.
The Future
Mission Statement: Australian Hardware provides the best quality hardware, homewares, garden
supplies and building materials from Australia and the world. Australian Hardware is committed
to providing customers and tradespeople with value through everyday low prices, product quality,
expert service, community engagement and environmental responsibility.
Vision Statement: Within five years, Australian Hardware will lead the hardware and home-
improvement market in Australia.
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493100
Strategic Direction
The Australian Hardware strategic directions are:
• Increase sales revenue and gross profit
• Maintain or increase market share
• Control direct and indirect operational costs
• Maintain superior product and service quality standards
• Establish Australian Hardware’s reputation as a socially and environmentally responsible
company.
Locations
Australian hardware is headquartered in Sydney, NSW. Australian Hardware stores are located
around Australia in the major cities and in the larger regional centres. In areas experiencing growth
in population and significant growth in residential building, the demand for products sold by
Australian Hardware is considered likely to grow. These areas are targeted by Australian Hardware
for either expansion of any existing stores or the building of a new store if none exists.
Brandon Benedick A Philip BSBMGT516 FACILITATE CONTINUOS IMPROVEMENT
493100
Research or review continuous improvement methodologies and tools and identify strategies for
improving quality and performance in ‘Operational Costs’.
• Inventory control
• Set-up improvement
• Maintenance improvement
• Productivity improvement
• Quality improvement
Accordingly, a key focus of Lean Manufacturing is the reduction of ‘Seven Wastes’. Specifically:
• Over-production
• Waiting or wasted
• Transportation
• Inventory
• Processing inefficiency
• Motion
• Defects
For Australian Hardware, the first and biggest hurdle is to reevaluate what they view as waste.
Typically, in Australian Hardware, waste is the label given to leftover scraps or unusable or
defective products. While these are two of the areas of waste identified in a lean system, the idea
of waste encompasses is needed to be recognized.
The way to readjust the perception of waste is to focus on the specific steps that can be
implemented to achieve a lean system. These steps typically are:
Next, it is important to train all members of Australian Hardware in the principles of lean to ensure
a successful implementation. Just as with any new process, all staffs must be willing to commit to
a new way of doing things. This is especially important for upper management. Managers lead by
example and need to understand the changes being made in order to anticipate any problems.
i. Methods
ii. Machines (equipment)
iii. People (manpower)
Brandon Benedick A Philip BSBMGT516 FACILITATE CONTINUOS IMPROVEMENT
493100
iv. Materials
v. Environment
Temperature
Training Poor maintenance
Standardization
Material Cost
Material Method
Using the fishbone diagram, each point had been discussed with the participants and their further
point of view had been taken in order to finalise the root causes and the potential problems were
required to be addressed in order to reduce the excessive use of water. These potential areas of
problems had been further considered to develop solutions and projects.
c) Strategies for including and encouraging participation by the right individuals and teams
Australian Hardware develops strategies for participation with these two levels that are
Interpersonal skills and participative culture.
Interpersonal skills include communicating verbally and non-verbally, active listening, team
problem solving, negotiating, advocating and asserting values and group decision-making.
Building participative culture includes secure management commitment and value, measure and
reward participation.
Brandon Benedick A Philip BSBMGT516 FACILITATE CONTINUOS IMPROVEMENT
493100
d) Strategies for building ownership and a work culture that is conducive to improve
quality, reducing waste and high performance
Recognition and incentives will depend on the size and nature of the organisation. It can range
from articles in a newsletter, announcements at staff meetings, gifts such as wine and food, leave
and movie tickets, to incentive programs offering holidays. Use your innovation skills to think of
new ways to reward your team members. You might even ask staff to suggest ideas. In making
employee recognition programs more effective, managers need to make sure:
• Appropriate rewards offered
• Reward employees in a timely manner
• Reward ties in with the person’s results.
Brandon Benedick A Philip BSBMGT516 FACILITATE CONTINUOS IMPROVEMENT
493100
In its simplest form, a stakeholder communications plan outlines who you need to communicate
with, about what, how you’re going to do it, and how often. There are also a few important
considerations such as timing and budget.
The plan-do-check-act cycle of continuous improvement involves the regular updating of strategic
plans to accommodate any identified improved process. Once an improvement has been identified,
it needs to be incorporated into appropriate planning documents such as the organization’s business
plan, the team’s strategic objectives and an individual’s work plan.
The business or strategic plan will document the improvement from an organizational perspective,
describing how the improvement will help the organization meet its strategic objectives by
improving productivity, quality, reduced costs etc., providing strategies to achieve the goals and
allocating sufficient funds in the budget to ensure its effective implementation.
An identified improvement must then be incorporated into the team’s operational plan which
outlines the rationale of the new process or improvement, allocates human, physical and time
resources and provides strategies for monitoring and review. Finally, the tasks and activities that
will help to implement the improvement are documented into each team member’s performance
or work plan, outlining responsibilities, available resources, a timeline and performance measures.
Brandon Benedick A Philip BSBMGT516 FACILITATE CONTINUOS IMPROVEMENT
493100
A first step for many organizations to reduce the impact of their operations on the environment is
to develop sustainability policies and procedures that help them to comply with national and
international environmental legislation; reduce waste; encourage efficiency of water, electricity
and paper usage; purchase green products that are less damaging to the environment; motivate
staff; and encourage commitment from the whole organization.
Sustainability must now be considered a crucial part of any continuous improvement process.
When considering any changes, organizations should refer to their sustainability policy to ensure
that all improvement processes meet sustainability requirements.
Sustainability initiatives will depend on the size and type of the organization, the industry and the
change being implemented. The following is a comprehensive list of requirements that should be
addressed where applicable. Many of these should be considered holistically as they all interrelate
to reduce the organization’s ecological footprint; for example, a green office program should
incorporate all aspects of sustainability such as green purchasing, strategies to reduce gas
emissions, waste management processes and the use of non- renewable resources to improve
organizational resource and energy efficiency.
d) Performance management, including setting goals and KPIs, monitoring, training and
coaching, and rewards and recognition
Training: Deliver training using flexible delivery methods such as online self-paced learning and
an internet classroom link. Training may be provided in the workplace or at an appropriate
alternative environment.
Brandon Benedick A Philip BSBMGT516 FACILITATE CONTINUOS IMPROVEMENT
493100
Rewards:
Effective appraisal involves taking a number of steps:
• deciding what it is that you are appraising;
• choosing the best information source for appraisal - who should appraise;
• deciding on a structure for the appraisal;
• being aware of the problems; and,
• carrying out the appraisal.
Brandon Benedick A Philip BSBMGT516 FACILITATE CONTINUOS IMPROVEMENT
493100