Republic of the Philippines

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
COMPUTER ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

COEN 3483: Total Quality Management in Computer Engineering

Chapter 2: Team & Expansion Plan

Team Plan

It's vital to be realistic about the commitment and motivation of your people and spell out
any plans to improve or maintain staff morale.

Your plan should also outline any recruitment or training plans, including timescales and
costs.

Objectives of team plan

 To Identify the desired performance levels of the team

 To Identify how these performance levels will be achieved
 To Provide guidance and direction to the team
 To Measure progress towards the desired performance levels

Steps on creating Team Plan

Step 1: Learn about performance plans

Performance plans (or performance improvement plans) are documents created

with the aim to improve the work of an individual, a team, or a company. They are
constructed and laid out by team leaders/supervisors/managers,  and oftentimes
handed in to HR for assessment.

Step 2: Use three key factors to build a successful plan

Factor 1: Setting the right conditions

Before you begin, it’s important to check the conditions in which employees work.
This is to avoid assumptions that a team is showing poorer performance because
of their mistakes, when actually outside factors are affecting them. SO first and
foremost, make sure everything on your end is fine.

Factor 2: Elements that make up a performance plan

As you go about making a performance plan, you need to ensure it covers

several aspects. Without them, not only will it be more difficult to write it, but you
also won’t get accurate data when the results come in.

Team performance plans can include (but is not limited to) some of the following
aspects:

 A Team vision or at least a Team purpose statement

 Performance measures/ Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
 These KPIs could be shown in the form of a “dashboard”
  Actions required to achieve goals
 Specific goals for overall team development, and goals to improve team
competency
 The team might also want to include elements like; gaining internal
customer feedback if they are an internal support team, or external
feedback if they are customer/client facing

Factor 3: Consulting human resources

It’s worth mentioning that the HR department should be aware that you’re
working on the performance plan from the very start. They can give more insight
into whether it is the best course of action, or if a different method would suit the
team better.

Step 3: Write the performance plan in 6 easy points

Now that we’ve dissected all the aspects you can include in your performance plan,
the end product should look something like this:

 Let HR and upper management know you wish to make a team

performance plan and discuss its necessity and reasons for it
 Talk to the team about the issues they’re facing and vision for
improvement
 Set goals and objectives based on the vision for improvement
 Define and agree on KPIs
 Agree on ways to monitor, review, and provide feedback
 Have HR assess the performance plan before finalizing it

Business Expansion Plan

When you started your business, a business plan helped get you through the startup
phase and figure out your target market, your promotional activities and your day-to-day
operations. But now it's time for growth. A business plan for expansion is a good idea
because it's a road map that tells you where you want to go and how you'll get there.

When to expand?

"growth and expansion are not always good or desirable.” To know if you needed to
expand you should be able to address the questions below positively:

1. Are there economies of scale that will benefit an expanded operation?

2. Are your competitors expanding?
3. Can you finance the expansion internally?
4. Will your customers tolerate your growing pains?
 5. Are you willing to play a less hands-on role in an expanded operation?
6. By expanding, are you diluting beyond recognition the passion that originally
started the business?

Advantages of business expansion

A large percentage of small businesses fund growth through profits which are being
invested back to the business or additional cash injections from directors and/or
investors. With these extra funds, a business can:

 Improve current products and/or services.

 Develop new products and/or services.
 Hire, train and retain good employees.
 Attract new customers.
 Increase sales to existing customers.
 Have more opportunities to form beneficial partnerships.

In essence, when your business is on a sustainable growth path, it should create a

positive feedback loop, where a series of actions lead to a series of positive outcomes,
continuously.

Disadvantages of business expansion

A business goes through a life cycle of start-up, growth, maturity and exit. In each
phase, there are times for growth but there are also situations where growth could lead
the business into a downward spiral. Things to watch out are:

 Pressure to grow could cause business owners to overlook resource availability.

 Productivity and qualify are likely to drop if management and staff cannot cope
with the extra work.
 Hasty staffing may lead to poor job fit and high turnover.
 A fast growth may also cause a loss of customer intimacy.
 The business may become too busy and self-absorbed to notice the changing
competitive landscape and customer behaviour.

Steps of Business Expansion Plan

Step 1. Identify exactly what needs to be expanded.

Expanding for the sake of expanding might lead to increased inefficiencies.

Determine exactly what parts of the business you wish to expand. Producing more
product does not necessarily translate into a broad expansion across the board.
This approach does not take economies of scale into consideration. That is, you
may not need to expand administrative functions and/or move into a larger building.
Perhaps you need only hire more staff and/or purchase additional equipment.
Step 2. Determine the effect of the expansion on personnel.

Consider hiring part-time workers until the need for full-time work is certain. Also,
remember that payroll for increased personnel should come from the increase in
revenue, not outside funding.

Step 3. Develop training programs for employees.

Communicate expansion efforts and goals with employees through training

sessions. Train a few of your best employees and then have them train others. If
purchasing new equipment, have the seller provide training to staff.

Step 4. Consider expanding through the Internet.

Brick and mortar (traditional building space) costs a great deal more than the cost
of maintaining a website. This is also a great way to reach overseas clients while
extending your hours to 24/7.

Step 5. Purchase or lease additional space only if necessary.

This poses a significant investment and should be analyzed carefully. Until then,
consider efforts to maximize the physical space of your current location.

Step 6. Determine new routes and plans for logistics.

With additional customers comes the need to service a broader customer base.
Identify those logistical needs that need to be augmented.

“I am not in competition with anyone but myself.

My goal is to improve myself continuously”

-Bill Gates
Activity: True or False

Directions: Answer the following questions with True or False before the number.

1. Team Plan is a detailed plan used to provide guidance and direction to

the business.

2. Your plan should also outline any recruitment or training plans,

including timescales and costs

3. A business plan for expansion is a good idea because it's a road map
that tells you where you want to go and how you'll get there.

4. Growth and expansion are always good or desirable.

5. One of the best way in planning a business expansion is by reviewing

your company's organization

___________6. An advantage of business expansion is having more opportunities to

form beneficial partnerships.

___________7. Team plan provides guidance and direction to the team

___________8. Team plans are documents created with the aim to improve the work of
an individual, a team, or a company.

___________9. Team plan is used to Identify how these performance levels will be
achieved

___________10. A fast growth never causes a loss of customer intimacy.

ANSWER SHEET

1. FALSE
2. TRUE
3. TRUE
4. FALSE
5. TRUE
6. TRUE
7. TRUE
8. FALSE
9. TRUE
10. FALSE