Facilitating Continuous Improvement In Australian Hardware

• Subject Name : leadership

Task B - Report

Introduction

Australian Hardware is one of the massive organizations which have expanded over the years across Australia (Dixon & Morrison, 2003).  It has been a successful business so far. However, certain changes must be incorporated in order to guarantee the stability of the organization. The presentation prepared serves the purpose of understanding and implementing the process of the improvement processes for Australian Hardware. The report familiarizes with contents with respect to the strategies for continuous improvements that can be proposed during the session along with the technique required to be adopted by the organization so that it can enhance its performance. It will further look into one of the methods used for improving processes along with the strategies that be applied to encourage participation and refine work culture. Moreover, the report will also discuss about the impact of implementing continuous improvement on different departments in the workplace, sustainability and stakeholders. Furthermore, there will also be a description on communication with the stakeholders, knowledge management, performance management and legislative compliance. 

About the organization

The company Australian organization was established by Percy Greenwright in 1921 (Dixon & Morrison, 2003). The organization deals in the supply of impeccable quality as well as pioneering products to its consumers and traders. It involves the supply of home improvement and hardware products along with the provision of expert advice as well as service.  

Every organization establishes the strategic plans in order to set out some priorities, resources, focus energy and strengthen operations ensuring all the employees, as well as stakeholders, are striving to achieve the common goal (Ginter, Duncan & Swayne, 2018). Australian Hardware is striving to enhance the sales revenue as well as gross profit. It mainly concentrates on the increasing customer base in the target markets. Apart from this, it also tends to monitor and control cost involved in the operations that may be direct or indirect along with the maintenance of incredible products and standards for providing service quality.

The stakeholders of the organization will include senior management, suppliers, directors, café employees, external auditor, government and human resource manager. These stakeholders have the responsibility for determining various acceptable or non-acceptable risks or changes for improvement. All the stakeholders must be encouraged to get involved in the process of continuous improvement and if necessary appropriate training can be provided to them based on the relevant tools, strategies and techniques. 

Lean method and its application

The method of lean would be applied in Australian Hardware wherein it will tend to reduce waste that will be useful for the organization to establish worth for the customers. This technique will mainly emphasize on continuous improvement and respect for the employees in the organization (Jasti & Kodali, 2014). It will be implemented in Australian Hardware for the purpose of adding worth to the product and services whilst the elimination of waste. 

Identified problems of Australian Hardware

Some of the major issues as identified in the company are related to the up-gradation of technology, lack of infrastructure, wages of the employees, poor expertise, lack of marketing strategies and various hazards. To eradicate all these mentioned issues in the company, a session of brainstorming would be helpful wherein the members will be discussing about the problems and its resolution. Brainstorming is one of the most powerful tools of Lean Six Sigma and a part of root cause analysis. In order to have the determination of root cause, innovative solutions, and change acceptance, then brainstorming is the best method to be followed (Besant, 2016). This is because the ideas would come from a diverse group of people who are impacted and motivated by the triumph of accomplishing the mutual objective.

Strategies for encouraging participation

The company tends to develop the strategies for involving and encouraging participation of the teams and individuals by using interpersonal skills along with the participative culture. Interpersonal skills comprise of communication which can be either verbally or non-verbally such as problem-solving, active listening, advocating, negotiating and group decision making (Grant & Goodman, 2018). Establishment of participative culture primarily involves a secure commitment of management and its values along with reward participation.

Strategies for establishing work culture and ownership

Australian Hardware has an intention to execute the programs for reward and recognition as they are one of the ways of enhancing participation so that individuals can take initiative in the process of improvement. Employees are found happiest when they are acknowledged for their performance by their managers. The recognition, as well as incentives, may include announcements at meetings with the staffs, giving gifts, movie tickets or it may in the form of monetary. Moreover, fun activities would also be a part of encouraging ownership at work that can be helpful in creating an environment wherein the teams can perform concerning the objective of the organization.

Impact of continuous improvement

The process of continuous improvement helps the businesses to uncover issues and find solutions to fix them. The productivity would be enhanced thereby increasing the profits of the organization. It will further help Australian Hardware to begin seeing maximum product per input.

Communication to stakeholders 

The planning has been done for communicating stakeholders about the strategies that would outline about every detail of the stakeholder along with the need for communicating.  The communication will be made effective so that the stakeholders can receive the information that is relevant and as per their understanding.

Knowledge management

The method of knowledge management would be implemented that can help the employees and stakeholders in sharing, accessing and updating business knowledge as well as information. Knowledge management has various forms such as knowledge acquisition, knowledge distribution, knowledge interpretation and knowledge utilization (Casillas, Barbero & Sapienza, 2015).

Sustainability

Sustainability method would be aiming towards the fulfilment of needs and demands for the current situation by not compromising the future generations and its needs. It will be concerned with preserving the environment and nature, stimulating social development, the association between communities and various cultures and focus on economic growth. 

Performance management

In the process of performance management supervisor and employees would be communicating in order to understand about the performance of the employees with respect to the standards set by the organization. It will involve clear expectations, creation of objectives, identifying goals, taking feedback and monitoring the outcomes.

Legislative compliance

Legislative compliance will be established that conforming to the rules and procedures such as specification, policy or law. This will maximize the probability of the organization along with the management, staffs and contractors adhering to rules and regulations. 

Conclusion

The report clearly describes the main purpose of improvement processes to be carried out in Australian Hardware. The problems identified and the techniques to be implemented have been discussed which is going to enhance the productivity and performance of the organization. 

References

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Casillas, J. C., Barbero, J. L., & Sapienza, H. J. (2015). Knowledge acquisition, learning, and the initial pace of internationalization. International Business Review, 24(1), 102-114.

Dixon, J. E., & Morrison, M. (2003). Relationship value & store functional loyalty: an empirical study of Australian hardware and garden stores. In Retailing: Strategic Planning in Uncertain Times (pp. 81-86). Academy of Marketing Science.

Ginter, P. M., Duncan, W. J., & Swayne, L. E. (2018). The strategic management of health care organizations. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

Grant, A., & Goodman, B. (2018). Communication and Interpersonal Skills in Nursing. Learning Matters.

Jasti, N. V. K., & Kodali, R. (2014). A literature review of empirical research methodology in lean manufacturing. International Journal of Operations & Production Management.

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