Reference no: EM132623916

Assessment Task 1

Provide answers to all of the questions below:

1. Discuss the purpose of risk management standards. Include an example of a risk management standard in your answer.

2. Outline the AS/NZS ISO 31000: 2009 Risk Management Principles and Guidelines and each of the 11 principles.

3. Explain the requirements of WHS legislation in relation to risk management.

4. List the factors that must be taken into account in determining risk control measures for hazardous manual tasks as stated in the model Work Health and Safety Regulations 2011.

5. Explain the purpose of risk management policies and procedures in the workplace.

6. List three examples of the impact of risks for a workplace if risks are not identified or actioned.

7. Outline a step-by-step procedure that companies can use for analysing risks.

8. Outline three sources of information that a company could use to gather information on potential risks.

9. Describe three examples of tools or techniques that a company could use to identify risks as part of a risk assessment process.

10. Explain four options that a company could take to control risks.

11. Explain four procedures that a company could use to minimise risk.

Assessment Task 2: Risk management project

Carefully read the following:

You are the Operations Manager of a medium-sized Australian company, NatureCare Products, based in Brisbane. The company commenced business in 1996, and manufactures eco-friendly, high quality beauty skin care products.

The business was established to cater for a growing demand for skin products that contain eco-friendly and natural ingredients. There is also an emphasis on eco-friendly packaging. The company makes all its products in a small factory.

The company sells its products direct to a chain of health food shops across Australia, as well as online through its own web site. Products ordered online are shipped directly to customers from the factory. Products provided to health food shops are provided to the health food shop distributor who then distributes the products to all its stores. The relationship with the chain of health food shops is a long-standing one (ten years).

The company targets customers that want high quality, eco-friendly products. Market research has identified that around 70% of their customers are professional women aged 25 to 55.

NatureCare Products' strategic priorities focus on business diversification and growth. They aim to increase their market share by 10%, and to expand the existing product range to attract more customers.

At a recent board meeting, the two company shareholders and the CEO discussed options for expanding the business, including establishing a chain of retail outlets. The idea is to initially set up one retail outlet in central Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. Products will continue to be made in the company's factory and shipped to the retail outlets.

The CEO has asked you to investigate this, undertaking a risk analysis on establishing a chain of retail outlets. The CEO and shareholders are keen to get the business expansion started as soon as possible, so you need to get your risk management plan in place immediately.

Currently the company employs the following staff: Accounts Manager, Marketing Manager, Marketing Assistant, Sales Manager, four customer service representatives, Office Manager and Administration Assistant, Operations Manager, as well as the CEO and two shareholders as indicated above.

The company currently has a Risk Management Policy and Procedures in place that incorporates the AS/NZS ISO31000:2009 Risk Management Principles and Guidelines.

Complete the following activities:

1. Develop a risk briefing report.

Review the case study information provided to you, as well as the company's risk management policy and procedures to determine the scope of the risk management process required.

Use the internet to search for relevant information on risk management standards.

You should also review the recent Team Meeting Minutes on the business expansion project to inform your report.

Use the Risk Briefing Report Template to guide your work.

Your report will be sent to the CEO for initial feedback and then you will meet with your team to brainstorm further risks associated with the business expansion project.

Your report should include the following:

Introduction, including the purpose of the risk analysis

The scope of the risk management process, any risks that may apply to the scope, and objectives and critical success factors for the area included in the scope

An outline of the risk management process as per the organisation's policy and procedures, as well as how the organisation's process aligns with the risk management standards as identified in the link provided to you.

A PESTLE analysis identifying the key factors that impact on the environment in which NatureCare Products operates and their relevance to the risk management process. You should also use this analysis to identify important factors that may influence consumer needs and desires as part of analysis of external stakeholders, as well as to inform the key risks you identify below.

You are also required to identify at least five risks identified with the expansion, and at least one potential risk treatment option for each of the risks you identify.

Identification and analysis of internal and external stakeholders and the issues they may have that are likely to impact on the risk management process.

An analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the company's existing retail approach namely, online and through health food shops.

Analysis of critical success factors, goals or objectives for the business expansion project.

2. Draft a word processed letter to the CEO (your assessor).

The text of the letter should be in grammatically correct English, written in an appropriate (polite, business-like) style.

It should provide a brief overview of the risk management project, introduce and summarise the contents of the attachment, and seek their feedback and approval to move forward with the project.

Attach your risk briefing report to the letter.

Your assessor will send you an letter in the role of the CEO, providing you with feedback and approval to proceed.

3. Draft a word processed letter to your team (your assessor).

The text of the letter should be in grammatically correct English, written in an appropriate (polite, business-like) style.

It should invite the team to participate in a meeting to brainstorm risks associated with the company's proposed expansion.

Your letter should briefly explain the purpose of the meeting and advise of the date and time for the meeting (your assessor will advise you of the date and time and also provide you with the letter addresses of the two students who will be your team).

The meeting is to run for approximately 30 minutes.

4. Conduct team meeting

After giving a short introduction, present to your team the risks that you have identified, as well as the treatment measures you have selected. Refer to your Risk Briefing Report and share your ideas, encouraging the meeting attendees to share theirs.

Steer this discussion into a brainstorming session.

Take paper and pen with you, or use a whiteboard, to jot down ideas as they are given.

At the meeting, you are required to:

Clearly explain the risk management process as per the organisation's policy and procedure.

Discuss the risks you have identified and potential risk treatments

Seek ideas from the team about risks involved in the business expansion, as well as treatment measures.

Agree on the most important risks that should be included in the risk management plan, as well as suitable risk treatments. At least five must be identified.

During the meeting, you will need to demonstrate effective communication skills including:

Speaking clearly and concisely

Using non-verbal communication to assist with understanding

Asking questions to identify required information

Responding to questions as required

Using active listening techniques to confirm understanding

Close the meeting by thanking the participants for attending.

5. Develop a Risk Management Plan

The final part of the assessment task requires you to develop a risk management plan using the Risk Management Plan Template.

Your risk management action plan needs to include the following two risks:

Inefficient resource usage

Low customer satisfaction with customer service.

You will be implementing treatments for these two risks in the following task, so make sure that the treatments you recommend are practical and that you can actually complete them in the simulated business environment within the classroom.

Your risk management plan should include:

The risks you have identified based on your research and brainstorming session. You must include at least four risks of your own, and the two risks that have been provided above.

An assessment of the likelihood of the risk occurring, as well as the severity of the risk should it occur.

Identification of at least one suitable treatment measure for each of the six risks. Priority rating (high, medium or low) to show the order in which risks must be treated.

A risk action plan that sets out for each risk including:

Risk description

Impact of risk

Recommended actions

Resource requirements

Timelines

Responsibilities

Monitoring processes

6. Draft a word processed letter to the CEO (your assessor).

The text of the letter should be in grammatically correct English, written in an appropriate (polite, business-like) style.

The letter text should include the following:

Summary of the purpose of the Risk Management Plan

An outline of the risks most likely to occur in relation to the business expansion project.

Why you believe the identified treatment strategies for each of the risks will be effective in ensuring risks are minimised or do not occur.

Assessment 3- Risk implementation project

Carefully read the following information:
Assume that the CEO of NatureCare Products has indicated that he wants you to prioritize treatment of a number of risks as follows:
• Inability to attract sufficiently qualified staff One of the risks identified in the risk management plan is the inability to attract sufficiently qualified and knowledgeable staff to manage the new retail stores. The risk treatment identified is to invest in the training and development of existing staff to fulfill this role, at least in the short term.
It has been identified that at least two of the existing customer service representatives are interested in taking on this new role. Neither of the two customer service representatives has managerial skills nor knowledge, but they both have an excellent company and product knowledge, as well as customer service skills.
• Unsustainable workplace
Another risk identified in the risk management plan is increased costs to the business through inefficiencies in resource usage. Given that the business is set to expand, it is of key importance that resources are used sustainably and efficiently. The CEO wants to implement the risk treatment of measuring the company's environmental sustainability and resource usage, commencing with the head office location.
• Low customer satisfaction A further risk identified as a priority is any threat to customer satisfaction. Given that the business is expanding, customer satisfaction will be crucial. The risk treatment identified is to develop a customer questionnaire that can be used to measure customer satisfaction.

You have been directed to implement strategies to reduce the risks posed.

Complete the following activities:

1. Write a report on staff training options
Review the case study information and then research a range of potential training options for the customer service representatives, including both on and off the job options. Identify at least three suitable options. Then develop a short report outlining your recommended option/s for the training, including a rationale for each recommendation. Include the details of each recommended training option, including a summary of the training to be provided and outcomes, location, costs and duration as applicable.
Save this document as a Staff Training Report. As a guide, your staff training report should be 1 to 2 pages long.

2. Undertake inspection of head office
Assume that, given the CEO's concerns, you are to complete an inspection of the head office (this will be the RTO as the simulated environment) to identify environmental sustainability and resource usage issues and to identify and report on possible solutions.
You will, therefore, undertake an inspection of the RTO facility using the environmental sustainability and resource Usage Record Template.
Record at least 3 actual or potential environmental sustainability and resource usage issues that you found during activity one.
Your assessor will advise you of the date and time of the inspection and will observe you conducting the inspection.

3. Develop a customer questionnaire.
You are required to develop a questionnaire that can be given to customers to fill out when they have made a purchase in one of NatureCare's retail outlets.
The questionnaire should contain eight questions that measure customer satisfaction and can be answered on a sliding scale from 1 (which is don't agree at all) to 10 (which is totally agree). Customers should be able to circle the most appropriate response with a pen or pencil while they are in the shop and hand it back to the salesperson when they are finished.
Develop questions that encompass as many aspects of the customer's experience as possible. Use language that is polite and friendly.
There should be a space under the questions for responders to give written feedback on their experience(s) if they wish.
Create a new Word document for this activity and save it as a Customer Questionnaire. The questionnaire should fit on two sides of an A4 page.

4. Draft a word processed letter to the CEO (your assessor).
The text of the letter should be in grammatically correct English, written in an appropriate (polite, business-like) style. It should introduce and summarise the contents of the attachments and seek their feedback and approval to move forward with the project.
Attach the following to the letter:
• staff training report
• usage record
• customer questionnaire
The CEO will send you an letter providing comments and approval to proceed with the training course that they select from your report.

It is six months later, and you are monitoring the implementation of the risk treatments to ensure sufficient qualified staff, a sustainable and efficient workplace and high customer satisfaction.
Assume also that both managers participated in a formal, nationally recognized course in management, which they completed over the last six months.
You have been provided with the following information by your team, which you will use to monitor the implementation of the action plan:
• The new Human Resources Manager has provided you with performance review information for the two Managers in a Performance Review Results Memo, as well as a staff survey conducted to assess employee satisfaction in a Staff Survey Results Memo.
• The Marketing Manager has provided you with sales analysis for the last six months in a Sales Data Analysis Memo, as well as a memo about a recent customer survey. Customer Survey Results Memo
• The Office Manager has provided you with a Sustainability Report.

5. Write a risk monitoring report.
In order to monitor the implementation of your action plan you are required to review the following documents:
• Customer Survey Results Memo
• Sales Data Analysis Memo
• Staff Survey Results Memo
• Performance Review Results Memo
• Sustainability Report
Develop a risk monitoring report that provides a summary of the data provided to you and document
what the data shows in relation to the effectiveness of the action plan.
Identify any additional risk control measures, which you believe should be put in place as relevant.
Your report should be 1 to 2 pages long.

6. Draft a word processed letter to the CEO (your assessor).
The text of the letter should be in grammatically correct English, written in an appropriate (polite, business-like) style. It should introduce and summarise the contents of the attachment.
Attach your risk monitoring report to the letter.

Assessment 4- Risk management process evaluation report

Complete the following activities:

1. Develop a risk management evaluation report This assessment task requires you to evaluate and report on the risk management process that you have completed in the previous two assessment tasks. Review all of the following questions and prepare a short report of approximately 1 to 2 pages that addresses each question.
A. Evaluate the overall risk management process.
• Was it easy or difficult to identify risks
• Was staff input (at the meeting) helpful
• How confident are you that all the risks have been identified
B. Consider whether the process indicated in the NatureCare Products' current Risk Management Policy and Procedures is sufficient to guide the risk management process used for the business expansion project. Explain why or why not.
C. Explain whether the principles of risk management in the NatureCare Products risk management policy and the procedure is consistent with AS/NZS ISO31000:2009 Risk Management Principles and Guidance.
D. What changes would you recommend to the risk management process

2. Take a screenshot of all of your folders and files.
You are required to demonstrate that you can file all of your records in a logical structure.
Ensure that you have an overall folder, as well as a subfolder for each assessment task.
All of the documents you have submitted for this unit should be correctly named and filed, as set out on page 3 of this document.
The screenshot should show all the folders, sub-folders and documents.

3. Draft a word processed letter to your assessor.
The text of the letter should be in grammatically correct English, written in an appropriate (polite, business-like) style. It should introduce and summarise the contents of the attachments.
Attach your risk management evaluation report and screenshot to the letter.