BSBLDR502 Lead and manage effective workplace relationships

Learner Instructions 1
(Plan and present workplace communication and consultation systems)

Submission details

Students Name

Student ID

Group

Assessor’s Name

Assessment Date/s

The assessment task is due on the date specified by your assessor. Any variations to
this arrangement must be approved in writing by your assessor.
Submit this document with any required evidence attached. See specifications below
for details.

Performance objective

You will demonstrate the skills and knowledge required to plan communication
systems.

Assessment description

Using the simulated business information provided, and in response to a scenario,

you will prepare a portfolio of communications planning documentation that includes
a communications strategy and grievance procedure. You will also prepare and
deliver a presentation to the senior management team on your plans for managing
communications and consultation.

Procedure

Part A: Communications planning portfolio

1. Review the scenario in Appendix 1, particularly the background to the simulated
organisation, current change issues, communication and consultation needs,
and information about your role as Communications Consultant.
2. Review JKL Industries simulated business documentation, including strategic
plans and operational plans. Note what the organisation does, how it does it,
what its goals and objectives are, and who its stakeholders and customers are.

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3. Develop a draft communications strategy for meeting organisational needs that

includes:
a. two to three communications objectives
b. at least two different audiences, for example, senior management, work
teams, or individual employees
c. at least two methods of communication or media
d. at least two provisions to facilitate bottom-up consultation (from
employees to management); for example, consultation on employee
health and safety, consultation on continuous improvement of work
processes, consultation on employee conditions and pay, or consultation
on job roles and performance expectations.
Note: Ensure you also provide for management feedback on consultation
back to employees.
4. Develop a short (less than one page) grievance procedure.
5. Submit your portfolio in accordance with quality specifications outlined below.

Part B: Presentation to the senior management team

Research, plan and deliver a 10–15 minute presentation to senior managers on your
proposed communications planning.
1. Prepare a business presentation in response to the scenario described in the
scenario. Determine and prepare to discuss:
a. Audience needs and relevant interpersonal skills you will need to deploy
to win support for your ideas.
b. Organisational needs:
i. internal strategic needs, goals and objectives
ii. external regulatory or legal requirements, such as for WHS
consultation, anti-discrimination or industrial relations
iii. business ethics requirements.
c. Your proposed approach to communications and consultation to meet
organisational and audience needs:
i. Prepare to explain your draft communications strategy,
organisational policies and procedures, and how such
communications systems and policies can support a coordinated
approach to developing effective work relationships.
2. Arrange a time and location to deliver your presentation to the senior
management team.
3. Deliver the presentation to the senior management team. Ensure you deliver
your presentation in accordance with deliverables and quality specifications
outlined below.
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Specifications

You must:
● submit a communications planning portfolio that includes:

o a communications strategy
o a short grievance procedure.
● deliver a 10–15-minute presentation on your proposed communications
strategy.

Your assessor will be looking for evidence of your ability to:

● provide leadership through your own behaviour including professional conduct
that promotes trust with a business audience
● explain how communications systems, policies and procedures can support the
development of effective work relationships
● explain how your communications strategy addresses legislative or regulatory
requirements
● interact with others through:

o building professional trust

o demonstrating high level support and facilitation skills and your ability
to engage and motivate others
● get the work done through:

o taking public responsibility for planning and sequencing complex tasks

to achieve organisational goals
o developing processes and plans for complex communication activities
with strategic importance
o analysing information to inform decisions about organisational
communications strategy
o identifying opportunities for improvement in communications
● develop processes to manage ideas and information including:

o communicating information to support others to achieve work

responsibilities
o facilitating employees’ contributions to consultation on work issues
o providing feedback on the outcomes of consultations
o resolution of issues raised or referral to relevant personnel
● demonstrate writing skills through:

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o researching and preparing plans and policies incorporating appropriate

vocabulary, grammatical structure and conventions.

Candidate: I declare that this work has been completed by

me honestly and with integrity and that I have been
assessed in a fair and flexible manner. I understand that the Signature: ___________________
Institute’s Student Assessment, Reassessment and
Repeating Units of Competency Guidelines apply to these
Date: ____/_____/_____
assessment tasks.

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Appendix 1: Scenario – JKL Industries

JKL Industries overview

JKL Industries is an Australian-owned company, selling forklifts, small trucks and
spare parts to industry. They also have a division that leases forklifts and small
trucks.
The company’s head office is in Sydney and has branches in Brisbane, Melbourne,
Perth, Adelaide and Canberra.

Change
After 12 years in business, focusing on forklifts and small trucks, JKL Industries has
negotiated the sales rights to a range of medium and large trucks from an overseas
supplier. This opportunity will provide JKL Industries with an advantage in range over
its competitors.
Sales results over the past five years have indicated strong growth in forklift and truck
sales, which have averaged 10% sales growth per annum. The rental market has
been in decline for the past three years due to the reduced costs of these vehicles
and some taxation benefits to industries who purchase these vehicles.
Taking the sales rights opportunity will, however, entail some significant changes,
including significant changes to the current organisational structure. The company will
reposition itself to focus solely on retail sales and service and exit the rentals market,
in which forces such as competition and consumer choice reduce potential
profitability.
In accordance with the organisation’s values, JKL Industries intends (to the extent
feasible) to recruit from within the company and up-skill or re-skill existing employees
presently working in rentals who wish to remain with the company.
Given the company’s previous history of employee grievances over pay and
conditions and current plans to restructure, JKL Industries has identified poor
communications and an organisational climate of conflict as a risk to business goals.
Moving forward, the organisation intends to build and maintain a positive
organisational culture, reduce risk and achieve organisational goals through:
● developing an effective policy framework for managing internal communications
and consultation, in accordance with organisational objectives, business ethics,
and compliance requirements
● communicating and building support for organisational initiatives and objectives

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● managing information flow to:

o provide managers and employees with at-hand information to perform

their work responsibilities
o communicate ideas for improvement (top-down and bottom-up)
o facilitate feedback both to and from employees and management on
relevant work performance and outcomes of consultation.

Communication and consultation issues

An internal management review of the organisation has uncovered the following
issues:
● A lack of an overarching approach to information management that helps to
promote common understanding of team goals and organisational values and
to build strategic relationships.
● Slow responses to internal and external customer needs.

● Slow and ineffective communication of and implementation of ideas for

improved processes.
● Ineffective or no use of modern communication technologies and social
platforms.
● Inadequate consultation, resulting in risks to compliance (particularly WHS
consultation requirements) and too little bottom-up information flow from
employees to management. This latter results in poor organisational take-up of
improvement ideas identified by teams and individuals at lower levels of the
organisation and by customer-facing managers and employees.
● Inconsistent application by managers of grievance procedures posing a risk to
employee relations.
● Poor sense of employee engagement, empowerment and accountability for
work performance.
● Poor general awareness of (and therefore poor support of) organisational goals,
ethics, values.

Your role
You are a communications consultant. You have been engaged by JKL Industries to
revise and update strategies and processes to manage communications and
information flow within the organisation.
Note that the senior management team may be resistant to changes to
communication strategies, policies and procedures. In particular, they are concerned
that a new approach to communications may result in a less cohesive organisation.
You will need to ensure your communications strategy and processes address
organisational issues, while using your highly developed interpersonal skills to

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engage and motivate the senior management team to embrace your proposed
changes.

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Business and strategic planning

Mission
JKL Industries is an Australian-owned company selling forklifts, small trucks and
spare parts to industry. We deliver value to customers and investors through our
highly trained, motivated, and expert workforce.
Vision
JKL Industries believes in developing and unlocking the potential of its people to
allow the company to become the leading supplier of forklifts, small, medium and
large trucks in Australia.
Company values
JKL Industries is committed to:
• performance excellence
• value for investors, customers and employees
• personal and professional development
• diversity
• sustainability.
Communications strategy for meeting
A communications strategy, also referred to as a communications plan, is expresses
the goals and methods of an organization's outreach activities, including what an
organization wishes to share with the employee and whom the organization is trying
to reach. A communications strategy should serve as a guide for any employee, media
and public relations activities in which the organization is engaged
Communication Objectives
1. A lack of an overarching approach to information management that helps to
promote common understanding of team goals and organisational values and to build
strategic relationships.
2. Slow responses to internal and external customer needs.
3. Slow and ineffective communication of and implementation of ideas for
improved processes.
Communication Method
I. Meeting- give people multiple opportunities to share concerns, ask questions,
and offer ideas, and make following up with answers and updates a top priority.

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II. Focus group- few people involve, know what results we want, understand how
the people of the organization will respond to change and what information they'll
need. Participation to contribute is important.
III. Staff survey- every organization needs their survey action planning to be
driven from the bottom up. Gathering information for the best purpose of the
organization.
Major communicator
Senior management- Management prepares and executes business plans and policies.
They form organisation objectives to be fulfilled. These activities need to be conveyed
to the entire team for proper working.
Working employees- Employees are the means through which the organisational
needs are achieved. They need to have a proper bottom-up conversation to resolve
their queries.

Methods of communication- The industry needs to make constant communication

with its employees regarding sales services and client’s requirements. The best media
for communication are emails &telephonic.

Email (Electronic mail) Telephonic

 Email is a written form of
communication. It is a formal method, in
which any information/ attachment can be
conveyed within seconds. It is the best
method for the organisation as it would
allow quick and fast communication and
would also reduce time consumption for a
personal talk. 
 It is the fastest and cheapest form of
communication. The organisation must
install intercom at all the levels for
improved conversation (Argenti & P.,
2015).
 

Bottom-up consultation-For effective workplace & employee relation, it is highly

important for bottom-up consultation. Currently, the organisation is facing numerous
consultation issues due to non-adherence of employee’s consultation.

Two provisions

Monthly employee meeting- Meetings and discussions provide opportunities to

employees to place their issues and consultation in front of management. Currently,
the employees are not satisfied with their pay conditions and this causes
dissatisfaction among them. They would provide their reviews such as an increase in
pay etc. Since there would be a direct conversation; management can instantly provide
their feedback.
 

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Constant supervision-A supervisor must be appointed who constantly supervise and

consult with the employees. This supervisor would convey the information to the
management and thus, this mechanism would lead to improved work processes. On
the other hand, the manager would also convey management feedback to the
employees (Danaher & Rossiter, 2011).

Health, safety and rehabilitation policy

The purpose of this policy is to state the organisation’s commitment to reducing and
managing health and safety risks, and delivering workers’ compensation and
rehabilitation and first aid training
This policy applies to all officers, employees and contractors of JKL Industries. In
accordance with legislative requirements, employees must be consulted on health and
safety issues that concern them. Consultation may be direct or
Applicable legislation includes:
• Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (Cwlth)
• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW)
• state health and safety Acts that apply to each branch (check your state’s
legislation)
• Workers’ Compensation Act 1987 (NSW)
• Workplace Injury Management and Workers’ Compensation Act 1988 (NSW).
JKL Industries’ health, safety and rehabilitation policy are displayed in all work
locations.
Workplace harassment, victimization and bullying policy
The purpose of this policy is to underscore the organisation’s commitment to the
elimination of all forms of bullying and harassment in the workplace. All employees
have the right to conduct their work within a fair, supportive, high performance
environment.
Harassment, victimisation and bullying in the workplace are illegal and such actions
are not tolerated by JKL Industries.
Staff members found to be harassing or bullying other members of staff or customers
will face disciplinary action ranging from counselling and performance management
to summary dismissal.
This policy applies to all officers, employees and contractors of JKL Industries.
Relevant legislation may include, but is not limited to:
• Disability Discrimination Act 1992
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• Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 (Cwth)

• Racial Discrimination Act 1975
• Sex Discrimination Act 1984
• Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW).
Anti-discrimination and equal opportunity policy
The purpose of this policy is to underscore the organisation’s commitment to the fair
treatment of all personnel and customers.
JKL Industries values the diversity of its team, clients and communities and respects
the rights of individuals and groups to operate in an environment free of
discrimination. Access and equity (diversity and anti-discrimination) is fundamental to
the operations of JKL Industries. It is embedded in policies, practices and forward
planning. JKL recognises the importance of diversity in achieving our vision.
JKL Industries understands the business environment and actively assists customers to
reach their optimum potential. Our primary objective is to be solution-oriented and
focused on customer needs. JKL recognises that valuing diversity is pivotal to
achieving its vision.
A welcoming, supportive environment will be provided leading to positive learning
and employment, and individuals having the opportunity to reach their optimum
potential.
At JKL Industries, anyone engaged in employment or the provision or receipt of
training and/or services has the right to operate in an environment that is free from
discrimination on the grounds of the following 19 characteristics:
• age
• breastfeeding
• employment activity
• gender identity
• impairment or disability
• industrial activity (complaint about conditions/safety or trade union action)
• irrelevant medical or criminal record
• lawful sexual activity
• marital status
• parental or career status
• physical features
• political belief or activity

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• pregnancy
• race
• religious belief or activity
• sex
• sexuality
• social origin or migration status
• personal association with someone who has, or is assumed to have, any of the
above characteristics.
Procedures are in place for handling any grievances, including complaints of
discrimination, unfair treatment or harassment. Complaints will be taken seriously and
every effort will be made to resolve them quickly, impartially, empathically and with
appropriate confidentiality. Victimisation of complainants and witnesses is illegal.
Complaints may also be lodged with a relevant government agency or regulatory
body.
This policy applies to all officers, employees and contractors of JKL Industries.
Relevant legislation may include, but is not limited to:
• Disability Discrimination Act 1992
• Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 (Cwth)
Grievance policy
Grievance refers to a formal complaint regarding any dissatisfaction event. In an
organisation, it is common for the employees to have grievance or dissatisfaction
regarding any business change or business policy. Therefore, it is indeed necessary for
setting up of a grievance procedure for effective employee relations and for better
workplace atmosphere. The organisation can follow up, the following grievance
policy.
1. Formulation of standard grievance submission form.
2. Setting up of a time period for submission of the grievance form by the aggrieved
employee.
3. Any unsatisfied employee, who is unhappy with any policy, can provide a written
grievance through the form to the head of the department, within the time limit.
4. The department, then shall call up a meeting between the aggrieved and the
management to resolve the matter.
5. The final decision must be submitted in a written form to the aggrieved employee
and with the head of the department as well 

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JKL Industries supports the right of every employee to lodge a grievance with their
manager if they believe a decision, behavior or action affecting their employment is
unfair. An employee may raise a grievance about any performance improvement
action taken against them.
Management and employees of JKL Industries should follow the principle that
disputes should be addressed at the lowest possible level and should not be escalated
either within JKL or to outside bodies until all reasonable avenues for resolution have
been explored.
Relevant legislation may include, but is not limited to:
• Privacy Act 1988
• anti-discrimination legislation.

Part B: Presentation to the senior management team

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JKL industry is an Australian owned industry. The organisation primarily deals in

selling small trucks, forklifts, and spare parts. The organisation is going through a big
change in its business plan. The organisation has planned for selling a new range of
medium and large trucks through overseas suppliers and closure of rental sector as it
has been incurring continuous losses. New business objectives have to be laid down
but currently, organisation is facing improper communication channels. This is the
biggest hindrance in the path of success.

The current organisation goal could be achieved through enhanced effective

communication channel. Currently, the organisation has not executed any of the
modern communication tools. With the advancement of technology, communication
has become simpler through various tools and techniques such as emails, telephones,
the internet, direct communication through teleconferencing etc. These are faster and

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effective means of communication. The organisation could use these for improving
the flow of conversation.

The benefits of communication are numerous. Constant communication eliminates

any form of misleading or misguidance in the workplace. JKL is planning new
business plan. Thus, it highly needs to improvise its channels for proper flow of
information. The organisation can improvise its emails and intercom facility for
improved conversation. These techniques are faster and cheaper.

JKL industry has been working for the past 12 years in the field of retail services of
small trucks and spare part and leasing business. In order to increase, business
profitability and revenue, the organisation plans for a new venture into retail sale of
large and medium trucks. New business objectives can be fulfilled through improved
means of communication and better workplace relations. The JKL is on the verge of

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change and changes are resisted in everywhere. Therefore, it needs to implement

strategies to facilitate changes in the workplace.

The major organisation needs are to implement effective communication tool for
better internal communication. Internal communication refers to communication
within an organisation for conveying formal information among employees. It is vital
for achieving organisation goal. Currently, JKL wants to beat its competitors through
its objectives. This could be achieved if the organisation focuses on the improved
workplace relations and employee’s relations through effective communication tools
and techniques.

For better workplace relations & proper employee’s relations, various external
regulations are formed with a view to understand the need of employees and to
maintain stability in the employer-employee relationship. The external regulations
who pose regulations in Australia are WHS (Workplace health & safety)

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consultations, industrial relations, and varied anti-discrimination laws. WHS is

primarily responsible for safety regulations at the workplace. Anti-discrimination laws
are formed for analysing any form of discrimination in respect of race, religion, sex,
and color among employees.

Business ethics refers to morale operations in an organisation between employer-

employee relationships.  Workplace relations could be better only through proper
ethical conduct on the part of employer and employee. As an employer, he/ she needs
to be fair for payment of wages to all its employees, must be loyal in providing equal
job opportunities to all the employees. Further, it is the responsibility of the employer,
to provide a proper grievance mechanism for addressing and resolving employee’s
grievances.

The employee also needs, to be honest and loyal towards employer and the
organization. The employee must be true and fair in its working and be responsible for

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all kinds of work provided to them. Any relationship can be built over through trust
and reliability which can be achieved by not talking rubbish or spreading rumors
about the organisation. Further, an employee should also contribute in resolving
organisation conflicts. Thus, it can lead to better workplace relations.

For effective communication implementation in the organisation, it is important to

have proper communication in the organisation. Communication can be improved
through the installation of emails systems and intercoms in the organisation. These
will have the employees in direct conversation between an employee and employer.
These are also quite fast and reliable. The major audience in the communication
channel is management, individual employees of the different department. These are
required to have a constant flow of conversation for better deals and sales.

JKL is facing the huge issue in a bottom up a conversation. The employees on their
part are unable to convey their information to the management. There are various

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mechanisms which are useful for bottom-up process. Bottom-up process leads to
sharing of employee’s information to the above level. This creates a sense of
satisfaction and teamwork among employees. Further, any employee grievance can
also be resolved through these processes.

Examples are monthly meeting with the direct head department. Employees can
convey their information, issues or grievance to direct their head, which can further
convey the information to the management. It is useful as it happens at certain regular
intervals. Second, best method is direct communication with the supervisor. This
supervisor can resolve issues and will also convey information to the
management head.

JKL industries will be highly benefitted due to effective communication channels.

Effective communication will improve workplace relations and employee’s relations
through the proper flow of communication and elimination of misleading statements.

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The organisation can improve its sales and purchase by having a direct conversation
with its employees and can increase its profitability.

Finally, it can be concluded that for an organisation improved workplace relations and
employee relation is highly important for achieving overall organisational goals.
Effective communication channels, proper business ethical relations, grievances
procedures etc all helps in increasing employee relations and leads to retention of
employees and staff in the organisation.

Continuing from the last slide, communication means such as emails, the internet,
telephone etc. helps in faster and reliable business communication. Therefore, these
must be installed by the JKL industry for achieving the new business objectives and
goals. Further, it should also hold proper grievance mechanism for resolving
employee’s issues and grievances. Thus, an organisation can lead to better employee
relations and better workplace relation.

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