Project Action Plan: Recruitment Of Sales Team For Australian Hardware Organization

You have been asked by the CEO of Australian Hardware to recruit a sales team at Wollongong Store in view of declining sales reflected in the current sales report presented by Lynn Lee (Finance Manager Wollongong)

You need to prepare and submit a project plan for approval in response to the request detailing your strategy, budget requirements, timeframe, number of staff to be recruited with job specifications. You will be assisted by Jason and Mary from the administrative team at Wollongong.

Instructions: You need to read the scenario given above carefully and access simulated workplace documents of “Australian Hardware” using a web link given below You must review the following documents available on Australian Hardware intranet

• Vision and Mission statements
• Organisational Chart
• Marketing Plan
• Recruitment policy & principles Procedure

1. Develop the project proposal. Read the information in scenario carefully and prepare a project proposal.
2. Obtain approval: You need to complete the project and submit it to your assessor for approval. You must obtain signed approval for your proposal from your assessor before you proceed with your project.
3. Identify team objectives
   You need to identify your team objectives for this project. Prepare minutes of meeting with an agenda to debrief your team about the project, set roles and responsibilities.
4. Gap analysis

You also need to write a procedure to conduct skills gap analysis on your team members.  

• Develop individual performance plans
  Develop a performance plan with each of your team members to address skills gaps. This performance plan must be implemented in the second stage of the project.

• Fill the gap analysis template provided with the assessment.

  Fill the individual performance plan template provided with the assessment. You need to fill two of these, one for each member.

• Communicate to resolve issues

List out possible communication issues and methods to resolve them through a clearly defined communication plan.

• Submit to assessor
  This Assessment Task must be completed in full and submitted to the assessor by the agreed date before you can proceed to the second assessment task. You will be assessed against performance objectives mentioned in this assessment task. Before you submit your work to Assessor, check to include the following
• Outcomes include:

1. project proposal
2. notes from team meeting identifying roles and responsibilities of team members
3. a gap analysis for each team member
4. an individual project plan for each team member (signed by team leader and team member). 

Note: templates are attached to guide you. The assessor will be looking for the following. A project outline that includes:

1. 1. description of project
   2. proposed method
   3. goals/KPIs.
2. Gap analysis.
3. A meeting you have scheduled where you are prepared to discuss your goal and work to clarify the steps you intend to take to get there.
4. The tools you have used to help you identify this need, surveys you have developed or any data you have gathered that proves you have a need.
5. Performance management plan/s.

Project action plan Project Name  

 Recruitment of sales team for Australian Hardware organization

Brief Description  

 The organization “Australian Hardware” which is one of the best provider of quality hardware as well as building materials analyzes that their sales is declining. In order to resolve this issue, the organization wants to recruit sales team within the Wollongong store.

Project Specifications  

 The project specification includes: Copies of resume notepad Questions Pen References Contact information  

Project objective Actions to be taken Resources required Cost (if any) Timeframe Who is Responsible? Start Date Finish Date 1

 Development of project proposal

 Developing proposal

 Human resource

$1000

1/4/18

3/4/18

Project manager

2 Obtaining approval

Getting approval from higher authority

 Human resource

$1200

4/4/18

7/4/18

Project manager and senior manager

3 Development of project team

Making proper team

Human resource

$2000

9/4/18

13/4/18

 Project manager

4Conducting gap analysis  

Conducting gap analysis after analyzing

Financial and human resource

$3000

14/4/18

18/4/18

Project manager, senior manager

5 Developing performance plans

Creating project performance plans

Financial and human resource

$2500

20/4/18

24/4/18

Hr. manager

6 Development of communication plan for resolving issues

 Creating communication plan

Financial and human resource

$4000

25/4/18

28/4/18

 Hr. manager

7  Providing candidate with proper information

Providing information about the company background, roles and more.

Human resource

$3000

29/4/18

3/5/18

Hr. manager

8 Preparing for interview  

 Making proper preparation from interview

Financial and human resource

$5000

4/5/18

7/5/18

Interviewer

9 Asking questions  

 Asking proper questions

Human resource

$1000

9/5/18

13/5/18

interviewer

10

Describing next steps

Describing the next steps of joining after the interview

Human resource

$1200

14/5/18

17/5/18

 Hr. manager, senior manager

11 Closing interviews  

 Interview closure

Human resource

$1500

20/5/18

21/5/18

Hr. manager

12 Reflecting on the interview 

 Proper reflection on the interview

Human resource

$2000

22/5/18

24/5/18

Senior manag

Meeting minutes 1  

Meeting Purpose:   To resolve the issues that organization is facing before the implementation of the project.                                                                      Date:    

30/3/18                Time: 12p.m

Attendance: All the team members are required to be present.

Apologies: Apologizing for the problems that occur before the project implementation;

Key Issues discussed

Summary of Discussion

Actions Planned & Responsibilities assigned

 Issues in estimating budget  The project manager faces complexities in accurate budget estimation. Undertakes market analysis for getting idea about the cost of various resources;Problem in hiring stakeholders  The qualities of the team members does not matched with the need of the organization.The organization must advertise by mentioning the field in which they are hiring. Problem in getting approval The project manager is not ready for the project.

The problem is mitigated by reflecting the benefits that can be achieved after hiring sales team. Problem in creating schedule for the project  Improper knowledge in schedule and task management;Experienced project managers must be hired Issues associated with making questions for employees  Proper questions are not made for the interview as the interviews does not have knowledge what to ask. Proper pattern of question must be developed by discussing with senior manager before the interview.

Brief Description

 Analyzing  issues that are related with sales decline  The issues are not analyzed due to improper experienced.Experienced sales leader or manager needs to be hired. Problems in conducting gap analysis  Due to insufficient skills in analyzing.The skills related with analysis must be enhanced so that proper decision can be made.Facing challenges in making project management plan Due to improper knowledge of the project managers.

Skilled as well as experienced project managers must be hired within the project team.Summary of outcomes: The issues as well as challenges that is associated with the pre-implementation of the project can be resolved quite easily by taking appropriate mitigation strategies or steps.Next Meeting  scheduled on: 20/4/18

Meeting minutes 2

Meeting Purpose:   The meeting purpose is to resolve issues and challenges that are associated with implementation of the project that is sales team recruitment.                                                                                      Date:     20/4/18                Time: 12 p.m.

Attendance: 90% is minimum required during the meeting.Apologies: The project manager apologizes for the problems or complexities that occur within the project.

Key Issues discussed

Summary of Discussion

Actions Planned & Responsibilities assigned

 General inconsistency  Accidentally interview inconsistencies are allowed for filtering the procedure Putting scoring system for accessing fairly;Interviewer bias  The interviewer is biased by some of trait or characteristics of the candidates  Hosting panel interview would be helpful. Interview fatigue It generally causes sabotage of the entire interview process.

 Proper scheduling of breaks between the different interviews;Snap judgements  Snap judgements creates number of issues. It is quite necessary to bring someone within the interview for avoiding snap judgements.Lack of follow up  If proper follow up is not taken then the managers faces problems in recruiting the sales team.

 The problem can be resolved by keeping successful candidates within the loop Summary of outcomes: The problems that are associated with the recruitment of the sales team are mitigated successfully by taking appropriate steps as well as strategies within the project.Next Meeting  scheduled on: 27/4/18

Meeting minutes 3 

Meeting Purpose:  The meeting is mainly arranged in order to discuss the issues that occurred after hiring the sales team.                                                        Date: 27/4/18                Time: 12 p.m. Attendance: 95% attendance is required.Apologies: The project manager apologizes for the challenges as well as complexities that occurred within the project.

Key Issues discussed

Summary of Discussion

Actions Planned & Responsibilities assigned

 Improper performance of the people hired  The candidates that re hired are not able to perform properly. Proper training facility must be provided.Lack of training facilityDue to lack of training the candidates faces difficulty in working.Appropriate quality of training must be given.Lack of knowledge about sales within the candidates  Due to lack of knowledge they are facing complexities.

Project Specifications

Proper manuals must be shared with the new candidates including strategies of sales and marketing.Candidates are slow learner  The candidates are acing difficulty in learning fast.Other additional facility like audio and video learning procedure should be provided. Faces communication problemThe faces issues in communicating with other members.

Proper arrangement of meetings are helpful.Issues in coordinating with other members  They generally faces issues in coordinating with other membersThe issues must be resolved by taking regularly with them Summary of outcomes:  The challenges or complexities that occurred after the project implementation is mainly mitigated by utilizing proper steps as well as strategies.Next Meeting  scheduled on: 3/5/18 

Work Instructions

Department: Sales Approved By: Project manager  Date:27/04/18 Team member Responsibilities 

Jason Jason work as a trainer head and thus he provide proper training facility to the candidates so that they can work effectively and can be able to perform for enhancing the sales of the organization “Australian Hardware:.

Mary Mary work as a trainer assistant and thus responsible of utilizing information system or database for entering data as well as producing reports on various types of training statistics.Step Action Description Responsible 

1Undertaking conferences Conferences play a great role for networking however, they also helps in allowing team to learn for various proven leaders.Jason

2 Database ad wikis  Having proper self-serve availability of resources helps the team in teaching Mary

3 Utilizing empathy while providing training  Utilization of empathy is required for teaching your team how to become a problem solver.Jason

4 Crafting scrips The scripts are crafted and stored for dealing with objections from the team members Mary

5Utilizing e-learning E-learning method is utilized for educating the candidates about the various strategies of sales.Jason

6 Field trained and giving feedback Proper training on sales given and as per their performance during the period of training, proper feedback must be provided.

7 Sharing success stories Sharing success stories is useful for them to perform well. 

Notes: Proper training is provided to the team members so that the newly recruited candidates can perform well and can be able to enhance the sales of the organization “Australian Hardware”. 

Team Member:                 Jason                                     Signature:                                           Date: 27-4-18

Team Leader:                    Mary                                   Signature:                                            Date:  27-4-18

 References

Calvo-Mora, A., Navarro-García, A. and Periañez-Cristobal, R., 2015. Project to improve knowledge management and key business results through the EFQM excellence model. International Journal of Project Management, 33(8), pp.1638-1651.

Costantino, F., Di Gravio, G. and Nonino, F., 2015. Project selection in project portfolio management: An artificial neural network model based on critical success factors. International Journal of Project Management, 33(8), pp.1744-1754.

Hornstein, H.A., 2015. The integration of project management and organizational change management is now a necessity. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2), pp.291-298.

Hurley, J.S., 2017. Engagement Strategies for Catalyzing IT Sales Team Performance in Asia (Doctoral dissertation, Walden University).

Johnston, M.W. and Marshall, G.W., 2016. Sales force management: Leadership, innovation, technology. Routledge.

Russell, C. and Bennett, N., 2015. Big data and talent management: Using hard data to make the soft stuff easy. Business Horizons, 58(3), pp.237-242.

Snyder, C.S., 2014. A guide to the project management body of knowledge: PMBOK (®) guide. Project Management Institute: Newtown Square, PA, USA.

Student Workbook 2011, BSBWOR502B, Ensure team effectiveness, Innovations and Business Industry Council, Australia