TASK 1- Case Study Upgrade City Mall and Streetscape The council of a large provincial city has developed a 15-year plan to upgrade the citys mall and streetscape. The council is in the early stages of preparing a long-term plan for the work. The vision for the upgrade is to create a village atmosphere with boutique and specialty shops. Information has already been collected from two sources. The first source was a survey of more than 300 people. The survey findings indicated that the City Centre would benefit from public art, outdoor events, market stalls, free wi-fi access and better lighting. The second source was a half-day workshop with the City Council Building and Planning staff. The findings indicated that the City Centre has the potential for an open-air cinema, live music, an art gallery, alfresco cafes and restaurants. Sam, a member of the Building and Planning Department, has the task of collecting more information for the Building and Planning officers. Sams manager requires him to:

a. Collect and assess useful information for Building and Planning officers to analyse and evaluate. The manager states, The right information from the right people must be gathered because Building and Planning officers conclusions and recommendations will be made on the basis of the information.

b. Organise the information once it is collected so that the Building and Planning officers can readily acquire what they need.

c. Check to ensure that the information he is providing meets the requirements of the Building and Planning officers.

Questions 1. Suggest the appropriate sources of useful information.

2. Brainstorm a list of information collection methods. 3. Choose from your list the best methods of information collection for the councils purpose. Give reasons for your choice.

4. Develop a plan of action for Sam to use as he collects the information. In the plan, identify the information collection methods and time lines.

5. Decide how Sam should organise the information for presentation to his manager.

6. Why should Sam actively seek feedback on the clarity, accuracy and sufficiency of information from his manager and team members?

TASK 2 Case study Whats Missing at Meadow Meats? Jules worked at Meadow Meats, a smallgoods processing company. His friend Ally worked for a company that was in direct competition with Meadow Meats. At Allys workplace, employees were given access to a range of competency standards developed by the smallgoods processing industry. This allowed them to check their own work practices against the expected national standard. When Ally told Jules about this, he expressed surprise and said that he didnt even know published national standards existed. What do you use at work to measure your competence? Ally asked. Nothing that I know of. We all just turn up, do our job and go home. I guess the managers would tell us if we werent doing what we were supposed to do, replied Jules. This got Jules thinking. None of the managers ever gave any feedback to him and his colleagues so he really wasnt sure if he was performing well in his job or not. As for published standards, national or otherwise, if they did exist at Meadow Meats, it certainly wasnt common knowledge.

Questions 1. Brainstorm and list the advantages for Meadow Meats of doing a job analysis for each position within the company before having staff undertake the training and career development.

2. Suggest measures that management at Meadow Meats could take to assist employees to monitor their own work performance.

3. How could Jules gather feedback on his own performance at work and assess his own skills?

4. Describe how communication is critical to developing competence in the workplace from both Jules and the Meadow Meats managers points of view.

5. Should Meadow Meats facilitate professional development of its staff? Give reasons for your answer.