Question 11 pts

Regardless of the industry sector they are in, all managers have a set of general functions they
perform. For each of the following categories, describe two functions that managers are
responsible for.
a) Planning and organising

b) Informing

c) Staffing

d) Leading

e) Controlling or monitoring

a) Planning and organising

1. Define goals and objectives and establish strategies to achieve them.

2. Ensuring that the right people with right skills and resources are available when needed.

b) Informing

1. Communicating marketing information and sale targets that need to be acheived.

2. Providing information and reasoning to staff regarding certain management decisions.

Especially if it involves a change to current practice.

c) Staffing

1. Induction and training.

2. Recruitment and selection.

d) Leading

1. Motivating employees to acheive organisational goals.

2. Delegating duties and providing direction.

e) Controlling or Monitoring

1. Providing feedback to employees regarding their work performance.

2. Compare actual performance with the expected and make adjustments or corrections when
necessary.

Question 21 pts
Although some leaders may not be employed in management positions, ALL managers
should possess leadership qualities. List the five key leadership roles and responsibilities that
both leaders and managers should fulfil.

Planning & Organising

Informing

Staffing

Leading

Controlling/Monitoring

Question 31 pts
Providing quality customer service is a major component of any service-orientated business’s
quality assurance scheme. List at least one technique you can use for each characteristic to
manage and support organisational quality customer service goals.

a) Quality culture – Create team spirit by motivating staff to help each other achieve
customer service outcomes. Motivate them to help identify and solve problems together.

b) Quality systems and processes – Using streamlined and standardised systems and
processes help reduce any mistakes or variations from the established norm and ensures that
you can reliably and consistently produce quality service.

c) Quality service – Familiarise employees with the company mission statement and ensure
that they have clearly defined roles that are aligned with KPIs. Provide regular standardised
training to employees in order to maintain continuous improvement.

d) Quality product – Regularly monitor product quality using specific systems and processes
as well as quantitative and qualitative tools. For example smell, colour taste of the dish before
serving it to a customer.

e) Quality monitoring – Consistently measure performance, productivity and quality and

compare the figures with other departments or organisations. Using that information make
continuous improvements throughout all levels of the organisation.

f) Quality relationships – Build relationships with your internal and external customers to
develop better ways of meeting customer needs.
g) Value for money – Systematically provide extras to increase the perceived value of
products and services. For example Guarantees, Loyalty vouchers, Complimentary items,
Quality assurance.

Question 41 pts
Give two examples of standard operating procedures that support work operations for each of
these areas.

a) Administration - 1. New employee Inductions

2. Leave requests

b) Health & Safety - 1. Emergency procedures Fire evacuation plan

2. Manual handling procedures

c) Service Standards - 1. Personal Presentation standards

2. Handling VIP guests

d) Technology - 1. Using relevant Software

2. Use of social media at work

e) Work Practices - 1. Cleaning Procedures

2. Performing a Stocktake

f) Human resources - 1. Recruitment Procedures

2. Training Procedures

Question 51 pts
List two formal and two informal methods to monitor efficiency and service levels in day-to-
day operations.

Formal

1. Reports eg: Financial reports, Customer feedback reports

2. Checklists eg: HACCP plans, Cleaning schedules

Informal
1. Observation eg: Walking around and chatting to staff and seeing if customers seem
satisfied.

2. Employee Feedback eg: Talking to staff during quiet times and getting information.

Question 61 pts
If you want employees to ‘buy in’ or feel a sense of ownership over their work, then involve
them in decision-making and continuous improvement processes as much as possible.
Describe three ways you can consult with colleagues and proactively seek opportunities to
improve efficiency and service levels, including potential for new technologies and other
innovations.

1. Have an open door policy. Being approachable to staff so that they can come to you
with problems or queries. Have a positive attitude and be open to new ideas.
2. Have a suggestion box. An ideas area on the intranet or a physical box in the
staffroom where employees can note their suggestions for improvement.
3. Allocate research projects. Have a small team of employees research new ideas,
technology and equipment that can be used to solve a workplace problem.

Question 71 pts
Following HACCP plans involve checking food temperatures, recording preparation and
storage times, and performing visual checks for spoilage and damage. Describe what
adjustments to procedures and systems might need to be made if quality problems are
noticed.

If quality problems are noticed food might have to be thrown out, returned to supplier,
cooked further or any other number of corrections depending on what problems are noticed.

Corrective actions can include amending systems and SOPs, providing coaching and training
to employees and reviewing KPI targets.

Any corrective action should be done in line with the organisations goals, policies and with
the approval of appropriate management.

Question 81 pts
You work for a hospitality business that specialises in running quality outdoor functions and
events. You promote yourself as an environmentally friendly service provider. What should
you look for when examining day-to-day operations for opportunities to improve the
conservation of resources and the handling of waste? Give three examples.

1. Look for ways to reduce the use of non-renewable resources. For example using
energy saving globes or using solar power instead of using a generator or using power
lines.
2. Look at ways to reduce water consumption or using recycle water when possible. For
example installing water saving devices.
 3. Identify ways to minimise waste, reuse or recycle waste. For example using compost
bins.

Question 91 pts
You are a frontline manager in one section of your workplace or training environment. List
five operational efficiencies you can use to support the financial sustainability of the business
in day-to-day operations?

1. Investigate innovative technology and equipment that can offer long term value.
2. Streamline systems and procedures to improve efficiency and effectiveness in
delivery of products and service.
3. Ensure employees are well trained and have the right skills and qualifications to
perform their job efficiently and effectively.
4. Clearly defined KPIs that are aligned with the business’ goals.
5. Equipment and Technology is regularly checked and well maintained.

Question 101 pts

Describe three ways you, as a frontline manager, can improve social sustainability in your
day-to-day operations.

1. Ensure that the rosters are fair and equitable and the pay conditions of the employees
are clearly understood and applied uniformly.
2. Embrace a diverse workforce. Ensure that there is no bias or discrimination when
hiring and promoting employees.
3. Have a code of conduct that is applied across the organisation which can include how
workers should engage with each other fairly and professionally.

Question 111 pts

While a lot of feedback is done informally through face-to-face discussion, at times it is
necessary to collect or give formal feedback to colleagues and management. Describe how
each of these formal feedback methods can be used to inform future planning

a) Performance appraisals – Employees are given an opportunity to review their own

performance and get feedback from their immediate manger. This can be done once or twice
a year. 360-degree feedback is when other team members, departments, higher management,
customer feedback and supplier feedback is included.

b) KPI results – This is when you track, record and evaluate progress towards the
achievement of KPI targets. Daily, Weekly or Monthly results are tracked and reviewed by
the team and reported to senior management.

c) Meetings – Team meetings can be used to provide feedback as well as seek feedback.
There are different types of meetings that different organisations use. Meetings can often be
used to represent the interest of the team to the wider environment.
d) Reports – Progress reports are a tool that front line managers use to provide information to
senior management and often include KPI results, Financial and Statistical data and
Innovation ideas.

Question 121 pts

List five questions you should ask yourself when evaluating opportunities and ideas to
innovate, current and emerging industry trends and improve work practices.
1. What are the potential positives and the negatives of the idea.
2. Is there a potential legal liability
3. Who will be affected by the decision
4. What will the costs be
5. How does it benefit the customer

Question 131 pts

As a frontline manager, it is up to you to assist your staff in managing their workloads and
time and to role-model this.

Part a)

1. Use technology to get organised. Example: Diaries, planners, rostering systems,

calendars.
2. Prioritise. Ask yourself what is really important to the outcomes of the business in
your To-do list and do the most important first. Numbering system 1 for urgent, 2 for
important and 3 for non-urgent.
3. Handle it only once. Decide if the you want to action, delegate, delete or file.

Part b)

1. Have employees keep a log of their work day so that they can identify where they
might be wasting time.
2. Make sure that they have technology tools to plan and organise their days and have
the knowledge on how to use them.
3. Have employees participate in setting SMART goals or KPI targets. This will provide
them with more ownership of their work and help them keep focus on what work
activities are really important.
4. Give employees information on different time management strategies mentioned in
part a) and how they can use it to better manage their time.

Question 141 pts

It is your duty of care as a frontline manager to ensure systems and procedures meet work
health and safety requirements. Describe three things you can do to protect employees from
physical as well as psychological harm.
 1. Have clear job descriptions, and procedures and standards. Train
employees against these. Keep training plan records.
2. Check that employees are competent and skilled in all areas of their
job. This might involve undertaking an annual ‘training needs
analysis’ to identify gaps in performance.
3. Ensure that employees take their scheduled breaks.

Question 151 pts

Pay and terms and conditions of employment can be found in the award or enterprise
agreement (or minimum pay standards) your organisation complies with. What are the eleven
minimum NES requirements that an award or agreement must adhere to?

1. Employers must provide a copy of the Fair Work Information Statement (FWIS) to all new
employees.

2. Maximum weekly hours of 38 for full-time workers, plus reasonable additional hours.

3. Requests for flexible working arrangements. Parents/Carers can request change to working
arrangements to care for children not yet at school, or under 18 with a disability.

4. Parental leave and related entitlements; up to 12 months unpaid leave and the right to
request another 12 months.

5. Annual leave which allows the employee to have time off work while being paid.

6. Personal/carer’s leave and compassionate leave; this includes sick leave and bereavement
leave; it also includes up to five days of unpaid leave for family and domestic violence.

7. Community service leave; this includes jury service and voluntary emergency work leave.

8. Long service leave.

9. Public holidays.

10. Notice of termination and redundancy.

11. ‘Casual conversation’, which states that casual employees should have a pathway to
become a permanent employee.

Question 161 pts

Outline the three steps involved in assessing employee workloads and briefly describe them.

Step 1 Calculate Productivity

Analyse jobs using statistical, quantifiable methods to determine the amount of work
expected by an employee on a given shift, week or month based on a productivity and/or
service rate such as how many customers can be served by an employee or team per hour,
how many rooms can be cleaned per shift.

Step 2 Calcualte Employees

How many employees are required to manage workloads using a scientific or quantifiable
method of calcualtion.

Step 3 Predict Demand

Use methods such as historic trends, future bookings, discount promotions or marketing
campaigns, external factors like changing social trends, government policyt changes etc. to
predict the demand for your products and services and adjust employee numbers, as required.
Predictions are an educated guess. While it may not be hundred percent accurate regular
planning gives you a better chance of being adequately staffed.

Question 171 pts

Describe the principles and techniques for each step of effective delegation.
a) Step 1: Decide what to delegate

b) Step 2: Decide who to delegate to

c) Step 3: Delegate

d) Step 4: Gain commitment and inform others

e) Step 5: Monitor results and regularly report feedback without interfering

a) Step 1: Decide what to delegate

You have to make a delegation plan with a list of tasks that you think could be delegated.
These tasks should be things that will help with employee development and their
understanding of their job role. Involving employees in planning the tasks increases their
commitment as well as gives ownership to the work they perform. It is important to not only
delegate tasks that you dont enjoy doing yourself or tasks that are confidential.

b) Step 2: Decide who to delegate to

Select employees who are skilled and want to learn more and take on new challenges. Ideally
someone who is willing and able, with some training, to perform the work.

c) Step 3: Delegate

Clearly communicate what needs to be done to complete the task, why its being delegated
and provide training to the selected employees. Explain what outcomes are expected, the
quality and standard and completion time. Provide information on where they can get further
support if needed.

d) Step 4: Gain commitment and inform others

Get confirmation from the employees that they are committed and responsible for the
completion of the tasks that have been delegated to them. In order to avoid any conflicts or
misunderstandings ensure that you inform co-workers, other managers or departments that
the employee has authority to complete delegated tasks.

e) Step 5: Monitor results and regularly report feedback without interfering

Set up regular reporting meetings as checkpoints so that the employee can provide progress
updates and you will be able to provide contructive feedback. It is important to ensure that
you dont over supervise as trusting the employee to do the job will gain a better commitment
from them and make them more comfortable and confident to perform well.

Question 181 pts

Gantt charts are one of the most commonly used project management tools. Describe how a
Gantt chart is used to plan, assess and monitor workflow and progress against agreed
objectives and timelines.

Question 191 pts

List three ways that you can use coaching and feedback to help colleagues prioritise their
workload and meet set timeframes.

1. Encourage employees to assess their workload at the beginning of the day so that they can
prioritise tasks.

2. Train employees to use different tools that help with time management and productivity.

3. Delegate and assign work to colleagues based on their strengths. This helps with
completing tasks quicker by reducing learning curves associated with different tasks.

Question 201 pts

What are two examples of information you might need to provide to management when
discussing your staffing needs?

 Request changes to the labour budget should you think it’s not
a fair reflection of your staffing needs.
 Request new employees. This usually requires a formal
process of completing a ‘new employee requisition’ form and
having it approved by senior management.
 Seek permission to implement new training programs.
 Request equipment and technology that will improve work
processes.

1. Equipment maintenance records and information on current technology used. When

requesting new equipement and technology that will improve work processes.

2. Training records of employees. When seeking approval to introduce new training programs
to increase productivity.

Question 211 pts

Describe one tactic you can use to monitor team and individual performance against agreed
goals and objectives.
You can use Team or one on one meetings to monitor team and individual performance against
agreed goals and objectives. This will help you track performance and understand individual and
team struggles and roadblocks. You can empower the team to use self monitoring tools to help them
keep track of their performance. Such as checklists, reporting to their supervisor or checking their
progress against the overall plan. It is also important to verify the performance of team members
with colleagues, supervisors and customers. However you must ensure that you are receiving
feedback about the performance of the individual and not about the person. You should not soley
rely on this method to monitor performance.

Question 221 pts

As a frontline manager it’s your role to share information, knowledge and experiences with
team members. What is an effective way of communicating and tracking progress once team
goals and targets have been set? Give two examples of how this can be achieved.

An effective way of communicating and tracking progress is to display results in a common

areas. This allows not only the team but the rest of the organisatin to see the progress of the
team and their goals.

Examples: notice boards in staffroom, on the company intranet

Question 231 pts
Describe two ways you can challenge and test ideas within your team in a way that promotes
innovation and new ideas that help the business maintain a competitive edge.

1. Create an organisational culture that is collaborative and open to positive communication.

Create an environment where team members feel free to express their ideas without the fear
of being judged and criticised.

2. Cultivate teamwork and respect. Be open to new ideas within the team culture and
encourage open collaboration with other team members to identify pros and cons of new
ideas.

Question 241 pts

A key element of providing on-the-job coaching is clearly demonstrating skills. Describe
each step in the demonstration process.

a) Introduce the task - A short introduction explaining the objective of the coaching session.

b) Demonstrate at normal speed - Demontrate the task without explanation. The employee
gets a complete picture of the competent performance.

c) Demonstrate slowly - Verbally break down each step involved in the task. Verablly
highlight any safety issues and quality standards that must be adhered to.

d) Employee demonstrates - Observe the employee attempt the task on their own. Where
necessary remind the employee of the steps, safety issues and standards.

e) Provide feedback - Have the employee repeat perform the task under your supervision and
provide encouragement and contructive feedback.

Question 251 pts

As a frontline manager you need to complete, maintain and submit workplace records
concerning your staff. What type of workplace records could you be required to keep?
Identify at least three.

1. Daily checklists showing duties completed.

2. Incident register and reports.

3. Receipt of Goods.

4. Equipement maintenance records.

5. Warnings, documentation of written and verbal warnings.

Question 261 pts
List four typical workplace problems you might have to identify, analyse and resolve as a
frontline manager.

1. Delays and time difficulties.

2. Difficult customer service situations.

3. Equipment breakdown or technical failure.

4. Inadequate financial resources.

Question 271 pts

Problem-solving uses a range of critical thinking skills. These can include observation,
interpretation, analysis and evaluation. List the critical thinking skills for each problem-
solving step.
a) Step 1: Define the problem – Determine root cause

b) Step 2: Generate alternatives – Brainstorm ideas with colleagues

c) Step 3: Evaluate and select alternatives – Analyse and decide best option

d) Step 4: Implement solutions – Clearly communicate the action

e) Step 5: Follow up and evaluate results – Monitor the implementation

a) Step 1 - Determine root cause of the problem. Prioritise what needs to be solved first and
what information is more important. Consider short and long-term impact of the problem.

b) Step 2 - Interpret the information and data. Brainstorm ideas with colleagues. Identify
sources of assistance from within the organisation as well as externally.

c) Step 3 - Analyse different options. What are the positives and negatives? How do they
affect everyone involved? How do you decide the best option? Consult with colleagues to
decide on the best option.

d) Step 4 - Put an action plan in place to implement the solution and clearly communicate it
to all parties. Ensure the solution is carried out.
e) Step 5 - Monitor the implementation. Is the solution working? Is it meeting the stated
goals? Why/why not?

Question 281 pts

Sometimes a problem can be fixed immediately with a short-term solution, in other cases, the
short-term solution might be just a quick fix for a problem that needs to be analysed and
addressed in more depth to determine a long-term solution and avoid the issue being
repeated. Consider the following scenario and answer the questions.
a) A customer at your establishment complains about an order mix-up. What short-term
solution will immediately fix the customer’s issue?

b) After analysing the issue, you identify that the employee responsible for processing the
order did not have proper training to use the system. How can you ensure the problem is not
repeated?

a) The short-term solution is to quickly re-do the order and provide the customer with the
correct order.

b) Provide training for the particualr employee to learn how to use the system properly. Also
have to ensure that any employees who are responsible for taking customer orders are fully
trained in using the system.

Question 291 pts

List three techniques you can use to define a problem and find the cause.

1. Fishbone

2. The 5 Whys strategy

3. Mind maps

Question 301 pts

As a frontline manager, how do you successfully involve your team and encourage
individuals who raise problems to participate in the problem-solving process?

Employees need to feel safe to express their opinions and ideas, think critically and challenge
ideas. As the frontline manager you need to role model the way through effective
communication, having an awareness of our assumptions, particular bias and how false logic
can lead to poor decision making. Examples of bias and false logic are:

1. Confirmation bias

2. False cause

3. Anchoring bias

4. Anecdotal evidence

5. Groupthink

Question 311 pts

Your implementation is only successful if you’ve monitored the results. What follow-up
action do you need to take to monitor effectiveness of solutions?
Your implementation is only successful if you’ve monitored the results.
Take responsibility for the action plan and check in at the monitoring
points you set, to ensure results are to plan. Set up feedback channels.
Encourage your team to inform you if they have any queries or concerns
with how things are progressing.

When the solution has been successfully implemented, meet up with

your team and discuss the following questions.

 What did we learn from this experience?

 What can we do to ensure this problem doesn’t occur again?
 Could our results be better?

You have to check in at the monitoring points that you set up and make sure that the results are
according to the plan. Ensure that their are feedback channels to inform you of how thing are
progressing and encourage the team to inform you if there are any queries or concerns. Have
meetings with the team to discuss what was learnt from this experience, what can be done to
ensure that this problem does not happen again or can the results we achieved be better.