The Participant assumes the role of a Trainee Manager working for a new public sector agency, the Wellbeing Agency. They are tasked with talking to a staff member who has apparently not been adequately fulfilling their duties, has had a lot of days off sick, and against whom a number of complaints have been lodged by both colleagues and external stakeholders. The Participant, having looked at these complaints must therefore use their interpersonal and management skills in order to effectively explore and address these issues.
Competencies: Problem Analysis
The Participant plays the role of an Internal Consultant responsible for driving forward a new internal change programme within AHead, a mobile communications company. The Participant is required to meet with a senior manager who has been making negative comments about the changes and has expressed their unwillingness to co-operate. Unbeknown to the Participant, the senior manager has encountered similar initiatives in the past which have not been successful and is also feeling vulnerable due to the redundancy rumours circulating around the Company. The Participant needs to turn the situation around with the disillusioned senior manager.
As a Manager, the Participant is charged with the responsibility of moving this small but expanding company into new premises on a defined date. This will involve allocating space to named individuals, arranging furniture supplies, carpeting, partitioning, cabling for computing networks and ensuring that all the services are switched on in time. Naturally all the existing staff, files, computers etc, will have to be moved with minimum disruption. The objective of the Exercise is to design a schedule to ensure that the move takes place over a weekend, enabling the Company to open for business on the following Monday.
The Participants, as a group of work colleagues at a multi-national organisation with a strong manufacturing background, meet to discuss a number of scenarios. Faced with four issues, the Participants must discuss recommendations for the way forward. The scenarios raise issues of integrity, employee relations, commercial awareness, organisational and interpersonal sensitivity. The process itself, complemented by the issues being discussed manifests evidence of interpersonal skills which can also be evaluated.
Participants take on the role of Branch Managers in the Financial Services Division of Universal Life, an insurance company. They are meeting to discuss several issues that the firm faces. These include strategies for targeting key markets, the analysis of performance figures, the introduction of a customer service charter which goes beyond meeting compliance regulations, and ideas for improving the effectiveness of the recruitment of Financial Advisors. The group is expected to prepare recommendations for subsequent review by the Regional Director.
Participants form a team of Area Sales Managers at a software company, DataSure. They have been asked by the Regional Sales Manager to discuss a number of typical sales issues and to make recommendations on how these issues should be handled. The issues include problems to do with customer service, sales administration, sales performance and general sales policies.
As a Human Resources Administrator, the Participant is given the task of planning and implementing a new appraisal system. The objective is to schedule the whole process including the design of the appraisal, training of staff, delivery and collection of materials and paperwork. The deadline is tight because the results of the appraisals are linked to pay awards. The challenge is to work out a schedule that will ensure the appraisal process is completed by the given date.
The Participant assumes the role of an Administrative Assistant working in a small company, who has been tasked with organising a conference. Among the items to be scheduled are the booking of the venue, arrangements for audio-visual aids, travel arrangements, guest speakers and transportation to the venue. The objective is to work out a schedule so that all of the components are completed in time for the conference.
As a Public Relations Manager of a plastics manufacturer, the Participant is given the task of planning and organising a 25-Year Anniversary Party. The task involves designing a schedule to ensure that all of the necessary actions, for example logistics and invites, are co-ordinated within certain constraints and a tight timescale. Although this appears straightforward, there are a number of requirements which have to be understood before a plan can be produced.
The Participant assumes the role of a Project Manager working for an International Investment Bank, Providentia. The Bank is expanding its Malaysian office, and the Participant has been tasked with co-ordinating the recruitment of new staff, ordering new office equipment, and relocating the existing staff to a new premises. The Participant is provided with the timings and staff requirements for the recruitment activities, costs and constraints associated with the relocation of equipment, and timeframes for ordering new office equipment. In addition to producing a schedule to deliver the project, the Participant is also asked to produce a table of costs, and to identify key risks with the project and how these might be mitigated.
