Unit Q201

Manage own performance in a business environment

What you will learn Understand how to plan work and be accountable to others Understand the purpose of behaving in a way that supports effective working Be able to plan and be responsible for own work, supported by others Identify methods of behaving in a way that supports effective working

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NVQ/SVQ Level 2 Business & Administration

Introduction In this unit, you will be looking at how you can best manage your performance at work in order to support the effective working of your team, department and organisation. You will investigate methods of work planning which will help you get the most out of your working day as well as making sure you achieve your work goals to the best of your ability.

Unit Q201 Manage own performance in a business environment

You will investigate the issue of responsibility, and look at what this means in the workplace and at ways in which you can take responsibility for your own work. You will also consider the issue of accountability, and what this means for you as an employee. In particular, we will focus on the issue of behaviour at work and at the importance of professionalism in the workplace when working with others. The way in which you behave has a direct impact on your colleagues and, for this reason, you will examine ways in which you can behave to best support the effective working of the team. This is such an important skill, not only for your current job, but for your future career success and that is why you need to identify these important behaviours and when to use them.

Doing an Apprenticeship If you are taking your NVQ as part of an Apprenticeship, you will find that the knowledge and understanding for this unit links to your Technical Certificate. Go to www.contentextra.co.uk/NVQBusinessAdmin to find summaries of the Technical Certificate units.

Understand how to plan work and be accountable to others In this section, you will be looking at how you can plan your work in order to make sure you get all of your tasks completed, both on time and to a high standard. You will also investigate target setting and how you can plan your work to meet important deadlines. You will look at the importance of keeping your colleagues updated on your work progress, who you should turn to for help when things go wrong and, finally, you will explore how to learn from mistakes as a key method of self improvement.

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Manage own performance in a business environment

Guidelines Guidelines are generally informal and can be for such things as answering the phone, working the fax machine (see Figure 1.1), sending an email request to a supplier, or writing a report. Businesses provide guidelines to their staff for many areas of their work in order to help them carry out their tasks in the best and safest way and to avoid errors. Providing guidelines is a good way to make sure activities are carried out effectively and consistently by everyone in the team, department and the company. Customers are often given a better impression of a business if its employees follow guidelines as they will know the level of service they can expect from the business. This is particularly important when working in reception, for example.

Deadline – the date by which a task must be done. Deadlines are important, and missing them can affect the way a business runs. Legislation – legislation refers to laws. There are special laws relating to work which are called employment legislation.

Key terms Effectively – to do something effectively means to do it thoroughly and well. Consistently – if activities are carried out consistently by everyone, this means they will always be done in the same way.

Guidelines for Sending a Fax 1. Always use a cover sheet and ensure it is filled in correctly. 2. Only send clear information. 3. Keep fax content short and to the point. 4. Avoid the sending of any personal or confidential information. 5. Always get a fax sending receipt as proof of sending and make sure you keep this safe until you know the recipient has confirmed receipt.

Figure 1.1: How do you think these guidelines for sending a fax will help employees do their jobs more effectively?

Procedures Procedures are slightly more formal than guidelines and cover such issues as: fire drills (see Figure 1.2)

Unit Q201

Guidelines, procedures and codes of practice that relate to your work are very important as each of them gives you critical information on how to perform your job effectively and safely. In addition, if you fail to follow the guidelines, procedures and codes of practice that are relevant for your job, you could potentially hurt yourself, others or even cause problems for your company by falling foul of legislation.

Key terms

Manage own performance in a business environment

Guidelines, procedures and codes of practice at work

customer complaints reporting of accidents at work, and reporting employee absence from work. Procedures usually consist of a list of instructions to be followed.

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NVQ/SVQ Level 2 Business & Administration

Key terms Industry body – an industry body is an organisation set up to monitor and regulate the activities of its members.

Unit Q201 Manage own performance in a business environment

Voluntary – some industry bodies set voluntary codes of practice. Businesses do not need to sign up to these, but if they do, their customers can know what standards of service to expect.

You can find a link that will take you to the full code of practice at: www.contentextra.co.uk/NVQ BusinessAdmin.

Codes of practice Codes of practice are widespread in business these days and can be produced by a business, or by an industry body. Codes of Practice are voluntary codes setting out the minimum standards which customers can expect from businesses for such things as customer service, quality assurance and respect for privacy of personal data, among other things.

Activity 1 See how many different codes of practice there are that are relevant to your job and your organisation. Ask colleagues and managers to help you identify these. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in the UK has published a code of practice for first aid in the workplace. It lets employers know what they must do and what first aid provision they must have available for their staff.

Portfolio Task 1.1

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Links to 1.1

For this task, you need to find and list 3 of the guidelines, procedures or codes of practice which relate to your job. Think of all of the tasks which you carry out each day. Which of these have you received training for? Locate any documents which you were given at this time as they may contain important information on guidelines or procedures. Ask your line manager to help you locate information on any other guidelines, procedures or codes of practice which relate to your job. For each one that you choose, say what it is for and say why you think it is important to help you carry out your job effectively. It may help you to use the table format below to collect all of the information to complete this Portfolio Task.

Figure 1.3: What does the HSE Code of Practice on first aid at work mean for your workplace?

Guidelines, procedures Main purpose or codes of practice

Why you think it is important to help you carry out your job effectively

1

A version of this table, ready for you to complete, is available to download from www.content extra.co.uk/NVQBusinessAdmin

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Manage own performance in a business environment

Purpose of planning work, and being accountable to others for own work There is a well-known saying that is often used in business: ‘Failure to plan is planning to fail’. This means that if you do not plan your work properly, you will not succeed in making the best of your working day and will not achieve the best results. Let’s take a closer look at what this means in practice.

Key term Urgent – a task which is urgent needs to be completed as soon as possible, otherwise there will be bad consequences.

Why do I need to plan my work?

consider all of the tasks that you need to complete estimate the time needed to complete each one work out which tasks need to be completed before others can be started list the deadlines by which the tasks need to be completed identify any urgent tasks which you need to attend to identify any tasks where you will need help from someone else. By taking a little time out at the beginning of your day to plan your work, you will dramatically improve your productivity and work efficiency and you will also have an at-a-glance checklist of your tasks for the day, which you can then check off as you complete each one. This will help you monitor your own progress.

Checklist When planning out your work tasks for the day, remember to include the following information for each task:

• • • • •

The deadline for completing the task The time needed to complete the task Whether any help is needed from another person Whether it is urgent When you will begin each task

Key terms Productivity productivity refers to the rate at which you work. So, if you are more productive, that means you get more done. Efficiency – efficiency refers to the speed and the quality of your work, so if you complete a task efficiently you not only do it quickly, but also to a good standard.

Accountability At work, you will have a job description that sets out all of the things for which you are responsible, or accountable. For example, an Administrative Assistant may be responsible for making sure that the minutes of team meetings are accurately taken and then circulated to the whole team afterwards. This means that the Administrative Assistant is accountable for these tasks. They will be directly accountable to their line manager for making sure these tasks are completed on time and without errors.

Manage own performance in a business environment

Unit Q201

Planning your work is a vital part of your job. At the planning stage, you will take time to:

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NVQ/SVQ Level 2 Business & Administration

Office life Dean’s story

All of this tracking and order processing is carried out manually using a paper-based system. This worked fine when we only had 4 sales reps. However, we now have a sales force of 20, and keeping abreast of all the paperwork which is generated in any one day is becoming almost impossible, with the result that problems are beginning to arise with missed appointments, lost order sheets, and ultimately lost business for the company.

Ask the expert have to look after the diary management for a large number of sales Q Ireps. I also have to process the orders which they send in. I am



overloaded with the paperwork which this generates and am starting to worry, as orders are being lost due to missing paperwork.

In such a situation, it is recommended that you move over to an A electronic system. This will offer a much easier way for you to ensure

accuracy in administration. Microsoft Outlook allows you to run a calendar service and it allows you to share calendars, so you can keep on top of the sales reps’ schedules. Also, by equipping your sales team with laptops, they could then email in all orders for customers, which you can then process electronically.

Top tips

Unit Q201 Manage own performance in a business environment

My name is Dean Hunter. I’m 24 and have been working as an Administrative Assistant for Excelsior Merchandise for 18 months. During that time, the company has grown significantly and we have taken on a large number of new field sales staff. I am the central contact point for them, being office based, and it is my job to keep a track on their appointments during the working day and to process the orders which they send in from customers.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both paper and electronic diary systems. However, when there are a large number of staff to administrate, and a large volume of paperwork being generated, it is often better to use an electronic diary system. First, for the management of the sales reps’ appointments, an electronic calendar system will be much easier to administrate than a paper version; second, for the processing of orders, using an electronic system will allow for a much more streamlined process and will eliminate the possibility of lost orders as a result of missing paperwork.

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Manage own performance in a business environment

Check your knowledge 1 Why is it important to have guidelines and procedures at work?

6 What is the main reason we need to learn from mistakes?

a. To ensure everyone feels under pressure

b. To make sure we do not make the same mistake again

b. To ensure everyone follows the same methods to carry out certain activities c. To keep the boss happy

a. To keep doing the same thing in future

c. To get a pay rise d. To reduce our performance

2 What is the main reason for planning your work? a. To make sure you can leave early b. To ensure you make the most effective use of your time c. To reflect on your mistakes d. To keep yourself busy 3 What does the term ‘accountable’ mean? a. In trouble b. Financial c. Responsible d. Irresponsible

7 What does it mean to ’reflect’ on a situation? a. To decide never to do it again b. To think back over an event and consider how you might do things differently next time c. To copy your behaviour d. To make future cost savings 8 Why should we set ourselves high standards at work? a. Because achieving high standards gives us a tremendous sense of achievement b. Because our boss says we must c. Because low standards mean we will lose our job d. Because high standards are impossible to achieve

4 What is a benefit of working to realistic targets at work?

9 Why is your own behaviour at work so important?

a. The work will never be completed on time

a. Behaviour at work does not really matter

b. You can recognise all your mistakes

b. Behaviour is not part of your job description

c. It allows you to complete your tasks properly and to a good standard

c. Our behaviour tells other people a lot about our personality and whether we are responsible or not

d. You will fall foul of legislation

d. Our behaviour can be bad as long as no-one gets injured

5 Why is it important to keep other people informed when work targets need to be changed? a. It is none of their concern b. They need to know about changes as this may affect their other work and it allows them to make alternative arrangements if necessary

10 Which of these types of behaviour shows honesty, respect and consideration? a. Laughing behind someone’s back b. Taking a day off work to go to a football match

c. So that they can do the work themselves

c. Listening to a colleague who has a problem and trying to suggest a solution for them

d. They need to know about changes so that they can discuss them in meetings

d. Listening to music on your headphones while the boss is away at a meeting

Unit Q201

d. Because it is illegal not to

Manage own performance in a business environment



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NVQ/SVQ Level 2 Business & Administration

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Portfolio Task 1.3 For this task, you need to find and list 3 of the guidelines, procedures or codes of practice which relate to your job. Think of all of the tasks which you carry out each day. Which of these have you received training for? Locate any documents which you were given at this time as they may contain important information on guidelines or procedures.

Unit Q201 Manage own performance in a business environment

Ask your line manager to help you locate information on any other guidelines, procedures or codes of practice which relate to your job.

Links to 1.3

For each one that you choose, say what it is for and say why you think it is important to help you carry out your job effectively. It may help you to use the table format below to collect all of the information to complete this Portfolio Task.

Functional skills If you complete this task in a professional discussion with your assessor, you may be able to count it as evidence towards Level 1 Functional English through taking part in formal and informal discussions/exchanges.

Evidence collection For the remaining tasks, you will need to carry out various tasks at work and will then need to produce evidence to show that you have demonstrated the various skills and competences listed below. Speak to your Assessor to identify the best methods to use in order to complete each task and remember to keep copies of all the evidence which you produce.

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