General Criteria

 Group assessment

Teamwork is a vital success factor in project management, and this assessment is to be researched, compiled, and submitted as a team of 3-4 people. The focus is on team learning. According to Decuypere, Dochy and Van den Bossche (2010), ‘literature shows that effective team learning requires the establishment of a dialogical space amongst team members, in which communicative behaviors such as ‘sharing’, ‘co-construction’ and ‘constructive conflict’ are balanced’ (p. 111). In the current situation this dialogue will have to make use of virtual platforms, and a portion of the mark is allocated to this team interaction and learning. Dividing the work amongst team members and simply collating the individual contributions at the end is not teamwork.

Students are expected to adhere to the current CQU Academic Integrity standards, please see below:

https://sportal.cqu.edu.au/learning-support/academic-integrity/academic-integrity-faqs

Referencing

APA referring style is preferred for this assessment, for information see link below: American Psychological Association 7th Edition (APA 7th edition)

Word count limit (excluding references and appendices)

Your submission should be made as a Microsoft Word document comprising 3,000 to 3,500 words, excluding title page, references, and appendices. Text length less than 3,000 words and over 3,500words will attract a penalty of 5% of the allocated marks for this assessment task. This meansthat, for this assessment (worth 40 marks), the mark that you earn will be reduced by 2 marks.

Late submission penalty

Late submissions will attract penalties at 5% for each calendar day or part thereof that it is late of the total available mark for the individual assessment item. This means that, for an assessment worth 40 marks, the mark that you earn is reduced by 2 marks each calendar day (part or full) that the assessment is late (including part-days and weekends). See clause 5.53 of the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Assessment criteria/marking rubric

Before submitting your assignment, you should check it against the assessment criteria/marking rubric (issued separately) to ensure that you have satisfactorily addressed all the criteria that will be used to mark your assignment.

Academic language

All submissions should be thoroughly proof-read for spelling, typographical or grammatical errors before being submitted. Do not only rely on the ‘spell-check’ function in your word processing program.

Marking criteria

Marking and assessment criteria will be published on Moodle as a separate document. When writing up the report students are encouraged to check these criteria and align the topics discussed with them.

Purpose of the assessment 

Assessments provide the opportunity for students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills to achieve the required Learning Outcomes.

Assessments will be marked according to the marking criteria/marking rubric. Failing to meet the requirements may result in 0 (zero) marks where relevant.

Learning Outcomes to be evidenced by this assessment

• Examine leadership competencies for successful delivery of projects
• Determine management control systems for lean process capabilities

Academic Integrity

All submissions will be checked for breach of Academic Integrity such as plagiarism (material copied from other teams and/or other sources) using Turnitin (TII). If you are found to have plagiarized material or if you have used someone else’s words without appropriate referencing, you will be penalized for plagiarism which could result in 0 (zero) marks for the whole assignment. In some circumstances a more severe penalty may be imposed. For more information, see the CQU Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure referenced in Moodle.

Submission requirements

Work is to be submitted in Word document file. No other formats or ZIP files are accepted. Maximum file size is 10 Mb.

Means of submission. All assignments must be submitted electronically in Moodle. The submission links can be accessed through the Assessment block on the Moodle unit website. Printed copies/Email submissions are not accepted.

Auto-submission. Moodle implements an auto-submission process for those items uploaded and left as drafts before the original deadline. Further details on completing the submission process are available via the ‘Moodle Help for Students’ link in the SUPPORT block of your Moodle pages.

Please note, you should not completely rely on Moodle’s auto- submission functionality because it has not been proven to be reliable in the past. The onus is on each student to make sure their assignment is submitted before the deadline by manually clicking on the submission button.

Complete and correct submission. Assignments, once submitted, are FINA L and therefore cannot be modified. Students bear all the onus to ensure that their submissions are correct (correct files in correct format) and complete before submitting to Moodle.

The Case Study

This assignment is about the leadership competencies and management control systems

that are necessary to implement and sustain Lean transformation. The Lean methods are easy to implement but hard to maintain due to the lack of leadership competencies and best practices. The authors in the articles below explore the lean leadership competencies and best practices to implement Lean systems and maintain them over a long period of time.

The following articles, accessible from the CQU Library website, are mandatory readings, but you need to do more research to complete your assignment:

1. Saurin, A., Marodin, G., Ribeiro, J., 2017. Lean leadership competencies: a multi- method study
2. Toledo, , Gonzalez, R., Pelegrino, F., 2018. Lean production system development through leadership practices
3. Trenkner , 2016. Implementation of lean leadership

The following links will also be helpful to respond to the assessment tasks, but you need to search for more resources to complete your assignment:

• https://www.scaledagileframework.com/lean-agile-leadership/
• https://www.projectmanager.com/training/setup-self-directed-teams
• https://www.lucidchart.com/blog/best-lean-tools-for-process-improvement
• https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/styles-leadership-avoid-mistakes-career-6280
• https://www.aipm.com.au/blog/5-leadership-styles-used-in-project-management
• https://www.brightwork.com/blog/project-leadership-and-its-6-different-styles
• https://www.tarjomefa.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/TarjomeFa-F283-English.pdf
• https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/competencies-traits-lean-leader-gopalakrishnan-narasimhan/
• https://leanconstructionblog.com/9-Lean-Leadership-Practices-To-Get-The-Best-Performance-Out- Of-Your-Team.html
• https://www.managementkits.com/blog/2020/8/30/self-managed-teams-self-directed-or-self- organized
• https://smallbusiness.chron.com/design-teamwork-environment-minimize-job-dissatisfaction- html
• https://g360surveys.com/7-traits-self-managing-teams/
• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/314261367_The_effects_of_a_lean_transition_on_proc ess_times_patients_and_employees

Kocom Co Ltd was established around 40 years ago, starting from interphone and expanding to digital video technology and communication network related products and loT business. Kocom has firmly established itself as a specialised company for electronic communication devices and are growing as a global leader of Smart Home. Kocom, the company that is pursuing the highest value for its customers, is galloping toward the global market. You can find more information about Kocom and its products (home alarms, intercoms, CCTV, smart home IoT, etc.) at: http://www.kocom.com/main/main.php

As the industry is becoming more competitive, Kocom is constantly being challenged by its competitors. Kocom wants to become the best company with the global competitiveness by improving its brand and the corporate value through innovative Lean management strategies.

Kocom's CEO has read some articles on the importance of Lean transformation and is convinced by the potential for improvement through the implementation of Lean principles. He has given your team, a well reputed Lean consultancy, the responsibility to spearhead this initiative to not only manage their Lean transition but also advise on maintaining Lean systems in the long run. As a first step, Kocom’s CEO wants you to help convince the senior executives at Kocom by creating a vision of Lean by reporting on the aspects such as leadership competencies, best practices and management control systems required to achieve the Lean transition. You are expected to provide the proposal within the next two (2) months.

Your tasks include:

1. An introduction/problem statement. Remember your target audience is the senior management team at
2. Propose two leadership styles that you believe would support the Lean transition and
3. Identify and propose four leadership competencies that you believe would bring out the best outcome for this transition and
4. Identify and propose four best practices that you believe will support lean leadership and help maintain the Lean systems after their
5. The PMI talent triangle describes skills that are seen to increase a project manager’s competence in three categories (see week 6 lecture slides). Select two skills from each category and demonstrate how each skill would support this
6. Identify and propose five characteristics of agile self-directed teams that will help you deliver the Lean initiative successfully.
7. Propose two best quality control tools for Lean which could be implemented in various departments of Kocom that will improve their efficiency and quality. Provide specific examples on how the tools will be
8. Identify two risks during or after the Lean transition and elaborate their mitigation
9. A conclusion recommending a preferred approach to proceed with the Lean transition and
10. A brief account of the teamwork deployed in this assignment, listing three lessons you have learned as a team. To support your arguments a transcript of the final team meeting or a link to a recording of a ZOOM meeting should be included as appendix Which will be excluded from the word count.

Report Layout

The written report on the case study should be organised using the following headings and guidelines:

• Title (Cover) Page with clear details of unit code and name, Assessment number and title, group member IDs and names, lecturer & tutor names, submission date

•       Table of Contents

• Introduction
  • Introduction should state the aims of the report to engage the senior

•       Leadership styles

• Propose two leadership styles that you believe would support this transition and

•       Leadership competencies

• Identify and propose four leadership competencies that you believe would bring out the best outcome for this transition and beyond

•       Best practices for Lean leadership

• Identify and propose four best practices that will support Lean leadership and help maintain the Lean systems after the Lean

•       Project manager’s competency skills

• The PMI talent triangle describes skills that are seen to increase a project manager’s competence in three categories (see lecture week 6). Select two skills from each category and demonstrate how each skill would support this

•       Agile self-directed teams and their impact

• Identify five characteristics of agile self-directed teams and their impact that will help you deliver Lean initiative

•       Quality control tools for Lean

• Identify and propose appropriate quality control tools for Lean which could be implemented in various departments at Kocom that will improve their efficiency and quality. Provide specific examples on how the tools will be

•       Risks and mitigation strategies

• Identify the possible risks during or after the Lean transition and elaborate their mitigation

•       Conclusion

• A conclusion recommending a preferred approach to proceed with the Lean transition and

•       Self-Reflection and Lessons Learned

• Analyse and evaluate your team activities, including development activities, is reported
• Provide your team report as a transcript of your meeting or a ZOOM
• List three lessons you have learned as a team while working on this

•       References

• Provide at least 7 references along with their citations within the report

References

Project Management Institute. (2017). A guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK guide) (6th ed.)

Seidel, A., Saurin, T. A., Marodin, G. A., & Ribeiro, J. L. D. (2017). Lean leadership competencies: a multi-method study. Management decision.

Toledo, J. C., Gonzalez, R. V. D., Lizarelli, F. L., & Pelegrino, R. A. (2019). Lean production system development through leadership practices. Management Decision.

Trenkner, M. (2016). Implementation of lean leadership. Management, 20(2), 129-142.

Important note

·         The above case study is fictitious for assignment purpose ONLY, please don’t try to contact

Kocom or its distributors.