Assessment Task 1
In this assessment task, you will need to demonstrate the skills required to review and develop policies.
You will need to consult with the business manager to develop a sustainability policy that is consistent with organisational approaches to sustainability and complies with legislative and regulatory requirements.
You have been hired as the new environment officer at Tiny Opera Company. You will need to review the Tiny Opera Company case study including their sustainability policy. You need to determine the shortfalls between the sustainability approach and the practices required of Tiny Opera Company and develop the sustainability policy to reflect those requirements.
You will need to present draft policy documents to the Business Manager (your assessor) to agree on the final policy document.
You must provide:
Your assessor will be looking for:
Tiny Opera Company operates in a rural NSW town. Colleen Starr started the company after moving to the small town from Sydney in the late 1970s. Colleen wanted to bring the wonder and entertainment of theatre-based performances to rural NSW. Her vision was to create a regional theatre that emulated the Sydney Opera House; making theatre both accessible and valued in her town and the surrounding community. Stella’s idea and passion was shared by a wealthy landowner in the area who donated $2.3 million to support the purchase of a venue and the ongoing operation of the theatre. $1.3 million of this was invested in a trust which has been added to over the years that Tiny Opera Company has generated a profit.
Colleen Starr bought an old town hall that had been built in the early 1900s. The hall is listed on the State Heritage Register in NSW. Basic interior renovations were carried out to the stage, three dressing rooms, kitchen, break room, meeting room, food counter and ticketing booth including:
Tiny Opera Company has staged regular performances in the theatre from the 1970s onwards.
Ten years ago, the Tiny Opera Company built a small office building to serve the growing number full time staff.
The staff at Tiny Opera company currently include:
This year, the Tiny Opera Company has added a position for a new environment officer. You have been hired as the new environment officer at Tiny Opera Company after responding to the following job advertisement.
Tiny Opera Company is taking a new direction to become a leading practitioner of sustainable practices in the performing arts industry. As part of this direction, Tiny Opera Company has created an exciting new position for a sustainability project officer. You will be motivated, enthusiastic about sustainability and ready to bring an innovative approach to Tiny Opera Company practices.
You will work within our small team at Tiny Opera to review work practices, especially the use of costume, props, lighting and facilities, as well as communications, and equal employment opportunity practices. You will be required to develop best practice models to increase sustainability practices across the organisation. This may involve training and educating staff through professional development, company newsletters and other similar approaches.
We are looking for a highly skilled individual capable of reviewing technical documents and legislation in order to develop plain language policy, internal memos and external publicity materials.
The project officer is also required to develop materials to inform and educate audiences about Tiny Opera Company’s sustainable activities and encourage participation in activities and practices that lead to better environmental outcomes.
You are inducted by Nic Tan, the Business Manager of Tiny Opera Company, who gives you an overview of how the company wants to approach sustainability.
In the last six months, Tiny Opera Company has been focusing on becoming a more sustainable operation. Nic Tan has reviewed some of the organisation’s operations and has observed that resource use in the theatre is not aligned with sustainable work practices being promoted at Tiny Opera Company.
Nic realises that this is at least partly due to the policy and procedure documents not reflecting industry requirements or reflecting Tiny Opera Company’s aim to increase sustainability across its operations. Nic wants you to update the sustainability policy to specifically reflect the sustainability aims of the business. Nic wants to focus on the following areas:
Nic Tan also mentions that they need something in the policy that talks about measuring resource use and reviewing resource records periodically because that’s the main way that Tiny Opera Company will be monitoring their progress towards minimising resource use.
Tiny Opera Company has made an effort to improve sustainability by pursuing some new sustainability initiatives:
Tiny Opera Sustainability Policy
Tiny Opera has a commitment to minimising environmental impact by:
We seek to improve social, economic, cultural and environmental benefits in our decision-making.
Nic Tan provides you with the budget for the previous few years as well as projections for next year. Nic points out that the marketing budget has already been increased to allow for marketing the new Tiny Opera Company sustainability initiatives. Nic Tan envisages that you will create sustainability policy options that fit within amount that is currently being generated as profit. Nic Tan points out that there is quite a fluctuation in the amount of profit generated, so you should use it as a rough guide. ‘Who knows’, says Nic Tan, ‘with an innovative sustainability plan, maybe you’ll even be able to generate some additional income by bringing bigger audiences to the Tiny Opera Company in support of our new, sustainable direction’.
Sustainability is a long-term goal at Tiny Opera Company, but Nic would like to see a couple of actions implemented within the next 12 months.
Tiny Opera Company |
||||
2 years ago |
Last year |
This year |
Next year (projected) |
|
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Income |
||||
Sales of goods and services |
111,500 |
117,750 |
112,000 |
115,000 |
Venue hire |
25,600 |
24,300 |
24,700 |
24,000 |
Grants |
35,000 |
70,000 |
85,000 |
80,000 |
Philanthropy |
75,500 |
74,750 |
72,000 |
72,000 |
Fundraising |
3,300 |
6,500 |
5,800 |
4,500 |
Corporate partners |
70,000 |
87,000 |
85,000 |
80,000 |
Investing activities |
65,400 |
68,000 |
72,300 |
73,300 |
Total income |
386,300 |
448,300 |
456,800 |
448,800 |
Expenses |
||||
Wages and salaries |
275,000 |
303,000 |
358,000 |
358,000 |
Utilities |
7,672 |
8,472 |
8,672 |
8,800 |
Maintenance |
1,825 |
869 |
765 |
1,000 |
Accounting expenses |
1,500 |
1,500 |
1,750 |
1,750 |
Marketing |
4,270 |
4,320 |
5,245 |
8,200 |
Performance costs |
58,000 |
47,700 |
53,670 |
55,000 |
Miscellaneous |
2,500 |
3,200 |
1,275 |
2,000 |
Total expenses |
350,767 |
369,061 |
429,377 |
434,750 |
Profit/loss |
35,533 |
79,239 |
27,423 |
14,050 |
Assessment Task 2
Using the Sydney Opera House corporate documents as well as additional information provided, you will develop an implementation plan and monitoring strategy to achieve targets.
For this assessment you will also communicate sustainability requirements to Sydney Opera House employees (other learners acting as employees) by developing and delivering a presentation or training session.
For this assessment task, you will review corporate information available from the Sydney Opera House and use the targets provided to develop an implementation plan and monitoring strategy to meet those targets.
Then, using your implementation plan, the Sydney Opera House Environmental Sustainability Policy, and other Sydney Opera House documentation, develop a 10–15 minute presentation or training session to deliver to internal employees of the Sydney Opera House. You should outline the Sustainability Policy and what it means to Opera House staff. As part of this presentation, you must describe how the revised processes will be implemented and managed.
You will need to promote the policy and its expected outcomes and explain how the outcomes affect key stakeholders.
You will also need to assign and outline responsibilities for using recording systems to track sustainability improvements.
You will develop an implementation plan and monitoring strategy to meet Sydney Opera House targets provided.
Using your implementation plan, you will develop a presentation or training session for Sydney Opera House employees. Your aim is to use the presentation or training to improve resource efficiency at the Sydney Opera House.
You must:
Your assessor will be looking for:
As per specifications outlined above, except that the presentation may be:
Appendix 1 – Sustainability targets
Objective: Reduce energy use |
Reduce electricity use by 2% per annum (using FY06/07 as initial benchmark). |
Reduce gas use by 4% per annum (using FY06/07 as initial benchmark). |
Objective: Embed environmental sustainability in everything we do |
Reduce landfill waste and increase reuse and recycling. |
Reduce the use of toxic or environmentally harmful products and materials. |
Reduce water use by 2% per annum (using FY06/07 as initial benchmark). |
Objective: Engage and inspire |
Engage staff in supporting sustainability targets. |
Present information and training to employees in plain English. |
Inspire audiences to consider sustainability in their everyday choices. |
Objective: Keep accurate records |
Record resource use on a monthly basis. |
Appendix 2 – Implementation plan
Appendix 3 – Monitoring strategy
Appendix 4 – Organisational structure
Assessment Task 3
For this assessment you are required to demonstrate the skills required to review the success or otherwise of the implementation of actions from your plan in Assessment Task 2. You will need to evaluate records to identify trends and determine the efficacy of policy and procedures. You will need to recommend changes to policy where performance improvement is required.
You are required to complete a review of the implementation of resource efficiency activities developed in Assessment Task 2. As part of the review process you are undertaking, you need to ensure that you:
You must provide:
Your assessor will be looking for:
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