The Queensland Government has ordered a review of Queenslandâ??s child nutrition program. Thisreview
The Queensland Government has ordered a review of Queensland’s child nutrition program. Thisreview will report to the relevant minister – and this report will then form the basis for operationaland (possibly) legislative reform. The review is underway and is currently overseen by theParliament’s Childrens’ Health Committee. Following the conclusion of public hearings, all publicsubmissions and transcripts of hearings will be made available to the Committee members fordeliberation. The Committee is expected to take 3 months (13 weeks) to make recommendationsbased on their expertise and their consideration of the public submissions and hearings. To makesure that the Committee is well supported and able to meet several times a week, the QueenslandGovernment plans to provide the Committee with a dedicated office in Brisbane CBD, with sufficientdesk space and IT infrastructure for the seven members of the committee.Having seen last week a documentary on virtual teams, the Health Minister is now consideringwhether using a virtual team of experts to consider the public submissions and hearings may be abetter alternative than using a team of local Members of Parliament collaborating in a face-to-facesetting.Your group represents the management of an international consulting firm, Virtual Solutions (VS). VSspecialises in projects that involve the development and management of solutions that utilise theskills and expertise of organisations and individuals across the globe to provide information andconsulting services to clients. On previous occasions VS has coordinated the development oftransnational manufacturing, infrastructure and logistics support solutions for clients.Yesterday, VS was approached by the Queensland Government to explore the potential of using avirtual team to advise the Government on updating childrens’ health policy and (possible) legislation.More specifically, because the Government does not have expertise with virtual teams, it hasengaged VS to advise on the benefits, costs, risks, and approaches for management of such anadvisory virtual team. The deliverable of this engagement is a report that outlines these relateddiscussions and determines which approach (current plan vs virtual team) is suitable in this case.The Government has also requested that the report contain details of a “ready-to-go†virtual team incase the Government chooses to go ahead with the virtual team approach. Accordingly, VS is taskedwith developing the report and also selecting the geographically diverse team that can satisfy theadvisory requirements of the Government and the problem scope.Assumptions and LimitationsMembers of the Children’s Health Committee are involved as part of their job requirements. Noadditional payment is made for their involvement in the inquiry, however the workload required forthe deliberations (post public hearings stage) is estimated to be 5% of the MP’s annual workload,thus $11,000 per MP cost to the taxpayer.The members of the virtual team agree to be on the advisory team primarily due to prestige ofbeing an advisor to Government, however each is also rewarded with an Au$5,000 lump sum at thesuccessful conclusion of their 3 month role, which requires a comprehensive recommendationsreport to be submitted to the Government.The virtual team must consist of individuals dispersed between at least 3 continents.Part A (individual student completion – 20% – to include the following:A comprehensive discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of the selected virtualteam over the current plan of using the Parliament’s Childrens’ Health Committee. Thisdiscussion should also include cost estimates (ROI calculations are not required). (20 marks)A discussion of the skills and personal characteristics that VS used as criteria for selecting theteam members. This discussion should outline why certain skills and characteristics wereconsidered to be advantageous. (15 marks)References. (5 marks)
