WashBox Ltd arose from a need to give more realism and breadth in assessment situations. The project has a long history. It was originally designed as a paper based exercise, but it was considered that the “real” world now comes off a PC!

Equally important was to provide a product that did not need expensive training, or qualifications, and yet gave the users full support.

The WashBox simulation is based on the following:

•  Whole company scenario

•  Dynamic time setting – Diary, mail, Email

•  Realism – Email and Voice Mail – existing and incoming

•  Wide Choice of information

•  Duration of 2 hours

•  Easy to use

•  Flexible assessment

WashBox Ltd is a small manufacturing company producing a low voltage washing machine for the leisure industry. It is planning to soon produce dryers and ventilation systems for caravans and the general leisure markets. The company is well established in its market place, with the product potential still allowing growth, in what is considered a very "discretionary spend" market.

It also sells a sells arrange of third party accessories.

The company employs 73 people and last year turned over £8.3M.

The company has contracts with caravan manufacturers and also sells to trade and camping distributors. An investment of £1250K in injection moulding equipment, coupled with a patented colour blending process permits a "made to order" process in colours decided by the customers. The special plastics colour blending process developed by the company has commercial potential in its own right.

Note: This programme can be customised to suit your needs.

This is designed to run on a PC screen. The WashBox management screen below gives access to the following:

• 60 day Diary

• Emails - updated

• Mail Recent

• Current production / sales

• Voicemail - updated

• Calculator

• Power Point

• Word Processor

• Organisation chart

• Personnel Records - Direct reports

  Filing cabinet containing:

  • Product details

  • Company report

  • Employee Handbook

  • Production data

  

  
  

The original concept of WashBox was that of a management assessment programme , centred around a complete company.

We wanted to match the results against a competency set as well, to make life easier at the Review stage.

To this end, we have used the MSC (Management Standards Centre) competency set. This was introduced in October 2004 and is simpler than the previous MCI (Management Charter Initiative) set.

The MSC competencies are the foundation of many qualifications and we believe that they are more than sufficient for the job. We have therefore “mapped” these against the WashBox activities and they are available on the Review screens.

The MSC competency model is shown below. The complete competency structure is available at the Review stage. The programme therefore gives the opportunity for users to be assessed against these areas. A full listing is given at the end of this manual.

•  A Managing self and personal skills

•  B Providing Direction

•  C Facilitating change

•  D Working with people

•  E Using Resources

•  F Achieving Results

While the programme is run from the perspective of a General Manager, this does not detract from it use by “Trainee” Managers, or even by college / University students. In the case of the latter, it provides a rounded introduction to a Management situation, where it becomes important to separate the important from the trivia.

Some Options:

1. Users can be briefed to produce any of the following by the end of the 2 hours:

•  Power Point Presentation

•  Written report / summary

•  Completion of draft Plan (already in existence)

2. Carry out a presentation after the programme has ended. This could be based on any of the above.

3. Carry out a tutorial session after the exercise.

4. Work on the simulation in small groups , with an action point listing as the output.

If you need to run an extended assessment, or development event, a range of related materials is also available. These include role play and team discussion exercises.

More......

WashBox is a management assessment programme designed to assess a broad understanding of company operations in a dynamic environment.

It differs from traditional In-Tray exercises in that the data gathering is completely down to the user and covers virtually all aspects of a company's operations.

Skills assessed via the programme are:

•  Business Planning

•  Data gathering

•  Decision making

•  Letter and report writing

•  Understanding and using financial data

•  Prioritising

•  Presentation

•  Time Management

Because the programme outputs are designed to be assessed without automated output i.e. human judgment, there is wide scope for setting the emphasis on how the user's work is assessed.

For example, at a higher level, the focus could be on how decision making was carried out and how the available data was used to reach conclusions. At a lower level, emphasis might be placed on written communication skills.

Training is included with the purchase of a licence. This is normally via the web, but can be face to face, if required.

Support is available by email or phone or the web. You can phone for free at any reasonable time.

One difficulty with assessment material is that it is not possible to give full details here. So you have to see it working.

You can do this in two ways.
1. Via the web, at any time to suit yourself. For this you will need a phone and a broadband connection. Jus tfill in the form below to arrange a date and time to view the simulation in full. This will also entitle you to a fully working 30 day trail CD.

2. By on-site demonstration..

Contact Jeremy Woods at jeremy@uktraining.uk.com (phone 01953 883 953)

or

Karen Moore at karen.moore@dovenest.co.uk (phone 015395 67878).

  Enter your details below to request a demonstration

.

WashBox Ltd

Greenhead Farm, Hincaster, Milnthorpe, LA7 7NG

Tel 01953 883 953

© WashBox Ltd 2006

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