CASE STUDY

World Joy produces naturally made clothing and accessories. Their most popular item is the 'Easy Hat', a crocheted packable hat that generates more sales than any other item the company sells. The company is owned by Denise Wall.

World Joy's customers are generally women with the target demographic ages 25-45. The products are fairly high end and, prior to the pandemic, were mainly available in boutiques and gift stores. The average price of an item is $125, with the popular crocheted hat selling for $99. Many are repeat in store customers as they like the quality and fit of the garments and the range of hat colours available.

When the company began they sold exclusively in retail stores which worked well until the pandemic. During that the time retail market slowed and so they hired a student to build a website they could use to sell their products. This worked in the short term but Denise would like to change things up and sell exclusively online as the profit margin is a lot higher and she thinks they can reach a larger customer base. To do this she knows they will need a better website that their customers can find and use easily and will help generate sales along. Denise also believe that a stronger social media presence will help generate traffic to the new website.

Denise has hired Kai, a web developer, to design and build the website. She hired them three months ago but they have still to start any design work and with time of the essence, she has decided to hire you as a project manager to 'make it happen' as she says.

Denise is frustrated and doesn't understand what is so difficult about building a website so is counting on you to manage this project so she ends up with a strong online brand. In the meantime, sales are dropping while they are in limbo.

Joan is the Sales Manager. She has been with the company since the beginning and is passionate about their products. Joan doesn't see a need to change the way they sell, says they just need to work harder with their retail store owners. She's not convinced that they can reach pre-pandemic sales levels without being in stores and doesn't understand how a website and TikTok videos can make a difference. She is used to negotiating and dealing with retail store owners or managers and is unsure what her role will be with the change of strategy.

Marlene is the Customer Service manager. Her staff are responsible for filling and tracking orders, inventory control and dealing with returns and customer issues. They would like an easier system and are eager to move to a site that will help them track inventory and better respond to customer issues. They often have to make customers wait for days for a response or a return request just because they need to find information. Currently a lot of their systems are paper based but they are a young group who are comfortable with technology and change.One of the staff, Jonelle, is always talking about how social media savvy he is and is always pushing Marlene to post photos and videos as he's sure those could increase sales and the company's image. Marlene likes Facebook and Instagram so she's curious but hasn't allowed any of this activity yet. She's hoping the social media piece will be part of your project.

Jeff is the IT Manager. He is responsible for the computers at World Joy. When he began with the company this meant a few laptops and a database but his role has changed and looks to be changing further. He is a quiet employee, likes to keep to himself and get his work done. Though he is supportive of this change, Jeff doesn't like to make decisions and likes to have time to analyse new information before providing any feedback or recommendations. He is very good at what he does and Denise has no doubt he will be able to handle any changes to his role.

Kai has a good reputation as a web developer. They have worked at Shopify for a few years but are looking for experience at a smaller company where they can have more design control. They are very familiar with user experience design and eCommerce. They have been trying to gather requirements from Denise and the staff at World Joy however so far there seems to be no clear vision of what the site should look like. They are slightly relieved that Denise has hired a project manager.

Daniel is responsible for the accounting and finances for the company. He works only part-time and is familiar with the current systems. He is very interested in having better reporting ability as currently he has to spend a lot of time merging reports to come up with effective information for Denise.He has a good handle on the financial situation within the company and as such is not convinced that hiring an outside project manager is a good use of funds when he's sure they could do this themselves internally.

Denise has hired you with the expectation that you will work with her and her staff to come up with a successful website which will allow them to maintain or exceed sales levels despite the change to exclusively online sales.

QUESTIONS

1. What would your stakeholder register look like for this project?
2. What would your stakeholder analysis look like for the project if the stakeholder analysis model was utilized?
3. What would your HR management plan look like for the project?
4. How would the human resources required to complete the project be acquired?
5. What would your plan of action be for the next 90 days?What aspects would you consider to come up with a detailed plan of action?What choices would be identified along with substantiation.