Project Report of a Frozen Yoghurt Shop - Case Study Example

PROJECT REPORT OF A FROZEN YOGHURT SHOP Student’s Name: Code + Course name Professor’s name University City, State Date Introduction There are several challenges associated with the introduction of a new brand in a business. In most cases, entrepreneurs decide to introduce a new brand with the intention of meeting customer demands that the existing brands could not meet. The hotel and hospitality industry is one of the sectors that have implemented self-service technologies rather than the traditional human-touch services to enhance the provision of their services. The advantages that accrue to businesses that use the self-service system encompass location flexibility, reduced prices of commodities, speed, and time and involvement confidence (Chen 2011). The paper identifies the risks associated with the use of the self-service system in the frozen yoghurt business. Besides describing the risks linked to the business, the paper recommends an appropriate risk management plan. It also covers the change management process that would transform the business from the traditional human-touch service to the self-service option. Moreover, the paper conducts a stakeholder analysis and describes a proper communication plan for the stakeholders of the business. Risk Management Just like any other business, there are several risks associated with selling frozen yoghurt. Firstly, it is evident that the introduction of self-service systems has resulted in theft cases where customers steal the products without the knowledge of the store keeper or the sales personnel of the business. Similarly, theft cases of the new self-service frozen yoghurt brand may arise as a result of the introduction of the self-service system that leaves the customer to perform the sales roles played by the sales personnel under the traditional system. Apparently, the self-service technology has transformed the retail sector to the extent that the interaction between customers and the retailers or sellers is only at the instance of making the purchase (ECR 2011). The customer plays all the other roles involved in selling the product. In the case of the frozen yoghurt business, the tendency of customers to pick the product and fail to pay for it at the counter is imminent. The store manager is the personnel responsible for handling the movement of goods in and out of the business premises. As a result, it is the responsibility of the professional to maintain vigilance in monitoring the movement of customers and their interaction with the frozen yoghurt brand at the premise. The self-scan checkout system suffices to be the primary technology that the business will use in delivering the self-service (Beck 2011). However, it is evident that there are numerous loopholes associated with the use of the system. Consequently, customers use the setbacks to their advantage especially in situations where there are few supervisors monitoring many self-service customer-checkout tills. Customers can fail to scan the product through the till thereby leaving the premise without paying for the product. Such a scenario occurs when there are many tills and few supervisors to maintain vigilance. The business may also have to deal with the challenge of thieves scanning the yoghurt items through the till but leaving without paying provided that the supervisor has not detected the act (Bobbitt et al. 2009). In such cases, the business may realize discrepancies in the number of items sold and the cash gained from the sales. Maintaining vigilance at each pay till is one of the contingency plan that the business can implement to deal with the issue. Since most theft cases occur when there are few staff supervisors to monitor the tills and cashier centers, the firm should allocate one staff at each of the cash points and tills to ensure that customers that leave through the points of exit have cleared with the cashier or settled the payment via the till. Moreover, achieving the objective requires strict monitoring on customers that decide to leave the premise without paying for the item since such customers present the highest chance of hiding products and leaving without paying for the items. Training the staff on strategic position to attain proper customer monitoring is also paramount towards handling the issue. Knowledge gained from training enables supervisors to detect customers that appear suspicious before they leave the premises. Installing surveillance monitors around the stores to provide motion pictures of the movement of customers within the store from the point of entry to the point of exit is also appropriate. It ensures that the surveillance staff can identify customers that fail to pay for the products that they have picked from the store. Even though stealing from the premises is the major risk that the business faces, there are other risks that the firm has to deal with. Some of the yoghurt flavors may be less attractive thereby impacting negatively on customer demand. It is the responsibility of the project manager to conduct significant market research aimed at determining the most preferred yoghurt brands in the market. By so doing, the project manager ensures that the firm stores the most preferred brands to guarantee their sales. If the business intends to introduce a new brand, it would be proper to increase the variety of the available brands based on customer preferences and purchase records to ensure that customers can always find their preferred yoghurt brand at the premise. In the quest to attain the objective, the business should conduct market research on the most preferred yoghurt flavors. Stocking the stores should be in tandem with the results of the research; where the majority of the flavors stocked should be the most popular flavors. Even though poor location may be the other risk that the business may encounter, it is easy to avert the risk by setting up the business in a densely populated urban setup as compared to a sparsely populated area to increase the number of sales. In the event that few customers turn up at the business premises, the firm should advertise its products and position to enhance the awareness of consumers. Handing out leaflets that provide information about the location of the stores and the variety of yoghurt flavors offered by the store is one of the advertising and promotional efforts that the firm can embrace. Weather changes may also influence the business adversely especially during winter. Apparently, individuals do not need frozen products during the cold period. Instead, they prefer warmer products. The firm should take into account the seasonal risk associated to the sale of the frozen yoghurt product by reducing its availability during winter and increasing its stock during summer. The project manager should ascertain that during winter, the store stocks more of warm yoghurt brands as compared to their frozen counterparts. Similarly, during summer when customers prefer cold beverages and drinks, the store should stock more of the frozen yoghurts than the warm ones. Change Management Just like any other change management endeavor, introducing the self-service system in the sale of frozen yoghurt brands at the business requires change management. At the onset of the process, the change leaders should address the human capital issues associated with the process. Apparently, the introduction of the self-service system implies that the firm will eliminate some of the employees that made the sales directly to consumers. The affected employees may feel the threat of losing their jobs by resisting the change process. It is the prime responsibility of the change agents to communicate the essence of the change process to the business. Before the company aligns and commits its human capital to the change capital, it is apparent that the change process will not succeed (Heymann 2010). Therefore, it is imperative that the firm, through the change agents, should communicate the objective of the change as the need to enhance the efficiency of the business operations by increasing sales. The agents should make it known to the sales personnel that the change process does not target to lay them off. On the contrary, they will undergo training to maintain surveillance at the cashier and till points. In the second step, the managers, project leaders and executives of the company will be on the forefront towards advocating for the project. It is clear that change starts from the top (BAH 2004). Therefore, before junior employees embrace the change, senior employees holding the management and executive positions should support the change process. They should communicate the fact that current sales businesses require the use of the self-service system and technology to put up with the competitors. A change in the perspective of the leaders implies that they will be ‘walking the talk’ and speaking with a single voice aimed at transforming the business from the traditional human-touch service to the technology-enabled self-service system. Therefore, at the second stage, there should be teams that will work hand-in-hand towards communicating the need for the change to the other employees of the organization. Even though change starts at the top, it is apparent that the actual change occurs at the bottom of the enterprise. The leadership team will only bear the responsibility of setting the target and the strategy (BAH 2004). However, the employees at the bottom of the chain will be responsible for the actual implementation of the change in the organization. At this step, the team leaders and line managers should develop an appropriate training manual to train the sales personnel of the firm about the effective ways of monitoring the check-out systems. Without the training, the firm will not manage the challenges associated maintaining vigilance to avert theft cases. Therefore, all the change leaders should leave their normal duties and concentrates towards training the employees about the skills necessary for running a self-service business; keeping in mind that there will be little contact between the customers and the staff personnel. In the fourth step, the team leaders and line managers pioneering the change process should confront the reality and explain the extent of the change (BAH 2004). In this case, it is evident that the change process is a complete overhaul of the business sales function from the traditional human-touch service to the self-service system. Therefore, the company intends to transform its on-the-site sales function from the traditional system to the self-service system. Exceptions will be available in the case of online customers that purchase the products online and request the firm to deliver the products to their doorsteps. The leaders should demonstrate faith that the existing workforce can acquire and execute the skills required under the new system. The team leaders and line managers should also provide a roadmap to guide decision-making and behavior change. The roadmap will enable the supervisors to take the correct actions in the event of occurrence of a breach in customer conduct such as when a customer attempts to steal products from the premises. In the following step, the change leaders should claim ownership of the change rather than simply convincing the other individuals to embrace the change. The leaders should regard it as their responsibility to make the change happen regardless of the hurdles that they may encounter during the change process (BAH 2004). The individuals should be able to identify issues and craft solutions for the issues. At this stage, the leaders should be able to identify all the risks that the business will face following the full implementation of the new system. After identifying the risks, the leaders should also recommend proper solutions for dealing with the issues such as maintaining vigilance at each of the check out points and stocking yoghurt brands based on consumer preferences obtained from the market research. Next, the leaders should over-communicate the need for the change to all the stakeholders of the process on a regular basis. By so doing, they manage to reinforce the core messages of the change process using actionable and inspirational advice. The communication should be both inbound and outbound (Todnem 2005). The communication will serve three main roles. Firstly, it will provide the employees with the proper information that they require at each stage of the change process. Moreover, it will solicit the feedback and input of the employees. Finally, it checks the emotional response presented by the employees in response to what they have heard from the change leaders. Addressing cultural issues will be the next step of the change process (BAH 2004). Since customers may consist of individuals of diverse cultural backgrounds, the change agents should communicate the essence of maintaining cultural neutrality in dealing with customers for the benefit of the business. In the next step, the change leaders should conduct an early assessment of the cultural landscape of the organization to determine whether it is coherent with the desired culture for the change or not. In the event of an unsatisfactory cultural landscape, the team leaders and line managers should implement the appropriate cultural amendments to yield the desired culture. Preparing for the unexpected is the next step of the change process. Some of the anomalies in the change process may include negative response from customers to utilize the self-service system or declining sales rather than the expected increasing sales. Finally, the change leaders can implement the change and communicate to the institution, employees and other stakeholders about the change proceeds and recommendations for better performance. The team will also be responsible for evaluating the performance of the new system in comparison with the old one. Stakeholder Communication The primary stakeholders of the change process are the board sponsor, department heads and store manager. The sponsor bears the responsibility of developing the project plan. The individual is also responsible for integrating the resources of the other departments towards required in the implementation of the change. The sponsor, through the risk manager will also handle the risks that the project will encounter following its implementation. Finally, the individual will maintain the interests of the shareholders by ensuring that the project realizes the desired objectives. The departmental heads will handle the contribution of their respective departments to the project. They will also communicate and coordinate with the team members to accomplish the departmental tasks. Finally, the store manager will be responsible for training new staff about the required skills for the new system. The individual will also manage daily activities and report the emerging problems to the departmental heads. The store manager will answer to the departmental heads that will in turn answer to the project sponsor during the project debriefing, diagnosis, design, developing and deployment phases (Rahman 2010). The effective communication between the stakeholders will enable the shop to meet its objectives and enhance its operational effectiveness (Crane & Livesey 2003). Figure 1 in the appendix shows the project communication plan. Conclusion The establishment of the frozen yoghurt business necessitates the understanding of the several risks associated with the project such as stealing of the product, reduced demand during winter, inappropriate location of the store and low demand. Advertising, maintaining vigilance, stocking the most popular yoghurt brands and alternating between warm and frozen yoghurt depending on the weather are some of the contingency plans for the risks. Introducing the self-service system requires a change management initiative to communicate, implement, oversee and evaluate the change process. The main stakeholders of the project include the project sponsor, departmental heads and the store manager. Reference List Beck, A 2011, Self-scan checkouts and retail loss: Understanding the risk and minimising the threat, Security Journal, Vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 199-215. Bobbitt, R P, Flickner, M, Hampapur, A, Otto, CA, Pankanti, S U, Park, U, Yanagawa, A & Zhai, Y 2009, ‘International Business Machines Corporation’, Non-scan detect system for a retail checkout station. Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. 2004, ‘Ten Guiding Principles of Change Management’. Chen, W C 2011, Technology base self service in hospitality industry. Crane, A & Livesey, S M 2003, ‘Are you talking to me? Stakeholder communication and the risks and rewards of dialogue’, Stakeholder Communication and the Risks and Rewards of Dialogue. Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) 2011, The Impact and Control of Shrinkage at Self-scan Check outs’, An ECR Europe White Paper. Gill, R 2002, ‘Change management--or change leadership?’ Journal of change management, vol. 3, no. 4, pp.307-318. Heymann, J 2010, ‘Building Assets to Ensure That the Lowest-Level Employees Are Not Left Behind’. Rahman, S 2010, ‘Using strategic communications to engage stakeholders in tax reform’. Todnem B R 2005, ‘Organisational change management: A critical review’, Journal of Change Management, vol. 5, no. 4, pp.369-380. Appendices The Project Communication Plan Project Objectives: To train surveillance staff, to communicate the need of the project, to monitor the performance of the new system. Expectations/Issues Priority Specific key messages Communication tactics Project Sponsor Make the overall project plan Integrate departmental resources Manage risks Maintain shareholder’s interests 1 Direct face-to-face communication with the departmental heads Telephone conversations Departmental Heads Manage departmental sections Communicate and coordinate with team members 1 Face-to-face communication with the store manager and the project sponsor Telephone conversations with the sponsor Store Manager Report emerging problems to the departmental heads Train new and existing staff Manage daily activities 1 Face-to-face communication with the departmental heads Telephone conversations with the departmental heads Figure 1: Stakeholder Communications Plan Read More