Analysis Project SuperNewMedia Ltd - Case Study Example

Analysis Project SuperNewMedia Ltd Introduction New media agency SuperNewMedia Ltd. has just been commissioned to design, launch and maintain an e-commerce web site for fist-time client DigitalFashion. The client, a fashion retailer, wishes their web site to accept sales transaction for their new collection. The web site should also provide information about their clothing line merchandise & fashion trends, as well as contain video clips about related material. Unfortunately, the present staff members appear to possess the wrong skills and experience, and may not be able to complete the project before the 6-month deadline. Among the issues needed to be considered are: (1) who among the members of the present staff are not needed on this project, and how they may be redeployed; (2) the staff needed to be hired and the functions they are to perform; (3) the qualifications of the new staff and their likely employment status; and (4) how the new staff may be recruited. Should the foregoing issues not be properly addressed, there is a strong possibility that the needed skills may not be obtained in order to fulfil the functions needed for the project. The dissatisfied client will definitely refuse to pay the remainder of the contract price and may even ask for a refund, and all future business with him and his immediate circle of friends and business contacts will be lost. Moreover, since word-of-mouth and personal endorsements are much relied upon, the reputation of the company may be tarnished and the firm will be seen as unreliable and incompetent. Proposed Solution For this case, the problem is the poor match or mismatch between the needs of the project and the qualifications of the present staff. Because it is a staffing problem, and the remedy would be to release some people from the team and redeploy them, while at the same time recruiting the staff that possess the needed skills and background. Those employees that have to be released from the team are the programmer and three of the six illustrators; the programmer, because the programming language he is proficient in and the skills he possesses are not needed in the interactive e-commerce website. Also, there are too many illustrators for the required job; furthermore, they do not possess the necessary skills for interactive web site design. The deadline for the project’s completion is in six months, thus the recruitment process must be expedited as soon as possible. It will take some time to properly orient the new staff and to “build” the team (i.e., to develop smooth working relationships) in order to achieve the desired results within the remaining time. Among the range of recruitment channels, the most appropriate to use, given the circumstances of this case, are employee referral schemes, word of mouth, the internet, and the cost relatively low. Employee referral schemes involve present staff referring likely candidates they already know to the project manager. The employee making the referral short-cuts the recruitment and teambuilding processes by giving the prospect an understanding of the project. The time required is then cut short and the project commenced immediately. Advertising through the internet and by word of mouth also yield results quickly and more effectively than more formal and structured procedures, and is also less costly than newspaper and media advertisements. The company has to hire 2 web site developers and programmers, one to take care of the front end and the other for the back end. The front-end developer will be the one who shall put up the design, whereas the back-end developer is in charge of maintaining the site, and of putting in the features and codes. Glancing at the table in the Appendix, it is seen that the front-end programmer, together with the copywriter, may be either part-time or full-time depending upon whether the firm will be having similar projects in the future or not. However, the back-end programmer/ developer and the designer must be full time employees. The back-end programmer will continually maintain the web site, while the designer (who has experience in interactive design), is expected to be in charge of the other illustrators who have no interactive experience. Inasmuch as only four people with specific attributes are needed, the recruitment channels chosen provide the speed and expediency by which to assess good personnel. It may also be beneficial to outsource some team members or some production activities. Outsourcing is advantageous to employ for those tasks not central to the operations of the business, which are peripheral to the main functions of the business or project, and which is temporary in nature (Bragg, 2006). In this case, the copywriter writes the words that are used in advertisements for print, the mass media, and in this case the new media. The job of copywriting or the copywriter himself may be outsourced, or free-lanced, because the skill is basic, the job is non-confidential, and the firm will need the copywriter only for occasional periods of time, which does not justify a full-time status. Conclusion The removal of some of the present members of the team whose qualifications are not contributory to the project, and the hiring or outsourcing of new team members who posses the needed skills, had been necessary in this case because of the urgency with which the firm is required to complete the project. Had time not been a constraint, the existing full-time staff may have been allowed to undertake training in interactive web site design. However, since personnel are fluid in this industry because of the constant developments it may be wise for the firm to maintain a network of potential partners, who may be seen as “repositories of diverse resources to supplement and complement lacking internal resources” (Bouncken, Lekse & Koch, 2008, p. 67). The establishment of such networks, however, is a long-term solution for future projects that the company may have. However, for the present dilemma, it will be necessary to hire or contract new talents with a track record of relevant experience in interactive website development. The displaced full-time personnel – the present programmer and some of the illustrators – will be useful in other fields or other projects that the firm will be having. In the meantime, the properly-skilled team must be formed and techniques developed, and quickly, in order to meet the client’s expectations. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bouncken, R B; Lekse, W J; & Koch, M 2008 Project Management Capabilities in the New Media Industry. Journal of Media Business Studies. Bragg, S M 2006 Outsourcing: A Guide to …Selecting the Correct Business Unit …Negotiating the Contract. Second edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Costa, A C 2003 Measuring trust in teams: Development and validation of the trust team inventory. Australian Journal of Psychology, vol. 55, pp.120-120. Friedman, V 2006 Web Design and Development: Top 20 Best Practices., Accessed 21 November 2010 http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2006/03/25/web_design_and_development_top.htm Senecal, B 2010 Seven best practices for Performance Measurement. Project Management Bistro. Accessed 21 November 2010 from http://projectmanagementonline.blogspot.com/2010/04/seven-best-practices-for-performance.html Maravilla, N & Ma. Reyna, S 2010 7 Steps to Successful Web Site Development. PowerHomeBiz.com. Accessed 21 November 2010 from http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol142/website.htm Morris, T F 2010 Web design best practices checklist. Web Development and Design Foundation. Accessed 21 November 2010 from http://terrymorris.net/bestpractices/ UK Department for Business Innovation & Skills 2010 Recruitment Channels. Accessed 21 November 2010 from http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/higher-education/access-to-professions/prg/recruitment-step-by-step/attracting-applications/recruitment-channels APPENDIX Table A: Proposed new team members to be hired Staff position Min. Education / Background Skills/Level of Experience Employment Status Front-end programmer / Interactive website developer Post-secondary degree or applied IT diploma; Strong design integration experience - Must thoroughly know and have experience in PHP, My SQL, CSS, HTML Javascript/JQuery and Wordpress - Minimum three years experience in building database-driven web-based solutions Full-time or part-time Back-end programmer / Interactive website maintenance Post-secondary degree or applied IT diploma; Strong design integration experience - Must thoroughly know and have experience in PHP, My SQL, CSS, HTML Javascript/JQuery and Wordpress - Minimum three years experience in interactive design, installing features and codes Full-time Interactive web designer / Online marketing specialist Post-secondary degree in arts or design; Strong design skills and experience in photography - Thorough knowledge in photoshop, illustrator, flash - Must be familiar with HTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, Javascript/JQuery and Wordpress, but not a programmer - Minimum three years experience in designing interactive design Full-time Copywriter Secondary diploma Experience in copywriting an advantage Part-time Read More