performance improvement proposal - Alexis Haas

PERFORMANCE
IMPROVEMENT PROPOSAL
TABLE OF CONTENTS
OUR TEAM……………………………………………………………… 3
ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS……………………………………7
SYSTEM ANALYSIS……………………………………………………14
PROCESS ANALYSIS………………………………………………….16
TASK ANALYSIS………………………………………………………..25
DATA COLLECTION…………………………………………………..28
PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS……………………………………40
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OUR TEAM
3
Team Charter
KLAMM Group 4
Kaity Kirwin, Lauren Metzler, Alexis Haas, Morgan Doss, Megan Ireland
Goals:


To work as a team to analyze the performance of a local company and create a proposal to
share with them by the end of the semester.
Producing an end product by Thanksgiving break that each team member feels proud and
confident in showing to a potential employer.
Policies:
Team Meetings
 Be open to others ideas
 Come prepared
 Assign tasks
 Stay on topic
 Contribute with relevant ideas
Communication
 Always respect the thoughts and opinions of your group members
 Use group message to notify team
 Let group know if you will be more than 5 minutes late
 Give at least 4 hours’ notice if you are unable to attend a meeting
 Let group know prior to meeting if you have not completed your task for the week
 If a problem arises, try and mediate within the group first, then involve Professor Snow
Work Ethic/Expectations
 Complete assigned tasks to the best of your ability before meeting
 Ask for help if needed
 Volunteer for assignments
 Remain accountable for any and all work you complete
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Consequences
 If you do not notify group members and miss a meeting, the rest of the group will assign you a
task to complete prior to the next meeting.
 If you repeatedly miss a meeting without notifying the group, the group has the right to discuss
firing you.
 If you repeatedly do not complete work on time/doesn’t meet group standards, the group has
the right to discuss firing you.
 If you repeatedly have a negative attitude during meetings/about project, the group has a right
to discuss firing you.
 Group will give you one warning before involving Professor Snow, and one warning before firing.
Roles:
Alexis Haas- Promoter
Kaity Kirwin- Analyst
Morgan Doss- Controller/Promoter
Megan Ireland- Middle
Lauren Metzler- Controller
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6
ORGANIZATIONAL
ANALYSIS
7
UNIVERSITY OUTPOST
HISTORY AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Twenty-five years ago, JMU graduate Christine Johnson decided to open up a store with her
brother in a shopping center in Harrisonburg, VA. Johnson had developed the idea after working for
a party supplies store that dabbled in fraternity and sorority merchandise during her time as a
student at James Madison University. Christine’s store was of similar nature, but focused less on
party supplies and more on fraternity and sorority merchandise. The growing popularity of Greek life
at JMU led to an instant take off in the business. With great success, there was a need to move closer
to campus. This brought them to their second location, which is current-day Warsaw Parking deck.
When moving to their second location, Johnson dropped the party supplies and focused solely on
merchandise, not just fraternity and sorority wear but JMU merchandise as well. Eventually people
started asking them why they were not selling textbooks, which triggered the incentive to begin
selling textbooks to students. Acquiring an entire inventory of textbooks required an even larger
location, which brought them to their third spot at the top of Port Republic Road, currently known as
Campus Corner. The success of their business coupled with the growing enrollment rate at JMU led
to a need for an even bigger location, which brought them to the corner of Forest Hills Road and Port
Republic, their current location. University Outpost is an off-campus bookstore that specializes in
JMU gear and textbook sales/rentals for the JMU community.
MISSION STATEMENT
University Outpost does not have a mission statement.
VALUES
University Outpost is community-driven and family oriented. However, this organization does
not have certain values set out for the store.
VISION STATEMENT
University Outpost does not have a known vision for the organization.
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ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
ORGANIZATIONAL CHART
The University Outpost is owned and operated by a single family. Kristine and her brother, John, are the
owners of the store, while their sister Katie is the store manager. Because it is a smaller family-owned
business, each of the siblings have to do many jobs to keep the store running.
There are 12 sales associates on staff, with six experienced employees, four helper employees, and two
floater employees. Most of the sales associates are undergraduate students at JMU, which can be
difficult because the University Outpost is busy when the students are busy, such as football game days
and exam week. Typically, new employees are hired by word of mouth and with a recommendation
from an existing employee. This creates a family-like culture for the employees, stemming from the
business being owned and operated by a family.
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JOB DESCRIPTIONS
Owner:
Kristine and her brother, John, are the owners of the University Outpost. Kristine focuses on daily
running of the store and the merchandise, while John focuses on the textbook process. John works with
a textbook coordinator to order the textbooks and make sure the store has up-to-date information
about the needs of JMU professors. He also keeps careful track of the history of professors to be sure
which textbooks need to be purchased each semester.
Manager:
Katie is in charge of the store on a day-to-day basis. She manages the sales associates, creates the shift
schedule, stocks the shelves, orders non-textbook inventory, and handles the merchandising.
Sales Associate:
Sales associates assist with the running of the store. They help with restocking, running the cash
register, answering questions for employees, and filling textbook orders. Sales associates work every
single home football game, which is when the University Outpost is the busiest. Typically, they get every
other weekend off.
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SWOT ANALYSIS
S
Internal
Strengths
W
Weaknesses
 Bring people in on game days with
promotions
 Offers different merchandise than
competitors
 Convenient for students that live off
campus
 Locally owned





Disorganized
Vague managerial control
Hard to access from street
Lack of crowd control
Unstructured training program for
textbook rentals
T
O
External
Opportunities




Threats
Improve Website
Improve store organization
Improve lighting in store
Improve textbook system
 Create mission statement and values
 The University Bookstore
 Other textbook rental websites
 Person-to-person textbook resales
Positive
Negative
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SWOT ANALYSIS EXPLANATION
STRENGTHS:
University Outpost provides unique merchandise that differs from the competitors. For
instance, the clothing offered differs from the clothing obtainable at The JMU Bookstore, and is also
considered to be a much cheaper option. University Outpost also offers the textbooks necessary for
JMU classes at a cheaper rate. This organization also organizes different promotions in order to attract
people to the store on game day weekends (pins, beads, etc.). Therefore, excessive amounts of
customers come to the store to buy merchandise. The location of University Outpost is an advantage to
the store, as well. It is easier access and more convenient for upperclassmen that live off campus.
University Outpost is also a family-run business, and was opened by two JMU alumni. To customers, this
provides a more personal feel compared to competitors.
WEAKNESSES:
University Outpost is family-run, which makes the managerial staff somewhat confusing. The
store is co-owned by a brother and sister, while another sister is considered a store manager. According
to one of the co-owners, the atmosphere of the store can become very stressful due to family drama.
For instance, one sibling feeling as if they do not have as much responsibility as the others is an
ongoing argument within the store’s leadership. Along with being a very vague and confusing
structure, this also does not set a good example for employees. A main weakness of University Outpost
is the blatant disorganization. Customers are able to view the owners’ offices, as well as the back of the
store where merchandise is kept. While the setup of the store is well organized and clean, these two
rooms are exceptions to the organization. Along with this disorganization in the background, University
Outpost has a difficult time controlling the crowd during peak hours (game days and textbook season).
Customers are unsure of where the proper lines are and there is little space to move around the store.
A reason for this confusion during textbook rental season may be the fact that University Outpost does
not have a structured training program for employees during textbook season. Employees are just
thrown into textbook rentals without proper instruction.
OPPORTUNITIES:
University Outpost is able to improve in several areas, which will create for success for the store.
For one, the Outpost’s website can be revamped to become more visually appealing, organized, and
information laden. The store’s organization could also be improved, which will make things easier for
owners, employees, and customers as they walk around. While the textbook system is very successful
with students, the process of textbook renting can be simplified and more organized. University
Outpost also lacks a mission statement and/or values. Through creating a mission statement,
employees and managers will be able to understand University Outpost’s goals.
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THREATS:
The most imminent and serious threat to University Outpost is the JMU Bookstore. The Bookstore
also offers a variety of JMU attire, textbooks, and other merchandise University Outpost has yet to offer
(laptops, technology services, etc.). Due to the JMU Bookstore being on campus, there is increased
traffic from students that are either living or attending class on campus. Along with the JMU Bookstore,
there are also other textbook rental websites (Chegg, Amazon, EBay) that students are able to order
their necessary books from. A new threat that University Outpost is seeming to face more each year is
person-to-person textbook resales. Rather than going to a store to rent/buy textbooks, students have
started reselling their old textbooks to others.
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SYSTEM ANALYSIS
14
15
PROCESS ANALYSIS
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PROCESS
17
18
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PROCESS DESCRIPTION
TEXTBOOK ORDERS CHECKOUT PROCESS
As the customer walks in, the University Outpost textbook clerk greets him or her and asks if they
ordered online or are here to order books on-site. If the customer already has an order waiting for them,
the clerk directs him or her to the far left line. If they are here to place an order in-person, the clerk
directs the customer to the far left lane.
Ordered Online
The clerk asks the customer for the order number. If they have the order number ready, the clerk goes
to the back and retrieves the book package that corresponds with that number.
Here to order in-person
The clerk asks the customer what books he or she needs to purchase. Once the customer says the order,
the clerk goes to the back to retrieve corresponding books.
———————————————————————————————————————
After books are retrieved, the clerk asks the customer if they are renting or buying:
If the customer is renting, the clerk looks through the books to check for water damage. He or she then
records the customer’s permanent address, visa number and verifies the return date. The clerk explains
to the customer that the books need to be returned on time and in the condition they were purchased.
The clerk then directs the customer to the middle line for checkout.
If the customer is buying, the clerk double checks to see if the books are correct and then directs the
customer to the middle line.
Once in the middle line, the customer pays for the order.
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PERFORMANCE DIAGNOSIS MATRIX
Performance Variable
Organization
Process
Team
Individual
Mission/Goal
No
No
No
No
System Design
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Capacity
Motivation
Expertise
Yes
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PERFROMANCE DIAGNOSIS MATRIX EXPLANATION
Based on this Performance Diagnosis Matrix, the lack of mission statement and professional
goals clearly hinders the business on all four levels of evaluation. As seen in the diagram, this
organization is suffering most at the process level. The lack of set processes for both online and inperson textbook sales and rentals is the factor that is responsible for hindering University Outpost at the
process level across all five performance variables. Since there are no set goals for the organization, the
process goals cannot meet organization and individual goals (which are also not developed). The system
we are examining is University Outpost’s sale and rental of textbooks. Both the online and in-person
textbook processes are not designed in a way to work together as a system, which is why system design
in currently failing at the process level. Due to the fact that management is constantly changing the
processes, the processes do not have the capacity to perform properly for the organization. As a result,
this organization’s capacity is failing at the process level. The organization’s motivation is also failing at
the process level because the processes are constantly changing. These changes are causing a lack of
employee motivation, which results in the inability of the process to provide information and human
factors required to maintain it. Again, because processes are constantly changing, there is no
opportunity to employees to master each process. This is why the expertise of the organization is failing
at the process level.
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FISHBONE ANALYSIS
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FISHBONE ANALYSIS EXPLANATION
As shown in the Fishbone analysis diagram, there are many contributing factors to the internal
communication problem at University Outpost. The main factors contributing to the communication
problem is the lack of clear management, the lack of an official training program, and the constantly
changing process. The textbook process changes every year, and without a training program and clear
direction from the managers, the employees are left confused and inefficient. One of the reasons there
are not more formal procedures is because the business is owned and operated by a set of siblings. A
family business is more casual and may not take the time to create formal documentation.
University Outpost usually hires current JMU students to work as sales associates. While
the students are hard workers, they may only work at the Outpost for one-three years before
they graduate and leave the Harrisonburg area. Due to the high turnover rate of the sales
associates, the Outpost needs to have a clear and organized training program in order to
properly train the new employees in an efficient manner.
Other communication problems are the lack of signage in the store during the busy
textbook period. The Outpost has three lines at the checkout counter, one for picking up online
orders, one for ordering textbooks in person, and one for purchasing the books. Customers
walk into the store and are not clear on which line to wait in. Overall, University Outpost needs
to spend some time organizing their communication processes by creating documentation,
meeting with employees, and putting up signs for the customers.
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TASK ANALYSIS
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TASK ANALYSIS
ONLINE TASK ANALYSIS
Step 1) Receive textbook order
Step 2) Gather textbooks from inventory and package them
Step 3) If textbooks are rentals, draw up rental contract & prepare to discuss with customer
Step 4) Prepare books to be picked up in the store
IN-PERSON TASK ANALYSIS
Step 1) Serve customers waiting on line to request textbooks
Step 2) Gather those textbooks from inventory

REQUIRED INFORMATION:
o Professor, title of textbook, ISBN, author
o Need this for each textbook
Step 3) If textbooks are rentals, discuss rental contract with customer
Step 4) Send customer over to check-out
Step 5) Check out customer with all textbooks
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TASK INVENTORY
ONLINE TASK INVENTORY
Working computer system
Functional website
Textbooks
Customers
Trained employees
IN-PERSON TASK INVENTORY
Working computer system

Credit card machines/cash
Textbooks
Customers
Trained employees
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DATA COLLECTION
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INTERVIEWS
INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTINE JOHNSON- STORE CO-OWNER
Conducted on Thursday, November 5, 2015
1. Where did the idea for outpost come from?
 Started 25 years ago, mainly with her and her brother. “When we first started I actually worked
at another little store that did fraternity and sorority stuff, but they were mostly a party store. In
the very back it had just a teeny bit of sorority and fraternity stuff. So we needed a place for that
stuff.”
 Owner of store was looking to sell her business. Turns out the owner ended up getting kicked
out of her spot so Christine stayed in that place and sold the sorority and fraternity stuff.
 First location of store was in the Kroger shopping center
 The fraternity and sorority stuff grew so much bigger that they needed to move closer to
campus. Moved to a building where Warsaw Parking deck is now, and began selling strictly
university and greek.
2. When did you start selling textbooks/how did you implement this system into your business?
rd
 Shortly after people began to ask why they didn’t get into books, lead them to move to their 3
location at the top of Port Republic (where Campus Corner is now).
 Eventually ran out of space at the third location, once books were added to the mix, which led
them to the location they are at now.
 JMU is a public school so it is all public information, to the textbooks, etc.
 The professors got very confused that there were now 2 places to send textbook information.
 eFollett saw the Outpost as a competitor and gave them a hard time for getting any
information about textbooks.
 Some professors just wanted to deal with Outpost others just wanted to deal with the university
bookstore. This lead to the University creating a new position.
 In this position she (the hire) took all the information and distribute it to us (the
outpost) and eFollett
3. How did you find suppliers for the textbooks? How do you estimate how much you will need?
 There is not a lot of them, there is just not very many of them
 Brother deals with the book inventory and estimations
 Uses past history, estimated enrollments, actual enrollments, learns the professors habits with
rarely to always using a book and the professors who consistently put in the wrong book order
 The hardest thing now is consumer-to-consumer sales. “There use to be only so many books
available and we would compete for those…” Now students are not selling books back to the
outpost, but selling it straight to the source that now needs the book versus selling it back to
outpost.
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4. Do you sell JMU specific books?
 Course packets that go through the copy center the outpost does not sell.
5. What do you prefer, online textbook orders or in-store?
 Majority of students do it online
 “It is a ton of work to get the books in a place where you guys can shop the store to get them, it
is so much work.”
 Every book needs a spot, with a printed shelf tag, a price and making sure the book is put in the
right spot.
 Says professors constantly put book orders in that are due in October not until
December/January
 A ton of work to make it customer ready
 “I have found that it is less labor intensive to put the books where I know where they are and
my employees know where they are.”
6. Is it more difficult when a student doesn't order online and just comes in to get their books?
 “It takes a little bit longer for us to go and get them for you.”
 Students also forget some of the class information like which class section etc., so its more time
consuming
7. How do you organize the books, have you mixed it up each year?
 Had it down to a science and then they changed to clerk service (they get the books for
students) so now there is no more shelf tags
 That process has been changing every semester
 Rentals and clerk service are completely different.
8. How does the rental process work?
 Mostly by contract. Students sign a contract saying they will keep it in good condition and return
it on time
 Buy from the wholesaler or by it from students
 Rental contract- need to make sure they write down their permanent address, know the return
date, copied down the right credit card number, and that the card wont expire before the books
are due back.
 These things have to be looked over and verified than just scan and go
 Students need to make note of any damages before taking the book and sign the contract.
9. Do you do separate lines for rentals, clerk service and pickup?
 Order pickup is on one side, ordering is on the other and everyone pays in the middle
 Student puts order in, employee takes down students name and says sends them to cashier line,
when student gets up to the line, cashier says “Morgan’s books will be up” she goes and grabs
them. If you order online you just stand in that line, but wants to verify that you got the right
books so student looks through the books for any damage before leaving
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10. What training do employees go through for textbook season?
 “I find with rentals I need experienced hands. I would prefer to work with 6-10 kids. I have 12, I
can rely on 6 the other 4 are helpers. Having those 6 that know what they are doing is more
important that what it use to be… it took 25 kids to help students find their books.
11. How many employees do you have and what are their titles/job descriptions
 50 employees
 Brother and I are own the store
 Brother is in charge of the textbooks and has a textbook coordinator
 Sister (Katy) and I run the store. In charge of all the employees and buying merchandise,
merchandising, stocking, etc.
 “Kids that work for us” sale associates
 Around 12 on staff each weekend
 Work every other weekend, but work every home game
 Book staff turns into game game day staff
12. Do you have students coming to you as underclassmen?
 Very rarely have freshman that work for us
 Exam week for us students is very busy for us
 All undergraduates
13. What training do sales associates go through?
 We get to hire people that our current employees already know
 On the job training
 When we hire them we have them come back to school time
 You will learn it and be able to hang with it or you just won’t.
14. Do you have any tools you rely during textbook season, to make sure it runs smoothly?
 Point of sales system- helps with inventory, track the customer
 Your wholesalers have a system set up for books, helps organize
 Rentals is brand new to everyone
 One of the first off-campus bookstores to ever start rentals in the nation
15. Where did the name for outpost come from?
 Started off as Party Perfect… then changed the name once we stopped selling party supplies and
moved to Warsaw
 Said she wanted to be an “outpost” for people- wanted to be on the outskirts. Friend Tony
suggested University Outpost
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INTERVIEW WITH LAUREN- SALES ASSOCIATE
Conducted on Monday, November 9, 2015
1. What is your role in the business?
 I am a sales associate, but take more of a leadership role for the associates.
2. What are your major responsibilities?
 I come into the store in the morning and open the store, which includes opening registers,
restocking, folding, cleaning, etc. I also close the store for business at night. I basically do
whatever my manager needs me to.
3. Do you know Outpost’s mission statement?
 I actually have no idea… I don’t think we have one.
4. What would you say Outpost’s values are focused on?
 We are definitely very focused on community and family. We also have large interests in alumni
and local businesses. So are values relate to being very close-knit with the community.
5. Could you describe a typical shift?
 I come and unlock the store to open, turn on the lights, start up the registers, and then normally
I have a project everyday. Either restocking the shelves, or folding a new shirt that just came
in. They recently began allowing me to organize different shelves as I wish, too.
6. If you could change any process in Outpost, what would it be? What part of this process takes the
longest amount of time?
 I would definitely change the book process during textbook rental season. There is so much
miscommunication between owners and sales associates that no one really knows what’s going
on. There is always a long line because students don’t know where to go, and then employees
aren’t even able to tell them exactly what they need to do, because we also don’t know. Just
being able to find the books that students want takes the most time, because we are not told
where they are in the first place. We are just kind of thrown into textbook season without much
knowledge of anything.
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7. How would you change this process?
 Well the owners have basically changed the process every year to find a more organized way of
doing things, but nothing has seemed to work. We need an easier way to find the correct books,
or at least a different way of organizing everything. We also need to come up with a different
process for online ordering, as students seemed to get confused with where to go for that.
INTERVIEW WITH JOHN- STORE CO-OWNER
Conducted on Friday, November 13, 2015
1. What do you do for the Outpost?

I am a co-owner, and manage the textbook process within the store. I find out what textbooks
are required for each course and order the needed books. I am at the store during the busy
textbook period to help the associates and customers.
2. When is the busy season for textbooks?

Two weeks before the semester starts, and the first week of classes.
3. What kind of training do the Sales Associates receive prior to the textbook season

They get minimal training, there really isn’t a formal process in place because it is different every
year. I do a brief overview of how the books are set up in the back and how to use the register.
4. Do you feel that the Sales Associates are prepared?

Not really, more on the job training. They learn as the weeks progress, and if they have
questions the managers are there to answer questions.
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Outpost Survey
34
35
36
37
Less than 24 hours
Three days
Two days
A week
Two hours
Five minutes
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PROPOSED
IMPROVEMENTS
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PROPOSAL
PROPOSED MISSION STATEMENT
“To provide desirable and affordable textbooks and university-themed merchandise to the
JMU community.”
PERFORMANCE GAP
Most organizations have a formal and documented training program to ensure the employees
represent the organization in the desired way. Based on interviews with the owner and employees,
University Outpost has no training program in place. Having no training program is a major gap from
industry standards. According to the owner, University Outpost has no official mission statement. Lack
of a mission statement is also a gap from industry standards.
RECOMMENDED INTERVENTIONS
 Training Program
o Two day training the weekend students start to come back to Harrisonburg
 Saturday at 8 AM to 10 AM
 Sunday at 10 AM to 12 PM
 Employees will hopefully learn more if they have time to absorb the information
that is being taught
o The three siblings (Kristine, John, Katie) will begin the training session through
explaining the textbook process
 Associates will be split into three groups
 John will give the employees a tour of the textbook area
 Katie will go over the goals relating to customer experience
 Kristine will train the computer process that is needed for renting
textbooks/cashing out
 Implementation of Signs
o Check-Out
o Online Order Pick-Up
o In-Person Ordering
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COST



Extra training costs:
o Employees
o Managers
Costs of making signs:
o A 12x18 sign is $27.99
o Need three different signs=
o Total: $83.97
Time
FORECASTED BENEFITS
Although there are certain expenditures, such as time and money, the forecasted benefits of
implementing this training process outweigh the costs. Overall, we have come up with five main
benefits that could result from this training:
1. Improved employee satisfaction
a. The employees will feel less overwhelmed with the textbook process, as they will have a
better understanding.
2. Less time spent on each customer
3. Reduced wait time for customers
4. Improved customer opinion of store
5. Individual motivation of employees will improve
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