Project Work Performance

Introduction

A publishing company, CSU Central Books, is working directly with the college; thus, it is engaged in the organization of its educational processes. Nevertheless, it faced some challenges in the production process. The preparation and publication of eBooks did not correspond with the requirements of college clients because of the complexity of these processes and limited experience of the company in the publication of similar products. However, the precision of the organization has allowed it to make the quality better. The development of successive stages of the production process is able to improve the performance and efficiency in creating the final product, even with the help of sophisticated technologies.

Differentiation and Customization of eBooks

Book publication and printing, as well as any other production, consist of similar processes, which vary depending on the purpose and characteristics of the marketed goods. For example, e-books made by CSU Central Books were developed to special orders. Consequently, the level of the product’s originality became the default setting of the business; moreover, characteristics of the production system including the technical and human competencies also significantly increased. If printing is performed faster, and the issue of standard mass products is well-managed, the publication of eBooks on individual orders of the college will bring particular changes in the course and sequence of the company’s production. Thus, the definition of technical specifications by customers according to modern trends increased the number of orders that had to be reworked in line to the individual requirements of the college professors. Therefore, the time for processing and implementing such requirements was longer than in the cases when printing and processing were more anticipated and traditional. Books were late, and this fact impacted the cooperation with the educational institution.

An individual approach to work slackened the output of production processes. Considering the costs and tasks performed in the production of each book took a lot of extra time. In addition, a flexible schedule of workers exacerbated the situation of the company. Under circumstances of a definite and stable work schedule, the employees would have performed tasks more accurately and dynamically. However, the customization and personalization of each order changed the production course not to the best. Consequently, the time duration, sequence of printing procedures, level of correspondence to a customer order, different content and layouts, and various approval procedures have turned these customized eBooks into a project for CSU Central Books. This strategy is of particular interest to appropriate stakeholders.

Stakeholders of eBook Projects

Stakeholders of the project are its immediate customers in the face of the college professors and students, as well as managers and employees of the company, who either directly or indirectly participated in the project of customized eBooks. The customers acted in the name of the college that had concluded an official agreement with the printing company for the timely delivery of finished books. Due to individual characteristics of these books, the related production processes were not always associated with the timely delivery and low costs expected by customers.

Managers were concerned about the state of affairs as the company had made significant progress in the industry according to the modern trends in publishing. The need for change was obvious to senior management. Employees who were other stakeholders had such a schedule that was not consistent with the set goals and performed tasks. Orders have not been assigned to specific employees, so it was difficult to determine the manufacturing steps and ongoing status of each book. In addition, not all engaged students had required practical skills and experience in the production process; this fact further complicated and delayed the work of the company.

Scope Definition

It is important to have a clearly defined scope and scale of the work as a way of saving internal resources and meeting the needs of the customers more fully. Setting the limits of the production capacity imposes a time limit on production processes that should take a clearly sustained time period. This step ensures the timely delivery of orders to customers who can also be limited in time, as in the case of the college educational process. In addition, the use of the company’s resources (human, time, and other.) should also fit time terms; in such a manner, it will improve the company’s internal allocation and management. The existence of an agreement on the scope is important for the establishment of long-term productive relationships and simplification of the litigation. In the end, such an arrangement allows better organizing production processes on each individual order and collaborating effectively with supervisors.

Informed Supervisors

At the Manage Production phase, supervisors should be provided with all available information about the ongoing status of any order, working tasks of the production processes, changes in ongoing production costs, and possible delays. These data will help better navigate any stage of the publishing process and provide relevant and timely data to consumers.

The time factor plays an important role in these processes. This determined influence of time on the supervisors’ informative awareness is caused by their responsibility for the ultimate performance. Any project should avoid any reworks and delays; otherwise, it loses its relevance and usefulness, which reduce the cost and effectiveness of invested resources. Therefore, the quality and quantity of the information support of supervisors at this stage determines the effectiveness and readiness of the company to achieve its mission and meet standardized requirements.

Standard Job Template in Planning

The development and establishment of a standard example of work for CSU Central Books would be appropriate under the conditions of the long-term cooperation with the college only either in the case certain typing of orders is set or on the short term performance connected with the ongoing processes of similar books (Lees, 2012). The publication and release of books based on similar processes with appropriate qualitative and quantitative characteristics are a key to the faster and cheaper performance. Therefore, these processes can be easily named a single standard example. Employees can use it in their further activities when working with similar orders.

However, if the book project differs from the previous orders by a set of inherent characteristics, the previously developed sample is no longer relevant and suitable. This fact is caused by technical requirements that may arise or disappear in relation to the specifics of a book. Managers can determine the most appropriate mode for the two categories: simultaneous processing of individual orders of high specialization and typical orders. This approach will highlight the most common features of the publishing process. The presence of a template boosts planning work in the company as it encourages supervisors to determine what economic resources are necessary, to train engaged personnel additionally, and meet the requirements of timely delivery.

Additional Content of a Job Template

A standard job template should consider full data about the success of the introduction and publication of new individual orders to be included in a number of examples for carrying out similar processes. In addition, a template may include some information on an alternative approach in the case of delay or advance of an order. Managers may gain professional benefit from the template, especially when hiring new employees or examining behavioral patterns if the different stages of the process include the information about the required qualifications, abilities, and skills of engaged employees. They will be used at all stages of the order performance.

Structure of the Project

The first phase of the eBook project is receiving an order. This phase will impose responsibility on managers for obtaining detailed information from the customers and about it’s the technical requirements and content prior to signing a contract with clearly defined time limits and all work materials. These follow-up procedures may be the detailed steps in this preparatory phase.

The next phase of the project is planning an order. Information that passes verification will affect the choice of the publishing technology. Planning includes monitoring the data, checking the compatibility of the order and the technical equipment of the company, the search for common work samples in the database, compilation of new or alignment of the existing work patterns, project alignment of manufacturing processes, consolidation of tasks for each employee, and the passage of information from the client directly to the production of books (Burke, 2013).

The logical continuation of the project is the production of an order. This phase includes the adoption of the planned indicators and permits a direct transformation of the client materials into a finished book. The supervisor should constantly check the ongoing status of each book, especially if it is a customized order. The staff work is optimized taking into account peculiarities of the book’s release.

The final phase of the production orders is an order regulation. It is divided into the control of the correct distribution of tasks among employees, resources regulation, and monitoring the timeliness of business processes. These steps consider the ability of the company to provide product on time. In order to improve its outcomes, the organization should implement specific recommendations.

Recommendations

The structure of the eBooks project should follow the strategic objectives of a timely and qualitatively satisfaction of customers as the college professors and students are the target audience of the company. The performance of the publishing company should be aligned with the mentioned stages more properly and thoughtfully. Each stage should have optimal time frames and narrow specification of the responsible employees. Moreover, the participation of all workers with a flexible schedule should be relevant to the processing of ordered books in order to avoid any delays and withdrawals.

The company’s performance should be based on the most mature processes, which must be accompanied by transparency, clarity, and interconnectedness for each employee and for the company’s management, in general. This strategy will allow to identify defects timely and to change the order before the deadline. Particular emphasis should be placed on the constant interaction with the client at the initial stages of order processing in order to display detailed information appropriately and to ensure the correctness of the performed operations.

Lessons Learned

According to the revealed shortcomings in the company’s performance and offered recommendations, the case reveals particular issues of operational management. The company shows the activity aimed at the optimization of production processes according to customer’s requirements. It must largely rely on the time-frame as it ensures the success and effectiveness of the entire production system. Orderliness and measurability of production processes play a significant role in fulfilling the company’s mission.

Conclusion

Thus, eBooks production and release are based on a certain logical sequence of production processes and the definition of their scope. These characteristics allow CSU Central Books or other publishing company to be more competitive and conduct responsible business in the industry. Procedures should follow each other in order to improve the performance of the company.

Related Free Management Essays