Every organization has the human resource department concerned with the development and implementation of strategic goals that are significant for the achievement of the organizational goals. In as much as the management makes critical decisions on various issues affecting the organization, it should strive to remain cautious since some decision may not be the solution for specific problems but escalate the problem to a crisis stage. The management should consider the employees’ welfare while making decisions since they are one of the valuable resources in the organization. The presentation below thus seeks to provide an in-depth analysis of the existing situation at Reyes Fitness Center Inc. The report also addresses the issues in the organization, gives the alternate course of the issues as well as the recommendations to the human resource management that will enable them to solve the challenges that RFC is experiencing.

Case Review

This case is about Reyes Fitness Centers Inc. that operates in the fitness club industry in the U.S. Mike Lowe is the new chief executive officer at RFC and has a new strategic goal which focuses on increased profitability (Sherlock, 2008). The overall goal is to maintain the profitability of the organization. However, to achieve this goal, there is a need for efficient utilization of the resources and maximum support from the human resource department. Lowe understands that employees play a significant role in achieving the set goals. The meeting between Lowe and the human resource manager, Lori Patrick is to discuss the contribution of the department towards the achievement of the set goals. Lori thus has to engage the employees and ensure that they effectively contribute to the success of the organization by facilitating the achievement of set goals.

Major issues within the organization

The primary issues within RFC are that it is experiencing a low member retention rate which is 20% lower than the average industry level. RFC has reduced rate of subscription for new members as they tend to join the fitness club during promotions and fail to visit the fitness center as they do not realize the value of the fitness center after the promotion thus reduced the rate of customer satisfaction (Sherlock, 2008). Customer service is also another issue experienced in RFC.  Some members have provided feedback that the staff does not provide sufficient customer care services. The members fail to renew their subscription thus reducing the making the organization less competitive in the industry. The problems originate from the human resource management as the employees seem to be less competitive and are quite unsure of their role in supporting the achievement of the organizational goals thus result to the poor performance of the employees as well as the underperformance of the human resource management (Sherlock, 2008). The human resource department does not have human resource strategic plan initiatives that align with the overall organizational goals to provide sufficient assistance in achieving the set goals.

Alternate courses of action to address the issues identified

There is a need to address the issues within RFC as soon as possible if the organization desires to remain competitive and profitable in the fitness club industry. The management needs to implement initiatives that will promote customer and employee satisfaction to encourage members to visit the fitness facility often and gain significant value for their subscription (Sherlock, 2008). The management should assign different tasks that relate to the employee’s skills to enable them to understand the kind of support they have to offer to achieve the organizational goals. Besides the promotions, there is the need to reward the members for each renewal thus achieving high renewal rates. RFC also need to solve the issue of lack of new member subscription by constantly advertising their services with celebrity bodybuilders and athletes to create a positive perception of their brand to the customers, therefore, encourage them to visit the fitness center more often.

The human resource management needs to ensure there is maximum contribution of the employees towards the achievement of the organizational goals to address the issue of reduced customer service.  The management needs to set achievable short-term goals to assess the maximum input of the employee thus measure the performance rate depending on how efficient they have attained the set goals(Sherlock,  2008). The management needs to set achievable performance goals and communicate them to the employees since they need to be part of the decisions in the organization. The management also needs to strategize on how to motivate the employees by rewarding them for accomplishing the set goals. Some of the reward approaches can be an increase in salary, promotion of the employees to different levels and addition of employment benefits. The employees will become motivated to work harder thus translating to how they relate with the customers.

Some employees may not understand how they can contribute positively to the achievement of the organizational goals (Sherlock, 2008). The management must, therefore, offer training opportunities for the employees to improve customer care services skills and implement them while handling the customers. The employees will not only acquire skills to enhance customer care services but also achieve growth and development in their career.

The recommendation for action, with the appropriate supporting arguments

RFC should try as much as possible to remain competitive in the fitness club industry. The management should, therefore, consider the recommendations below. The management should implement scorecard to assist in managing the employee’s contribution to the achievement of the strategic goals. Lori should discuss the use of scorecard with Lowe then discuss with the employees to enable them to understand how effective the scorecard will help in understanding their contributions to the company’s success (Sherlock, 2008). There is a need to focus more on the general outcome and not the activities since the employees have a variety of skills and knowledge and can utilize them in various ways to achieve the set goals.

The management should also introduce an efficient communication mechanism and hold constant meetings with the employees to discuss the issues that affect them and their proposal on how they can address the needs of the customers. The management and the employees thus form a common goal after serious discussions and provide possible solutions to the management. Their opinions and ideas contribute to the final decision to develop strategies on how to enhance customer retention as well as increase the new member subscription rates.

The organization needs to improve its quality of service delivery, therefore should embrace the implementation of employee training programs to equip them with skills of engaging the customers to appreciate the services of the fitness center hence encouraged to renew their membership subscriptions and visit the center more than twice in a week like it is currently. The employees also develop excellent customer service skills and professionally handle the customers thus increasing the employees and customer satisfaction levels.

Lori should also develop the performance appraisal that will assist in assessing the performance level of the employees and the goals that have been achieved within a specific period (Sherlock, 2008). Therefore, it will be much easier to address areas the goals that have not been met. An efficient compensation system will also be of significant value to the organization as it will ensure that the employees get equal pay at the right time to cater for their needs thus motivate them to work to achieve the organizational goals.

Generally, it seems the problem lies within the human resource management as the employees do not understand their contributions to the achievement of the set goals. It is thus necessary to ensure that there is the implementation of various strategies to motivate them, offer and offer training opportunities to gain skills that will enable them to address the needs of the customers professionally thus achieving high customer satisfaction, which translates to high retention rates as well as encouraging new member subscriptions thus maintaining its competitive advantage.

Reference

Sherlock, J. (2008). Reyes fitness centers, inc.: The strategic hr opportunity. Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).