smartwriter Please look at the sample attached
Homework Help1234
sample_student_odc_paper1.pdf
The Organization Development Intervention Paper:
A case study of Central Texas Fitness Center 1
Seth Daniels, Meredith Reardon and Charron Orfanides
MGMT 568-321
Texas A&M-Central Texas
1 A pseudonym. The names of the student authors and all organization members mentioned in the paper have
also been changed.
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In this report we use an organizational development intervention and make an attempt
at identifying the key issues Central Texas Fitness might face in its initial stages of operations.
The method of analysis is planned change based on the Action Research Diagnostic Model. All
results are based on responses obtained from survey-based interviews and direct observations
of staff, customers, and management alike. The survey instruments are attached as appendices
at the end of this paper. After a thorough analysis of the survey instruments, we find that the
business has done fairly well in its customer satisfaction ratings, but has overlooked some basic
processes crucial to a fitness facility. We understand that the gym is doing well, and has not
seen many issues since the last management change. However, our intervention based on best
practices call for the following: 1) A proper member feedback system where clients have the
proper channel in place; 2) Establishment of a regular form of employee evaluation system; and
3) A standard operating procedure (SOP) for injury-related situations explained during new
member and employee orientations. We also list several additional recommendations and
propose those as gradual changes in the near future. Due to shortage of research time, the
report is not free of its limitations. For our action plan we propose steps as we would have
carried them out, if given the needed time.
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 2
OVERVIEW OF THE FIRM
Central Texas Fitness opened in December of 2006 and prides itself on catering to the
local community, specifically the City of Harker Heights, with a population of 26,000 according
to 2009 city estimates. According to the owners, the gym has over 1,000 members and aims at
keeping predominantly Harker Heights residents as its main clientele base. It is a no-contract
facility and emphasizes focusing on the work-out itself rather than the membership options.
The owners, Carol and Patrick Jane, make themselves available on a regular basis, and mostly
Mary visits the premises at least once a day. There is one General Manager (GM), Salvador
Ramos, and a team of five trainers, as well as three front-desk and daycare employees. All
trainers are appropriately certified with the International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA),
National Association of Sports Medicine (NASM), or the American Council on Sports Education
(ASCSE) and most of them have college degrees related to sports sciences. Central Texas
Fitness center is a smaller gym than its competitors in the area, such as Gold’s Gym or Gym X.
However, the smaller size seems to be one of its main attractions for its members. The hours of
operation are Monday-Friday, 5am-10pm; Saturday, 7am-7pm, and Sunday, 12pm-7pm. The
classes offered include, Cardio Sculpt, Cardio Mix, Cardio Kickboxing, Extreme Abs, Hi-Lo
Aerobics, Beginner Aerobics, Step, Boot Camp, HP Power Up, Athletic Pump and Yoga.
Mission Statement
“HP fitness opened in December of 2006 with the vision and mission to be a community-
member facility. We set out to offer the latest in nutrition, fitness and equipment” (Central
Texas Fitness website, 2010).
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 3
RESEARCH TECHNIQUES
Methodology
Exploratory/Qualitative research: We attempted a comprehensive search of fitness-
center or gym-related, empirically accepted secondary literature to obtain reliable,
generalizable data regarding industry best practices and operations efficiencies for both
privately owned and nationally franchised facilities across the United States to demonstrate
their applicability and usefulness to smaller, community- and family-oriented gyms. However, in
spite of the continuously growing popularity of gyms throughout the United States, our
attempted secondary-data searches yielded insufficient empirical results regarding key factors
in successful delivery, execution, and outcomes for the predominantly customer-centric fitness-
center/gym industry, or for the identification of appropriate decision variables. We therefore
omitted a comprehensive statistical evaluation.
Further, as a small, community-oriented fitness center with around 1,000 members,
established only four years ago, and with a target population consisting predominantly of
professionally employed members residing predominantly within the immediate vicinity (two to
5 miles), as well as within the greater Killeen and Harker Heights metropolitan areas, Central
Texas Fitness has not yet accumulated its own data archives to provide us with sufficient
historical data regarding variables responsible for the organization’s success. However,
documentation, tracking, and analysis of decision patterns, their implementation, and
evaluation of their outcomes represent a key element of our proposed major interventions,
which will help the organization build its own data archive based on relevant, proven outcomes
of successful execution of directly applicable decision variables.
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 4
Choice of procedure: The unavailability of specific administrative, financial, or marketing
information concerning the gym/fitness-center industry, especially privately-owned operations
that are not required to make public their financial statements or publish annual reports, and
due to the short four-year history of Central Texas Fitness, our qualitative approach to
obtaining relevant information from credible, reliable sources led us to informally requesting
personal interviews with the owner, Mary Jane, and the General Manager (GM), Salvador
Ramos. We also made direct observations. We repeatedly attempted to personally interview at
least three of the five trainers currently employed at Central Texas Fitness but completed only
one personal interview with the supervising trainer, Chris Tyler.
All interviews were quite structured, using our detailed sequence to “guide the question
order and…way questions were asked” (Cooper & Schindler, 2008); however, we deliberately
chose almost exclusively open-ended questions to maximize the rich data we were certain to
gather especially from members. This method required us to use our own “experience and skill
to…extract greater variety of data…and elaboration of answers” (Cooper & Schindler, 2008),
and very time-intensive since an average interview took between 20 and 30 minutes.
Objective: We considered the lack of any formal protocols for employee evaluation and
soliciting member feedback about services at Central Texas Fitness as an opportunity to identify
key activities and functional areas directly related to the achievement of the stated goal of
increasing membership by approximately 30 to 35 percent, as well as indicators for, and
benchmarks of, overall performance and improvement. We will help the owner and GM
establish protocols and standards for achieving measurable, concrete, valid, evidence-based
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 5
outcomes and quality improvement to document the benefits for both members and Central
Texas Fitness as a successful business.
Data collection: We chose a cross-sectional communication approach by designing and
administering two versions of one questionnaire, consisting of two parts each to a convenience
sample of members and trainers in an attempt to achieve the most comprehensive exploration
of the current state of operations and potential areas for intervention by encouraging free and
open sharing of ideas and input from participants; we preceded them by our single interview
with the owner and the GM as a useful guide for probing questions. We simultaneously
conducted direct observations of the gym environment and atmosphere, and of general
interactions between members, staff, and trainers.
Due to very constrained time limitations for preparing and executing our proposal, we
chose not to conduct a document analysis as doing so would far exceed the scope of our paper.
Advantages of personal interviews/elimination of errors: The friendly, open
atmosphere facilitated our securing full participant cooperation and helped eliminate
interviewer error. We further ensured cooperation and reduced participant-based error by
deliberately not asking participants’ names and providing confidentiality statements signed by
all parties, which were rejected as unnecessary by 100 percent of respondents. We further
reduced participant-based error because we were personally able to explain the purpose of the
largely customer-centric survey and follow up on members’ individual questions or statements.
The respondents appeared to consider their participation as “important and worthwhile [and]
satisfying” (Cooper & Schindler, 2008) because we asked about how to continuously improve
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 6
their gym and workout experience. We also emphasized that there was absolutely no implied
or real obligation to participate because we recognized the value of their time.
We minimized interviewer error by consistently executing interview procedures; and
physical-presence bias and inappropriate influencing behavior through our not being
acquainted with any participant and effortlessly containing our non-verbal communication and
prosody.
Instrument used: Our research instrument of choice was the survey, administered in
personal interviews. We formatted three types of surveys (Appendices A, B, & C) with
questions geared towards the management, the customer base, and the trainers and staff.
However, instead of using traditional surveys which usually offer dichotomous or multiple-
choice type answers and requiring the respondents to fill out the responses in writing, we
opted for open-ended questions and used the survey as an interview instrument.
We segmented our survey into the two parts. We designed Part I to provide us with a
reliable snapshot of general administrative and operational protocols, while Part II addressed
specific situations we considered likely to occur frequently in the course of a gym’s routine
interactions with members, trainers, and among staff members, to obtain a more in-depth view
of organization-specific conditions at Central Texas Fitness. Due to time constraints, we chose
not to pretest the questionnaire, knowing we would very likely adapt question sequence or
wording based on our experience from the actual conducting the interviews; the adapted
version of the survey then became our interview protocol to ensure consistency. Our two-part
segmentation attempted to achieve the most comprehensive exploration of the current state of
operations and potential areas for intervention by encouraging free and open sharing of ideas
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 7
and input from participants. We asked members to indicate their satisfaction with aspects such
as, but not limited to, reasons for joining Central Texas Fitness versus competitors; previous
experience with other gyms; management’s and staff members’ efforts at teamwork and
collaboration to facilitate members’ needs; protocols for member feedback and various key
policies and SOPs currently in place; the perceived simplicity of the membership process;
preferences for workout frequencies and sessions with trainers; member recognition; fee
schedules; classes offered; and awareness of safety/security measures.
We are confident in the survey’s internal validity as it appears to have measured the
elements we were targeting. We cannot say the same of its external validity due to the very
small, insufficient sample size which precludes us from fully generalizing the data. Sample size,
was the reason for our not addressing aspects of content, criterion-related, or construct validity
since we would be unable to obtain reliable results from the various ranking, measurement,
and scoring scales required. Hence, we emphasized open-ended questions, especially since we
would also interpret the information collected, thus eliminating a need for coding.
We are also confident in the survey’s stability and internal consistency since even a
larger sample size would likely yield consistent results with “repeated measurements of the
same person with the same instrument” (Cooper & Schindler, 2008), because of the deliberate
inclusion of similar questions to corroborate key responses and themes. We sacrificed the
survey’s practicality by reducing its convenience and interpretability somewhat through its
relatively plain design and layout and the open-ended questions; however, we were thus able
to place substantially greater importance on obtaining rich, qualitative data.
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 8
Under less adverse time constraints we would address the omissions recognized here
and correct any shortcomings of the survey, interviewing process, or sampling, although doing
so would by far exceed the scope of this paper. Our choice of a formatted survey for interviews
was therefore based on the following premises:
1) Respondents understand that the interviewer is organized and prepared when there
are formally typed questions.
2) The respondent feels more at ease when he/she is allowed to read the questions first,
but does not have to write in the answers on his/her own.
3) For the interviewers themselves, writing down the questions in a survey form sets the
boundaries of appropriate questions. Due to the open-ended nature of survey questions, the
interview is still mostly free flowing; however, having a typed survey style questionnaire based
on a preliminary research of the business, helps in aiding the process of asking only the
necessary and relevant questions.
4) The respondents who would like to be part of the survey, but do not have the time
for the interview, can be handed the survey to complete at their own convenience. It is a
flexible and convenient tool.
5) On-the-Spot Questionnaires result in a captive audience. Other respondents become
interested, and the response rates are high.
6) Information is obtained immediately, and responses can be verified.
7) In some cases, where two or more of the respondents are friends, the surveys can be
done with the group. Thus, on-the-spot surveys can save time.
8) Non-response rate due to loss of survey instrument, and non-mailing is reduced.
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 9
However, we do acknowledge the limitations of a survey instrument, which we
discussed previously in this section. There is also the annoyance factor, especially in places
such as a fitness center. The interviewers cannot approach respondents; the respondents have
to make that choice. Finally, there is also present a possible bias due to the presence of
management on the premises.
Sampling: As previously mentioned, we are aware that our non-probability convenience
sample of only ten members is not empirically representative of the target population.
However, the small size of Central Texas Fitness and its relative newness still allowed us to
make accurate inferences and recommendations based on factors we considered generalizable
across the majority of the gym’s membership base.
Each survey was accompanied by a confidentiality statement signed by all present
interviewers and offered to each participant. 100 percent of respondents declined receiving a
copy as unnecessary.
Accountability: Under less time-constrained conditions, we would greatly expand the
accountability measures for our surveys, to include numbering and, depending on budget
limitations, bar coding each survey for enhanced tracking and more secure storage. The time
constraints allowed us to eliminate mailing, tracking, and unimpressive return rates common
with mailed surveys, as well as elaborate safeguarding measures, further aided by the small
number of completed surveys and their immediate availability to us upon completion of the
interviews.
Schedule: We were limited to a brief interview period of two days, followed by
approximately five days for data analysis, identification of our proposed interventions and
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 10
recommendations, and preparation of our paper for submission and subsequent presentation
to the owner and GM of Central Texas Fitness on or around August 9, 2010. The interventions
we propose are designed to drill down into most aspects for improvement or change identified
by members. The frequency of specifically targeted requests for member feedback about such
aspects should be determined by need; our recommendations are specified in detail in the
section titled “Interventions”.
Data analysis: Since we only propose interventions based on long-term evaluation and
CQI to help improve future member and employee satisfaction and performance, our methods
for useful data analysis are therefore limited to the action method and content analysis.
Further, the small diagnostic sample size requires conscientious implementation and execution
of our proposed interventions to allow future generalization across your entire member
population. Thus, statistical tests are impractical and would complicate reporting and
presenting of the results yielded by our surveys, and drastically exceeds the scope and purpose
of this paper. Appropriate statistical methods for the interpretation of the types of data to be
collected in the future via the proposed interventions and recommendations include
correlation analysis, Pearson product moment coefficient, simple regression, chi square test,
ANOVA, or F ratios; measures of dispersion and distribution, such as standard deviations, mean,
mode, confidence intervals, or p-values (Cooper & Schindler, 2008).
Presentation: We propose to present this paper in its current format to the owner and
GM of Central Texas Fitness on or around August 9, 2010; again, due to the insufficient time
frame and sample size, we refrain from presenting results in rich and visually appealing graphic
models, such as bar, pie, line or area charts, or frequency tables and histograms used under
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 11
normal conditions. We also provide our statement of confidentiality, as well as the initial
surveys and the specially designed sample forms included in our interventions to be used at
management’s convenience.
Diagnostic Model
Action Research Model: For the current research paper, we followed the steps of the
Action Research Model to help us with organizational development intervention process. The
steps included Problem Identification, Consultation with Behavioral Science Expert, Data
Gathering and Preliminary Diagnosis, Feedback to Key Client or Group, Joint Diagnosis of
Problem, Joint Action Planning, Action and Data Gathering after Action (Cummings and Worley,
2009).
Presenting Problem: As mentioned earlier our client, Central Texas Fitness, opened its
doors only four years back, and is thus, relatively new for its industry. Although it has most of
the basic business systems and processes in place, the two main issues which we came across
were: 1) Lack of a customer feedback system; and 2) Lack of an employee evaluation system.
DIAGNOSTIC MODEL
Action Research Model
Problem identification: In the case of this research project, this phase of problem
identification was initiated by our group as part of the academic requirement, which
approached two different local gyms, and received a positive response from one, Central Texas
Fitness in Harker Heights, Texas. This step, in regular business circumstances, would be
initiated by the business itself.
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 12
Consultation with an expert: Before conducting any surveys or taking interviews, we
met with Mary Jane, who co-owns the gym with her husband, Patrick, and Salvador Ramos, the
General Manager. We explained the purpose of our project, and they expressed an interest in
the intervention process. After reviewing our survey instruments, the owner specifically guided
us on some of the questions she would also like to see addressed in the customer and trainer
surveys. It is during this step of our intervention process that we were informed regarding the
recent customer-driven management change at the gym. The manager was also very receptive
to our intervention proposal, and guided us on the best times to interview the gym customers.
Data gathering and Preliminary Diagnosis: We gathered our data on three separate
days. The first day, July 27, 2010, all three of us interviewed the owner and the manager as a
team. We used our survey instrument for managers, ‘Management Questionnaire,’ (Appendix
A) as the basis of our questioning. It was a structured survey; however, all the questions were
open-ended, and led to other questions during the interview process. The interview lasted for
about two hours. We stayed at the gym an extra hour, making observations. The second day,
July 29, 2010, only two of our three-member team visited the gym and interviewed members
and trainers as they became available. The on-the-spot surveys were based on ‘Customer
Questionnaire’ and ‘Trainer Questionnaire’ (Appendices B&C). The survey and interview
process lasted four hours. On the third and the last day, July 30, 2010, two of us again visited
the gym and conducted more informal and structured interviews. We also observed a new
client induction process first-hand.
On the first day of our intervention process, we conducted a preliminary diagnosis
based on the data gathered, owner expectations, and our own observations from being on the
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 13
premises for over three hours. The preliminary diagnosis helped us reformulate and change
certain questions on our client and trainer surveys.
Feedback to key client: On the third and last day we were able to provide a preliminary
feedback to the owner. We informed her verbally of the responses to the questions she had
specifically asked us to target in our surveys. We also gave her an informal feedback based on
what we had observed and heard during the interviews, and provided an informal data analysis
of the responses to questions to our surveys.
Joint diagnosis of problem: We have informed the owner of our next step which will
target a joint diagnosis, where we will sit down with her after August 9, 2010, and show her the
client feedback form and an outline of suggestions for putting an employee evaluation system
in place which we have developed.
Joint action planning: Our intervention submitted along with this research project is a
part of our joint-action planning. Once we sit down with the owner again, we will help her
decide on the best client feedback form to make available to the customers, and help initiate
the first steps of an employee evaluation system. We will also make some other
recommendations for the future.
Action: A concrete and established long-term action is outside the scope of this paper.
Our recommendations list some of the future actions we would have taken, if we had been able
to follow this project through for a few months.
Data gathering after action: Again, this step of data gathering after the
implementation of proposed actions is beyond the scope of this paper. If we were to conduct
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 14
an after action review, it would involve administering customer satisfaction surveys six months
after the proposed interventions and recommendations have been put in place.
Survey Response Analyses
We administered one survey specifically developed for management in an informal yet
structured interview with the owner, Mary Jane, and the GM, Salvador Ramos, to obtain a
comprehensive view of current operations and gain insight into areas of potential concern or
points informally identified by management as targets for improvement or change.
We then used two different versions of the same survey to interview a convenience sample of
ten customers and one trainer. While neither sample is empirically sufficient to yield reliable,
valid data, especially in case of the latter, we included the very comprehensive information we
gained because it offered valuable customer-generated input which serves as a sound base for
our proposed interventions. We were unable to interview any other trainers due to the
constraints placed on trainers’ time between classes, clients, and other professional and
academic obligations.
The surveys yielded several common themes which we summarize and discuss in the following
four sections.
Management survey (All citations herein from Parker & Whitmire, Personal communication,
2010)
Owners Mary and Patrick Jane are builders who also own other businesses in the local
area. They developed and designed the facility which they opened in December 2006 with the
market-research input from a professional appraiser to guide their upscale interior design
decisions. Mary described their competitors as Gold’s Gym in Killeen and Fitness Express in
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 15
Harker Heights, and their target market segment as mostly women in their 30’s, and “Army
wives”, who reside in a three-mile radius of the gym and match national statistics referred to by
the GM which show that three times more women than men become members of gyms, and
are in the between 30 to 50 years old. Mary and Salvador consider as their competitive
advantage their excellent management-staff relationships, the quality and friendliness of their
entire staff and fitness instructors, as well as the superior cleanliness and overall appearance of
their facility, which Mary described as “a lot cleaner than anyone else”. For example, when a
female member’s “fussy child” threatened to interrupt her workout, a trainer offered to help
with the child so that she was able to finish her workout.
Central Texas Fitness’ mission is to provide a community and family-oriented
atmosphere and “top-notch service and staff”, and to “facilitate the needs of the Harker
Heights community”. Staff is encouraged to “take things a step further” by continuing their
education; Mary described their staff as “good people”.
Stated short-term goals are a focus on increasing membership by approximately 30 to
35 percent, depending on the growth of the local market. Mary mentioned that “more money
from more customers” would mean “better equipment”, but, when asked about plans to
expand the facility or open a second one, she replied that “bigger is not always better”. They
were also pending approval of a mini-grant, due in August, which would be used to expand
their collaboration with Scott and White’s diabetes clinic of 200 members in an effort to
encourage and facilitate the important treatment component of exercise and gain more
members. Long-term goals are similar to and heavily dependent on the outcomes achieved
from the short-term goals at this point.
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 16
Mary stated that Salvador Ramos’s, the GM, typical responsibilities include budget
keeping, payroll, overseeing trainers, and “some of everything”, even empting dustbins.
General personnel hierarchy is based on experience and incorporates “much input from
trainers and other employees”, and collaboration among management and staff was described
as very strong.
The total number of employees was broken down as follows: as mentioned, Mary and
Patrick are owners; Salvador Ramos (GM); three part-time staff members for the front desk;
five trainers (two full-time and the remainder part-time, depending on business loads and
demand); three part-time staff members in the playroom. When asked to describe the
qualifications or qualities most important to them in a manager or supervisor, Mary replied that
“Salvador is perfect” because he is “always here”, i.e. seven days a week, and he checks in via
mobile telephone on weekends; has great interpersonal skills; and is knowledgeable in all
aspects of management, training and nutrition, all of which helps facilitate ease of operations.
We personally observed him checking the facility even on a weekend day. Mary stated that she
is always available to the GM via her mobile phone although she is not always present in the
gym.
She said that trainers are required to be nationally certified and keep their certification
up to date; the owners’ preference for quality certification is NASM but they accept ISSA or
ACSE. Trainers are responsible for building their own client base. In case of a conflict over
access to equipment during crowded peak hours, trainers usually “accommodate their clients
and members”. She admitted that under crowded conditions in the spring of 2009, crowding
had briefly been a problem when all treadmills were occupied all the time and members had to
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 17
wait to use them; management resolved this matter by purchasing additional equipment and
emphasizing the different classes that are being offered at no charge to all members (with the
exception of functional fitness) at Central Texas Fitness as alternate workouts to relieve some
of the peak-hour ‘busy-ness’.
She reported that she has not found any great need for implementing ongoing or in-
house training for current staff but that it would be a “good idea”, especially since she admitted
to not having established a formal employee evaluation system. The GM conducts “one-on-
one” evaluations when employees are first hired. Another key aspect of day-to-day operations
she admitted to not being in place is the SOPs; some apparently used to exist in the beginning
“but not anymore”.
Regarding information technology (IT), Mary stated that they are using QuickBooks for
billing; a CPA they retain apparently uses other software and files their taxes electronically; they
also retain the services of Aphelion, a Temple, Texas, IT consultancy firm, for a flat fee monthly
fee to provide off-site file backup, all IT maintenance, and on-call services to resolve any
pressing issues as needed. Security measures in place to ensure the safety of members and the
facility consist of 18 closed-circuit cameras equipped with night-time motion-activated sensor
and a digital recording device (DVR) to record any suspicious activity. Mary also reported a very
good relationship with the Harker Heights Police Department which was established after a
series of break-ins at the adjacent tanning salon they used to own. Staff is to call the police at
any sign of suspicious activity, and police recommended they ask unauthorized persons to sign
“no loitering statements”.
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 18
To safeguard member and client information stored on site, such a billing, credit card,
and contact information, she said that it is locked in a safe to which only Salvador has a key. As
for safety on the gym floor, “everyone knows” how to fill in an injury report which documents
the events leading to the injury or accident; if a member passes out, staff know to call 911.
If the GM were unavailable for any reason, the manager of the co-owned closely located
storage business would temporarily step in to fulfill the administrative functions until
appropriate replacement could be found because the system is “transparent enough” to allow
“winging it”.
Mary confirmed that a front-desk staff member is usually the first person of contact for
a potential new member, and that especially Brittany, who is a “people person” and outgoing,
“follows up independently on potentials”. Marketing or advertisement for Central Texas
Fitness is limited to items included in gift bags for soldiers during Hood Howdy or other
community events.
Regarding cleaning and facility maintenance both stated that a “regular cleaning
person” comes in between there to four days a week, depending on time of year, and that
front-desk staff continuously spot-check for cleanliness and attend to anything that needs to be
seen to. The gym is inspected by the Bell County Health Department and the local fire
department. When asked about zero-tolerance policies, they unanimously stated inappropriate
client-trainer interactions, derogatory statements, or too-personal questions; they added that if
something is not “personally relevant”, then “we don’t need to know because we don’t “pry”.
We asked about formal member feedback/suggestion boxes since we had not noticed any
during our initial walk-through of the facility; Mary admitted that none currently exists but that
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 19
members know that they can always approach the GM or the owners, and they may send e-
mails or letters if they prefer. Written input is always answered regardless of the content. Mary
agreed that they need to implement some form of customer feedback/input system.
As for special considerations for long-time members, they stated that they generally do
not provide special offers because they value all their members the same but at times allow it
on an individual basis, e.g. to accommodate special medical conditions or a “break in the kids’
rate” for daycare for parents or trainers with multiple children. The daycare is open from 8 a.m.
to 8 p.m. except during the hours of noon to 4 p.m., and costs $15 per child, with reduced rates
for additional children.
When asked about how trainers are being assigned to new members or clients, they
stated that “Salvador knows the times trainers are in the gym”, and if one trainer falls ill or
becomes unavailable, another will “pick up” that client; usually, though, trainers communicate
directly with their clients. Occasionally, one trainer’s clients may work with another trainer
during absences.
Customer Surveys
Staff and management-staff cooperation: Unanimously, all respondents mentioned the
staff with positive descriptors such as helpful, knowledgeable, friendly, always present, and
courteous, at all times. Further, respondents appreciated the staff’s frequent checks
throughout the facility to ensure cleanliness and availability for any questions or concerns from
customers.
We noticed that a small percentage of respondents mentioned that the staff’s positive
attributes appeared to be a direct result of largely customer-driven changeover in management
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 20
in November 2009; previous conditions were described as substantially lacking consistent front-
desk staffing and greeting of incoming existing and potential customers, and an easily
recognizable, obvious uniform and name tags to identify staff members. Overwhelmingly,
respondents described the cooperation between staff and management, and their efforts to
maintain utmost customer satisfaction high, as very good.
We found the consistently high quality of management and staff members to be a
competitive advantage that sets Central Texas Fitness apart from its competitors.
Cleanliness: Eighty percent of respondents positively noted overall, consistent
cleanliness as an attribute of significant importance in measuring customer satisfaction. We
also found it to be a factor that distinguished Central Texas Fitness from other gyms in the
greater metropolitan area. Twenty percent of respondents stated that overall cleanliness was in
need of improvement, especially in the women’s locker/bath room; however, the small overall
sample size and the relatively small percentage of negative responses in this regard show a
strong tendency that overall facility cleanliness to be highly satisfactory for the overwhelming
majority of customers.
Atmosphere: Unanimously, respondents expressed preference for the community and
family-oriented atmosphere and the diverse, more mature, affluent clientele over the
atmosphere noted in competitors’ gyms, which was described by both female and male
respondents as resembling a “meat market” and “uncomfortable”, i.e. men staring especially at
young women in skimpy outfits while trying to work out; men attempting to chat up women
regardless of their marital status or having expressed disapproval; men making women of all
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 21
ages distinctly uncomfortable by trying to show off, invade personal space; or men feeling
distracted in their workouts by the afore-mentioned women in skimpy outfits.
Female respondents especially emphasized their preference for the comfortable, non-
threatening atmosphere at Central Texas Fitness.
The quality of the amenable, positive, family-like atmosphere at Central Texas Fitness was
found to be a competitive advantage that sets the gym apart from its competitors.
Proximity to home and/or work: The majority of respondents mentioned the
convenience of close proximity to their place of work or their homes, often within five minutes
or less, as an attractive attribute in their choice of fitness center because it appears to serve as
a distinct motivator that helps them to not skip workouts as they would be more likely to if they
had to spend a long time driving to the gym on their way home from work and navigate the
notorious rush-hour traffic. The responses confirmed management’s target clientele’s
preference for a community/neighborhood-oriented fitness center close to home and work,
and their definition of intended target market segment.
Workout frequency: The average number of times members work out at Central Texas
Fitness appears to range from three to five or six times per week, with men falling into the
latter category more than women.
Membership process: One hundred percent of respondents described the process of
becoming members as very simple, uncomplicated, and easy. All consistently mentioned a brief
tour of the facility led by front-desk staff or the General Manager, followed by an explanation of
the terms and conditions and either month-to-month membership or annual, prepaid
membership options; and the different documentation to be signed, as well as explanations of
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 22
information requested and collected from members. We found the general duration of the
entire process to be between 15 to 30 minutes. A smaller percentage of respondents stated
that they had joined when the gym first opened, but a larger percentage appears to have joined
either shortly prior to or after the 2009 management changeover.
Classes: Of the female respondents who participate in various classes offered by Central
Texas Fitness, most stated that they are satisfied with the current class menu and times. A large
percentage mentioned Zumba as one of their favorites.
The majority of male respondents stated that they do not participate in any of the
offered classes but 90 percent expressed that they would be highly likely to participate in
martial-arts or boxing-based cardio/fitness classes if they were offered.
Some respondents mentioned that they would like to see classes or programs geared
specifically towards members over age 40.
Mission statement
One hundred percent of respondents did not know Central Texas Fitness’ mission but
mentioned that it may be “somewhere on the website”. Further, the mission statement is not
posted anywhere in the facility of Central Texas Fitness, as is customary at competitors’
facilities (Evans & Wagner, Personal observations, 2010). Ninety percent of respondents
admitted to hardly ever utilizing the website for any purpose; the remainder stated that they
only use it to check opening hours and/or class times.
Member feedback system/lodging complaints: The unanimous response from members
was that, in case of any customer concerns or complaints, members would address them
informally to the GM or the owner. All stated feeling very comfortable with this process should
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 23
it become necessary due to the positive relationships between management and staff, and
management, staff, and customers in general. Ninety-five percent of respondents confirmed
that there is currently no member feedback system in place that would provide a more
anonymous means of allowing members to give input or feedback regarding the gym and its
staff but stated that they would like to have such a system at their disposal although client-staff
relationships were described as very open, trusting, and congenial.
The unanimous response from members was that, in case of any customer concerns or
complaints, members would address them informally to the GM or the owner. All stated feeling
very comfortable with this process should it become necessary due to the positive relationships
between management and staff, and management, staff, and customers in general.
Internal announcements: Although not specifically enquired about in our customer
surveys, a small percentage of respondents expressed a lack of a gym-community bulletin
board to announce special events or classes advertise equipment for sale, or to post members’
business cards to create an internal networking opportunity. Additionally, several members
commented about a lack of any material posted throughout the gym related to the correct
performance of weight-bearing exercises, e.g. kinesiology charts. Both are considered
important components of the community orientation emphasized in the mission statement.
Zero-tolerance/customer-related policies: Ninety percent of respondents admitted
they did not know any of the zero-tolerance policies in place at Central Texas Fitness, nor could
they remember having been informed of any, or standard operating procedure (SOP). A small
percentage attempted to give examples, such as, “Oh, you mean, like sexual harassment or
inappropriate stuff with trainers and clients”. When asked if they had witnessed any infractions
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 24
involving zero-tolerance policies, all responses were negative. When asked to describe the
process they would follow in case of such an occurrence (either personal or as a witness), the
unanimous response was to I’d tell Salvador”.
Hours of operation: The overwhelming majority of respondents stated that they are
satisfied with the existing hours of operations; however, a small percentage of respondents
mentioned that the shortened weekend hours of operations during the fall are highly
inconvenient, especially to independent business owners/self-employed members who often
only access the gym after 7 p.m., regardless of the time of year.
Awareness of security measures: Eighty percent of respondents admitted to not being
aware of the full extent of the security measures in place, i.e. the closed-circuit camera system
monitoring all rooms in the facility and the outside parking lot; they stated being aware of only
of “a camera”.
Trainer qualifications: Most respondents admitted to not knowing the specific
certifications required for trainers at Central Texas Fitness but all said that they “have to be
nationally certified”. Some mentioned that they liked it when pictures and certificates of the
trainers were displayed prominently for all members to see but are not currently.
Discounts/incentives for long-time members: Approximately 85 percent of respondents
stated that they would very much like to receive some sort of discount or special consideration
for being long-time members; the qualifying time frame for being a long-time or loyal member
most referred to was one year. Discounts repeatedly mentioned were memberships discounts
(either one-time or monthly fee reductions), free shakes/smoothies or free tee shirts, or
discounts on sessions with trainers (either one-time or after purchasing ten sessions and paying
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 25
up front). We found an overwhelming consensus of members’ clear desire for being
acknowledged as long-time, loyal members, in addition to the member-of-the-month mention
on the website.
The remaining 15 percent declared that all customers/members are valued the same
and therefore, discounts should not be applied. However, discounts exist for municipal, Killeen
Independent School District (KISD), and Scott and White employees.
Accommodations for military families: The majority of respondents reported that they
“think there is something” in place to accommodate military families’ unique needs, but only a
very small percentage was able to correctly point out the options available to military
members, such as the ability to cancel without penalty any membership contract upon
presentation of official deployment or permanent-change-of-station (PCS) orders. Most also
mentioned that “a lot of members are military”, either retired, active duty, or family members.
Fitness goals: The majority of respondents stated the improvement of their overall
fitness and health as primary fitness goals, with weight loss, addition of muscle mass, and
toning as key elements of their workouts. However, a significant percentage specifically
mentioned their need for rehabilitation of severe joint injuries or after life-threatening events,
such as strokes.
Member injury/accident response procedures: The overwhelming majority of
respondents were unable to state the response procedures implemented by Central Texas
Fitness in case of a member’s injury or accident while working out/on the premises of the gym.
The common theme in member statements ranged from, “I’m not aware of any, but it’s an
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 26
important question”, to, “I assume the staff would handle it”, and, “I don’t recall anything but
I’d hope the staff would help”.
Equipment availability/access: Approximately 70 percent of respondents described “no
problems” regarding access to or availability of equipment, or, “It hasn’t really been an issue”,
when asked about access to, or availability of, the gym’s equipment. Thirty percent of
respondents stated that at certain times of the day, especially during after-work peak times,
access to much of the weight equipment sometimes involves having to wait for other members
to finish working out before it becomes available. Further, almost all respondents stated that
few or no alternate machines appear to be available.
When asked about whether trainers working with clients have priority of access to
equipment, most replied that trainers are usually very considerate and always know how to
work on another machine or find a way to work a muscle group using a different exercise or
equipment.
Individual progress evaluation: The methods most members appear to use to evaluate
their own progress in attainment of their fitness goals include weighing themselves, judging the
fit of their clothes, or the increase in weight lifted per exercise, as well as improvements of their
one-rep max.
Competitors considered for membership: Almost all respondents admitted to checking
out other area gyms, predominantly Gold’s Gym, Gym X, and several fitness centers on Fort
Hood, before becoming members at Central Texas Fitness. Reasons for their decision were
unanimous: superior cleanliness and appearance; the friendly, helpful staff; the community-
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 27
/family-oriented ambience; overall diversity of members, specifically socioeconomic status
(perceived and known).
Trainer Survey (All citations herein from Tyler, Personal communication, 2010)
The training supervisor, Chris Tyler, has been employed with Central Texas Fitness since
August 2006. His motivation for becoming a trainer was to help people achieve their fitness
goals and meet his clients’ needs; he expressed excitement over Central Texas Fitness as a new
fitness center in the Harker Heights community. His personal experience with fitness includes
playing college football, power lifting, and bodybuilding.
Competitive advantage: He specifically mentioned the family atmosphere, which he
describes as one where “everyone knows each other’s name” and the “cut-throat aspect is
taken out”.
Trainer qualifications: According to the supervising trainer, the minimum qualifications
required for employment as trainer at Central Texas Fitness include, at minimum, a nationally
accredited certification to ensure credibility (preferably NASM, but also ACSE, ISSA, various
yoga or group-fitness certifications), and a probationary period of 75 hours of on-the-job-
training (OJT); clients are significantly involved in providing input to management’s decision
whether to retain a trainer beyond the probationary period. Additionally, trainers are required
to continue their professional education to ensure they remain up-to-date on the latest fitness
trends and be able to provide clients with the best possible training to help them achieve their
goals. All trainers are CPR certified. In his opinion, all trainers at Central Texas Fitness are well
trained and educated.
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 28
Fitness/professional goals and most pressing concern: He stated a desire for “constant
learning” as short-term goal and to “help the gym’s reputation and provide more services” as
long-term goals. He also actively works out at Central Texas Fitness. Childhood obesity and time
constraint, i.e. not enough time to spend with clients, are his most pressing concerns.
Client assignment: Trainers may be requested by members who are familiar with them
or have heard of them, and potential clients are able to try out several trainers as part of a
session with several other members also looking for personal trainers as a group. Another way
clients are assigned trainers is after undergoing an initial fitness assessment upon joining
Central Texas Fitness.
Mission statement: Contrary to the official mission statement, published on the
company’s website, he wants to “provide a clean and safe environment” that does not “put the
client in jeopardy”. He identifies with the mission by “showing the client that you care”, by
providing “feedback and response”, and by helping the client “reach the goal”.
Improvements: He stated that the existing equipment should be replaced at least every
four years to “re-invent the image of the gym”, and group fitness should be expanded
substantially. He also mentioned extension of hours of operation, and the addition of heavier
weights, especially dumbbells.
Training/Instructing/Average workday: He stated that he trains an average of five
clients per day on every day of the week and occasionally (rotating basis) instructs Bootcamp
and Youth Fitness. His average workday involves checking schedules and verifying trainers’ time
and “shuffling the game daily; professionally, he places utmost importance on employees being
on time.
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 29
Individual progress evaluation: Chris stated that there is no official, standard procedure
in place for evaluating clients’ progress but that trainers do provide feedback to their clients
individually, depending on the trainer’s preferences. Chris reported that he often offers
informal feedback to clients who no longer train with him in the course of a conversation when
encountering them at the gym. Chris provides formal, detailed progress feedback, as well as
nutrition and training plans specifically to his clients who are deployed or work overseas via the
Internet.
Personally important aspects: He stated that personal space is very important to him,
as well as cleanliness, which, in his professional opinion, could be improved.
Awareness of security measures: He stated that he is fully aware of the security system
in place, i.e. the closed-circuit camera system monitoring all rooms in the facility and the
outside parking lot, and that member information is locked in a safe in the office to which only
Salvador has a key.
Internal training and performance evaluation: Chris stated that trainers critique each
other’s performance and are required to enroll in continuing education units (CEUs); all trainers
are CPR certified and must keep it current. Additionally, trainers are evaluated by their clients
on a monthly basis, using an evaluation form developed by the GM who provides it to clients
when the trainer is not present.
Membership process: He described the membership process as consisting of a brief tour
of the facility led by front-desk staff or the General Manager, followed by an explanation of the
terms and conditions of either month-to-month membership or annual, prepaid membership
options and pricing, and the different documentation to be signed, as well as explanations of
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 30
information requested and collected. He added that the “gym’s wow factor is that it sells itself”.
Zero-tolerance/customer-related policies: He confirmed that he is very well-informed of
all customer-related and zero-tolerance policies but failed to mention specific policies beyond
the mention of ”inappropriate” things occurring between trainer and client; on the rare
occasions he witnessed such inappropriateness, he said that the trainer was dismissed as a
result. Clients or members who face such concerns should address them to management or the
owner, and trainers should attempt to resolve any such issues with their clients professionally
first.
Member injury/accident response procedures: The supervising trainer stated that all
trainers are CPR certified; additionally, an AED is prominently installed near the front desk. In
case of injury to a client during a training session with a trainer, the response would be to
immediately stop training once pain or pronounce discomfort is announced; the injury or pain
would then be evaluated for severity or seriousness, and appropriate help, such as emergency
medical technicians (911), be summoned, or the emergency contact listed in the member’s file
called. The staff and trainer would also be required to complete an internal incident report of
the injury to keep with the client/member file.
Equipment availability: He stated that equipment is operational most of the time but
that no out-of-order signs are posted if a piece of equipment becomes inoperational. He
admitted it would be a good idea to implement such a procedure although equipment is rarely
“down”, or only very briefly. Regarding priority of access to equipment by trainers working
with clients, he replied that that all trainers are very considerate and always know well how to
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 31
work on another machine or find a way to work a muscle group using a different exercise or
equipment.
Staff/ Management-staff cooperation: He said that staff is absolutely helpful, friendly,
forthcoming attitude and behavior of all staff at all times. He described as positive and
functional the cooperation between management and staff.
Discounts/incentives for long-time members: He was not in favor of any special
considerations or discounts given to long-time members, stating that “prices change all the
time but dues stay the same”, and “all people are treated the same” at Central Texas Fitness.
Lodging complaints: In case of any concerns or complaints not resolved at lower level,
he stated that trainers and staff should address the GM or even the owner. He added that he
feels very comfortable with this process should it become necessary due to the positive
relationships between management and staff.
Competitors considered for employment: Chris categorically reported that he did not
consider any other local competitors for employment, adding that he helped open Central
Texas Fitness and has remained employed there to this day.
INTERVENTION
Hypothesis #1: An effective Employee Evaluation System will not only improve quality of
service offered, increase retention rates, and reduce liability costs, but also create added
value for the business in the long run.
Model: Our intervention is based on the Total Quality Management (TQM) model of
workplace management. It is the management approach which seeks to achieve quality
through the participation of all organizational members (DeKnop, Hoecke and DeBosscher,
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 32
2004). In a fitness-center type business, where employees come and go according to their
individual schedules with clients, and very few of the employees are full-time, it becomes even
more imperative to ensure employee participation in workplace management. This is best
done by reinforcing and reiterating workplace policies, discussing safety issues, revisiting
employee hours and employee performance, and addressing employee concerns on a regular
basis through a quarterly employee performance evaluation.
Although Best Practices suggest that employees receive evaluation at least once per
year, in realistic terms it is not enough (Clausen, Jones and Rich, 2008). We based our figure of
‘performance evaluations once every quarter’ on the survey results obtained from the study by
Clausen, Jones and Rich. A survey of the some accounting employees targeted the question
regarding how many times they would like to receive an evaluation, and if they are satisfied
with their current evaluations. The highest satisfaction rate was among employees who
received evaluations three to four times a year. The employees on the two extremes, with
either “zero evaluations” or “13 performance evaluations annually” were most dissatisfied.
We suggest conducting an initial survey of the employees to see which performance skills they
consider most important. The employees can be asked to weigh various performance criteria,
which would help management tie in their own expectations of the employees as to what the
employees would like to be tested on. A focus-group meeting could help create a common
platform on which to base the performance evaluations.
Once established, the formal Performance Evaluation System will provide the
management with the necessary tools for keeping records, and being well prepared in case of
employee complaint and liability issues. For the employees, too, it will form a basis for
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 33
maintaining a written record of job descriptions, expectations, and quarterly performances. It
will also help in preventing any future concerns over unfairness in scheduling or pay raises. Any
organization which hopes to grow has to put some essential business practices in place. And,
even though Central Texas Fitness is still a fairly new business, and still in the stage of
establishing the “Creativity-Leadership” cycle, as in the case of any other business, the
“Conflict” stage is inevitable (Cummings and Worley, 2009). Again, since in its current stage,
our intervention is only a proposal, Central Texas Fitness has the flexibility of adjusting the
proposal to suit their needs, especially regarding the number of times the evaluations should be
conducted. However, as Organizational Development consultants, we strongly recommend
putting a system in place as soon as possible for an added value to the business.
However, for our model to be successful, Central Texas Fitness will also need to put a
well defined and documented Job Description and Employee Expectations System in place. In
the absence of a clearly written and communicated job description system, the employees
cannot be expected to know how to gauge their own development and improvement, and
respond to the performance evaluation questions to their best ability. The system itself, along
with the main component of the job descriptions themselves, could include features such as:
Job Description Supplements, Job Description Review Tracking System, and E-mail Notification
System to keep track of and notify any changes in job descriptions which occur before a
performance evaluation is due. Communicating the expectations clearly, and reiterating them
through quarterly performance evaluations, will also help in establishing an effective job
description system.
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 34
Sample Form #1: We have formatted and attached a sample Staff and Trainer
Quarterly Performance Evaluation form for the Central Texas Fitness supervisors and senior
management to use as a reference. We also release our copyright to this form, and make this
form available for the gym to use, in its entirety or in part, if they prefer.
Sample Form #2: We have also formatted and attached a second form for the
convenience of the supervisor. This form can be used as an overview of individual employee
performance evaluations and presented to the owner for record keeping and current
information purposes. We also release our copyright to this form, and make this form available
for the gym to use, in its entirety or in part, if they prefer.
Nothing follows on this page.
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 35
Central Texas Fitness
Staff and Trainer Quarterly Performance Evaluation
Form #1: Face-to-Face Employee Evaluations
Employee Name_____________ ____ _ Position Title__ __________________
Evaluating Supervisor____________________
� Employee should provide supporting information in the comment field for each performance factor. � Supervision and Leadership performance factors apply to personnel who supervise F/T or P/T employees.
� A handout of current job description for the employee being evaluated should be available.
Evaluation Criteria Employee Responses Supervisor Comments
Position Description:
1. Does your position
description accurately reflect
your job? (Yes/No)
2. If “No,” discuss the
changes that you believe
should be made?
3. What could I, as your
supervisor, do differently to
help you better perform
your job?
Education and Training:
1. How would you
summarize your
improvements on the job in
the past quarter?
2. Are you planning on
taking additional
certification / training?
3. Are you current on your
CPR and other certifications?
Performance Factors:
1. How do you rate your
communication with the
clients?
2. How would you describe
your initiative taking?
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 36
3. On a scale of 1 to 5, 5
being very poor, how would
you rate your job
knowledge?
4. How do you think you are
prepared with regards to
Security and Safety
compliance issues at our
gym?
5. Please comment on
workplace diversity.
6. Comment on your
scheduling this past quarter.
Were there any absences on
your part, and if yes, then
please explain.
7. What do you believe are
your best customer service
attributes?
8. How well do you think
you perform as a part of a
team?
Supervisory Staff Only:
1. Comment on your
resource management skills.
(For instance, in the case of a
community event organized
by our gym.)
2. How would you rate your
understanding and
performance of billing
functions?
3. What do your
administrative functions
entail? Please comment on
the most challenging part of
your job as an administrator.
4. What are your future
plans for enhancing
community relations and
increasing membership?
______________________ _______________
Employee Signature Date
______________________ _______________
Evaluator Signature Date Keep original in the employee file……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 37
Central Texas Fitness
Staff and Trainer Quarterly Performance Evaluation
Form #2: Overview for the Owner
Employee Name_____________ ____ _ Position Title__ __________________
Evaluating Supervisor____________________
5= Exceeds All Expectations (Consistently achieves results superior to expectations.); 4 = Exceeds Expectations
(Occasionally exceeds job requirements); 3 = Meets Expectations (Normally achieves job expectations); 2 = Below
Expectations/Needs Improvement (Work is below average and requires improvement); 1 = Unsatisfactory/far
Below Expectations (Work is unacceptable and dismissal is recommended).
Rating Factors Comments Rating
PROFESSIONAL ATTITUDE
5 4 3 2 1
� � � � �
ATTENDANCE
5 4 3 2 1
� � � � �
QUALITY OF WORK
5 4 3 2 1
� � � � �
QUANTITY OF WORK
5 4 3 2 1
� � � � �
KNOWLEDGE OF JOB
5 4 3 2 1
� � � � �
CUSTOMER RELATIONS
5 4 3 2 1
� � � � �
______________________ _______________
Supervisor Signature Date
______________________ _______________
Owner Signature Date
Keep original in the employee file…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 38
Hypothesis #2: Establishing a two-tiered Member Feedback System will provide a
valuable feedback system for the business, which will give an insight into customer
attitudes towards services and products offered, and in turn, provide the basis for
product and service development.
Model: Our intervention is based partly on the TQM model of workplace management,
but equally so on the frameworks of Program Evaluation and Continuous Quality Improvement
(CQI). “Program evaluation can help…determine if there is a need for programs…, how
processes and procedures are working…, and if [they] are achieving [their] goals” (Smith, 2002,
p.757), especially in highly customer-centric organizations. In a fitness-center type business like
Central Texas Fitness, it is imperative to “routinely conduct program evaluation by asking
[members] to evaluate the service they have received [so that they] can be… given a voice…if
both their positive and negative experiences…are reported and taken seriously” (Smith). We
further emphasize our scientifically based approach to the proposed interventions presented to
management in this paper by basing them on program evaluation model since it is “essentially
the application of…research methods to assess the planning, implantation, and outcome of
[interventions]” (Smith).
CQI helps emphasize the importance of clearly documented quality improvement
initiatives to customer-centric organizations, as proposed in our interventions, “to provide
evidence that [all stakeholders] received a clearly defined value for their time and capital
investment” (Yeager, 2002, p.766). This is especially useful in helping management reduce
expenditures while maximizing available resources to ensure long-term viability by
documenting and tracking the value and outcomes; to benchmark the gym’s performance and
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 39
customer satisfaction levels against competitors, which is critical with regard to recruitment of
new members and achieving the stated goal of increasing membership by 30 to 35 percent; and
to ensure long-term financial sustainability. CQI is a strength-based approach to coordinating
quality initiatives with an emphasis on feedback from management, staff, and customers, as
well as from external stakeholders. Yeager (2002) also stresses that the focus of successful CQI
should be on key activities and processes that either directly or indirectly impact outcomes by
“implementing effective performance measures designed to collect reliable data”, and on
“continuing improvement of services versus implementing problem-solving processes”.
Management responsibilities are identified primarily as “providing support for quality
initiatives, identification of priorities, monitoring data that impact each aspect of [the
interventions], and monitoring [processes and] services related to the [service delivery to the
customers] and effective use of organizational resources”. This necessitates the establishment
of process and outcome quality indicators as consistent measures of the short- and long-term
results of the interventions implemented by the organization; examples are scaling, frequency
or trend analysis, or control charts. These indicators must be assigned practical, realistic ranges
and carefully balanced thresholds that act as triggers for proactive responses with the
management (Yeager). Sustained improvements provide documented proof of intervention
quality and aid in obtaining additional funding to ensure future growth and opportunities for
increasing market share (i.e. membership) and revenues.
Once established, the formal Monthly Member Feedback System and the Post-Intake
Member Feedback System will provide the management with valuable tools for ‘checking the
pulse’ of its customers’ satisfaction with the effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of services
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 40
provided by Central Texas Fitness by having at its disposal the direct, frank input from its
members regarding the key aspects we identified as most important to members, according to
our analysis of the survey responses. This is critical in a customer-centric organization such as a
fitness-center type business, especially one that is still in its early stages, and helps
management to establish its own database archives by documenting and tracking customer
input, the implementation of management’s responses, and the outcomes achieved.
To preserve the anonymity and confidentiality of members wishing to utilize the
suggestion-type Monthly Member Feedback System, we advise that you locate the ‘suggestion
box’ (you may wish to use a different term to your liking to label the necessary receptacle)
discreetly, e.g. in both male and female locker rooms or unobtrusively near them. The
‘suggestion box’ must be locked and accessible only to the GM. It should, at minimum, be
designed to feature a slot for members to deposit their feedback forms/cards that is small
enough to prevent anyone from retrieving any forms/cards already deposited by another
member. Feedback or comment forms should be readily available next to the ‘suggestion box’;
we include a useful sample of such a form for your convenience in the following section titled
“Sample form”.
Again, since in its current stage, our intervention is only a proposal, Central Texas
Fitness has the flexibility of adjusting the proposal to suit their needs, especially regarding the
number of times the recurring feedback should be solicited from the Member Feedback
System. The frequency of immediate responses gained from our Post-Intake Feedback System is
inevitably determined by the frequency and number of new members joining the gym.
However, as Organizational Development consultants, we strongly recommend putting a well-
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 41
defined and documented system in place as soon as possible for an added value to the
business. In the absence of a clearly written and communicated Member Feedback System,
which should describe both our proposed types of feedback systems, the customers cannot be
expected to know how to actively contribute to and evaluate improvements, and respond to
the feedback questions to their best ability.
Sample Form #1: We have formatted and attached a sample form for the convenience
of the management. This form can be used as basis for ongoing individual customer evaluation
of the gym’s state of operations and added to your database for record keeping and outcome
evaluation purposes. We also release our copyright to this form, and make this form available
for the gym to use, in its entirety or in part, if they prefer.
Sample Form #2: We have also formatted and attached a second form for the
convenience of the management. This form can be used as a valuable tool for management to
obtain immediate feedback from each individual new customer regarding the process you have
in place for signing up new members. This allows accurate, unbiased evaluation of the outcome
of such a process and should be added to your database for record keeping purposes. We also
release our copyright to this form, and make this form available for the gym to use, in its
entirety or in part, if they prefer.
Nothing follows on this page.
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 42
Central Texas Fitness
Monthly Member Feedback
Customer name: _________________________________ Month/Year:______________
The Central Texas Fitness staff is always looking for ways to improve the quality of its service. Please take a few
minutes to answer the following questions. Your comments and suggestions will be used to improve processes
and our ability to respond to your future requests for better service.
Questions Very satisfied Very dissatisfied
1. Are you satisfied with the overall
cleanliness of the gym?
5 4 3 2 1
� � � � �
2. How would you rate the equipment
maintenance?
5 4 3 2 1
� � � � �
3. Are the hours of operation still
convenient for you?
5 4 3 2 1
� � � � �
4. Are you well informed about the
monthly specials offered by the gym?
5 4 3 2 1
� � � � �
5. How would you rate the staff this
month?
5 4 3 2 1
� � � � �
6. How would you rate the overall service
provided?
5 4 3 2 1
� � � � �
7. How would you rate the classes currently offered? Please provide us your ideas or
suggestions regarding any other classes that should be added to the program.
8. Please provide any additional feedback on how Central Texas Fitness can better meet your
needs and improve the quality of the gym.
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 43
Central Texas Fitness
Post-Intake Member Feedback
Customer Name: ______________________________ Date: _____________________
The Central Texas Fitness staff is always looking for ways to improve the quality of its service. Please take a few
minutes to answer the following questions. Your comments and suggestions will be used to improve processes
and our ability to respond to your future requests for better service.
1. Please rate each of the following:
Rating Factor Well Below Expectations
Below
Expectations
Met
Expectations
Above
Expectations
Well Above
Expectations
The membership
process
The materials
provided
The orientation
The length of the
sign-up process
The point of contact
The facility
2. What else would you have liked to know?
3. Were your questions answered appropriately?
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 44
4. Did you have any questions we did not answer during the sign-up process? Please list them
here.
4. Would you like someone to get back to you regarding your questions? If yes, please check
the means by which you prefer to be contacted:
� Telephone
�Letter
5. Please check the topics that you were provided information on:
� Liability � Safety brief
� Injury related procedure � Brief introduction
6. May we contact you for additional information?
Nothing follows on this page.
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 45
OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS
In addition to the major interventions we identified in the previous sections, we further
suggest management consider, at their convenience, incorporating the following
recommendations we make based on our analysis of the survey data.
Policies needed
Based on the results uncovered by the survey and discussed above, we discovered that a
large portion of the members are unaware of the existence of several key policies that should
be in place at Central Texas Fitness. Most also do not recall having been provided them during
the membership process when first signing up. We strongly recommend you establish such
policies in writing and incorporate them into your official SOP since they are key components of
the safe, community and family-oriented gym environment you strive to provide. Doing so may
also reduce potential liability or insurance issues in case of legal proceedings brought against
Central Texas Fitness or one of its employees by a member in spite of the liability waiver(s)
already in place.
Zero-tolerance: These should include relevant federal mandates, such as how to define,
recognize, and address sexual harassment or discrimination due to gender, race, religion, etc;
as well as internal policies you may wish to establish as guidelines for interactions between
staff and members, clients and trainers, or among staff. Some internally followed unwritten
rules appear to exist but members and staff must be well informed regarding such policies to
prevent any misunderstandings, misperceptions, or disparity in the application and
enforcement of such policies.
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 46
Safety/Accident response: These should clearly state the steps members and staff need
to know and be able to take in case of an accident/injury of another member, or during sessions
with trainers. There appears to be a distinct gap between what staff currently know they should
do (either call 911, complete incident/injury report, and/or and call the emergency point of
contact noted in members’ files) and what logically has to occur until those steps known to
them are actually taken, specifically how to assess an injury and its severity; how to interact
with the injured person until help arrives or he/she can walk off on their own; and how to
operate the AED, as well as critical time frames to be observed under certain conditions. We
also make the recommendation to keep an easily referenced record of members who are
trained first responders (e.g. doctors, nurses, firepersons, EMTs etc.) and know them by sight so
that they can quickly be called upon in case of an emergency.
Security: This should, at minimum, include a description of the security measures you
currently have in place, i.e. the closed-circuit camera system monitoring all rooms and the
parking lot, and the measures for safeguarding of member data/information stored on site or
off site.
Rules of conduct: These should include the “do’s and dont’s” of allowable/tolerable
behavior and dress while working out, but also what many respondents generally termed “gym
rules”, or gym etiquette, such as courtesy toward others, putting up weights when finished with
them, wiping down machines after use, asking to work in with another member if all machines
are busy, etc.
Member feedback system: Please see the section titled “Interventions”.
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 47
Member of the month: This should provide a concise description of the program details
and its rewards, if any; we further suggest you provide either a hyperlink to this program in
your current website design or a separate tab under which to provide such details.
Policy postings
We further recommend that you post, as applicable, all policies referred to in the section titled
“Policies needed”, as well as your health inspection record, and other federally or municipally
mandated laws, or internal rules, throughout your facility, e.g. in both locker rooms and in one
prominent, easily visible location on the gym floor.
New-member policy awareness
When signing up new members, we strongly suggest you provide them with clear,
written copies of all important policies/ SOPs (Please refer to the sections titled “Policies
needed” and “Policy postings”) currently in place at Central Texas Fitness for their own records,
and as a reference and in order to adhere to them. We found that the overwhelming majority
of members were unable to recall such policies, or whether they had been informed of any
when signing up for membership. While many members may file such policies with their
contract, they are easily forgotten; making them constantly visible helps serve as an
unobtrusive reminder.
Equipment performance/maintenance standards
Although not a prevalent problem in your gym, as confirmed by member responses, we
do recommend you put in place a system for identifying inoperable or malfunctioning
equipment. This should at least consist of uniform signs (e.g. computer-generated paper copies)
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 48
that tell members the equipment is out of order, the date it became inoperable, and an
estimated date for repair/return to service.
Website development
Mission/vision statement: We strongly recommend you clearly distinguish your mission
statement on your website to stand out from any other welcoming information you wish to
provide. All respondents were unable to define Central Texas Fitness’ mission statement, or
where exactly to locate it on your webpage; this may be done by establishing a separate tab on
your home page and/or a hyperlink to the reference to the mission statement in the body of
the text.
Class calendar: We further suggest you make your calendar of classes much easier to
read so that members are able to obtain all necessary information with a quick glance; this
should include a more comprehensive, visually easy to read time-of-day section to ensure that
am and pm classes are listed at their appropriate times and the schedule is not only correct, but
at the same time very simple to read and visually appealing. For example, your August schedule
currently shows your am classes for Tuesday, August 3, in the slots you appear to normally
reserve for pm classes. Also, the design of the calendar could be improved by providing a
hyperlink to the “classes” tab on your home page to cross-reference the class a memberis
interested in.
Member-of-the-month: On your welcome page, we noticed that your section for the
member of the month does not contain a hyperlink to explain the details of this program to
potential members browsing your website, nor does it have its own tab on your home page to
provide program details. Doing so is likely to increase existing members’ pride in “their” gym by
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 49
emphasizing the family-/community-oriented atmosphere you strive to provide, and entice
potential new members to check out Central Texas Fitness, perhaps because they recognize
one of your members of the month.
Trainers tab: The “trainers” tab only shows one trainer’s picture even though you
currently have a total of five trainers on staff. It would also be important to list trainers’
certifications. Bringing this part of your website up to date may be an important factor for
potential members wanting to train with a particular trainer they have heard about or know.
Photos: We highly recommend you bring up to date all the photos you have posted in
the various tabs on your website since many show members of the former management and
staff (i.e. prior to 2009) who are no longer employed at Central Texas Fitness. These photos also
show only some staff members wearing uniform shirts whose design and color have since been
changed.
Online newsletter: We recommend you consider creating a web-delivered newsletter to
be distributed monthly or quarterly to all your members to communicate to your members any
special fitness and community events, new classes or promotions you’re planning to offer,
collaborations within the local communities, and to provide collective feedback to your
members regarding some of their input provided to you via the Monthly Member Feedback
System proposed in the section titled “Interventions”.
Regular updates: We would like to impress on you the necessity and importance of
regularly updating your website, checking all tabs and hyperlinks for content, such as photos,
names etc., which is especially time sensitive and can quickly (out-) date your facility and its
staff.
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 50
Since you mentioned to us that your advertising consists of mostly word-of-mouth and
limited advertisements in the Harker Heights Evening Star and the periodic flyer in welcome
bags provided to soldiers at Hood Howdy, your webpage becomes an important element to
advertise your facility and services to potential customers and thus needs to be current,
appealing, informative, and easy to use.
Classes for male members/over-40 fitness
Overall, members expressed great satisfaction with your current menu of classes;
however, especially male respondents distinctly stated that they would be more likely to attend
cardio/fitness classes that are based on (mixed) martial arts or boxing if they were offered.
Other respondents specifically mentioned that they would like to see classes or programs
geared towards members over age 40. We suggest you use the Monthly Member Feedback
System proposed by us to find out more about how you can meet those members’ needs.
Staff and trainer pictures
Based on several comments from members, we suggest you consider posting all
trainers’ and staff members’ photographs and certifications they posses in one easily visible
location; this reinforces the community-/family-oriented atmosphere all members appreciate
and value.
Kinesiology charts
To enhance the gym’s fitness-focused ambience and provide members with accurate
information about the exact workings of each muscle group used in various exercises, we
suggest you post kinesiology charts detailing various exercises and muscle groups throughout
your workout areas. They could also be utilized as training aids by the trainers and the GM to
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 51
help illustrate to clients or members the correct from for specific exercises or explain
rehabilitative connections between muscle groups.
Staff and trainer uniforms
Some respondents expressed that not all staff members wear uniforms or name tags to
work to easily identify them to members who may need some assistance. This response was
made in spite of members’ unanimous appreciation for the small size and familiar atmosphere
they specifically value about Central Texas Fitness; we thus suggest you consider designing at
least uniform shirts to be consistently worn by all members of your staff, the GM, and trainers,
e.g. the classic and casual polo shirts some staff members and the General Manager wear. They
should also distinguish staff by their different roles and functional areas, e.g. by retaining the
same design but choosing different colors for each functional area.
CONCLUSION
This intervention project is based on the premise that businesses are never in a
completely perfect stage of growth. In fact, all businesses have some inherent issues
depending on the stage of business cycle they are in. This project has not been initiated by the
client/owner, but has had full support of the client/owner who also owns many other
businesses and agrees with and understands the above mentioned premise. Through our first
day observations, it was clear that Central Texas occupies a special image in the minds of its
regular members, and they are not willing to see the model itself being changed much.
Everything seems to be going well, and the manager reported no having any serious ongoing
issues.
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 52
However, we believe that the job of a good Organizational development consultant is
not only to look at the current scenarios and solve current issues, but also work with the
owners/management towards establishing best practices for a total quality management. We
believe in the old adage “Prevention not cure,” and have made our intervention proposals
based on the same. Our surveys were more open-ended and exploratory in nature to find out,
as an observer, if any issues did exist, which might not be considered issues, as yet, by the
management. Our interventions are based on Total Quality Management type theories for
business. It is crucial for a business, especially a customer-centric business such as Central
Texas Fitness, to have, at the least, a member feedback system in place. Again, the employee
evaluation system is extremely important in a business where an employee’s, especially a
trainer’s performance decides the clients he/she gets. Lastly, but not the least, we have made
other recommendations, purely based on customer responses, which are by no means any less
important. However, these are purely strong suggestions and the management and the owner
have the flexibility of prioritizing the same according to their business convenience.
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 53
REFERENCES
Allender, H. 1995. Reengineering employee performance appraisals the. Industrial
Management, 37(6), 10. Retrieved from Business Source Complete database.
Ash, R., & Levine, E. 1985. Job Applicant Training and Work Experience Evaluation: An
Empirical Comparison of Four Methods. Journal of Applied Psychology, 70(3), 572-576.
Retrieved from Business Source Complete database.
Clausen, T., Jones, K., & Rich, J. 2008. Appraising Employee Performance Evaluation Systems.
CPA Journal, 78(2), 64-67. Retrieved from Business Source Complete database.
Cooper, D., & Schindler, P. 2008. Business research methods. (10th ed.). New York: McGraw-
Hill/Irwin (Asia)
Cummings and Worley 2009. Organization Development and Change (International Student
Edition, 9 th
Ed). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
De Knop, P., Van Hoecke, J., & De Bosscher, V. 2004. Quality Management in Sports Clubs.
Sport Management Review (Sport Management Association of Australia & New
Zealand), 7(1), 57-77. Retrieved from Business Source Complete database.
Central Texas Fitness website 2010. Retrieved July 30. 2010, from http://www.(omitted).net.
Koziel, M. 2000. Giving and Receiving Performance Evaluations. CPA Journal, 70(12), 22.
Retrieved from Business Source Complete database.
Krug, J. 1998. Improving the performance appraisal process. Journal of Management in
Engineering, 14(5), 19. Retrieved from Business Source Complete database.
1997. Performance Evaluations. Journal of Accountancy, 184(4), 8. Retrieved from Business
Source Complete database.
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 54
Sauser Jr., W. 1980. Evaluating Employee Performance: Needs, Problems and Possible
Solutions. Public Personnel Management, 9(1), 11. Retrieved from Business Source
Complete database
Smith, M. 2002. Program evaluation. In A.R. Roberts & G.J. Greene (Eds.), Social workers’
desk reference. New York: Oxford University Press
1992. What You Choose Is What You Get. Journal of Sport Management, 6(3), 237-238.
Retrieved from Business Source Complete database.
Yeager, K. 2002. Concepts of continuous quality improvement. In A.R. Roberts & G.J. Greene
(Eds.), Social workers’ desk reference. New York: Oxford University Press
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 55
Appendix A
Management Questionnaire
(Additional spaces/double-spacing deliberately omitted to contain Appendix size)
Management Questionnaire
Central Texas Gym – Killeen, Texas
Organization Development & Change/MGMT 568
Dr. Brad Almond
Intervention Proposal
Texas A&M University-Central Texas
Meredith Reardon, Seth Daniels, and Charron Orfanides
PART I: General
1. When was your facility established and what drove that decision?
2. Describe the type of business your gym is officially registered under.
3. Who is your competition?
4. What do you consider your primary/target market segment?
5. What do you consider to be your competitive advantage?
6. (a) What is Central Texas Gym’s mission and strategy?
(b) What do management and staff do to incorporate that strategy and accomplish the
mission?
7. (a) What are your short-term goals (2-5 years)?
(b) What are your most pressing issues as a manager?
(c) What are your long-term goals (5 to 10 years)?
8. What specific ideas do you have in mind to improve quality and/or services provided?
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 56
9. Who determines the short-term and long-term goals, and the financial and strategic
objectives for your gym?
10. Describe the personnel structure/hierarchy/rank system in your organization and how it was
decided.
11. How many total employees do you have?
12. How many are employed full-time?
(a) What functions/positions do they fill?
(b) What is the average number of years a full-time employee is expected to remain with
the organization?
(c)How long does a full-time employee actually stay on with the organization?
(d) How many hours on average does a full-time employee work per week?
13. How many part-time employees do you have?
(a) What functions/positions do they fill?
(b) What is the average number of years a part-time employee is expected to remain
with the organization?
(c)How long does a part-time employee actually stay on with the organization?
(d) How many hours on average does a part-time employee work per week?
14. What qualifications must a manager or supervisor possess to be successful in leading the
Central Texas team?
15. What minimum qualifications and certifications must trainers and instructors possess?
(a) ISSA etc., CPR, degree
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 57
(b) If you interviewed a potential hire who is qualified in all aspects but lacking a
particular certification or skill, is there a new-employee training program in place that
would provide it?
(c) If so, who bears any associated costs?
16. Does existing staff receive ongoing or regular training?
(a) If so, please explain what it entails.
(b) Does it in any way target employee development and sense of ownership among the
employees?
17. How is employee performance evaluated?
(a) What are some of the systems in place?
(b) How frequently are employees evaluated?
18. How, and how frequently, is employee satisfaction measured?
19. (a) For day-to-day operations, is there a standard operating procedure (SOP) in place?
(b) Does it address issues such as trainer-client interactions, legal liability, and federal
or city code compliance?
20. What are your expectations of a manager?
21. (a) Please list your most important day-to-day responsibilities and duties.
(b) What are your average hours worked per week?
22. Does your role as manager include the setting of goals or targets, and planning and
implementing them? Please give some examples.
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 58
23. What information technology solutions are you utilizing in the management and daily
operations of your facility?
24. (a) What physical security measures are in place to protect customers?
(b) How do you ensure digital security of your customers’ data/information, e.g. how
would you handle loss of information due to a system crash?
25. If current local management leaves or changes, how is appropriate replacement determined
and continuity ensured)?
26. How do trainers find their clients?
PART II: Day-to-day operations and interactions with members and trainers
1. Who would be the first point of contact for someone who is interested in becoming a Central
Texas Gym member?
(a) Please describe the process for enrolling a potential new member.
(b) How do you usually address any customer complaints regarding customer service
during the enrollment process, and what is management’s approach to resolving them?
2. Imagine the following situation: a new member wants to work with a particular trainer s-/he
has heard about but that trainer is unavailable. How do you proceed?
3. How would you resolve issues regarding access to or time spent on equipment, e.g. do
trainers working with clients have priority over someone who just wants to work out on their
own?
4. (a) What measures do you have in place to try to prevent injury or accidents to
members?
(b) What procedures are in place in case an injury or accident occurs?
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 59
5. Who is responsible for the maintenance and cleaning of the facility?
6. Are you inspected by an external agency for cleanliness?
7. (a) What are your zero-tolerance policies regarding trainer-client and staff-client
interactions?
(b) How would you handle any such concern/complaint?
8. What should a customer do if she/he is dissatisfied with the service provided by a trainer or
any employee of Central Texas Fitness?
9. Does Central Texas Fitness give special considerations or discounts for long-time members?
Please explain your answer.
10. Do you allow for special considerations for military personnel and their families regarding
membership contracts?
11. (a) Do you have an established complaint process in place?
(b) If so, please describe it.
12. How are issues regarding trainers’ workloads or scheduling resolved?
13. How are trainers equipped to deal with angry customers?
Additional comments:
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 60
Appendix B
Customer Questionnaire
(Additional spaces/double-spacing deliberately omitted to contain Appendix size)
QUESTIONNAIRE for CUSTOMERS
Of
Central Texas Fitness
For:
Organization Development & Change/MGMT 568
Dr. Brad Almond
Intervention Proposal
Meredith Reardon, Seth Daniels, and Charron Orfanides
Texas A&M University - Central Texas
PART I: General
1. When did you join Central Texas Fitness and what were your primary reasons for joining the
gym?
2. What was an alternate choice of a local gym for you?
3. In your opinion, what are the competitive advantages of Central Texas Fitness?
4. How easy or difficult did you find the process of actually signing up and becoming a member?
Please describe the process you experienced as a potential new member.
5. (a) What are your short-term fitness goals or most pressing fitness concerns (3-5
months)?
(b) What are your long-term fitness goals (5-10 years)?
6. What changes would you like to see for Central Texas Fitness, or what do you NOT want to
see happen, in the long run to better meet your needs and meet your goals?
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 61
7. Please describe the organizational structure or any personnel or rank system at Central Texas
Fitness that you have come across as a customer.
8. How often do you work out?
9. (a) Do you take classes offered by Central Texas Fitness? If yes, please name some and
tell us what most appeals to you about a particular class.
(b) Are there any classes not currently offered at Central Texas Fitness that you would
like to take on a regular basis? Please tell us what they are.
10. (a) If you work out with a trainer, do prefer to train with a full-time or part-time personal
trainer?
(b) If applicable, please describe how you were assigned one.
(c) If your current trainer leaves, how is appropriate replacement determined and your
training continuity ensured?
11. To your knowledge, what minimum qualifications and certifications must trainers and
instructors possess?
12. Do you believe that existing staff should receive any ongoing or regular training (in- house)?
13. How do you evaluate your own progress?
14. (a) Please list the aspects of a gym most important to you on a day-to-day basis.
(b) What do you consider some issues which need to be brought to the management’s
attention?
15. Please describe some security measures that you were made aware during the sign-up
process, e.g., safeguarding of your personal information or facility?
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 62
PART II: Situations or circumstances you encounter on a recurrent/regular basis (daily,
weekly, monthly) while working out
1. Which staff member was the first point of contact for you when you tried to sign up with
Central Texas Fitness?
2. Who would you talk to for resolving issues regarding access to or time on equipment, e.g. do
trainers working with clients have priority over someone who just wants to work out on their
own?
3. What measures do you see in place or have been informed about in the case of injury or
accidents to members?
4. (a) Who do you think is responsible for the daily maintenance and cleaning of the
facility?
(b) Are the premises usually clean enough for you? If not, please let us know what we
can do to improve.
5. (a) What do you think are Central Texas Fitness’ zero-tolerance policies, such as
trainer- client and staff-client interactions?
(b) Have you come across situations involving any?
(c) How would you voice concerns/complaints regarding those policies?
6. What would a gym member do if she/he is dissatisfied with the service provided by a trainer?
7. Do you think that long-time members should be offered discounts or special considerations
for certain classes or receive special consideration? If yes, please name some.
8. (a) Do you think Central Texas Gym caters to the local military families well?
(b) Please tell us some of the accommodations Central Texas Fitness makes for its
military members and their families.
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 63
9. (a) Have you been informed of or are you aware of any established customer-complaint
or input process in place?
(b) If yes, please describe it.
10. In your opinion, how well are trainers equipped to deal with crisis situations (medical) or
angry customers (personal, professional)?
Additional comments:
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 64
Appendix C
Trainer Questionnaire
(Additional spaces/double-spacing deliberately omitted to contain Appendix size)
QUESTIONNAIRE for TRAINERS
Central Texas Fitness
For
Organization Development & Change/MGMT 568
Dr. Brad Almond
Intervention Proposal
Meredith Reardon, Seth Daniels, and Charron Orfanides
Texas A&M University – Central Texas
PART I: General
1. When did you begin working at Central Texas Fitness, and what drove that decision?
2. What is your personal experience with fitness and working out?
3. What do you consider your primary goal as a trainer at this gym?
4. From a trainer’s point of view, what do you consider to be the competitive advantage of
Central Texas Fitness?
5. Why did you want to become a trainer?
6. Please describe the process of becoming a trainer and the minimum qualifications and
certifications required to be able to work as a trainer at Central Texas Fitness.
7. How are you assigned a client?
8. (a) What is Central Texas Fitness’s mission statement and strategy?
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 65
(b) How do you, as a trainer, incorporate that strategy and accomplish the stated
mission?
(c) How do you identify with Central Texas Fitness’ mission and vision?
9. (a) What are your short-term goals (3-5 months)?
(b) What are your long-term goals (5-10 years)?
(c) What are your own most pressing fitness concerns?
10. If you managed this gym, what changes would you like to see for Central Texas Fitness, or
what do you absolutely NOT want to happen, in the long run?
11. (a) How often do you train client?
(b)What makes a training session effective?
(c) Do you take or teach any classes offered by Central Texas Fitness? If so, please name
some.
12. Do you work out at Central Texas for your own training/fitness routine? If not, please briefly
explain.
13. Are you required to receive ongoing or regular training (in-house)?
14. How is your performance evaluated?
15. (a) Please list the aspects of a gym most important to you on a day-to-day basis.
(b) What do you consider some issues which need to be brought to the management’s
attention?
16. What security measures are you aware of which make you and your clients feel safe in the
gym and also when leaving to go to your car?
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 66
17. Please describe what an average workday at Central Texas as a trainer involves for you.
PART II: Your day-to-day interactions with Central Texas Fitness clients and staff members.
1. Is the trainer the first point of contact for a new client to join the gym?
2. How well are you informed regarding Central Texas Fitness’ customer-related policies,
especially zero-tolerance policies?
3. (a) What measures are in place in the case of injury or accidents to member?
(b) What would you do if a member were to get injured during a session with you?
4. Are you responsible for the maintenance and cleanliness of the facility during your training
session(s)/official hours worked?
5. Is the equipment functional most of the time, or do you often see “out-of-service” signs? If so,
how often and for how long (e.g. per week/month)?
6. Are trainers always available if a prospective client requests one? If not, how do you make
sure the client’s satisfaction is ensured?
7. In your opinion, is the staff helpful, pleasant and forthcoming to both trainers and members?
8. Do trainers working with clients have priority on the machines over someone who just wants
to work out on their own?
9. What is your observation regarding teamwork between Central Texas’s management and
trainers? On a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being high and 1 being low), how would you rate
collaborative/team efforts to keep customers satisfied?
10. Do you have any special offers that cater to military clients and their families?
11. If you could change two things about this Gym, what would those be?
12. Would you recommend this gym to your friends?
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 67
13. Do you believe that long-time customers should be given certain privileges or special
considerations, e.g. discounts for certain sessions?
14. (a) What do you think are Central Texas Fitness’ zero-tolerance policies in trainer-client
and staff-client interactions?
(b) Have you come across situations involving any? If yes, please describe how you would
address attempt to resolve them, either with a client or to management.
15. What should a member do if she/he is dissatisfied with the service provided by a trainer?
Please describe the process you would advise your client of.
16. (a) How does management react to customer complaints regarding trainers?
(b) How comfortable do you personally feel about lodging a complaint?
17. In your experience, are there any issues regarding trainers’ workloads or scheduling?
18. How well are you equipped to deal with crisis situations (e.g. medical) or angry customers?
19. (a) Do you monitor your clients’ improvements? Do you do so even after they cease to be
your clients?
(b) Do you offer any special packages for that purpose?
20. Are trainers allowed to eat on the floor, or talk on their cell phone,s during a training
session?
21. How often are you allowed to take a break? Does your training schedule determine breaks
or are they at your own discretion?
23. (a) In your opinion, are Central Texas Fitness trainers well-trained?
(b) How would you compare the quality of trainers at Central Texas Fitness with trainers
at other gyms (if known)?
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 68
Appendix D
Statement of Confidentiality
(Additional spaces/double-spacing deliberately omitted to shorten Appendix size)
Statement of Nondisclosure and Confidentiality
Purpose: To accompany the Intervention Project of Meredith Reardon, Seth Daniels,
and Charron Orfanides, MBA Cohort students at Texas A&M University-
Central Texas, as part of a course requirement while enrolled in GB
568/Organization Development and Change, Summer 2010.
Points of Contact:
Supervising Faculty: Dr. Bradley Almond ([email protected])
Graduate Students: Meredith Reardon – PH: (254) xxx-xxxx/
E-mail: [email protected]
Seth Daniels – PH: 1-760-xxx-xxxx/
E-mail: [email protected]
Charron Orfanides – PH: (254) xxx-xxxx/
E-mail: [email protected]
The purpose of this project is strictly to satisfy a core academic/course requirement and will not disclose, specific details, facts, or statements made in interviews, of or about any
individual(s) or person(s), their position within Central Texas Fitness, or anything pertaining to
Central Texas Fitness’ operations. Only generalized data and information will be included or
disclosed as part of the written project to be submitted to the supervising faculty.
The survey instruments were provided to the owner/management for approval and
requests for clarification or changes prior to interviewing.
Any information or data not specifically mentioned herein that was provided to the
above students during written or verbal, formal or informal communication, shall remain strictly
confidential and subject to nondisclosure until/unless requested, or permitted by, appropriate
management personnel or legitimately authorized employee of Central Texas Fitness.
_________________ __________________ _________________ __________________
Signature Signature Signature Signature
_________________ __________________ _________________ __________________
Printed Name Printed Name Printed Name Printed Name
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 69
Appendix D
Cover letter
(Additional spaces/double-spacing deliberately omitted to shorten Appendix size)
July24, 2010
The Manager
Central Texas Fitness
Killeen, Texas 76548
Re: Management, Staff and Customer Survey for ‘Organization Development Intervention’
paper. Class: By Dr. Almond, MGMT 568 - 321, at Texas A&M-Central Texas, Killeen.
Dear Sir/Madam,
This is to kindly request an approval for surveys for an ‘Organization Development
Intervention’ paper regarding your organization.
For our research paper, we hope to conduct an Organization and Development survey
which would look at Central Texas Fitness’ current organizational structure and processes. The
surveys will also aim to look at the long-term and short-term customer–centric goals of your
organization which will help to understand better how your organization serves its purpose as a
customer-centered organization. As the main focus, our paper aims at looking at the
efficiencies or any issues in the organization’s daily customer-oriented operations. The length
of time estimated for conducting the surveys will be approximately two to three working days.
The surveys will target one or two supervisory level staff (managers/supervisors), a few
(4-5) trainers, if possible, and 7-10 customers, if possible. This cross-survey method will help to
reveal the similarities in goals, ideas, and issues as perceived by the management, the trainers,
and the customers. It will provide a uniform platform on which to gauge your organization’s
processes and effectiveness.
Even though the surveys target “current issues”, they are, by no means, meant to shed a
negative light on your organization. To the contrary, the ‘issue’ which we target could be
something as simple as ‘Are there some basic processes in place to maintain customer-
satisfaction’? Further, the surveys and research paper will be free, available to your
management, along with our proposal, which will be based on scientific intervention theories.
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 70
As pointed out by our Professor, this survey is meant to be a proposal. We will be
graded on the utility of this paper based on the following criteria:
• How useful would your organization itself would find this paper, if you had contacted us
as Organizational Development professionals?
• Would you, as our client, clearly see the value of the strategy we are proposing, or
execute it as presented by us?
Thus, as the Management, you will have access to the data gathered from the surveys, though
not the actual surveys, and our final paper, if you so like.
We assure you that each of the customers and staff we survey will be given a
Confidentiality Agreement, assuring them in turn that no names or specific responses will be
disclosed. The surveys are purely meant to act as a guide and a database. We also assure you
that your customers and trainers will not be hindered in their daily functions. We hope to be as
discreet as possible, and conduct the surveys only when the staff or customers are not actively
working out. We request a quiet corner at your facility with a couple of chairs and a small
table, if available. We intend to bring water bottles and some healthy snacks to hand out to the
participants.
Any help from your organization will be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to let us
know if you have any other stipulations or questions regarding this survey. We will be more
than happy to have a pre-meeting regarding this survey, if required.
For your convenience, please find attached the surveys for the Management, the
Customers, and the Trainers. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
(Signed)
Seth Daniels, Charron Orfanides and Meredith Reardon
Enclosures: As stated above
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 71
Appendix E
Thank-you letter
(Additional spaces/double-spacing deliberately omitted to contain Appendix size)
Patrick and Mary Jane
Owners
Central Texas Fitness
903 Mountain Lion Circle, suite 100
Harker Heights, Texas 76548
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Parker:
We would like to express our deepest gratitude for taking the time and meeting with us
on Tuesday, July 27, 2010, and for allowing us to interact with your staff and customers to
conduct our interviews.
As current Texas A&M-Central Texas graduate students, we appreciate the
unproblematic, enthusiastic welcome and your willingness to share your thoughts and ideas
with us to make our intervention as effortless and useful as possible.
On behalf of Dr. Almond, our supervising faculty member, and the intervention team
consisting of Seth Daniels, Charron Orfanides and Meredith Reardon, we would like to extend
our sincere gratitude and appreciation to you and the Central Texas Fitness staff and
customers.
Sincerely,
(Signed)
Daniels, Reardon, & Orfanides: OD Intervention 72
Seth Daniels, Meredith Reardon, and Charron Orfanides
