Business concepts and practices

Health and Fitness Survey

Hour Fitness, a global leader in fitness, is committed to making fitness accessible and affordable to people of all fitness levels. The company is the largest privately owned fitness chain in the world, with clubs in the United States, Europe and Asia. In the United States, 24-Hour Fitness and its Q. Sports Clubs division are the industry leaders in fitness. In Asia clubs operate as California Fitness. In Europe clubs operate as S.A.T.S. Sports Clubs. In Norway, Sweden and Denmark, clubs operates as Form and Fitness.

Convenient locations, the latest equipment, affordable prices, knowledgeable staff and outstanding service, as well as facilities that are open up to 24 hours a day, seven days a week, are all factors that have contributed to the company's tremendous growth and success.

For this project, Steve Gordon, Personal Training Director of 24-Hour Fitness, Northern California Division, was interviewed on November 2, 2002.

The purpose of this project is to heighten awareness about the goals, organizational structure, policies and procedures of 24-Hour Fitness. Through a personal interview with a 24-Hour Fitness representative, this paper will reveal the company's strengths and weaknesses; its organizational climate; its management theories; environmental concerns; and social responsibilities.

ANALYIS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Organizational culture simply refers to the personality of the organization. The interviewee, Steve Gordon, was questioned about 24 Fitness's arrangement of furniture, things they are proud of, what members wear, and more in an effort to lean more about the organization's personality.

The most important requirement for employees of 24-Hour Fitness is their ability to fit into the organization and work well as a team. Usually employees start at the bottom and stay with the organization. This organization promotes from within and highly values seniority, as it strives to retain employees.

24-Hour Fitness has positioned itself as the brand that enables clients to integrate fitness into their lives affordably and conveniently. The organization and its employees use the motto "live better," which acknowledges the brand values of accessibility and the encouragement to adopt fitness at any point of physical health.

With 439 clubs in 11 countries, 24-Hour Fitness is a dominant player in the fitness category. The company has built a strong reputation as an innovative fitness supplier of state-of-the-art fitness programming and equipment. However, the company does have weaknesses. Like many other companies in the fitness industry, it is wrought with high turnover from both clients and employees.

Customers obviously represent potential uncertainty to 24-Hour Fitness. Their tastes can change; they can become dissatisfied with the organization's product or service; or they can be lured by other fitness companies.

Since the organizations environment changes frequently, it is best described as a dynamic environment. If change is minimal, we call it a stable one. 24-Hour Fitness is constantly faced with new competitors, constant promotions by current competitors, and more. Its environmental concerns are stable, as there is little activity by pressure groups to influence the organization. In addition, the steadily increasing demand for health and fitness provide stabilization for the company.

GLOBAL ISSUES AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Hofsted identified four cultural dimensions: power distance, individualism and collectivism, quantity vs. quality of life, and uncertainty avoidance. 24-Hour Fitness views and practices each of these dimensions in various ways.

Power Distance: Power distance describes the extent to which employees accept that superiors have more power than they have. 24-Hour Fitness employees work as a team, accepting the superiority of management over each department. However, managers are expected to act responsibly as team players.

Individualism and Collectivism: American culture puts emphasis on individual achievements. 24-Hour Fitness caters to this need for personal achievement yet puts a strong emphasis on belonging to the club.

Quantity Vs. Quality of Life: The best way to describe the company's views on this topic is to look at its marketing approaches to older adults. Many times, older adults feel that exercising is not important because they think it is too late. 24-Hour Fitness stresses the benefits of fitness at any age and shows why age is not a factor when it comes to being more fit.

Uncertainty Avoidance: 24-Hour Fitness could be categorized as an uncertainty avoidance cultures, as leaders need to concentrate on performance-orientated behaviors. Due to the large turnover in employees, there is a need for employee-oriented structure and direction.

The utilitarian view emphasizes using the greatest good for the greatest number as a criterion for evaluating decisions. From this view, the decision that benefits the most people would be the decision of choice. The rights view is based on the premise that individuals have basic rights that must be protected even if there is a cost to the society or to the organization. The justice view is grounded in the idea that rules must be imposed equitably to all. The focus is making a decision that is fair to everyone involved. Finally, the theory that proposes that decisions should be made on the basis of empirical and normative factors is called the integrative social contracts theory.

24-Hour Fitness seems to fall most under the category of utilitarian view, as it emphasizes teamwork, which means using the greatest good for the greatest number.

HUMAN RESOURCES INFORMATION

Steve Gordon's three most significant factors considered when selecting employees are a strong interest in fitness, good communications skills and past experience.

Gordon's three most critical factors that would eliminate a qualified candidate in the final selection process are lack of ability to work as part of a team, careless attitude toward customer service, and irresponsibility.