Manage Innovation and Continuous Improvement

¶ … Improvement Innovation and Continuous Improvement Bounce Fitness has a number of locations across Australia. Although the company has a long history of operations, very little has changed in the company's operating procedures. One of the most salient problems that have been identified is scheduling customers' initial consultations and keeping records up-to-date. These issues need to be address in a timely manner so that the organization can improve its service offerings.

Monitoring and Evaluation Strategies There are a plethora of different metrics that can be used to monitor and evaluate the organizational strategy. The balanced scorecard is a useful tool for designing strategies along different types of important objectives. Robert Kaplan and David Norton made the Balanced Scorecard popular as they found shortcomings with the traditional management control systems (Balanced Scorecard Institute N.d.).

This approach was designed to translate vision and strategy into objectives and measures across four balanced perspectives: the financial perspective, customer perspective, internal process perspective, and the learning and growth perspective. Each perspective is important by itself, however when the four approaches are "balanced" then a type of synergy can emerge that can propel an organization to success. Current Operational System The case states that the current data collection and hosting method utilizes the basic spreadsheet.

However, there are many more sophisticated software solutions that are already developed and customized for this particular industry. It is suggested that the company use an external consultant to determine their options in regard to modernizing the client data process. It would be interesting if there were a solution that would allow customers to access and even update their own health statistics on a web portal.

Fostering Creativity and Organizational Learning Creativity and design are important features of a well-developed knowledge economy, not only for having a favorable impact on people's well-being and business performance, but also on innovation (Hollanders and Cruysen 2009). Creating an innovative organization requires more than understanding the design of an efficient development process (Stamm 2003). Innovation deals more with and organizations or individuals ability to of creating and implementing a successful idea. This idea does not necessarily need to be creative.

Sometimes a common sense solution, when implemented properly, can be the most efficient and effective organizational innovation. However, when innovation is combined with creativity it can be even more effective. When creative innovations are introduced to organizations they can create core competencies that can transform and organization and its position within the competitive landscape. Measuring Tools Quality control represents the act of analyzing processes and monitoring operations to ensure that high quality standards are being met at all times.

There are many statistical models that can be used to ensure that the organizations operational objectives are being met. With the advantages of modern technology, these tools can also be used in a real time manner to monitor the quality on a real time basis. This would also represent an ideal subject to bring up to the external consultant. Furthermore, a quality survey should be developed and administered on a regular basis to ensure high quality standards in regard to customer service.

Suggested Improvements Leadership was identified as being one of the competencies that is required to make a company successful in the long run. A transformational leader can inspire an organization to perform at higher levels. Two of the qualities of such a leader were identified as being humble yet also having a strong sense of dedication or resolve to be successful. Therefore, it is not necessarily one model or the other that can effectively predict the outcome of the company.

There must also be some component that accounts for leadership and human resources in the company to predict success. Companies with inspirational leaders can often overcome tremendous challenges and find opportunities for their company to excel. Emerging Trends One trend is that a growing number of consumers are becoming more health conscious. As a growing awareness of health issues and obesity is accumulating, many people are becoming more focused on health and fitness issues and becoming more active.

Bounce Fitness is certainly on the right side of this trend and should leverage its position to increase its market size and share. Consulting Opportunities This is one of the most important aspects of the case. It is recommended that an external consultant be used to help modernize operations. The consultant could help the organization find a software solution to.