Dave Roberts Is the Program Director at a Small,family-Owned Gym

question 65

Essay

Dave Roberts is the program director at a small,family-owned gym in an affluent neighborhood.He works closely with the owner,his wife,and one other manager managing the day-to-day operations of the gym.He has an MBA from a large Midwestern university.The program director's main job is to oversee the front staff of the gym,which ranges from five to seven people,all part-timers.Dave and the owner get along,but they have different views on performance management.
n an effort to increase revenue and motivate the part-time workers,the owner tends to propose monthly sales goals at random to the staff.There is no clear standard for setting these goals,which results in them sometimes being too low and other times impossible.He also sets the same goal for each employee regardless of their experience or tenure at the company.The owner also does not believe in giving employees a bonus beyond their regular pay.He thinks that the better than average salary coupled with free use of the gym is enough to generate employee engagement and motivation.The company has a hard time retaining staff.In fact,the gym had a 40 percent turnover this past year,which is why the owner hired Dave.
Dave thinks employees should have one set of goals that are established at the beginning of the year.Dave also does not like the ad-hoc approach toward giving performance feedback.If feedback was given at all on the progress made toward attaining the owner's goals,it was usually negative and seldom included solutions or suggestions for correcting the issues that were hindering the staff.The company has not provided any performance management training to managers or employees.In terms of recognition,the owner reacts harshly toward the managers and employees when his random goals are not being met.
Dave is wondering what he should do about the situation.Should he approach the owner and propose changes in performance management,or should he just make the changes himself?
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