Free «Implementation, Strategic Controls, and Contingency Plans» Essay Sample

The Little Gym is a children’s fitness center franchise that offers physical fitness classes and activities for children between the ages of four months and 12 years. A considered plan for the operations of the organization in future will enhance their mission and provide a direction for management goals. Gym management plans to open a new branch.

Implementation Plan

In order to achieve the goals of Little Gym, a number of things need to be done. The organization needs to employ various workers who will perform various duties, allocate resources needed to make the organization functional within the next five years and purchase the required equipment to make the business more competitive and attractive to the targeted customers.

Objectives of the plan

This plan highlights the components that need to make the business operational and competitive within the next five years. The plan provides guidelines on the type of employees that are needed, nature of worker that will be performed by various employees, number of employees that will be needed and the skills that the employees need in order to perform their task effectively and efficiently. The plan also intends to come up with budgetary allocations that are needed to make the various functional units with the business operational as well as the courses of actions that need to be taken for the business to achieve its mission and goals with the given time frame. The plan also stipulates the time that is needed for each and every action item to be fully implemented with an aim of achieving the organizational goals.

Functional Tactics

There is a number of short term activities that the gym management needs to be involved in order to enhance the achievement of the organizational goals. These activities will be very instrumental in the implementation of the overall business strategy. First, management of the gym should communicate with immediate effect the policies and goals that the business needs to achieve both in the short run and in the long run. Management should also purchase gym equipment that is needed to make the gym operational with immediate effect. Management also needs employees in order to make the gym operational and train them on the organizational ethics, values and cultures, with an aim of ensuring that their goals are directed towards attainment of the organizational goals. The marketing team needs to create awareness of the services been provided by the gym to the potential customers in order to make the business operational.

Action Items

In order to make the gym fully operational and achieve its intended objectives, there is a number of items that needs to be put in place. First, gym needs a building where its operations will be located. The building should be spacious enough to accommodate all the needed facilities and equipments and to accommodate the growing demand of the customers. The location of the gym should be within a strategic point. Funds should be availed to purchase and renovate the gym location for it to be more attractive to the customers and of world class. Posters should be prepared to create awareness of the gym among the potential customers.

Milestones and Deadline

In order to fully implement the various strategies within the business, various activities should be implemented within the set time frame. Gym needs to purchases all the needs equipments within the first month of its operation. Awareness campaign needs to be carried out within the first one month before the gym is opened to the public. Renovation of the building to house gym should be finished within one month after its acquisition. The required staff to make the gym operation should be employed before the official opening of the gym. The management of the gym should ensure that break-even is attained within three years of operation.

Tasks and Task Ownership

For the Little Gym to be fully operational there are a number of key tasks that will be performed. A number of employees with educational background, skills and appropriate training will be needed to perform these tasks. The key task within the gym will be running of the exercises within the gym.  Children who will be using the gym for various body exercises need a trainer or a guide to lead them throughout their activities within the gym facilities. Five gym officers will be employed to perform these tasks.

On the other hand, marketing is another crucial task that will be carried out in the gym. The marketing team will sell the services of the gym to the outside world and come up with marketing strategies that will give the business a competitive edge. Two marketers will be needed to market the services of the gym. Preparation of financial statements and bookkeeping of the operations of the firm, especially the sales realized, is another task that is expected to be performed within the gym. Two accountants will be employed to perform this task. Supervision as well as management of the activities of the gym is another crucial functional unit of the gym that will be needed for efficient operational of the gym. Two managers will be employed to oversee the running of the gym.

Resource Allocation

Resources will be allocated to all functional units in the business according to their needs. Functional units will be required to prepare annual budget for the finances they need to make units operational throughout the financial year. More resources will be committed to activities that generate more income to the business. Some of the profit generated from the gym operations will be used in corporate social responsibility activities of the business.

Organizational Change

Little gym needs to change  its management strategies and employ strategies that are of entrepreneurial in nature. Given the size of the new branch is small; there is need for the business to employ management strategy that is entrepreneurial in nature. Management needs to encourage high levels of creativity, innovativeness in the gym and creation of products that are customer oriented to ensure that the gym gains a brand loyalty in the new market. The management needs to take an approach that is more participative in nature than the current strategy, which is less participative. Usage of participative leadership will encourage formation of teams within the business leading to high quality services been offered by employees to the customers. This approach will also ensure that the business successfully implements its strategic plan within the stipulated time.

Key Success factors

The management needs to build a highly motivated workforce; this will be achieved through providing the employees with better terms of service and better pays. The business will also need to employ customer-oriented strategy in dealing with customers.

An assumption is made that sales will remain the same for the next four years, and all the other operational items will remain the same too.

Break-Even chart

Little Gym is faced with a number of risks that need to be managed in order to hedge the business against any negative adverse effect in case the risks occur. These risks may arise from both external and internal forces. The risk that arises from internal forces includes accidents, theft, fire and others. The risk that may arise as a result of external forces includes theft, third party injuries, interest rate risks and market risks. The firm will employ three risk management strategies.

First, the management employs the strategy of retaining those risks that are manageable and cannot be insured against. The second, strategy will be risk reduction, the management will employ various risk reduction measures to reduce the impact of the various risks on the business (Hubbard, 2009). Finally, the management will employ risk transfer strategy, where it will transfer the risk to a third party by buying an insurance policy.