Case study on the swimming pool

Introduction

Private clubs are essential components of the society since they provide a basis for creating social bonding amongst the society members. The Private Farming Wood Swim and Tennis Club is an example of such a club. The management of such clubs should be effective in meeting the expectations of the members. This gives the implication that the Human Resource departments in such clubs are some of the most important in the management of the clubs. Strategic management is hence crucial in managing these clubs to counter human errors that are quite common in the management of any club or organization. A club might have highly qualified staff but the human errors are prone to occur hence the reason why managers should be cautious and quite strict when dealing with human errors. Human errors should be eliminated in the management of any club or organization.

Summary

The Farming Wood Swim and tennis is a private social club which provides a variety of social amenities for its members. It has a membership of 500 families and has two swimming pools and ten tennis courts. The club has 7 acres of landscape property and dining rooms services amongst other facilities. The club is an excellent social bonding venue that creates good relations amongst the society members. Routine maintenance is an important task for the club’s management. The club has 20 staff members most of whom are highly skilled and qualified in their fields of specialization. The club has been cautious in providing high quality services. The swimming pool is one of the most important facilities for the club. Pool management is therefore important for the welfare of the club as well as its members. However, a serious issue concerning pool management occurred after the General Manager fired the maintenance engineer who had worked for the club for five years. A new maintenance engineer by the name Mr. Angelo was hired after a three week recruitment period. Mr. Angelo was highly skilled as he had worked as licensed contractor in the region for a period of 20 years. Despite being proficient in all the fields that required maintenance, it was imperative for him to get training on pool management. This was accomplished and he was assumed to be the perfect person for the post.

Mr. Angelo got all the training required as a maintenance engineer in the Farming Wood swim and tennis court club. However, a problem arose when there was over chlorination in the swimming pool. Some members of the club experienced health complications because chlorine is a highly toxic substance. On enquiry, Mr. Angelo gave an invalid reason for the over chlorination. He told the members that the over chlorination was due to computer systems failure. The reason was that the computer system failed to monitor the amount of chlorine flowing into the swimming pool hence result. The problem persists because Mr. Angelo reason was not true. He actually did not know the cause of the over chlorination. It would be justified to raise an argument supporting the fact that the problem persists because of Mr. Angelo’s carelessness.

The underlying problem in this case is Mr. Angelo’s lack of honesty in determining the cause of the over chlorination. If the general manager could have agreed with Mr. Angelo’s reason that the over chlorination was due to computer system failure, it would have occurred again because this was not the reason. In the real sense, Mr. Angelo did have a clue of what had caused the over chlorination in the swimming pool.

A SWOT analysis would best be applied in dealing with this case. The strengths of the management of the Farming Wood club would be the fact that it has highly qualified staff for the different positions. It is the obligation of any club or organization to maximize on its strengths and limit on its weaknesses (Koch, pg. 39). Mr. Angelo is a highly skilled staff member and this can automatically be regarded as strength for the club. The fact that the club has a wide variety of social amenities for its members could be considered as a strength. Contrary the club just like any other organization has its weaknesses. The fact that it does not give training on how to counter human errors is a weakness that would result to poor administration. If the issue would have been addressed, then Mr. Angelo would have tried to consider a human error might have occurred hence resulting to the over chlorination. The fact that the club did not address human errors appropriately can be one of the major causes of the problem. Human errors should be eliminated in any form of management (Bertocci, pg. 71).

The Farming wood club has a lot of opportunities in its vicinity. One of the biggest opportunities that the club has would be to increase on the number of its members. The club has a lot of facilities and the fact that it has a large piece of a land is a valid reason as to why it would be important for it to increase in its membership. Another opportunity would be on the club to diversify its products and services. This would be ideas such as organizing family fun days amongst others. There are a variety of threats that would jeopardize the management of the club. Poor management would be a threat to the club. Mr. Angelo’s carelessness that could have even lead to the death of a person could be attributed to poor management. This is a threat that is common in most organizations and should be countered in the most effective way possible. Another threat that would face the performance of the club would be competition from other clubs that would be offering similar products and services to those of Farming wood Swim and Tennis club. To counter this threat, the club would have to provide high quality products and services to its members.

There are a variety of changes that would be imperative in the management of the Farming wood Swim and tennis club. Change is a crucial aspect when it comes to club or organizational management (Thornton, pg. 62). These changes would enhance the management of operations within the club. This kind of management would be referred to as operational management. The first step in operational management would be to find an assistant maintenance engineer for the club. If the club may be had an assistance maintenance engineer, he would have been important in determining the cause of the over chlorination. This would be a slight change that would only increase on the expense but improve on the provision of services.

It would also be advisable for the general manager to change Mr. Angelo from the obligations of pool repair and maintenance. This would be an aspect of work diversification. Work diversification is essential as it reduces the complexity of various tasks in management (Thompson, pg. 57). Mr. Angelo could have been proficient in all the other engineering fields but pool maintenance seemed to have a problem. The club would therefore recruit a pool repair and maintenance specialist and retain Mr. Angelo to cater for other fields. The main reason for this proposal is that the error for the over chlorination was very simple but Mr. Angelo magnified it because he did not have a clue that the problem was as a result of a human error. This gives enough reason to imply that Mr. Angelo was not proficient in swimming pool repair and maintenance even after the training he had undergone.

Conclusion

Running clubs that deal with the provision of services is very challenging and should therefore be given utmost consideration especially in management. Human errors are prone to occur. Management should therefore come up with effective measures to overcome human errors. Social and welfare clubs such as the Farming wood private club should be very cautious not disappoint the members because this would have serious implications. Human resource is therefore crucial in management since this is the department that caters for the welfare of all the human factors within the club or organization.

Work cited

Bertocci D. Leadership in Organizations: There Is a Difference Between Leaders and Managers, New York, University Press of America, 2009.

Thornton P. The Triangles of Management and Leadership, London: Media Creations, 2003. Thompson J. Strategic management: awareness and change, New York, Taylor & Francis, 2003.

Koch R. Public governance and leadership: political and managerial problems in making public governance changes the driver for re-constituting leadership, Michigan, DUV, 2007.