UTILIZATION OF CONCEPTS OF INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN, INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE AND USABILITY TO CREATE A CORPORATE EMPLOYEE TRAINING PROGRAM

Illinois Institute of Technology

DIGIACOMO, PHILIP A.

Feinberg, Susan

2007-05

Purpose: The Bally Problem In 2003, Bally Total Fitness began the process of an international restructuring. The purpose of this restructuring initiative was to address the continuing decay of... Show morePurpose: The Bally Problem In 2003, Bally Total Fitness began the process of an international restructuring. The purpose of this restructuring initiative was to address the continuing decay of process efficiency, profitability and company image through a bottom up approach with the staff of the 400+ Bally Total Fitness clubs. The key for this approach was to place the primary focus on two departments; Operations and Employee Training & Development. This documentation and accompanying materials have been compiled as a means with which to outline and catalogue the employee training component of this restructure as well as the process in which the project was carried out. One of the primary reasons Employee Training & Development was considered key in this restructure was due to the need for a single department to facilitate the cultural change throughout the company, which was considered essential to the turnaround effort. The company realized that the only way to properly facilitate this change was to assure that adult learning professionals worked at all levels of the company to educate the staff and steer the needed transition. It was determined that Employee Training & Development must be restructured in a way that allowed for a higher quality of effectiveness in the field, regional offices and the corporate headquarters. The company, as a whole, was looking to implement a more balanced approach to training that would create a well rounded club level employee rather than staff with limited niche roles. Additionally, the company mandated that the corporate team for Employee Training & Development would simultaneously help to educate the executive team while field training managers facilitated the initiative in the clubs and regional offices. For this reason, the corporation decided to restructure the department with the primary goal of recreating a training department from the ground up that would utilize modern philosophies, concepts and technology for adult learning in order to strengthen the ability, productiveness and quality of employee training. To address the employee training component of the restructuring initiative, a team of training professionals were assembled with an initial purpose statement: To assess, evaluate and develop the Bally Total Fitness employee training program utilizing contemporary theories and approaches to adult learning. This team was directed to create and execute upon an approved turnaround strategy with the goal of improved employee development as the dominant focus. Accomplishment of this goal would only be considered to be achieved through development of a training program that addressed and resolved any issues found within the original employee training curriculum that could be shown to adversely affect the average employee's ability with responsibilities, on-the-job attitude and customer service. Preparation for this restructuring required the newly created team to conduct in depth analyses of each department within the corporation to determine the level of importance they played within the overall structure of daily business and how employee training impacted the quality and productivity of their functions. Once these departmental analyses were completed, the team would be expected to create, present and execute a project plan to begin the process of resolving the employee training issues plaguing the corporation. Show less

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http://hdl.handle.net/10560/islandora:1011904