Theodora Holder

Memorandum For Fit 4 Life Fitness Global Expansion Date: November 9, 2021 To: HR Management Team From: Theodora Holder, Human Resource Management Director Subject: Fit 4 Life Fitness Global Staffing Recommendations Introduction According to a recent request from Fit 4 Life Fitness, our organization has the opportunity to support their vision with the mission of growing their organization globally and establishing an international presence. In addition, as this mission is executed it is recommended that we consider the organizational structure for a successful recruiting and selection process. Therefore, this memorandum will encompass recommendations for recruiting, selecting and staffing employees for the new clubs internationally. Staffing Strategies In embarking upon an international venture, the organizational design must be aligned with the various work units intended to achieve the strategic staffing plan. Thus, the work units will involve recruiting, selection, and staffing. Also, it is recommended that the organizational design address areas such as specialization of work with regard to which work , jobs or tasks are done by specific units, departmentalization which is used to determine work units, chain of command which refers to top- to-bottom reporting relationships between and among jobs to determine lines of responsibility and authorities within the organization, span of control refers to the number of subordinates a supervisor is allowed to have, centralization and decentralization both determine the distribution of decision making power in the organization and formulization which refers to the extent to which work is structured and it adheres to the procedures and channels of communication(UMGC ,2018). Thus, to determine the best organizational structure it is recommended that the company implement the Mckinsey 7s model organizational design model to address the hard components of structure, strategy and systems. Also, this model addresses soft components such as skills, staff, style and shared values. Therefore, this model will support the following recommended staffing strategy. In addition, it is recommended that the best organizational structure for this design would be a mechanistic structure which follows a functional design model such as the Mckinsey 7 s model. To that end, this structure will accommodate the functional lines of production, sales and geographic regions for the Fit 4 Life Fitness staffing strategy. Employee staffing strategies encompass organizational design, structure and workforce planning(UMGC ,2018). Furthermore, as it relates to the organizational design it recommended to consider the specific jobs such as the managers and instructors to execute the various task needed to optimize job performance. In regards to the staffing efforts for both the general managers and the instructors, there are three different staffing strategies when embarking upon a global market. The first strategy is the home-country national strategy which uses an employee from the home country to live and work in that country(UMGC , 2018. Also, these individuals are called expatriates. The second option is the host-country national strategy which employs people who are natives of the country in which the business is operating. Finally, the third option is to employee people from a different country than the host and home country. Therefore, it is recommended that we employee a third-country national to staff both the general managers and the instructors. With that said, it is further recommended that this strategy include a transnational team to conduct the international business. Thus, this team will be composed of multiple nationalities working on this global pilot project (UMGC , 2018). The transnational team will support the efforts in launching the new gyms across Europe and South America. In addition, a transnational team will be equipped to perform tasks that the firm has not yet been designed to accomplish. To that end, a transnational team will have special skills that are unique to the team such as they will promote clubs, small groups and large events throughout the month to encourage clients to come together socially as well as to work out for fitness. Furthermore, it is imperative that the home office and strategic alignment of the overseas pilot project be on the same sheet of music to ensure a successful venture(Sims, R. ,2019, Table 14.1). In selecting the strategic option for this international venture, it is recommended that we use the third -country national strategy in conjunction with the transnational team to staff the new clubs in Florence, Italy . Therefore, the third-country national strategy option is better equipped to bring the international perspective to this business venture. In addition, this option would be advantageous with regards to the costs of visas being less expensive than the home-national country. Although, there are some key challenges to using the third-country national strategy option, the advantages support this option selection (UMGC, 2018). To be informed , the key challenge of using this option is that we must consider traditional national hostilities. Also, the host government or local business may be resentful for hiring a third-country national. Furthermore, hiring a third-country national may affect the local workers’ motivation with this international business venture. To that end, it is recommended that Fit 4 Life Fitness transcend the recommended organizational structure to customize the strategy with a transnational team (Sims, R. ,2019, Table 14.1). The Recruiting Process For the most part, recruiting in other countries are subject to more government regulations than the United States. Therefore, the factors that must be considered are procedures for recruiting employees to foreign labor regulations. Also, many Central American countries have regulations that pertain to how many foreigners can be employed to a percentage of the workforce. In addition, many of the small countries recruiting is done by word of mouth. However, it is recommended to hire an expatriate to spearhead the recruiting function. Therefore, the recruiter can use local methods with regards to the recruiting process as it relates to the organizational culture and change(Sims, R. ,2019, Table 14.1) The Selection Process In regards to the selection process, the organizational strategic plan will have a huge impact on the recruiting and selection process. The implemented activities and resources necessary will be derived from this strategic plan. It is recommended that the selection process consider many different employment factors such as what would be the extent of contact with the local culture and how different is the foreign environment from the home country. As with any international business venture, many organizations find it challenging to identify who would be a perfect selection for a foreign environment. However, as certain factors are considered , the selection process will expose the ideal candidates for the international business project (UMGC ,2018, paragraph 2, section 2.1). Furthermore, be advised that when hiring expatriates, the failure percentage rate is between 20 to 50 percent because there is no proven formula to selecting candidates for a foreign environment. Therefore, the selection process must involve evaluating factors like managerial abilities, technical , interpersonal , teaching and language skills to make the selection. In addition, the natives of that country will have preference because of the language of the host country and being familiar with the culture environment (International Staffing - What is Human Resource? (Defined) Human Resource Management Topics - Labour Laws - High Courts & Supreme Court Citation - Case Laws. , 2012). To conclude with the suggested recommendations for recruiting, selecting and staffing employees for the new Fit 4 Life Fitness clubs , it is vital that this strategy endeavor be effective and efficient to ensure and support the future vision of expanding this pilot project across Europe and South America with success. To that end, in the near future there will be a meeting scheduled to discuss the Standard Operating Procedures for this project. Kindly, reach out to the Office of Human Resource Management for any questions regarding the recommendations and or strategic processes. Respectfully Submitted, Theodora Holder Director of Human Resources References International Staffing - What is Human Resource? (Defined) Human Resource Management Topics - Labour Laws - High Courts & Supreme Court Citation - Case Laws. (2012). Whatishumanresource.com. http://www.whatishumanresource.com/international-staffing Sims, R. (2019) Human Resources Management Issues, Challenges and Trends: “Now and Around the Corner”, Information Age Publishing. pp. 31–52. UMGC (2018). Introduction to Global HR. Retrieved from: https://learn.umgc.edu/d2l/le/content/334779/viewContent/-/View