Happy Camp Valley

Executive Summary

        Camp Happy Valley is a summer day camp which is located in London, Ontario. It is a not-for-profit organization formed in 1965. Camp Happy Valley engages in create a positive and safe atmosphere for children to increase their experience. Sue Johnson is the director of this camp and work for hiring the super staff team. Adam Cameron is the programmer for Happy Valley. The process of hiring and training staff was low efficiency, and the camp’s morale was depressed. Camp Happy Valley needs to make some decisions as soon as possible to improve this situation. There are three problem areas faced by the Happy Valley. First of all, the process of hiring staff for Happy Valley is ineffective. Another problem area is that the process of training staff is too tedious and no organization. Lastly, ineffective management is also a problem category. The quality of the training is more significant for employees who have never done kind of job before. If the implementation fails and the team spirit of the staff is still very weak then the should develop a new approach towards staff training, addition of more qualified staff to assist the super staffs during pre camp, increase compensation structure, develop and implement a structured recruitment process, and increment of recruitment advertisements. Company needs to examine process and procedures to ensure they are in line with their company objective to maximize campers experience in a safe and positive environment.

Problem Statement

In the recent years Camp Happy Valley has seen a decrease in morale of staff; their trainings are boring, poor attitude from camp staff and camp organizers can not balance between learning and entertainment. The Camp has received many complaints from staffs, campers and parents.

The main problem is that Camp Happy Valley needs to improve the standards of their operations, selection and enrollment protocols in order to boost confidence and quality of their programs.

Issues/Constraints

Issues

• Ineffective process of hiring staff.
• Tedious and non organized process of training staff.
• Ineffective Management.
• Complains from parents, campers and camp staff.
• Lack of team spirit and low staff morale.
• Trainings and programs are boring.

Constraints

• Location

Areas for discussion

• Morale
• Perception
• Motivation
• Implications

Analysis

Morale problem

low efficiency process of training and hiring staffs, process of training staff is too tedious and not organized, uninteresting programs and boring training.

Motivation

• Equity Theory: Staffs seems to feel under rewarded and under valued. The effort the put has not been fully rewarded instead the are rewarded due to their experience.
• McClelland’s Need Theory: Staffs desire to interact and affiliate with other staffs.

Perception

• Look at incident from the major characters.
• Adam Cameron Perspective: After a disappointing last season Cameron as the programmer has decided to come up with a plan to ensure a successful upcoming season.
• Sue Johnson: Johnson feels the few super staffs are very qualified and capable of selecting other staffs for hire.

Implication

• Sue Johnson’s decision has lead to ineffective process of training and hiring staff.
• Adam Cameron’s lack of efficiency as the programmer has caused a tedious and non organized training process.
• General ineffective management.

Organizational Structure/Culture

• What procedures are in place for recruitment, selection, communication and pay increase?
• What procedures are required to improve training of staffs?
• What do they leaders pay attention to?
• What are the reaction of leaders to organizational crisis?

Alternatives

• Develop a new approach towards staff training.

• Pros: increased job performance from staffs.
• Cons: it is time consuming.

• Addition of more qualified staff to assist the super staffs during pre camp.

• Pros: additional support for super staff giving them more time to plan and attend workshops.
• Cons: additional staffs to compensate.

• Increase compensation structure.

• Pros: staff will have higher job satisfaction.
• Cons: The company will spend more money on staffs.

• Develop and implement a structured recruitment process.

• Pros: increased camp morale and more efficient hiring process.
• Cons: time consuming and requires more money.

• Increment of recruitment advertisements.

• Pros: attraction of a large pool of qualified candidates.
• Cons: expenditure of more money is required.

Decisions

• Increase compensation structure: Reward power has a very strong and positive influence of impacting effectiveness and efficiency in staffs during all their operations including training. If the camp morale is high, more campers will be available and there will be more funds. This can be a general solution.
  Implication

• The company will spend more money.

Recommendations

• Short term: develop new hiring tactics, new and more interesting training sessions, get close to staffs, departmental managers and discuss pressing issues.
• Long term: Company needs to examine process and procedures to ensure they are in line with their company objective to maximize campers experience in a safe and positive environment.

Justification

• Surveys should be administered to staffs and campers mid season and end of season to stop organizational and systemic problems before the impact of the company objectives and goals.
• Financial trends should be examined regularly to monitor changes and prevent bankruptcy.