Organisational Theories of The Swim School.

The owner of the swim school is at the top of the hierarchy. She runs the place and deals with most problems with customers and staff. under her is the manager. if the owner is not available, the mamager is the one to report too. under the manager is the receptionists and the swimming teachers. there are 8 receptionists and 10 swimming teachers.

Interpersonal Interaction Model

Support Culture: Employee is valued as a person, as well as a worker. Employee harmony is important. Weakness is a possible internal commitment without an external task focus.

-       This is the model in which the swim school works. Because all the swimming teachers have their own qualifications, we are trusted 100% with what what we do. Because swimming teaching is a skill we are valued by the owner who does not have these qualifications. The weakness is that there is no main goal for the teachers to work towards, we just turn up and do the job. An incentive would be good for us to keep going and working hard.

Risk & Feedback Model)

Process Culture:

Little to no feedback.Concentration is on "how" work is done.

-       The owner and  manager are not always at the swim school they only go in fo a few hours a week. I only work weekends so I never see any management. If I have any problems I either have to phone or go in on a day when I do not work. This means I do not get feedback unless it is something specific management want to know then they ring me. This is lack of feedback and communtcation. All the concentration is on how I do my job and how well the job is done.

At the swim school it is “do as we say” not “do as we do”. The owner and mamager have no qualifications so they just tell us what to do and when.

We are often praised on our hard work as teachers. Although feedback is not great we are always told when we do a good job. We are always encouraged to take new courses and get more qualifications. If it is relevant to the job the owner will pay for us to do them. All teachers at the swim school are level 2 qualified, she willnot employ anyone that is not level 2. She has high expactations and chooses her staff very carefully. Training is available to every memebr of staff even the receptionists. We have regular training once every 2 months to practice realistic scenes that may occur. The value of money at the swim school is very important. The owner is always looking at was to save money and make the buisness better wherever is possible.

The physical structure of the swim school is just a plain buliding. It does not stick out to be a swim school. There is also a hairdresses and a beauty salon in the building.

The inside is colourful and appealing to children. There are lots of toys and animal floats on show. It is a small shallow pool and is welcoming to look at.

There is just one location based in chesterfield, but is hired out to a few companies when lessons are not taking place.

The reception is straight inside the door, again is colourful and the staff are all kind and helpful.

Technology is not used very well at the swim school.Most things are recorded on paper. The use of ICT could really help to stop losing any information.

PEST Analysis of The Swim School.

Political ·         Governing bodies- Asa, Sta, Investors in people, St johns ambulance, ·         Safeguarding ·         COSHH ·         CRB ·         NOP ·         EAP	Economical ·         Raffle vouchers ·         Cuts in school swimming
Social ·         Parties ·         Aqua classes ·         Open swim sessions ·         Disability groups ·         Swimbabes facility hire ·         Peak FM promotion offers	Technical ·         Computerised registers? To save losing information ·         A minute clock on poolside? Helps people who are wanting to do set swims ·         Internet website

       The political side of the organisation is mainly how the organisation runs. the governing bodies are decribled below. The NOP and the EAP tell members of staff how to react to different situations. All members of staff follow these procedures and this makes the organisation run smoothly.
       There is not much in the economical box. Every so often we do raffle tickets and the prizes are free private swiming lessons. These are worth £20 so it is a good raffle. The recent cuts in school swimming is meaning people are now turning to private swim schools to get their children swimming. There is still room for improvement in the economical area.
       The social side of the swim school offers alot of options. The pool can be rented out to other companies so the social side is very strong.
       As for the technical side, everything is done through pen and paper. Personally i think it should be done through computors. It would save lost information and would be quicker and looks more proffesional.

“The ASA Awarding Body is an awarding body recognised and regulated by the Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator (Ofqual) to offer and certificate vocational qualifications. We verify learners have been assessed fairly and accurately, confirm they have completed the necessary combination of units and certificate wholly completed qualifications achieved. We are continually developing our qualifications catalogue to ensure substantial and appropriate provisions of qualifications in the following disciplines:

¢  Teaching Aquatics

¢  Coaching Swimming 

¢  Water Polo

¢  Diving

¢  Synchronised Swimming.”

(www.swimming.org/asa/teaching-and-coaching/teaching-and-coaching 2011)

STA is a solutions driven organisation, dedicated to working with its customers and partners here in the UK and internationally, to build Safer, Healthier & Better Skilled Communities.

First Aid at Work

¢  A 18 hour course (revalidations 12 hours) meeting the requirements for the purposes of the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981.

STA Certificate in Aquatic Teaching - Aquacise (ATA)

¢  Aquacise Teachers are qualified to take aqua sessions for most ability ranges and all fitness levels from the beginner to the athlete.

STA Certificate in Aquatic Teaching - Baby & Pre-school (BPC)

¢  Baby & Pre-school Teachers are qualified in the special skills required to introduce babies and very young children to aquatic activities.

STA Certificate in Aquatic Teaching - People with Disabilities

¢  Special Needs Aquatic Teachers are qualified to teach basic aquatic skills to and understand the correct care and handling of, those with special needs; they are also qualified to assist in the teaching of strokes. Teachers who wish to teach strokes and advanced aquatic skills must hold an approved swimming teaching certificate.

(http://www.sta.co.uk,2011/)

Investors in People is a flexible and easy to use standard which helps organisations transform their business performance. Our frameworks are outcome focused, outlining what you need to achieve, but never prescribing how. This flexible approach allows thousands of different employers of every sector and size to use the same framework.

¢  Investors in People has grown to be the UK’s leading people management business improvement standard because it delivers improved performance to thousands of organisations. Currently almost seven million employees in approximately 30,000 organisations have achieved Investors in People recognition. And an amazing 3,000 of these have been recognised for ten or more years!

(http://www.investorsinpeople.co.uk,2011/)

¢  St John Ambulance teaches people first aid - about 800,000 last year alone – so that they can be the difference between a life lost and a life saved.

¢  First aid provision in the workplace saves lives. It can prevent minor problems or injuries from becoming major ones. It can help employers reduce costs from injury. And it is a legal obligation for every single employer to make sure their employees receive the right first aid care in the workplace. 

(http://www.sja.org.uk,2011/)

SWOT Analysis of The Swim School.

Strengths ·         Warm pool ·         Teachers in the pool ·         One to one tuition ·         Affordable ·         Friendly staff	Weaknesses ·         Not signposted ·         No mission statement ·         Pool not deep for lane swimming ·         Communication ·         Not advertised well
Opportunities ·         Chances of expanding ·         Use of electronical registers	Threats ·         Local council pools (cheaper)

Strenghts

At the swim school the pool is a nice warm environment and welcoming for small children. It is a small pool (5x10 meters) this makes it less scary for young children. The teachers at the swim school teachg in the pool. I find this better as you can connect with the children and help them understand and learn. Also the demonstrations are better done in the pool rather than from the side. One to one tuition is available at the swim school and is good for children that may be struggling, children that have learning disabilities and children that work better on a one to one basis. There are 3 teachers in at one time and each teacher has one child per half an hour. These are very effective and this kind of tuition is not available at council run pools.

 

Weaknesses

      The swim school is not very well signposted, if you do not know the area well it could be tricky to find. This could be solved by a few sign posts from chesterfield town centre. This would also help advertisement as people would know its there. The swim school has no mission statement. Every buisness should have a mission statement to staff know what the aims of the organisation are. This could be solved by the manager making a mission statement and making all staff aware of it. The pool at the swim school is only 1 metre deep. This is good for teaching children but can be tricky for adults. This stops any sort of lane swimming adults may want to do. It cant really be used as a leisure swim pool as ot is too small and shallow for adults to do a proper swim. This problem cannot really be solved as it is purposly built to teach children to swim but it could have a shallow and a deep end to cater for everyone. The communication between staff at the swim school is not great. There is a white board in the staff room to leave messages on for other members of staff but it is not used effectively. If a teacher teaches a child that is from another teacher, the communication between the two teachers is not always good which can effect the progression of the child. This can be solved by staff using the white board effectively.

    
      Government policies.-
   

     Cuts in school swimming by the government have done the private sector a huge favour. Parents will always want their children to be able to swim and be safe so if schools are not providing this service, parents will take children swimming lessons themselves. This is now showing a rise in the membership at the swim school.

Aims, Goals & Mission Statements of The Swim School.

Many people ask why learning to swim is important. We think the facts speak for themselves. Here are a few:

·         Drowning is the third most common cause of accidental death for children in the UK.

·         Over 450 people drown in the UK every year.

·         Swimming is the only sport which can save your life.

·         Swimming is a passport to dozens of other water based activities such as triathlons (see above), life saving, surfing, and water-skiing.

Did you know that more than 11 million people swim each year? They do. But here is a depressing statistic:

·         1 in 5 children leave school unable to swim

http://www.swimming.org/ (2012)

The swim school

·         The Swim School in New Whittington, Chesterfield is a purpose built swimming pool, providing swimming lessons and various activities for children and adults of all ages. The pool has a reception, male and female changing facilities, disabled changing facilities, showers and a viewing area.

·         There is plenty of free car parking spaces available at the Swim School.

·         Our swimming sessions start with Baby Aquatics, Swimbabes and Blue Water swim groups.

·         Under three year olds are accompanied by a parent, but at the age of three and a half, the child goes in by themselves. After this children then progress on to swimming lessons, taught by two qualified teachers per small class.

·         Over nine hundred children are currently learning to swim and developing their skills, using a unique badge system designed for the individual child. Children may work for badges from 4 years old.

·         All our Swimming Teachers are fully qualified and our lessons offer a safe and fun environment to develop a life skill.

·         Established over 12 years ago, purpose built teaching pool for children, adults, and disabled.
The Swim School offers private lessons on a one to one basis. We also have open swim sessions and aqua fit classes and sessions for stroke groups, schools and baby swimming.

·         There are Fun days for children of all ages during the school holidays.

·         Our adult swimming programme offers classes for beginners through to advanced swimmers wanting to improve or learn a new stroke.

·         The Swim School is a purpose built teaching pool.

·         Small class sizes

·         Teachers in the pool

·         Warm safe environment

·         Unique badge scheme

·         All the staff are qualified to a very high standard, both Teaching and Reception. There is funding available for adults and children with disabilities through Friends Of the Swim School.

www.the-swimschool.com (2012)

Aims and goals

The aims of the organisation are to get people swimming in a calm and relaxed environment.

They try to keep the prices at a reasonable but competitive rate.

They aim to get the best technique possible out of each individual.

The swim school does not have a mission statement so this will be identified as an issue.