Case Study

Case Study: Let it Pour Ð'- My First Assignment as Executive Assistant

MGT350 Critical Thinking: Strategies in Decision-Making

Lori Brooks

May 1, 2006

Case Study Analysis

Faith Community Hospital is experiencing a crisis of leadership. It's always easy to pin the blame on management, but in this case, that is exactly where the blame belongs. At first glance the case seems it might be one of conflicting religious or spiritual views, but upon deeper consideration it becomes obvious that the hard working employees of Faith Community Hospital are under-led. Employees are refusing to perform job related duties, people providing services that are not authorized, customers not paying, confusion about what should be done and financial losses occurring daily. All of this can be attributed to lack of leadership. In order to arrive at a workable solution we must clearly state the issues effecting Faith Community Hospital and then consider alternatives.

Expenses are higher than daily revenues; costs of operation need to decrease by 15% in order to break even. As a business, Faith Community Hospital cannot continue to run in a deficit. Even better, Faith Community Hospital can create an employee-endorsed plan to create more revenues to support enhanced programs. Peter Drucker, a widely recognized management expert, states "One has to assume, first, that the individual human being at work knows better than anyone else what makes him or her more productive...even in routine work the only true expert is the person who does the job." Email and hard-copy mail messages requesting employee feedback and suggestions for how to bring the organization out of the red will be the first step. Given that these types of programs are slow to gain response, a team of non-management personnel from each department will be responsible for gathering and sorting through the data. It should be anticipated that this effort would last a full year, with the team reporting to management on a monthly basis. It is important that a change, publicly attributed to this program, be made within the first 8 weeks to show employees that their input is valued and does make a difference.

Management also needs to admit that they have been remiss in the enforcement of Faith's guiding policies and procedures. This will best be done in staff meetings, allowing for the managers to address those areas that have been escaping scrutiny within their areas specifically. The meetings will not be punitive in nature, rather an apology for not keeping the groups on track and a commitment to keeping up with documented procedures. Copies of the appropriate guidelines will be provided either electronically or hard copy to each team member. Some examples of what to expect would be a cracking down, including disciplinary action, for those providing services for free, or refusal to perform services.

Speaking of refusal to perform services, the improvement would be incomplete without addressing the religious aspects of this workforce. As an organization with a strong religious heritage, Faith is a prime target for the abuse of the free-exercise clause of the First Amendment. "Congress shall make no law Ð'... prohibiting the free exercise (of religion)" is called the free-exercise clause of the First Amendment. The free-exercise clause pertains to the right to freely exercise one's religion. It states that the government shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion.

Although the text is absolute, the courts place some limits on the exercise of religion. For example, courts would not hold that the First Amendment protects human sacrifice even if some religion required it. The Supreme Court has interpreted this clause so that the freedom to believe is absolute, but the ability to act on those beliefs is not" (Mullally). Therefore, the existing ethics committee will be tasked to review Faith's legal responsibility to uphold the rights of their workers to refuse to work based upon religious preference. Policies will be revised and provided to all employees on that topics as well as Faith's official response to the patient's do not resuscitate orders and refusal of services. These policies will be presented to the Board of Directors of the Faith Foundation and upon agreement of the Board management of each department will be held accountable for the enforcement of these policies. This effort will provide preliminary findings to the Board at their next meeting, and a timeline will be created at that time.

Next, an employee communication program will be instituted. The purpose of this communication will be to educate employees on the best practices to handle issues with co-workers or patients. Initial issues will focus on current patient issues, beginning with a detailed listing of the area programs for the under and un-insured in Faith's community. With a great respect for each patient, collaboration with other health care organizations is the best way to serve the greater good. Specifics on where prescriptions can be filled and what services are provided at free or sliding scale clinics will be included in the first issue. Its not the intent of Faith to pass-off the patients to other providers, rather to facilitate the right people doing the right things. As follow-on to this communication, and once costs are more controlled a formal patient education program will be started. For now, communication by Faith's employees to their valued patients will begin to educate the patrons.

As Faith Community Hospital regains strength, an effort to further educate patients will be instituted. Baby-boomers, people born between 1946 and 1964, currently make up one-third of the world's population. The oldest "boomers" are reaching 60 this year. Although boomers have driven economic trends for years; never before have they all been looking for the same thing, the opportunity to feel younger