When Key Employees Clash

When Key Employees Clash

Mathew Spark purchased the company “Kid Spectrum, Inc.”, a provider of in-home services for autistic children, eight months ago. He bought the company from Arthur Hamel through a search fund. The main objective of him his to make this undervalued company more profitable, but Matthew was managing the Florida-based business from Chicago. Ellen, with nearly two decades of experience was the administrative director and Ronnie Emerson was director of clinical operations, a position Matthew created soon after becoming the boss. Ellen and Ronnie were two strong pillars of Kids Spectrum, but they had completely different working styles. Perhaps the fact that the two managers leading these two departments with different working styles would have led to the problem. Ellen complained that Ronnie’s team was not sending timesheets in time and she mentioned that it was the cause of late payments from insurer and shortage in cash flow. She is complaining because she is concerned about the profit of the company and she wants to help Matthew, who once told that he will make this undervalued company more profitable. On the other hand, Ronnie, the head of clinical operations, is more dedicated to the work and his clients. He treats the kids patiently, but he does not follow the protocol. Even he never forces his team to follow it on time. He says that Clinicians are not worker bees, they need time because they will be helping kids. Clearly the two pillars of the organization, Ellen and Ronnie with their different working style, made it too difficult for Matthew to manage.

Matthew had been in operational role until Kids Spectrum and in his new manager role he clearly depicts in his inexperience. As the article, “becoming the boss” talked the earliest test of leadership comes with that first assignment to manage others. He believed in both the managers under him and never tried to manage them. He was trying to operate the Kids Spectrum from distance which would never be fruitful. Moreover, he promoted Ronnie as a manager just because he was a good performer. He can neither demote Ronnie nor he can ignore Ellen’s concerns. Because both of them are irreplaceable and they are so much dedicated to their work with a lot of experience. Ellen thinks profits are superior to customer service, but profits are not possible without serving the customers. Ellen should understand