Question

Case Study: The Buck Stops Here

Read the case study on page 384 of your Human Resource Management in Health Care text. For your post, use content from the readings to answer the following question:

• How would you advise Mary to proceed to address the situation, while avoiding unintentional unlawful employment discrimination practices under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act?  

• Case Study: “The Buck Stops Here”

  Mary Johnson, a registered nurse, and the new manager of the clinical staff at Community Health Center, was not happy with the way her job was going. Just a month into her new role, she already felt like walking away from the job.

  Mary decided that the problem was resistance to change among staff members. She knew that a certain amount of resistance to a new manager was to be expected, but it seemed to her that everything she said or did was resented and resisted simply because it came from her. There was so much to do. Her area of responsibility had coasted for years under an apathetic manager. The magnitude of this problem was so large that she hardly knew where to begin. With so much to be done, she had begun to fix everything that required change as rapidly as possible.

  As Mary related to her friend Sally Drake, a nurse manager in another facility, “I resurrected the dress code and enforced it. You have no idea what was being tolerated in the way of appearance. I put a stop to personal phone calls and the use of food and drink and reading material within public view. I’ve started to enforce existing policies on absenteeism and tardiness. Sally, I can’t tell you how long these people have been allowed to wander in and out whenever they felt like it.”

  She continued, “And what do I get? A nearly complete lack of support except for a couple of older employees who let me know that they felt it was about time someone did something. I’ve told all the staff what was expected of them in no uncertain terms. I hold a staff meeting every week, and I’m trying hard to convince them of the need to improve the level of professionalism in the place, but it seems like every order or instruction I deliver just generates more bitterness and resistance.”

  Sally responded, “It sounds like you inherited a real mess. But are you sure you’re not trying to do too much too quickly, giving orders and delivering mandates without trying to get people to accept your plan? Have you allowed them to give you their ideas and involved them in deciding what to do?”

  Mary waved dismissively. “Oh, I know all about that involvement stuff. Get employees to help decide what to do and how to do it and all that modern stuff from textbooks. I’ve never depended on employees to do my work for me, and as far as I’m concerned the buck stops here.”

  How would you describe Mary Johnson’s management style? Identify what she appears to have been doing wrong. How would you advise her to proceed from here?

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Answer 1

It depicts Mary being follows an Authoritative management style. It is also calked as Autocratic management style .Here the instructions or orders are passed on to the employees or staff just to follow without any comments or suggestions.

She being in the position want to make changes rapidly which is not always possible because individuals are different with different behaviour though they are a professionals

Some of the things which can be advised to Mary are

• Make a plan according to the necessity of the organisation ,so if executed the staff will try to follow for the beneficiance of the organisation where they work
• Be democratic in making decisions like involving the others atffs ,getting their suggestions and working towards it
• Implement actions one at a time
• Encourage team work
• Draft a policy stating the use of mobile phones during working hours
• Encourage them to use the places offered for eating and not everywhere to show a dignified quality in them
• Have a visionary management so that the staff tries to execute
• Be a transformational manager to be an innovator which makes the staffs that are more capable than what they have thought
• Avoid Leissez Faire management without providing the necessary support and expecting the results