CASE STUDY
Background
Autumn Ville Hospital is a 300 bed not for profit, community based standalone facility located in the suburbs of Autumn Creek, Georgia. Autumn Ville has undergone several changes over the past 7 years, and is making every effort to maintain some level of stability for the community of Autumn Creek. Autumn Ville is the only hospital within the community and there’s been some rumors that they are being targeted by LOCAL 22 Nurses Union. The goal is for the hospital to hire more knowledgeable employee centered leadership, and maintain consistency throughout the institution, retain solid leadership and remain as a nonunion workforce.
Alaina hired in as a neo natal ICU nurse on 5 Rust Tree Lane. Alaina interviewed with Human Resources, all reporting managers, Charge nurse staff, who rated her high in all areas (from appearance and interpersonal relations to clinical competence and customer service skills). Alaina was hired and found to be very energetic and at the time of hire, and observed as always responsive to the needs of her patients; families absolutely love her! Alaina has been employed now for forty five days, and you feel as though you made a great hiring decision.
While you were conducting Employee Rounding on the unit, you greeted Alaina with a good morning, but she did not return the greeting. Alaina’s response raised a red flag, and as Alaina’s manager, you thought it best that you meet with Alaina one on one. Please note that a neo natal RN for your organization is a difficult to fill position, and you can’t afford to lose a potentially good employee.
Alaina expressed excitement over the opportunity to come on board with the hospital, as she knew she would learn a lot, and there is tremendous opportunity for her to grow, however she was not at all comfortable with voicing her concerns to her manager, because she is not sure who to trust. There is an employee who is quietly voicing the need for unionizing the nurses, and Alaina is not sure what to do. As she does not want to create any confusion on the unit, and she thought things would resolve themselves.
Manager Discovery:
After meeting with Alaina, you find that she is experiencing personal problems, due to significant changes made to her schedule over the last 45 days. You also discover in your interview, that Alaina did not agree to these changes upon hire/offer. Alaina is now considering leaving the organization, because she simply can’t deal with the stress anymore, and on top of everything else, you discover Alaina has developed a pattern of tardiness, and staff is complaining that she’s not grasping the new computer system. Alaina shared how she is a single mother who needs to get her daughter on the school bus every morning. The sudden change in her schedule caused her stress and anxiety. Alaina expressed the pattern of tardiness was due to the adjustment in her schedule. Alaina, expressed concern because the adjusted time frame was not what was agreed too upon hire. She was frustrated with this change and could never reach her manager to discuss it. Alaina also shared her concerns with both peers and Charge staff, and her inability to get assistance with the new computer system. You also discover that Alaina never attended new employee orientation, nor did she receive a departmental orientation, because when she started you were too short staffed to allow her to attend.
Next Steps:
What will be your approach when meeting with this employee, and what do you hope to accomplish as a result of having this meeting with Alaina? Should this discussion be documented, why or why not? As the unit manager, where will you go to find documentation which will validate Alaina’s schedule request upon hire? Is there an opportunity for training in this particular case? Why or why not? How will you assess Alaina’s competence? If anything, what can be done, to retain Alaina in her current position? What plan if any, will you put in place for Alaina? Who should be involved in this training plan, if applicable? And how will you go about the evaluating the effectiveness of Alaina’s training plan? Over what period of time frame will be given for the employee to improve? What adjustments if any can you make to Alaina’s schedule? What plan will you put in place to help Alaina improve her overall performance, or should Alaina be placed in corrective action? Alaina is still in a probationary period employee, maybe you should discharge her, you decide?
Provide your written response to the Case Study. Be sure your responses are supported, which include all of the questions listed below. It is important that you have read the chapters covered throughout this semester in order to provide appropriate responses to the issues as outlined in both the Experiential Assignment and Case Study.
Explain why your primary interest should be the results of employee behavior.
Explain how you as a manager might go about preventing behavior that could result in discipline.
Discuss why employee involvement is frequently recommended as a strategy for problem prevention.
Discuss why a manager should take the time to counsel an employee when a disciplinary problem appears to be in the making.
Why training and development opportunities are important to certain employee’s but apparently not to others? To which employees do they appear most important?
Explain how your role as the manager, instructor, teacher, or mentor relate to effective delegation?
How can Human Resources assist you, to address this issue?
Why is it stressed that an employee’s personal problems are no business of the manager? When and to what extent can the department manager be concerned with any facet of the employee’s personal problem?
Why is it considered necessary to create and retain a written record of a so called “oral” warning?
Identify the first place a manager should look when for clues to corrective action when an employee exhibits problems in meeting the jobs minimum standards.
Describe why the department managers timely follow up is so important in the performance improvement process?
Why can it be said that many union elections are won or lost by management long before the union ever shows up?
Is it generally the non-economic issues that drive employees to become part of a union? Why or Why not?
Final Part 2, which will be due on Friday, April 26, 2023.I will expect you to apply what you have learned over the course of this semester from your discussions, assignments, and independent research. Be sure your submission completely covers your response, with relevant detailed discussion. Your responses should be supported by credible references. Remember these are not one sentence responses.
