Chapter Four Discussion Questions 1. The first meeting of Wes Douglas and Elisabeth Flannigan, director of nursing, didn t go well. If you were the new administrator, explain ow you might have established rapport with your new nursing director before explaining a controversial topic such as cost reduction. If I were the new administrator, before I got down to business with someone I was meeting for the first time, I would have taken some time to get to know them better, and learn their likes and dislikes, so I could cater to the accordingly. After I had all that figured out, I would deal with the problems I had with them, or they had with me in the way that they would feel most comfortable with. 2. How can planning for an important meeting with a supervisor, coworker, or subordinate raise your chances of success? What issues might you want to include in such a planning session? By planning for a meeting, you can highlight, and write down some issues that you wanted to discuss, so you can remember them right off the bat, and spend more time discussing of them, than thinking about them. It also reduces the risk of forgetting an issue that you had to talk about. Some of the issues that i would like to include in this planing session would have to be the current state of the hospital financially, and what we could possibly do to turn the situation around. 3. Emil Flagg, the representative of the medical staff on the board of trustees, is an important stake holder in the operation of the hospital. What would have been your approach in defusing Dr. Flagg s anger during his first meeting with the new hospital administrator? I would have tried to calm him down by reinforcing the fact that I had no interest in laying people, and would try everything I would to prevent that from happening, and working with him more diligently to help solve some of the problems he had been having.
4. From the conversations of hospital employees Wes Douglas monitored in the hospital cafeteria, it is obvious the employees have have a negative impression of their new administrator. List the possible reasons for this. If you were interim administrator, how would you address this problem? 1. Reasons - Completely new - Basically unknown to the staff - Theorized profiles of the new guy 2. If I were the new administrator, I would just brush it off, and get to know everyone better, and show them what I was really like, and get them to change their minds. It would only take some time for them to get used to it, and realize that it isn t really that bad. 5. Sometimes, people jump before they think. Wes Douglas, for example, is having second thoughts about accepting the job of administration. Even that he has accepted the job, what do you think is the best course of action? Should he bail out, walking away form the commitments he has made to the board, or hang in there and try to salvage the situation. I feel that Wes should stay with his commitments, and see the job out, not only because walking away would probably cause the hospital to close its doors, but also because it is sort of like a gentleman s agreement when you commit to something to see it out, and finish what ever you agreed to do, especially in business. 6. Hank Ulman, President of the employee council, thinks he sees a vacuums in leadership one he is eager to fill. What are his moves? Does he have the best interests of the hospital at heart? List several alternative courses of action Wes Douglas might take in Ulman s efforts. List the advantages and disadvantages of each course of action, telling what you would do if you were the interim administrator.
7. According to Wes Douglas, what is the role of the board, and what is the role of the hospital administrator. According to Wes, the board should brainstorm solutions to the hospital s problems, and the administrator should do everything in his or her power to make those ideas happen. 8. Wes Douglas cancelled the meeting with Hank Ulman at the union hall. Why did he take this course of action? How would you handle the situation? I believe that he did this because he felt that that wasn t the most important thing he had to do at the time, and he should instead get aquatinted with the hospital staff as a whole before he deals with him. If I were in the same position, I would have handles the situation the exact same way. 9. During a telephone conversation between Wes and Edward Wycoff, Wycoff expressed his wish to involve himself in solving the hospital s operating problems. What advantages and disadvantages of having a board member involved in daily operations? Some of the advantages include the fact that you can get some input from a completely different side of the problem, and one of the disadvantages that came with involving a board member is the fact that they have never taken part in the daily operations before, and it would not be the best time to completely introduce a new person to the whole operation. 10. Why are elevators and hospital cafeterias a good place for recognizance by attorneys who have malpractice suits against the hospital? What ramifications does this have of patient privacy? Is there a lesson for hospital employees? These places are good for some snooping because they can be condensed, and most of the time people don t watch what they say in these places because they feel that people aren t listening to what they are
saying. Some of the ramifications this has on patient privacy is that almost everyone around them can hear about a certain problem that someone is having, which is a huge breach of HIPPA Laws. If this ever happened, it should teach employees about being more careful when it comes to talking about that sensitive of information. 11. What do employees think of Edward Wycoff, chairperson of the finance committee? Why do they think Wes Douglas is in Wycoff s camp? Should Wes Douglas distance himself from Wycoff? I feel that employees think that Wycoff is solely to blame for the problems they have been having with the hospital s day to day operations, and current financial situation. They feel that Wes is right along with him, because Wes was basically brought in right off the bat of Hap s death by Wycoff. In order for Wes to be successful, I feel that he should try and distance himself from Wycoff, and become who he wants to become. 12. If an employe believes she has two bosses, is there a possibility she will play one against the other? I feel that there is a very good possibility that she will try and pit theme against themselves, possibly in order to get something that she really wants. 13. By telling Wycoff to stay out of operations, Wes offended one of his few allies on the board. Was this the right action to take? I feel that this was the right action to take, because Wycoff has had absolutely no experience in the operation side of the project, and Wes probably felt that he would slow him down, and cause him to lose some previous time he had left before the hospital closed its doors, to make the changes he had to in order to prevent that from happening. 14. What do you believe Wes Douglas s purpose was in meeting the employees this early in his administration? What message would you have sent to your employees in your first meeting?
I believe that Wes met with his employees so quickly, because he wanted them to meet him, and realize that they can trust him to save their jobs. In my first meeting, I would have had them get to know me, and realize that I am not here for only me, I ham also here to help everyone in the room from losing their jobs, and will do everything I possibly could to prevent that from happening. 15. List Five Characteristics of Successful Teams. 1. Communication 2. Creativity 3. Compromise 4. Honesty 5. TEAM WORK 16. List four ingredients of good communication. 1. Honesty 2. Openness 3. Details 4. Big Pictures