Case Study Principles of management

The story tells us about a nurse, named Diane who has more than one head or supervisor & the dilemma she goes through in satisfying all her seniors. The problem in her own words is “I am not able to get the work done. ” And that she has three different bosses each with different demands & priorities. The history: Diane the nurse has given a resignation letter to the administrative director of her hospital.

This letter has been given by her stating the reason that she has not been able to get her job done. She explains, referring to one of the days a work, that she walks into her office at 7. 45 a. m. she finds a message on her desk from the hospitals head nurse asking her to give the hospitals bed occupation by 10. 00 a. m. that morning as she has to present it to the hospital board that afternoon. After some time she finds her immediate supervisor Jeanine walking into her office & enquiring to her about two nurses who were not on duty on the floor that day.

On explaining to Jeanine the shortcomings that Dr. Reynolds (the surgery dept. head) had due to overload in the dept. had taken the two nurses off the floor, Jeanine asks Diane to get things sorted out immediately & ensure within an hour that both the nurse are back on duty at their floors. Frustrated with this harassment she decides to resign. Analysis: It is said that ‘too many cooks spoil the broth. ’ In this case the same kind of situation emerges there are too many bosses or supervisors for a given nurse in the hospital.

But also in these times of competition it is normal to expect these kinds of situations, as the times pass by the world is getting more & more competitive. Analysis thru different perspectives: (assumptions) Diane’s perspective: Diane believes that the hospital is not being monitored properly she feels that the seniors in the hospital exploit her a bit too much she feels frustrated & wants to leave the hospital. She is not able to handle the pressure of her work.

According to her three different bosses have given her three different jobs, which is impossible to complete at the same time. Each boss of hers also expects her to complete her given job without any discrepancies and on time so that it becomes convenient for them and they don’t face any problems. Dr. Davis’s possible reply: Dr. Davis is the administrative director of the general hospital, he must be facing & solving many problems like this in his day to day work process. Dr.

Davis may reply that; “dear Diane these are competitive times, many hospitals similar to ours also face these kinds of problems, that is of course no excuse to let it happen to you, but I conceive that you are a sensible and courageous worker, only the times were such that you had to come to this unwarranted approach. The possible solutions that I might suggest are:

• speak personally to your seniors and try to make them aware of the fact that you are being inconvenience
• Cater only to the needs that you feel have to be done first & try explaining to your seniors that why u chose that alternative and what others were available.

I am sure that your seniors will give your word weightage and understand your problem, running away from your troubles is no solution, you’ve got to learn to solve them.

Recommendations

The problem here is that the hospital has a organizational system that itself promotes there being more than one head for a given person or subordinate, this adds to the confusion and needs to be changed for the better.