MG371 CASE CASE - Recently completed weekly graded assignment PDF

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MG371 Case: Growth Pains at Mountain States Healthcare Definition of the situation The Mountain States Healthcare (MSH) brought together several hospitals and affiliate clinics from four different states including Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. This expansion would increase profitability for its shareholders; however, after acquiring other hospital units, MSH was facing issues of high turnover in the recent consolidated medical billing directorate and was anticipating decreased revenue. These issues were drawn mainly from the inflexibility of the leadership or lack thereof of Kyle Christiansen who was instigating changes that were causing undesirable results especially regarding the employees who worked under his charge. He made promises that he failed to deliver on after two months which made them doubt his abilities. The postponement of issues addressed to Kyle, his oversimplification of some, and excessive exertion of his authority demonstrated the ineffectiveness of his leadership. The software in the directorate was failing due to overloading. To avoid a further decrease in revenue, Aaron Nelson, the Vice President of technology, decided to consolidate all billing systems which ultimately led to the creation of a director of the directorate. The candidates that were being considered for this role was Kyle Christensen the Utah manager, and Colleen Kennedy, from the Denver office who both started with MSH shortly after its inception. Kyle has an accounting degree and an MBA, both from BYU, a prestigious university in Utah while Colleen has a management degree from the U.S. Air Force Academy, and in addition, spent six years in the Air Force creating, installing, and managing computer-based operations throughout the western states area; she was able to obtain an MBA from Colorado State University. Because of her background in computers, Colleen got the position to manage the development of the state billing office. Despite the fact that Colleen was highly qualified and had a wealth of experience, Kyle was given the position. Colleen was overlooked simply because she is a woman. Aaron failed to act in an ethical and socially responsible way towards Colleen. Aaron’s argument for his decision was that a woman director, in the very conservative state of Utah, might be problematic as it may bring hostility among her male counterparts in the current state billing office.

Colleen is not happy with the direction that the hospital is headed due to Kyle’s poor management skills. Despite the many objections and countering ideas, Kyle had made his mind up; he believed that a well-disciplined workforce would be more efficient. The employees felt betrayed as their roles were being cut, tasks were altered and the elimination of flex time which had a severely adverse impact on their morale.

Analysis of the situation The situation at MSH is intense. They are experiencing several issues that needed to be addressed, all stemming from a systematic approach that has not been followed by Kyle in managing the project. His approach is based more upon his values, and his attitude and a total disregarded for others. Kyle has an authoritative style of leadership where he directs and controls all activities without any meaningful participation by the subordinates. He assumed that he would be successful as he had faced similar issues with billing operations management while managing the Utah consolidated billing office. He reasoned that if he stuck to the agenda and moved forward and without deviation, in his mind was his road to success, with a possible promotion to the executive staff. The Fiedler’ Contingency Model states that effective leadership is contingent on, or depends on, the characteristics of the leader and the situation. It explains why a manager may be an effective leader in one situation and ineffective in another; it also suggests which kinds of managers are likely to be most effective in which cases as with Kyle. In analyzing the culture of the MSH, Colleen relentlessly advocated for her disgruntled employees, with their roles being cut, tasks being altered and the elimination of flex time which had a severely adverse impact on their morale which resulted in personnel leaving at an alarming rate and employees in the office leaving for jobs with other companies. Colleen incessantly expressed her lack of faith in his approach and his unwillingness to change his way of thinking. She made significant attempts to stabilize the situation amongst the disgruntled employees attempting to schedule meetings to address the issues and to try to come up with possible solutions, but her requests were constantly ignored. She even tried sending Kyle complete documentation to show that the company was in trouble with the hopes of getting him to change his thinking which proved futile. His approach was to stick to his agenda and pushed forward without deviation which in his mind was the road to success. He did not welcome input from other staff members; he primarily wanted to accomplish this task on his own. This was problematic as the organization was having a far worst experience than before.

Kyle made the conscious decision to work as an individual which had a negative impact on MSH, which changed its growth and prosperity as well as the well-being of his employees and its stakeholders. He was not willing to listen to their ideas or suggestions. Primarily, he lacked Positive Ethos which relates to his credibility along with Pathos which refers to how emotionally the leader is connected to the followers and Lagos which is a leader's logical argument. If it were a collaborative effort, he would have been able to able to draw on the combined skills, competencies, and accumulated knowledge of his subordinates, with everyone, interacting and cooperating to achieve the goals of the organization. Kyle needs to be aware that human judgment is often flawed and as a result, even the best managers sometimes make poor decisions which lead to the opposite of what he wanted. In addressing diversity within the organization, Collen was not selected to the position of director of the directorate though clearly, she was the best candidate because she was a female and ignoring the fact that she had built her operation in Colorado from scratch and knew how to build a winning team and how to get best out of them. A good manager treats every person he/she encounters with respect and fairness and in managing a diverse workforce take advantage of the skills and experiences of employees regardless of gender. Aaron needs to recognize the ethical need and legal requirement to treat human resources fairly and equitably. Also, to avoid lawsuits, managers must establish human resource management (HRM) procedures and practices that are legal and fair and do not discriminate against any members because of their gender. Internal recruiting is not a bad thing as internal applicants are already familiar with the organization to include its goals, structure, culture, rules, and norms. Secondly, managers already know the candidates; they have considerable information about their skills and abilities actual behavior on the job but in this case the selection was biased as Aaron selected Kyle based upon the fact that he had worked with him previously and stated that he is a “go-getter,” and going back to “The Fiedler’ Contingency Model” explains why a manager might be effective leader in one situation and ineffective in another. It is my opinion that if there are two highly qualified candidates for a position, they should both have been interviewed by Human Resources to ensure the selection of the best candidate to make sure they will work well in the culture of the organization and support its values and also to determine their suitability for the position they are interviewing for. Credibility is critical to the success of a manager, and nothing destroys credibility faster than the reputation when a manager plays favorites or deal with people on an inconsistent basis such as the case of Aaron.

Recommendations Medical States Healthcare seems to lack Organizational Structure which is a formal system of task and reporting relationships that coordinates and motivates members, so they work together to maintain the company’s core values and achieve its organizational goals, doing so in a cost-effective manner. The executive committee needs to facilitate training before implementing changes to increase organizational members’ abilities to understand and appropriately respond to changing conditions, which can be an essential impetus for change. This would have been a helpful tool for Kyle as not only can it help all members of an organization, but also managers to effectively make decisions about needed changes. Internal recruiting it not bad, as organization should seek internally as in the case of Kyle and Aaron, for qualified applicants before sourcing externally, however, candidates should be interviewed by Human Resources to ensure the selection of the best candidate to make sure they will work well in the culture of the organization and support its values and also to determine their suitability for the position they are interviewing for in order to be fair and also that that an employee is not selected based upon diversity bias and that of leader not following a well-organized structured process. Firstly, Kyle should be replaced by Colleen who has a wealth of experience and is a perfect fit for the position. She is a team player and has a genuine concern for her employee’s wellbeing. The executive committee should have a meeting with Colleen and discuss the best options for the company to reach its initial objectives of increased revenue. At which time she will have the opportunity to discuss the best approach for the organization. In addition, if agreed upon, the possibility of the re-hiring of her team as she trained them herself and they work well together....