And Here We Go Once More

The position of business manager at Smalltown Hospital has been a hot seat, with incumbents changing frequently. When the position was vacated last May, the four senior employees in the department were interviewed. All were told that because they were at the top of grade and the compensation structure for new supervisors had not yet caught up with that of other positions, the position would involve just a miniscule increase in pay, an increment one could readily consider insultingly small. All four refused the position, and all were given the impression that they were not really considered qualified just yet but that they might be considered for supervision again at a later date.

That same month a new business manager was hired from the outside, and the four senior employees were instructed to show their new boss in detail how things worked in the department. Over the following several months the business manager's boss, the finance director, told all four senior employees that they had "come along very well" and would be considered for the manager's position should it again become vacant.

In October of that same year the new manager resigned. However, none of the four senior employees got the job; the process was repeated, and again a new manager was hired from the outside.

Instructions

1.You are advised upfront to avoid allowing the most blatant errors and transgressions revealed in the preceding case study to lead you to focus exclusively on the inappropriate management behavior. Rather, we are concerned here with operational planning. Viewing the department and its needs from the perspective of the finance director, describe how this shoot-from-the-hip manager, with appropriate forethought, could have properly planned for the department's supervisory transition.

2.Also, summarize what you believe to be the inappropriate consequences of the finance director's failure to plan.