Assume you have spent several years as a health information management (HIM) supervisor in a relatively small hospital. Your staff of five- four people plus you consisted of four white women and one Asian woman. Your group had been together for several years.

Your hospital recently merged with a considerably larger institution located a few miles away. The other hospital is sufficiently larger, but in spite of the frequent use of the term "merger," the prevailing opinion in both organizations is that it is more a matter of the larger absorbing the smaller.

One of the first major changes to occur was the combining of parallel departments under a single supervisor; that is, where before each hospital had a manager of HIM, the new scheme calls for one manager to supervise the HIM groups in both facilities. For perhaps 75% or more of hospital functions, the department manager in the larger institution became manager of the combined department, but in this case the expanded management role fell to you. The HIM manager in the larger institution elected to take early retirement rather than manage the combined function.

Now you have acquired, counting full-time and part-time employees, 12 more employees to manage. The composition of the acquired group is four African-Americans, three Hispanics, one Asian, and one Native American. There are three whites, with one of these being the lone male in your newly constituted department. Your initial observations of the expanded department cause you to conclude that you have a great deal of work to do in bringing these groups together as an effectively functioning unit and securing your acceptance by the employees.

Instructions

Create an outline of the steps you believe you would consider taking to make your transition to your new role as smooth as possible. Your steps should include consideration of what to look for in familiarizing yourself with the department and what actions you should consider, depending on what you learn.