please read case study and answer all 6 questions please

St. Mary's Hospital is a medium-sized, 400-bed hospital in a northwestern city. It was established in 1908 by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, an order of Catholic sisters. The facility has grown gradually over the years and is now the third largest hospital in the city. It is entirely nonunion and has never experienced an employee layoff since its inception. Sister Mary Josephine has been the CEO of the hospital for 11 years. Eight years ago, she hired Ms. Sharon Osgood as Director of Personnel. Osgood an MA in human resource management and has been instrumental in formalizing the institution's human resources' policies and procedures. Occupancy rates in the hospital had run between 76 and 82 percent from 1990 to 2002. However, sense then, occupancy has fallen to 57 percent. This decline has been experienced throughout the industry and is the result of changing reimbursement policies, emphasis on outpatient services, and increasing competition. However, the declining occupancy rate has affected this hospital's revenues to such an extent that it ran a deficit for the first time last year. The only response to these changes this far has been a tightening of requirements for equipment or supply purchases. At the most recent quarterly meeting of the Board of Directors, Sister Mary Josephine presented the rather bleak financial picture. The projected deficit for the coming year was $3,865,000 unless some additional revenue sources were identified or some additional savings were found. The Board's recommendation, based on the immediate crisis and need to generate short-term savings, was to layoff employees. They recommended that Sister Mary Josephine consider laying off up to 10% of the hospital's employees with an emphasis on those in "nonessential" areas. Sister Mary Josephine responded that in the history of the institution the hospital's employees had never been laid off. Moreover, she viewed the employees as "family" and would have great difficulty implementing such a layoff. Nevertheless, since she had no realistic short-term alternative for closing the "revenue gap", she reluctantly agreed to implement a layoff policy that would be fair as possible to all employees, with a guarantee of reemployment for those laid off, and to find additional revenue sources so that layoffs would be unnecessary in the future. Sister Josephine called Sharon Osgood into her office the next morning, shared her concerns, and asked her to prepare both a short-term plan to save $3 million over the next year through employee layoffs as well as a long-term plan to avoid layoffs in the future. Her concerns were that the layoffs themselves might be costly in terms of lost investment in some of the laid-off employees, lost efficiency, potential lawsuits, and lower morale. She was concerned that the criteria for the layoffs not only be equitable, but also appear to be equitable to the employees. She also wanted to make sure that those being laid off receive "adequate" notice so that they could make alternative plans or so the hospital could assist them with finding alternative employment. Since the hospital had no previous experience with employee layoffs and no union contract constraints, her feeling was that both seniority and job performance should be considered in determining who would be laid off. checklist rating scale with a summary rating. Since there is no forced distribution, the average ratings of employees in different departments vary widely. Exhibit 2.1 shows the summary ratings of employees in each department. Most supervisors across all departments rate many of their subordinates either "satisfactory" or "outstanding". Sharon has done a quick review of those employees whose overall ratings were "unsatisfactory" or "questionable". Most are employees with less than three years of seniority, whereas the "satisfactory" employees have worked an average of seven years for St. Mary's. Sharon is preparing to submit her recommendations to Sister Mary Josephine and has come to you for advice. Exhibit 2.2 provides a summary of the distribution of employees and payroll expenses by department for the most recent year. Exhibit 2.1 Percentage distribution of Performance Appraisal Summary Ratings by Department Exhibit 2.2 The distribution of Employment and Payroll Expenditures at St. Mary's Hospital 1. Identify the major problem or problems, and the causes. 2. What are some alternatives for dealing with these problems? For example, is it possible to avoid layoffs through the use of attrition? 3. Develop a plan for implementing employee layoffs over the next year which will generate $3 million in savings. Give specific details concerning departments affected, the use of seniority versus merit, the amount of notice, and out-placement activities. What additional information (if any) will you need? Provide rationale for each recommendation together with reasons why other alternatives were used. 4. What might be the effects of a layoff plan on "survivors" in terms of morale, job security, organizational commitment, productivity, and career planning? How could you avoid or minimize any potential problems in those areas? 5. What long-term solutions do you see for the hospital once it gets its cash flow problems under control? 6. What difficulties exist in using performance as a criterion for layoffs? How can such difficulties be overcome