The Difficult Boss: A Case Study The Victim Karen, 30 years old, African American was an attractive, office assistant at an in-school interactive program (NET), which was affiliated with a large hospital in a rural town in Southwest Georgia. NET was an in-school, interactive program delivered by a staff of nurse educators and support personnel. NET had around 33 full time employees consisting of Registered Nurses (RN). Licensed Practitioner Nurses (LPN). Certified Nurse Assistants (CAN) and an office assistant. NET was part of a large hospital entrusted with the responsibility of providing qualified nurses to all schools located in the nearby counties. It was also responsible for educating the school children and the surrounding communities on a variety of healthcare related issues like obesity, hand washing, teenage pregnancies, and teen parenting. Karen had joined NET, after graduating from a local Technical College with a Business Administration Certification. She was highly ambitious and wanted to eventually go back to school and obtain a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from a four-year university. She had so far, enjoyed her office work, mentoring new employees and collaborating with co-workers. Her helpful and easy-going professional demeanor made Karen highly popular at the office. At personal level, Karen was happily married with a baby girl. Karen, seemed to have things going for her, both personally and professionally. But that was three months back. Now, Karen shuddered and swept the hair back from her face and burst into tears. She felt tired, stressed out and very unhappy. She felt like a failure='no good" as a mom, wife and working woman. "How did this happen?" Karen reflected on the events during the past few months at her workplace. The Project It all began, when Karen's supervisor. Dianne asked her to work on a project with her. Dianne was an African American woman in late forties. She was the supervisor to all the nurses working at NET. Dianne was a registered nurse. She had a degree in Nursing and had worked at the hospital as a nurse in all intensive care units. She had been with NET for the last ten years. Dianne had around 15 years of experience as a supervisor at the hospital and at NET. Karen had known her in the capacity of a nurse supervisor but had never worked with her. Karen had always greeted her in the mornings. Dianne would stop in her tracks and ask Karen how everything was and inquire if she needed any assistance. Their conversation would always end with a "Have a great day" before they headed off in separate directions. But things somehow changed. It all started with Karen's co-workers and team members approaching her for further clarifications and instructions with comments like "Dianne was so vague...". They complimented Karen for her assistance in front of Dianne. This started irking Dianne and she erupted one day in meeting. announcing "I am the supervisor, and I am in charge of this department...Karen should remember her place...just a junior employee.... After that incident, Dianne started ignoring Karen completely. Even when Karen greeted her in the mornings with a smile, she would walk past without a single word. Soon afterwards, as was usual within the department all employees were asked to submit proposals on possible community healthcare initiatives. Karen had always submitted proposals in the past, which had been appreciated and accepted by the department. Her flair for creativity and originality was always appreciated and encouraged by the department. However, this time, her proposal was rejected on the grounds it lacked substance and appeal. When Karen confronted Dianne in private for more feedback. Dianne ridiculed her and told her that her work was "simple" and "rudimentary and if this level of performance continued, she would have problems in her upcoming evaluation. Further she started raising her voice so loud that outside all other employees could hear the conversation. Karen felt embarrassed and politely left the office towards the ladies' room in tears. From then onwards. Karen decided to avoid her. But now surprisingly Dianne went out of her way to speak to her in public. In front of others, Dianne was a nice person. But behind closed doors, it was all criticism, constant humiliations, and letdowns. Despite Karen's efforts to meet her demands, she was never able to reach Dianne's expectations. Karen's annual evaluations were always excellent, but this time (for the first time), she received below satisfactory". The Fear Karen started hating work. On Sunday night, her stomach churned, and she tossed restlessly in bed dreading the next day. She would drive to work thinking about her supervisor and her insulting behavior. She would think of reasons to call in sick to work. At work, she would keep watching the clock for 5 pm, to leave office. Karen slowly started getting stressed, her hair started to fall out, and she lost a large amount of weight. At home, she was unable to focus-play with her daughter, cook dinner and fulfill her duties as a wife. She wanted to disappear, sink into sleep and never wake up in the morning to go to work. The question that kept looming in front of her was "What should I do? Discussion Questions Q1. What was Karen's problem? Q2. Do you think Dianne's behavior was reasonable or unreasonable? Q3. How had Dianne's behavior affected Karen's health? What resources are available to Karen? Q4. What options does have Karen have? If you were Karen, what would you do? Reference Bartlett, J. E. and Bartlett, M., E. (2011). Workplace Bullying: An Integrative Literature Review. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 13 (1), 6984 Instructions for this Assignment Purpose: To understand the phenomenon of workplace bullying and how it occurs in real-life situations. And role play the role of a manager having to deal with bullying taking place within an organization. Task(s): Read the case study. Participate in class discussion in class. Upload the answers online for grading purposes. Submission Format Answer all questions 2-3 lines each The Difficult Boss: A Case Study The Victim Karen, 30 years old, African American was an attractive, office assistant at an in-school interactive program (NET), which was affiliated with a large hospital in a rural town in Southwest Georgia. NET was an in-school, interactive program delivered by a staff of nurse educators and support personnel. NET had around 33 full time employees consisting of Registered Nurses (RN). Licensed Practitioner Nurses (LPN). Certified Nurse Assistants (CAN) and an office assistant. NET was part of a large hospital entrusted with the responsibility of providing qualified nurses to all schools located in the nearby counties. It was also responsible for educating the school children and the surrounding communities on a variety of healthcare related issues like obesity, hand washing, teenage pregnancies, and teen parenting. Karen had joined NET, after graduating from a local Technical College with a Business Administration Certification. She was highly ambitious and wanted to eventually go back to school and obtain a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from a four-year university. She had so far, enjoyed her office work, mentoring new employees and collaborating with co-workers. Her helpful and easy-going professional demeanor made Karen highly popular at the office. At personal level, Karen was happily married with a baby girl. Karen, seemed to have things going for her, both personally and professionally. But that was three months back. Now, Karen shuddered and swept the hair back from her face and burst into tears. She felt tired, stressed out and very unhappy. She felt like a failure='no good" as a mom, wife and working woman. "How did this happen?" Karen reflected on the events during the past few months at her workplace. The Project It all began, when Karen's supervisor. Dianne asked her to work on a project with her. Dianne was an African American woman in late forties. She was the supervisor to all the nurses working at NET. Dianne was a registered nurse. She had a degree in Nursing and had worked at the hospital as a nurse in all intensive care units. She had been with NET for the last ten years. Dianne had around 15 years of experience as a supervisor at the hospital and at NET. Karen had known her in the capacity of a nurse supervisor but had never worked with her. Karen had always greeted her in the mornings. Dianne would stop in her tracks and ask Karen how everything was and inquire if she needed any assistance. Their conversation would always end with a "Have a great day" before they headed off in separate directions. But things somehow changed. It all started with Karen's co-workers and team members approaching her for further clarifications and instructions with comments like "Dianne was so vague...". They complimented Karen for her assistance in front of Dianne. This started irking Dianne and she erupted one day in meeting. announcing "I am the supervisor, and I am in charge of this department...Karen should remember her place...just a junior employee.... After that incident, Dianne started ignoring Karen completely. Even when Karen greeted her in the mornings with a smile, she would walk past without a single word. Soon afterwards, as was usual within the department all employees were asked to submit proposals on possible community healthcare initiatives. Karen had always submitted proposals in the past, which had been appreciated and accepted by the department. Her flair for creativity and originality was always appreciated and encouraged by the department. However, this time, her proposal was rejected on the grounds it lacked substance and appeal. When Karen confronted Dianne in private for more feedback. Dianne ridiculed her and told her that her work was "simple" and "rudimentary and if this level of performance continued, she would have problems in her upcoming evaluation. Further she started raising her voice so loud that outside all other employees could hear the conversation. Karen felt embarrassed and politely left the office towards the ladies' room in tears. From then onwards. Karen decided to avoid her. But now surprisingly Dianne went out of her way to speak to her in public. In front of others, Dianne was a nice person. But behind closed doors, it was all criticism, constant humiliations, and letdowns. Despite Karen's efforts to meet her demands, she was never able to reach Dianne's expectations. Karen's annual evaluations were always excellent, but this time (for the first time), she received below satisfactory". The Fear Karen started hating work. On Sunday night, her stomach churned, and she tossed restlessly in bed dreading the next day. She would drive to work thinking about her supervisor and her insulting behavior. She would think of reasons to call in sick to work. At work, she would keep watching the clock for 5 pm, to leave office. Karen slowly started getting stressed, her hair started to fall out, and she lost a large amount of weight. At home, she was unable to focus-play with her daughter, cook dinner and fulfill her duties as a wife. She wanted to disappear, sink into sleep and never wake up in the morning to go to work. The question that kept looming in front of her was "What should I do? Discussion Questions Q1. What was Karen's problem? Q2. Do you think Dianne's behavior was reasonable or unreasonable? Q3. How had Dianne's behavior affected Karen's health? What resources are available to Karen? Q4. What options does have Karen have? If you were Karen, what would you do? Reference Bartlett, J. E. and Bartlett, M., E. (2011). Workplace Bullying: An Integrative Literature Review. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 13 (1), 6984 Instructions for this Assignment Purpose: To understand the phenomenon of workplace bullying and how it occurs in real-life situations. And role play the role of a manager having to deal with bullying taking place within an organization. Task(s): Read the case study. Participate in class discussion in class. Upload the answers online for grading purposes. Submission Format Answer all questions 2-3 lines each