29 - barbara norris

8/9/2019 29 - Barbara Norris

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Barbara Norris Case Study

Question 1

Barbara has started of to a good start. Hospitality is a service industry wherein the

‘human’ actor plays a very important role. Hence i the staf is not motivated and

satised! it would afect the perormance and the service.

• "s a manager she had ta#en the right rst step o brea#ing the ice by

conducting a meeting.

• Secondly she has also made sure that during the meeting her staf eels

comortable. She did this by maintaining the anonymity o the grievances

written down by the staf.

• $hirdly she wanted the staf to reali%e that they should be loo#ing or the

solutions rather than crib about the problems. She too# the decision that the

solutions will be ta#en together as a team and not by her as a superior. $his

would ma#e the staf eel that are responsible and they belong here. $hese

immediate steps were very necessary to bring out the team wor# culture that

was none&istent.

Barbara was a very good choice or the role as she had #nowledge! e&perience

passion. She had been in '() and was willing to remain there. She was willing to

ta#e up challenges. "lso she had #ids who were in high school which made sure that

she could manage in case the *ob gets demanding.

Question 2

Barbara is trying to bring about a change in the overall wor#ing environment at

+(). $he nurses at +() have been under a lot o pressure as the department is ill

stafed , also the hospital was undergoing through tough nancial times. $he employee retention rates were low and employee turnover was high. Barbara

wanted to #now what the root problem underlying employee dissatisaction was. So

in the of-site meeting she got to #now certain reasons resulting in the

dissatisaction among the nurses. But the core essence o the meeting was to put

the problems in ront o the employees themselves and see# out solutions to those

problems in a collective manner. $his would ma#e the staf reali%e that their views

are considered by the top management in the decision ma#ing process. "lso it

shows that Barbara as a manager listens to their grievances and involves them in

decision ma#ing .$his is a very good way o getting a set o ollowers i you are new

to the leadership position.

Question 3

irst! there is high possibility that she would be encountering resistance towards

change. $here are a ew senior nurses who had been with the unit or /uite a long

time who would disagree with any decision that ma#es them change their routine.

$he possible reason or such negativity could be the cognitive dissonance aced by

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the nurses as they themselves state that the reason or being a nurse was to care

or patients! but they were being treated as order ta#ers. $o address this potential

roadbloc#! Barbara has to motivate them to embrace the change by involving them

in the decision ma#ing and thus increase the commitment o the senior staf in the

day to day operations.

Secondly! although Barbara is attempting to involve everyone in the decision

ma#ing process! it is li#ely that the troubles could increase i she ends up listening

to everyone. $his team o +S) is in a disoriented state that is inested with all sorts

o negativity and it needs a strong leader who could lead them out o dar#ness

rather than involve them in brainstorming. Not all members in the team would be

right candidates to be involved in the role o decision ma#ing. $here could be some

elements who would oppose all the decisions or the sa#e o it thereby slowing down

the process. Hence it is imperative or Barbara to identiy the right people who

could be consulted or ma#ing decisions and leave out rest o them. But even then!

Barbara hersel should weigh all the options beore coming to conclusions.

8astly! as it is mentioned in the case! economy is in doldrums and '() is reeling

under cost cutting measures! it would be di9cult or Barbara to provide any

monetary rewards to her staf or achieving their targets. $his may come as a

cropper or those employees who eel their eforts are going unnoticed. :t would be

hard then to #eep all o her stafed motivated at all the times ta#ing into account

the staf shortage! increased stress levels and uncooperative attitude o some

wor#ers. $his could throw the entire reorms of the trac# and has to be dealt at a

high priority by Barbara. She could try to develop her own reward system which

would include recognition and constructive eedbac# to #eep the staf stic#ing

together.

Question 4

Step 1 – Create a sense of urgency

or the change to ta#e orm! Barbara Norris should approach the top management

and create a sense o urgency. $he +eneral Surgery )nit was already acing a very

high turnover. : the current situation carried on any urther the unit would not be

able to unction and the patience would be afected which in turn would create a

bad name or the hospital. $he management! who are obviously concerned or theimage o the hospital! would then ta#e the matter seriously.

Step 2 – Form a powerful coalition

:n this case it would be in Norris’ avour to get the support o the nurse director ;ohn

rappewell. He is at a leadership position and at the same time would have the

power to in<uence the management. ;ohn! rappewell and a ew nurses would then

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be able to convince the management that it is important to employ more nurses in

the unit and at the same time redesign the perormance management system.

Step 3- Create a vision for Change

$he vision or this change would be to create a riendly and motivating wor#

environment or the nurses o the +eneral Surgery )nit through consistent

eedbac#! respect rom doctors! a transparent perormance management system

and a grievance redressal mechanism. $his would in efect lead to a change in the

way nurses treat each other and their *obs.

Step 4 – Communicate the vision

$he vision must be communicated both to the management and to the nurses. $he

management would help in bringing about an ade/uate perormance management

system! clearly mentioning the basis o distributing bonus. $he nurses on the other

hand would be motivated to accept the change i they anticipate a better wor#ing

environment

Step 5- emove o!stacles

$here would be some nurses li#e 8ouise who would be resistant to change. She has

a tendency to complain and also does not behave cordially with her ellow nurses.

She could act as an obstacle to change! especially in case she tries to bring other

nurses in her #itty o resistance to change. Hence the best move now would be to

let her go as she is already rightly pointed out that she spends her time tending to

machines than she does tending to patients.

Step "-Create Short #erm $ins

" short term win has already occurred in the process o changing the vision. >ne o

the issues the nurses had was that they elt no one truly deended their interest or

advocated on their behal. $he huge step ta#en by Barbara Norris to bring about this

change was a short term win and the nurses should eel motivated by this. "nother

short term win could occur when the doctors would ac#nowledge the perormance

o the nurses and instill in them the condence that their wor# does in act provide

value.

Step %- &on't &eclare (ictory too )arly

$he short term wins mentioned above might seem li#e a ma*or change in the wor#

environment but Barbara Norris should not declare this to be a victory until and

unless every aspect o her vision has been met. :t is necessary she consults the

management even ater the short term wins so that the compensation system and

perormance system are designed to support the nurses and to bring about an

environment o learning and growth.

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Step * – +nchor the changes in Corporate Culture

Since change is dynamic! there could be a possibility that ater a ew days the

doctors could go bac# to not giving value to the nurses or the wor# environment

could be hostile among the nurses again. Hence! Norris has to ma#e sure she

addresses all the grievances as and when they come up. She also needs to havemonthly meeting with the management to give them a eedbac# about the

perormance o the unit and receiving their help as and when re/uired.

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29 - barbara norris

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