The Case of the Disgruntled Nurses
Introduction:
At the board of directors’ meeting, board president received a letter from staff council of Oneida Home Health Agency (OHHA), highlighting various staff concerns and suggestions. Rachel Nelson, who had been hired as the executive director of OHHA, was shocked and angered to see the letter, since this was a clear violation of organizational hierarchy and brought her management skills into question. Rachel had replaced Chuck about two years ago, who left the agency in a bad financial position. Soon after her induction, she was joined by Annemarie as nursing director, replacing the previous director Dorothy who had resigned. Rachel and Annemarie had been trying hard to deal with the
They perceived the situation as inequitablev and this drove them further away from Annemarie. Although organization was satisfying the first two needs of physiological needs and safety in Maslow’s hierarchyvi, it failed to address love and self esteem of the senior nurses.
The increasing negative sentiments towards each other were the result of Pygmalion effect or self fulfilling prophecy, which explained the selective negative perceptions of Annemarie and senior nurses based on their low expectations from each other.vii
Annemarie failed to understand the importance of communications in organization and never attempted to see the perspective of senior nurses. She ignored the fact that people perceive the same thing differently and their assumptions, perceptions and feelings must be understood to be able to better communicate with them.viii The nurses also ignored that managers require cooperation, reliability and honesty from their subordinates. Had they tried to understand the goals and pressures of Annemarie, things could have been brought under control with open communication and feedback sessions.ix The lack of mutual respect and collaboration resulted in the problems being faced by OHHA.
Recommendations:
First solution could be to fire the senior nurses, who had no career orientation and were reluctant in adopting the new systems and procedures. They could be replaced by newer nurses, who were well liked by Annemarie and had shown the willingness