FINAL CASE STUDY
Case Study: Barbara Norris: Leading Change in the General Surgery Unit
Candy Burke
University of La Verne
Authors’ Note
Candy Burke Department of Health Services Management, University of La Verne
Correspondence concerning this article may be addressed to candy.burke@laverne.edu.
Executive Summary
The newly hired nursing manager in the General Surgery Unit (GSU) at Eastern Massachusetts University Hospital (EMU), Barbara Norris, makes an effort to address the problems she inherited with her new position. The GSU is facing the lowest rate of employee satisfaction and the highest employee turnover within all of EMU. In order to combat the current economic crisis the hospital is facing resource reduction measures were introduced throughout the hospital. The lack of motivation caused by a hiring freeze and the inability to provide quality patient care that is teamwork based has affected patient satisfaction scores, which have continued to decline over the past couple of years. The Director of Nursing is relying on the new nurse manager, to change the status of the GSU. After holding an off-site meeting with the GSU staff nurses, Barbara struggles with the difficult task of successfully turning around the GSU staff.
Table of Contents
The Role/Position Taken 4
Problem Statement 4
Analysis of the Facts 4-5
Structural Assumptions 5
Personal Assumptions………………………………………………………………..…............5
Problem-centered Assumptions 5
Formulation of Alternatives to Solve the Problem 6
Seek To Attain More GSU Staff ……………………………………………………...……….6
Establish Culture Reliant On Team/Collaborative Work Environment 6-7
Develop A New Performance Review Process 7-8
Develop Acknowledgement/Recognition Program 8
Evaluation of Solutions 8
General Criteria 8
Decision Criteria 9
Plans for Implementation 9-10
Plan for Evaluation 10
The Role/Position Taken During the process of this analysis, the analyst takes the role of the Director of Nursing at Eastern
Candy Burke
University of La Verne
Authors’ Note
Candy Burke Department of Health Services Management, University of La Verne
Correspondence concerning this article may be addressed to candy.burke@laverne.edu.
Executive Summary
The newly hired nursing manager in the General Surgery Unit (GSU) at Eastern Massachusetts University Hospital (EMU), Barbara Norris, makes an effort to address the problems she inherited with her new position. The GSU is facing the lowest rate of employee satisfaction and the highest employee turnover within all of EMU. In order to combat the current economic crisis the hospital is facing resource reduction measures were introduced throughout the hospital. The lack of motivation caused by a hiring freeze and the inability to provide quality patient care that is teamwork based has affected patient satisfaction scores, which have continued to decline over the past couple of years. The Director of Nursing is relying on the new nurse manager, to change the status of the GSU. After holding an off-site meeting with the GSU staff nurses, Barbara struggles with the difficult task of successfully turning around the GSU staff.
Table of Contents
The Role/Position Taken 4
Problem Statement 4
Analysis of the Facts 4-5
Structural Assumptions 5
Personal Assumptions………………………………………………………………..…............5
Problem-centered Assumptions 5
Formulation of Alternatives to Solve the Problem 6
Seek To Attain More GSU Staff ……………………………………………………...……….6
Establish Culture Reliant On Team/Collaborative Work Environment 6-7
Develop A New Performance Review Process 7-8
Develop Acknowledgement/Recognition Program 8
Evaluation of Solutions 8
General Criteria 8
Decision Criteria 9
Plans for Implementation 9-10
Plan for Evaluation 10
The Role/Position Taken During the process of this analysis, the analyst takes the role of the Director of Nursing at Eastern
References: Groyseberg, B., Nohria, N., & Bell, D. (2009, March 13). Barbara Norris: Leading change in the general surgery unit. Retrieved from http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=409