Katie has recently accepted a position as laboratory supervisor at a large suburban hospital. Although she is
Question:
Katie has recently accepted a position as laboratory supervisor at a large suburban hospital. Although she is thrilled with her new position and working environment, Katie's laboratory manager has indicated that there is a major conflict in her labo-ratory that she needs to resolve as quickly as possible. The employees whom Katie supervises have been working as an efficient team for more than five years. In the past few months, however, turnaround time for laboratory tests has increased and the laboratory has been filled with tension and resentment toward Helen, a medi-cal laboratory scientist, who joined the team approximately six months previ-ously. Helen is an experienced scientist with exceptional knowledge and skills. She is energetic, hardworking and she possesses a positive attitude. Katie and Helen enjoy a good working relationship. Helen's co-workers, however, have complained that Helen tries to "stick her nose into everyone else's job" and that she slows the output of the other staff members with her unwanted involvement.
Issues and Questions to Consider:
1. How can Katie use her knowledge of the development of work groups to ana-lyze the interpersonal dynamics of the work group under her supervision?
2. How can Katie use job analysis and existing job descriptions to improve the productivity of the work group and reduce the tension among its members?
3. In particular, what approach could Katie use to retain Helen's enthusiasm and commitment to the laboratory while curtailing Helen's negative effect on turnaround time for laboratory testing?
Financial and Managerial Accounting
ISBN: 978-0538480895
11th Edition
Authors: Jonathan E. Duchac, James M. Reeve, Carl S. Warren