Case Study Unwanted Help:

Eureka Medical Center is a large urban hospital. The purchasing department consists of six buyers, two clerical employees, and one supervisor. It is responsible for all hospital supplies. Pat House is the newest buyer in the department. Included in her responsibilities are purchasing and inventory monitoring of vouchers, syringes, needles, and IV solutions that the hospital uses on a daily basis. The hospital's material requirements planning system (MRP) generates weekly reports for Pat House and the other buyers. These reports identify items that need to be reordered. House was instructed by a fellow buyer to review this report at the beginning of each week, and place the necessary orders before the end of the week. John Davies had been promoted about six months previously from buyer to supervisor of the purchasing department. One of his first decisions had been to hire Pat House as his replacement. Davies had worked as a buyer for almost 10 years, and he knew the system inside and out. As supervisor, he reviewed the MRP reports of all the buyers each week to ensure that his buyers would stay on top of the hospital's needs. Shortages in certain supplies could be life threatening. It was a Wednesday several months after Pat House had been hired. While reviewing the MRP reports, Davies noticed that certain necessary supplies for which House was responsible had not been ordered. Since Davies was very familiar with the needed supplies and the corresponding suppliers, he decided to place some orders to expedite them and also to convey to House that he was willing to help her when she was busy. On Friday of that week, when House started placing orders that the MRP report had called for, her suppliers questioned her. They asked her if she really needed to double the amount that she usually ordered, since earlier in the week John Davies had placed orders for similar amounts. House was infuriated that Davies had placed orders with her suppliers without informing her. When she confronted Davies about it, he apologized and said he was only trying to help. Davies explained that he thought she had been extremely busy and wanted to reduce her workload. House thought the problem had been resolved. But as time progressed, Davies continued placing some of her orders, although he always informed her of what he had done. She didn't say anything about this to any of the other buyers, because she was afraid of what they might think. House grew more distressed, because she didn't know how to tell her supervisor to let her do her job without causing hard feelings. House became increasingly concerned that Davies didn't have any confidence in her abilities and that he was unwilling to tell her what he wanted done differently. Her six-month performance appraisal was scheduled for the next week. She wasn't comfortable with her situation, and she worried that her days with the hospital might be numbered. House pondered whether she should quit now, or first see the director of human resources or Davies' boss (the hospital's associate administrator) to discuss what she should do.

Questions:

1. Should a supervisor do the work of an employee to assist the employee or reduce the workload? Discuss. (15 marks)
2. Why would John Davies continue to do some of Pat House's job duties? (5 marks)