Chapter 7 Case Study Leadership Development Directions: Read the case provided below, analyze it and respond to the case-related questions. Support your analysis with relevant data gathered from your textbook and at least two (2) external sources. Your response must be detailed and provide evidence to support your response. Follow APA guidelines and use proper in-text citations and references. _____________________________________________________________________________ During my MHA residency at this large hospital, we were experiencing President Richard Nixons Economic Stability Plan, which put a freeze on all price increases of any corporation in America, including hospitals. If your hospital was planning any major expansion, you could get an exemption to raise prices. We were involved in a $50 million expansion, which was a large expansion for this time period. The CEO wanted to meet with as many of the medical staff as possible to discuss the expansion with the Economic Stabilization Officer. This hospital had a large medical staff of approximately 700 physicians who did not like to come to meetings.

I was surprised one day when the CEO asked me to arrange a meeting with the physicians. It was my job to get at least 80% of the medical staff to this meeting, which would be significant for a lunch meeting. Because of the importance of the meeting, I thought that he would ask his Chief Operating Officer or at least one of the other vice presidents to arrange it, but he asked me to do this. My feeling was that this was a way to test me, to see if I had the administrative ability to accomplish something this important, and to see what kind of future I would have.

I sent out a letter to all 700 physicians stating that the CEO wanted to meet with the medical staff at a certain date to discuss President Nixons Economic Stabilization Act. I ended the memo by noting that lunch would be served, and we would have prime rib and lobstercertainly a meal that most presidents would not even consider ordering for 10 people, much less 500 to 700 physicians. They turned out like anything you could ever believe. Over 500 physicians attended this luncheon. The COO was surprised that a resident would order lobster and steak for a luncheon, and so he had one of his directors cost it out. It amounted to $17,000, which was an enormous amount of money at that time for a luncheon. The COO went to the CEO and requested that I be fired from my residency, which would eventually affect my graduation from the MHA program. A day later, the CEOs secretary, who was a very professional lady, always well dressed and very professional, came into my office and said that the CEO wanted to see me right away. I knew what it was about, so I went into his office expecting to be fired from my residency. And if you get fired from your residency, you probably have to get out of that field. So the CEO asked me if it was true that the lunch cost $17,000, and I said, thats what I understand. But, I said, you asked me to get them there Yes, he said. They were there, werent they? I said. The CEO answered, Yesnice job James. And not only did he not fire me, but he also increased my stipend. Well, this infuriated the COO.

The importance of this is that the CEO became my mentor for the next 40 years and still is. And when my year-long intern- ship was up, he offered me a position. However, there was no formal opening for me. Instead, he wanted me to take on special projects until a position became vacant. I didnt like that situation. I had four other job offers, and I took one of them. The other thing that concerned me was that if the CEO leftand he eventually did leavethat I would be stuck with the COO who was still upset about me doing this.

Case Study Questions:

1. If you were the CEO of this hospital, how would you handle the situation of a resident spending $17,000 for a luncheon to encourage physicians to attend an important meeting?

2. Describe the importance of what the resident learned from obtaining such an important assignment. How would that affect his leadership ability in the future?

3. If you were the resident, what other options would you have taken to accomplish the assignment of gathering a large number of physicians who do not like to attend meetings?