HELP ASAP>>>> here it is: Incident 14–1

Question

No Extra Effort
You are the supervisor of nurses in the pediatrics section
of a 700-bed hospital in a metropolitan area. You
have been in your job for six months, having moved
from a similar position in a much smaller rural hospital.
You: I just can’t seem to get my people to
perform. They’re all extremely competent,
but they don’t seem to be willing to put
forth any extra effort. Take last Saturday
evening. I thought Sue was going to have a
fit when I asked her to help tidy up the
nurses’ station. She was quick to explain
that that was the janitor’s job.
Friend: Exactly what are the duties and
responsibilities of your nurses?
You: They don’t really have much responsibility.
That always seems to fall on me. Their
duties don’t vary much from those of the
average nurse—make sure medicines are
taken on schedule, perform periodic checks
on patients, and provide general assistance
to doctors and patients. Of course, pediatrics
does require a certain disposition to deal
with children.
Friend: How do you evaluate their performance?
You: Mainly based on complaints and my general
feeling about how they are doing. It’s hard to
evaluate the quality of their work since most
of it is fairly routine. However, if I receive
several complaints on a nurse, I can be pretty
sure that the nurse is not doing the job.
Friend: Do you receive complaints very often?
You: That’s just the problem. Recently, complaints
have risen noticeably. The number of
complaints is much higher here than at my
former hospital. The worst part is that the
nurses don’t seem too concerned about it.
Friend: What financial rewards does the hospital
offer?
You: They’re all well paid—when I think that I
started 30 years ago at $25 per week! Base
pay is determined mainly on the basis of
longevity. They also get paid vacations,never specifically said so, Archie feels that he is as high
as he’ll ever go in the company. This doesn’t seem to
bother him since he likes his present job and feels comfortable
in it.

Reconsider the situation. Why do you think the nurses are not motivated? List possible answers.

What could you do to improve the situation?

Answer 1

Dawn -- YOU are the one studying management. What do YOU think?

I could give you several answers -- but that won't help YOU learn management techniques.

As always, we'll be very glad to comment on your answers. But we need to know your thinking before we can help you on these questions.

Answer 2

this is what i have so far and need more:

The nurses are not motivated because they do not have many responsibilies. Next because their supervior has not set the responsibilies clear enough to the nurses. The nurses seem to think that they do not have to do anything because their supervisor will pick up their slack. Another one is they do not have have any will power to do their jobs.

To improve the situation the supervior need to put her foot down to the nurses.

Answer 3

Thanks for posting your ideas.

I can't imagine a job where the duties aren't clearly and definitely spelled out from the beginning. The duties as the supervisor describes are so nebulous as to be basically meaningless. As in this case, because the job descriptions are incomplete, everyone interprets the job differently. The supervisor should sit down with representatives of the nurses and together formulate specific job responsibilities. One should obviously be to keep the nurses' station neat and clean at all times.

As for compensation, the supervisor is unfairly comparing her salary of years ago with the salaries her nurses receive today. This supervisor needs to communicate better -- and this is a two-way street -- with her staff.

Answer 4

Putting her foot down is not the answer. Communication is the answer. How do the nurses feel? What would they like to see change? Why? What can the supervisor do to help them?

In my experience, a good supervisor is there to support and help his/her employees.