Campustown State Hospital

The Campustown State Hospital is located in Campustown, Pennsylvania, and is part of the state university. Its objectives are threefold:

1. To provide the best possible patient care

2. To be recognized as an understanding medical research center

3. To have a medical and nursing school of the highest caliber

Most of the buildings are approximately twenty years old and some need refurnishing. The library is somewhat limited, as are the laboratory and classroom facilities. Even so, the hospital has a good reputation.

The director of the hospital usually decides on how funds will be spent after he consults the individual members of his Senior Advisory Board. They are:

Associate Director, Patient Care Assistant Director, Research Assistant Director, Teaching

Each is well recognized in his or her field.

Meet as a group with four people playing the following roles. Try to reach consensus on how to divide the $50,000 grant.

Director: You have a group of nationally known doctors on your staff and you are proud of your hospital. One of your major problems is trying to maintain some balance between your three objectives: (1) patient care, (2) research, and (3) teaching. This is especially difficult when money must be allocated. You usually call on your Senior Advisory Board individually and listen to their requests. Then you decide how the money should be allocated. The last grant you received, $10,000, went to the research group for laboratory equipment. No matter how you decide, one group or another feels hurt because each thinks its function is most important and its needs greatest.

You have just received a new grant of $50,000 with no strings attached as to how the money will be spent. It was stated that if in the opinion of the donors the money was spent wisely there was a possibility of a similar grant in subsequent years. In view of the hard feelings resulting from your past decisions, you have decided to use a group decision, and you have called the Senior Advisory Board together.

Associate Director, The primary purpose of any hospital is to render the best possible patient care. Expense should be no concern, but unfortunately it is to the staff and patients alike. Consequently any opportunity to improve the service rendered should be grasped. The last time a grant ($10,000) was received it went to the research group. This should be your turn. There are a number of worthwhile projects that should be undertaken.

1. The south wing of the hospital is hot in the summer and cold in the winter. The estimated cost of installing adequate heating and cooling is $45,000. This would include a central system plus storm windows and screens, awnings, and the like.

2. New machines that remove old wax, clean, and wax the asphalt tile floors are now available. These could not only do a better job but also replace some of the hard-to-get custodians (janitors). The cost of each machine is $1,000 and three are needed.

3 The patient records are now kept in a number of different locations and should be centralized. One of the present storerooms (1B) could be converted and new files installed for a cost of $10,000. 4. There is only one X-ray machine, and it has periodic breakdowns. A new one would cost $25,000, and the old one could serve as a standby.

You have heard a rumor that a grant has been made, and you just received a call from the director. He said he wanted to talk to you and the other members of the Senior Advisory Board. This is a surprise because he usually talks to each of you individually when money is involved.

Assistant Director, Research: General Electric, you believe "Research is our most important product." Without it patient care couldn't be improved, and the young doctors wouldn't have anything new to learn. You have established quite a name for yourself and your fellow researchers by going out and getting grants for research. The hospital staff hasn't been as much help as they should be. They could at least provide you with adequate space. Actually you'd like a research center like the one at Mayo's; it cost $150,000. You've been offered a job there, but you'd be just a little frog in a big pond rather than running the show as you do here. Last time money was available you got $10,000 for equipment, but that's just a small part of what you really need.

You and your group are on the brink of a breakthrough on heart disease, and every penny you can get you'll pour into that effort. The foundations have been generous, but it takes so long to get the money that you can't wait.

One of the things that has always been a thorn in your side is the lack of funds available for you and your group either to take trips to scientific conventions or to host a symposium here. For someone of your renown this is an insult. For $10,000 a year you could gain $50,000 worth of ideas and experience (and get personal recognition). You'd like to offer a $1,000 award each year for the outstanding researcher on your staff. This would be a real incentive to get and keep good researchers.

The director has called you to his office for a meeting of the Senior Advisory Board.

Assistant Director; Teaching: You are basically more of an educator than a doctor and find your position in a hospital operated in conjunction with a university ideal. As part of the university, the hospital's primary function is to train doctors, nurses, technicians, and others so that medical science can help the country or world live better and longer.

Applications to your medical school have not increased, and applications for your internships and residencies have actually declined. A number of the latter are being filled by foreign doctors, which is good in one way, but they aren't well prepared. As you see it, this situation is a result of a number of things. One is the desire of many students to train at more glamorous hospitals. Others want to go where more specialized fields are better developed. Many of the problems could be remedied if you had money to spend for the following improvements:

1. increased pay for residents and interns. With $15,000 a year the pay could be increased to attract better men and women. Another $10,000 should be spent to improve their living quarters in the hospital.

2. Expanded library facilities. New books and journal subscriptions are needed; better storage and improved cataloging are necessary. This would cost $10,000.

3. More classrooms. There is a wasted storage room (1B) that could be convered into a classroom for $15,000. This would be a big help.

4. Lack of new ideas. A system of visiting professors or guest lecturers should be instituted so that the professors and students could have personal contact with some of the big names. This program could cost from $10,000 to $25,000, depending on its scope.

The director has called a meeting of the Senior Advisory Board, and you suspect it is to discuss allocation of funds. The last grant went entirely to the research group, and you feel that you have a right to any new money that is available.

The Vacation

At Boston State University the state was unable to provide any raises for state employees for the fiscal year 1985.

One morning in December of the following year, Steve Thomas, associate dean of the College of Business, heard an advertisement on the radio for special air fares from Boston to New York, New Jersey, etc., for $98 round trip. The air fares were to last until January 20, 1986. Coincidentally, President Jennings had distributed a memo giving all employees of the university two paid days off during the Christmas holiday season. (These employees would normally work while the university was between semesters.) He said in the memo that this was his way of saying thanks and that the time off was not to be charged against their vacation days and that this was to help make up for the lack of a raise the previous year.

Steve asked his boss, Ted, the Dean, if they could offer a trip and the two days off to their two secretaries as a bonus out of nonappropriated funds. The two secretaries work on management development programs which bring in almost $100,000 a year. Ted said yes, providing they spent only $400 per person and that they actually had some professional meetings with another university while they were on the trip to gather information which would have a direct application to the jobs they had at Boston State. Steve then told both secretaries Maggie and Jennie, who thought this was a great idea to partially make up for the lack of a raise from the previous year.

The Christmas season came and went and neither secretary was able to fit the vacation into her schedule. Jennie asked Steve if there was a time limit on the offer, since the special air fares had been extended indefinitely due to fare wars between the airlines, and since a new air carrier was starting up service in the Boston area. Steve said that his intention was to give a bonus, and that the main thing was to take advantage of the low air fares. In other words, there was no time limit on the offer.

In March Jennie asked Steve if she could use her trip in May to go to Washington, 'D.C., with her boyfriend of several years on a business trip. The air fare was $98, and she was asking for two days off. Steve signed the approval and took it to Ted for his signature. Ted said that he had thought the offer was a "use-or-lose" one which had expired January 20. Steve said that he had thought that, since the cheap air fares had been extended, the offer to the secretaries was still in effect. Ted said that he specifically remembered that this offer was good only for the holiday season when the faculty were away from the university and the work load was quite low.

When Jennie was told of this, she tore up the travel request and felt worse than if Steve had never even made the original offer. In spite of her disappointment, she continued to work in a highly professional manner, not letting her feelings affect her performance.

Question: How would you have handled this situation if you had been Steve or Ted?

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 689