Analyzing Managerial Decisions 1

Running head: ANALYZING MANAGERIAL DECISIONS

Analyzing Managerial Decisions: Medford University
Rodolfo Handal
MBA 540
June 16, 2014
Dr. Patrick Murphy








Analyzing Managerial Decisions 2

Analyzing Managerial Decisions: Medford University
As the internal and external environment of firms change, firms are forced to adapt to change
and sometime, this requires restructuring certain areas of an organization. In the case of
Medford, the firm was forced to design a new fringe benefits package (Brickley, Smith, &
Zimmerman, 2009, 387), that was triggered by significant financial pressures. In order to design
this new benefits package, the president of the university appointed the chief administrator of
the hospital as the chair of the task force...the president also appointed one of her key assistants,
the vice provost, to serve as the secretary of the task force (Brickley, Smith, & Zimmerman,
2009, p.387). The decision of the president could have been strategic, considering many factors
that would help in the process.

One of the main reasons the president could have appointed a task force to design the benefits
package include that the task force involved individuals from different departments. For this
reason, the members of the task force were more knowledgeable about the environment and what
could have been a better fit for the organization. In addition, this decision could have been taken
in order to increase employee buy-in. Brickley, Smith, & Zimmerman (2009), note that
employees often are suspicious that management-initiated decisions benefit managers at the
expense of other employees; managers frequently suggest that they grant decision rights to
groups of employees specifically to increase employee buy-in (p.379).

Given that the task force is composed of employees from different levels, the president cannot
assume that the members will act in the best interests of the firm. Although this set-up may
increase employee buy-in, it creates a conflict of interest as employees will be also concerned
about their well-being. For this reason, the president could ensure that the decision management
process is managed by the task force, while the decision control process is managed by herself.
This will ensure that any conflicts of interest are properly monitored and controlled.

One of the main reasons that the president of the university could have selected the administrator
of the hospital is because he/she probably is more knowledgeable about this area, health
insurance and benefits. In addition, the chair delegated work to subcommittees in charge of areas
such as health insurance committee, a retirement committee and so on. This could have been a
strategy in order to increase buy-in and also to have individuals in each sub-committee more
focused on specific areas that those individuals might be more knowledgeable about.

Even though the president have assigned a lot of decision making power to other individuals, the
president should not commit to all items proposed by the committee as there might be conflicts
of interest that the president might have to address. In addition, the president most likely possess
specific knowledge in different areas that the other individuals in the task force may not have.
While the recommendations made by the committee should be taken seriously, there should be
some independence in the process and the president should retain the power to make any
justified modifications.

The president most likely appointed a key assistant as secretary of the task force as this person
would serve as an information and conflict channel for the president. This key person could
communicate everything that happens in the task force and keep the president abreast. In
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addition, the president could have placed a key assistant in this position as this would ensure that
the members of the task force knew that they were being monitored and that any adverse actions
and conversations could be reported to the president.











































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Reference
Brickley, J., Smith, C., & Zimmerman, J. (2009). Managerial economics and organizational
architecture (5th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill/Irwin.