T.A.

Pai Management Institute

Manipal

BLDR Assignment

By- Group 8 Section -4

Aritri Das (15F408)
Sudha G (15F446)
Upender Rautela (15F455)
Venkat R (15F456)
Manish Srivastava (15F424)

Q1: How well has Barbara Norris done in her first month as nurse manager of GSU? Was she
a good choice for the position?

Answer:

Barbara Norris had an attitude of accepting the challenges in life. She welcomed the
opportunity of joining problematic GSU (General Surgery Unit) of EMU (Eastern
Massachusetts University) and turn unit around by resolving the issues.

Barbara took keen interest in understanding the overall operations and analysing the
working of her team members. She also took interest in analysing the behaviour of
RNs and PCAs to understand the problem in the unit.

Barbara took initiative to organise an offsite program where she asked the registered
nurses for the feedback and their problems. The session helped her to identify certain
key issues such as lack of collaboration & team work. Interpersonal and intergroup
conflict etc.

The incident shows that she is motivated to take up this challenge and bring a
complete turnaround in the functioning of the unit. Her challenge accepting attitude
would help in resolving the issues. She can considered as an apt choice for the
position because of her attitude towards the challenge. In addition to this her prior
work experience, same background and good professional qualification can be
beneficial.

Q2: What changes is she trying to make and why?

Answer: The changes Barbara is trying to make are as:

1. Involving the other members in the decision of staffing for any purpose. This would
help in gaining the viewpoints of other nurses and would lead to better coordination in
work.

2. Managing the financial budget allotted to the unit by considering the requirements and
needs. The viewpoints of registered nurses are also considered and they are given sole
authority to make their choices.

3. Introducing performance based incentives, this would motivate the employees who
are putting extra effort during their work. The nurses has concern that they are not
acknowledged for putting an extra effort in their work. This leads to low employee
morale and low motivation level.

4. Bringing helping culture within the organization. The reason behind this change was
to allow everyone to work as a team which was one of the reason behind
dissatisfaction in the organization. As well as to build relationships in the unit.
Barbara is trying to turn the unit around in terms of overall functioning and improved
revenue. With this objective she tried to identify the issues prevalent within the unit which is
creating problems for unit. With identified issues such as lack of coordination among the
members of unit and interpersonal and inter group conflict etc., she is trying to solve these
issues.

Q3. What are the 3 obstacles that she should anticipate and how should she address them?
Answer:

Obstacles

How to address them

Introducing performance based incentives

Taking senior management into confidence

for implementing the performance based
incentive for entire EMU hospitals. The
performance based incentives would
motivate employees to put extra effort and
get acknowledged. This would also help
employees in learning new technology and
gain knowledge.

Lack of Coordination between senior and Engaging a senior and a junior nurse in the
junior nurses
team would help a junior nurse in learning
process and also help a senior nurse
experience a new perspective to any issue.
Building Employee motivation level

High stress level and low employee morale

can be addressed by organising work-shops
and out bounds for team work. A routine
meeting can be planned to address the day
to day issues and remove any differences
between the employees if present.

Q4. Please device an action plan for Norris based on the Kotter 8 steps for change?

Answer: Following needs to be done in order to create critical changes:

1. Creating a sense of urgency
Since, EMUs revenue decreased sharply while cost continues to increase, this has created a
sense of urgency within the organisation. To deal with it the employees are made aware about
the need and urgency for change. Barbara conducted an offsite exercise to have a dialogue
with registered nurses and collect their feedback. This was an open, honest and convincing
dialogue. The employees needs to be convinced about the action plan. Barbara also discussed
the possible solutions.
2. Create a guiding coalition
The team work needs to be encouraged, the experience of senior nurses and innovative ideas
of junior nurses can go hand in hand. This can improve the overall efficiency and functioning
of the unit. Barbara suggested the plan for involving other nurses in decision making process,
this would help in building team and sharing the responsibility amongst each member of the

unit. Because of the open character, the groups can also function as a sounding board, which
enables an open communication.
3. Create a vision for change
Barbara has an objective of turning around the unit with respect to revenue. The focus should
be on maximizing the revenue and minimizing the cost. The cost cutting imposed by the
EMUs management can only be deal by improving overall internal functioning of the unit.
4. Communicate the vision
The offsite session helped Barbara in identifying the certain key issues prevalent within the
unit. Hence, it needs to be addressed. This can only be achieved by talking with the
employees at every chance she get to interact with them and by taking their opinions,
concerns and anxieties seriously.
5. Remove obstacles:
Certain obstacles like implementing performance based incentives, building motivation and
morale of employees and lack of coordination between senior and junior employees needs to
be addressed. The performance based incentive can be implemented by taking management in
confidence and realizing them the importance of such structure. Employees related issues can
be solved by employee engagement sessions.
6. Anchor the changes
Change does not come about by itself. The nurses and personal care assistants should be
motivated to anchor changes. The objective is to maximize overall revenue of the unit
without incurring any additional cost. All the employees must continue to support the
change. The regular evaluation and discussions about progress help consolidate the change.