Sally Besnick is a newly promoted charge nurse with a BSN degree. The nurses she supervises all have A.A. degrees in nursing, considered a lower level degree. This could make for strained relations between a charge nurse and those she supervises due to a sense of superiority. However, in this case it seems as if the opposite is occurring. Besnick appears to be acting overly permissive and non-directive, failing to provide the guidance and instruction necessary to maintain proper respect on the unit. As a result there is a great deal of dissatisfaction.. In order to correct this, one on one mentorship could be used to help Besnick develop the mental framework and skills needed to do the job properly, she could be demoted back to staff nurse, or she could be re-assigned to supervise other nurses. The best solution is to have a mentor work with Besnick to develop her sense of leadership and understanding of the hierarchy of leadership on the unit. She should then be assigned to supervise nurses she did not work with as a staff nurse.

To accomplish this, I would first get Besnicks and the floor nurses opinions of the problem. I would review the problem with Besnick and have several sessions with her weekly during which we discuss leadership techniques, her hesitancy to be directive, provide guidance and discipline as necessary and go over examples since the last session. It would also be important to determine the reasons for her own administrative work not being completed. I would help her develop a stronger leadership style helping her work through issues while developing new leadership skill. To measure improvements I would monitor absenteeism, measure moral regularly through short anonymous surveys and obtain Besnick’s self-ratings of her own performance in different areas. If the nurses she is working with have developed an attitude that decreases the chance of positive change, I would switch her teem assignment with another nurse so she would not already have a history with the nurses she was supervising.

Billy and Bobby, two patrons at the hospital cafeteria have complained numerous times to staff about the toaster not working properly. Although staff assured them they would talk to management nothing was done until the patrons met with the manage themselves. It appears the managers style is to only correct problems when brought directly to her by patrons. Otherwise, it appears that she may be letting staff take the consequences of unsolved problems. Staff seem to feel their role with customers is to provide them with high quality food items as well as properly working equipment, becoming frustrated when management won’t assist them in making that happen. When working in a cafeteria, customer satisfaction must go into performance improvement as this is the reason the cafeteria exists, to provide patrons with healthy options that they enjoy and are satisfied with. Any performance evaluations and plans for improvement must include this variable as a main indicator or service. Solutions to these types of problems could include a number of possibilities.

First, the manager could be required to be at the cafeteria at different times of the day when the greatest number of patrons are available wearing a manger nametag. That would make sure she was in touch with the problems directly. Second, complains brought to her attention could be recorded with date and time solved which could become part of her performance evaluation. Finally, customer satisfaction cards could be completed by patrons and copies addressed and sent directly to her making the problems seem more salient and increasing the likelihood she will be motivated to address them.