Reference no: EM132281690

This is a case study here is the story below.

Nancy Doe and her Supervisor:

Nancy Doe is the Director of the Medical Data Services Department. She has found out this morning, at her regular monthly meeting with her supervisor, the Vice President for Support Services, that she will be responsible for a new Cancer Registry being formed in the hospital* The Vice President informs her that an ad hoc committee of the Executive Committee has been meeting for about four months to establish objectives and policies for the Cancer Registry. It was decided at the latest meeting that Medical Data Services should manage the documentation needs of the Registry.

"I'm happy to tell you, Nancy, that you won't have to take on this extra function alone. We've authorized another position for your department and you may begin to recruit for this position I believe it's called a Tumor Registrar? - as soon as possible. The ad hoc committee recommended that this person should be a high school graduate and that the pay grade should be 6." At this point the Vice President stood up, indicating the meeting was over. "If you have any questions, Nancy, we can discuss them at our next meeting. I have another appointment now, so I must get ready for that."

Nancy returns to her office, trying to sort out all the implications of having a Cancer Registry in her department. Her first thought is space and equipment Where will she find another desk and chair and the space to put them? Her second thought is that the qualifications and wages of the proposed position are too low her file clerks are a grade 6. It crosses her mind to call in her assistant director, Jennifer, to discuss how to handle all of this, but knowing from experience that Jennifer will have little to contribute, she hesitates. A telephone call interrupts her train of thought and she is soon plunged into her usual hectic day,

A week later, she calls her supervisor and begins by voicing her concerns about the need for a more qualified, higher-paid person to fill the position, "What should we have instead?" her supervisor asks. "I'm not sure yet," Nancy replies*

"Well, I'm sure you will be able to find a suitable person, but be sure to discuss the wage with me first. In the meantime, we have to talk about how quickly copies of transcribed reports are getting to the medical staff, The Chief of Staff was in here just this morning complaining about this. Perhaps you'd better explain to me what the process is from the time the physician dictates a report until a copy gets to his mailbox" By the time Nancy has done this, the Vice President must end their call.

Nancy calls a colleague at another hospital, who already has a tumor registrar in place. Her colleague gives Nancy advice about the credentials she should be looking for, and tells her the wage of her own Tumor Registrar.

Over the next week, Nancy places four phone calls to her supervisor. Twice she leaves messages when he cannot be reached, but he does not return her calls. On the two occasions when she does reach him, he immediately asks her how the problem with copies of dictated reports is going, listens to her answer, then hurriedly ends the conversation before she can tell him about her concerns regarding the tumor registrar. Finally, Nancy writes him a memo, outlining her list of questions (including those about space and equipment) and her concerns about the tumor registrar's qualifications and wage. Carefully outlining her arguments and problems, the memo ends up being four pages long.

Anxiously awaiting a reply, so that she can get on with hiring a tumor registrar, Nancy has waited a week when the Vice President calls her. "Nancy, I know you sent me a memo about the Cancer Registry, but my secretary seems to have lost it. Can you send me a copy?" Nancy discovers that she has already deleted the memo from her computer files, so she has to make a new one.

A week later, at their next regular meeting, the Vice President says to Nancy, "The Chief of Staff is complaining to me again about copies of dictated reports. Oh, and by the way, have you found a tumor registrar yet?"

Nancy replies, "Not yet!" and changes the subject back to the issue of the dictated reports.

These are the nine questions i need help with.

1. What is meant by an ad hoc committee?

2. What is the Executive Committee?

3. What qualifications would you look for when hiring a tumor registrar?

4. List six occasions in this case that demonstrate problems in communication. Number each problem.

5. Which problem do you consider contributes most to the other problems?

6. Give two management problems Nancy faces, other than a poor communication environment.

7. If you were Nancy, describe briefly four courses of action you could take now. Number each item.

8. Which one of your alternative courses of action would you do first? Describe it in greater detail and give a rationale for your decision.

9. If you were Nancy's supervisor, what three things could you do to improve your own communication style? Number each item,