Abstract
Organizations have very complex structures and involve ongoing interactions between many departments and people. A strong and ethical leader is needed to maintain a thorough control of the communication and operations within the departments and secure their harmonious functioning. Capital Veterinarian Clinic (CVC) is facing a series of organizational problems that were inflicted by the insufficiency of its leadership and the lack of supervision.
As a result, many of the organization’s Senior Leaders have engaged in unethical practices and made the situation in the organization even more problematic. The present report provides a careful review of the situation outlined in the CVC case study and takes into consideration the additional data from the case study augmentation. The analysis offers a set of new recommendations and steps connected to the assessment conducted previously. The report offers a reevaluated perspective of the CVC situation with the new details included and the potential requirements for the future research and investigation of the situation.
Case Study Revisited: Capital Veterinarian Clinic
Organizational climate and culture are multifaceted concepts that include many different components. For the culture to function properly, it is critical that the organization’s communications and operations are well-structured and monitored regularly at the managerial level and by its leadership. Weak or incompetent leadership is likely to cause a variety of issues in different dimensions – organizational, ethical, cultural, and professional. This is exactly what is demonstrated by the situation in the case study of Capital Veterinarian Clinic whose Clinic Directors (both, former and the current one) have shown the inability to direct the departments appropriately, made mistakes, overlooked crises, and unethical practices. This report focuses on the analysis of the Capital Veterinarian Clinic case study, as well as its augmentation that provides additional information as to the development of the situation in that reviewed organization.
To be more precise, first of all, the report will present an overview of the situation in the Clinic along with the additional data and the analysis of the factors that could have contributed to it. Secondly, the relation between the previous concerns and the current circumstances will be discussed. Thirdly, different types of stakeholders involved in the situation will be identified alongside the approaches that could be employed to and address the issues. Moreover, the report will explain how the additional information provided in the case study augmentation impacts the overall situation and the perspective of its different dimensions. Finally, the recommendations as to the future investigation of the situation will be given including the qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection or investigative techniques required to learn more about the existing problems, approaches helping to find solutions to the present challenges, and actions needed to implement the recommendations.
Current Situation Including the Additional Information
Initially, in the first case study, it was noted that CVC faced a series of challenges related to the weak leadership of the former Clinic Director Dr. Rachel Silverstein who found it extremely overwhelming and emotionally exhausting to be in charge of the organization. Silverstein’s incompetent leadership caused many issues including the mismanagement of resources and their shortage, cultural and social conflicts between employees based on their different worldviews and backgrounds, and the increased employee turnover resulting in the loss of several valuable professionals. As a result, a new Clinic Director (Marissa Sandoval) was appointed and faced the need to resolve the existing organizational problems as soon as possible. The diversity of issues and the fact that they originated from several different dimensions complicate the challenges for Sandoval.
The model proposed by Burke and Litwin (1992) differentiates between the organizational factors grouping them into two primary categories – transactional and transformational. The issues in CVC include both types. The cultural clashes between employees, the disagreement as to policies regulating the supplies, and the overall lack of motivation of the employees fall under the transactional factors such as the individual needs and values of the workers, their motivation, and the existing systems and policies. At the same time, the weak leadership of the former Head Silverstein and the intimidating style of Supervisor of Veterinarian Technicians Florence Meyers, unclear mission and strategy, the diminished organizational performance, and the conflicts visible to the clients are the factors characterized as transformational (Burke & Litwin, 1992).
Moreover, when it comes to the additional information, the augmentation to the case study reveals that the Financial Officer (Aziz Al-Murjan), who previously had expressed his confidence about the fact that the resource shortages can be explained by the employees’ “borrowing” of the clinical supplies, turned out to be diverting funds from the clinic operations; the overall amount of funds stolen by Al-Murjan in this manner approximated 1.4 million dollars. As a result, the Financial Officer was arrested, and the news about his wrongful practices shook the clinic leading to new cultural and social conflicts among the remaining employees. Also, the current Clinic Director found herself unable to choose a style of leadership and management appropriate for the organization as many of her attempts to provide either soft or strict guidance proved to be unsuccessful.
Factors That Contributed to the Emerging Situation
A variety of gaps is present in the organizational culture and operations of the clinic that tends to produce an adverse effect on its performance and climate. First of all, many of the organization’s leaders struggle to fulfill their professional duties; for instance, Chung (Senior Staff Veterinarian) and the former Clinic Director Silverstein lack strength and charisma and thus let go of the control over their subordinates allowing unwanted situations in the workplace such as financial fraud, cultural and social conflicts, and lack of inclusion in a diverse environment. Moreover, the Supervisor of Veterinarian Technicians Meyers found herself under the pressure of the ineffective leadership from above and attempted to resolve the emerging conflicts and thus produced an even worse pressure on the employees causing the increase in turnover.
Al-Murjan felt the inefficiency of control over the resources and thus was able to steal the funds from the organization. The doctors and leaders also happened to be misinformed about the organizational policies as to the management of supplies and engaged in their use for the purposes unrelated to the operations of the clinic. The combination of all of these leadership errors eventually led to a decrease in organizational productivity. Regarding the problems of leadership in CVC, it is possible to mention that they are some of the paramount components in the establishment of productive communication between different levels of subordination in an organization (Janicijevic, 2010; Schmidt, 2012). Consequently, these factors can be named as the root cause of all of the existing problems in CVC.
Moreover, the clinic is a diverse organization with the staff members originating from a variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Besides, over the last few years, the range of diversity in CVC has increased significantly. As a result, there is a growing need for diversity management and inclusion practices. Initially, the clashing cultural views and values of the staff members led to the cancellation of the Christmas celebration that was replaced with a more modest party; further, it caused fights between the staff members of different cultural backgrounds, one of which was witnessed and reported by a client; finally, they resulted in the division in the organization based on the cultural identities after the arrest of Al-Murjan. All of these factors indicate the diminished job satisfaction of the staff members, the leaders, and managers of the organization. In turn, job satisfaction is known to produce a direct effect on the overall performance of the organization and its reputation (Latif et al., 2013).
Finally, employees’ job satisfaction is also strongly influenced by leadership behaviors (Tsai, 2011). Organizational leaders are seen as the carriers of the culture and thus need to work as the role-models showing the exemplar attitudes (Tsai, 2011). In CVC, the leaders demonstrate the lack of integrity and dedication to the organization – one of them had been stealing money from the organization for years, others abused their access to its medical supplies, and the Clinic Directors continuously showed the lack of control over the systems and practices and the incapability to provide firm guidance. In these circumstances, the employees are likely to continue losing their dedication to the organization, forming groups based on cultural differences, and eventually, may engage in fraud and wrongful practices due to the lost respect for the organizations and its weakening culture (Ash, 2016).
Relation of the Emerging Situation to the Previous Concerns
The emerging situation can be seen as the continuation of the previous concerns and problems in CVC. For example, the fact that some of the workers were engaged in the misuse of the medical supplies of the clinic is an indicator of the weak knowledge of the organizational policies or the insufficient communication of the existing regulations and ethics between the workers and the leaders. Also, the ineffective leadership of Silverstein was likely to result in Al-Murjan’s financial fraud practices since there was no supervision or control of his operations.
Also, the growing diversity in the staff composition, the elimination of the Christmas celebration tradition in CVC, and the open confrontations between the practitioners can be viewed as the root cause of the present division in the staff and the increasing tensions due to the attitudes emerging after Al-Murjan’s arrest. Namely, some of the staff members consider Al-Murjan’s distant relative Al-Shamri (Assistant Clinic Director) as his partner in crime based on the fact that the two men are not only related but also come from the Middle Eastern culture. If the issues of diversity and inclusion are not resolved in time, the cultural tensions and stereotyping in CVC may aggravate.
Stakeholders Affected by the New Situation
Starting from the bottom, the primary stakeholders of the emerging situation are the Financial Officer Al-Murjan, his subordinates, and his relative Al-Shamri. The former is arrested for financial fraud, and the latter is associated with the crime. Moreover, Al-Murjan’s subordinates are also emotionally affected by his wrongdoings and disappointed in their former leader whom they trusted. Also, one more stakeholder is the organization itself along with its current and former Directors Sandoval and Silverstein who are blamed for overlooking the frauds committed by Al-Murjan.
Due to the continuous nature of the crime of one of its top leaders, the clinic is likely to lose a significant portion of its reputation. If the organization has any investors, this situation will breach their trust and create the need for CVC to prove its honesty and transparency of its financial operations. Finally, one more group of stakeholders is represented by the entire staff of the clinic that is struggling to accept the changing face of the organization inflicted by its weak leadership and policies. Lastly, the clients of the organization represent a significant group of stakeholders passively participating in this situation as the finances of the clinic dictate the quality of its services and the ability of its practitioners to deliver different types of treatment.
Approaches to Work with the Stakeholders to Address the Problem
Formulating the approaches helping resolve the emerging situation via the work with the stakeholders, it is important to assess the internal organizational dynamics and mechanisms enforcing the decision-making process at different managerial levels (Bissel & Keim, 2008). In particular, CVC’s major struggle is its inability to establish an unrestricted flow of information allowing the effective communication of the attitudes and behaviors that are expected in the organization. It is noticeable that even though the environment in CVC is intended to enable initiative and cultivate change, none of these behaviors are observed due to the leaders’ inability to demonstrate the appropriate behaviors and motivate the employees to work on the creation of a more harmonious and well-organized environment instead of the fragmented and hostile one. The concepts of conflict mediation and problem-solving are absent from the organizational culture.
In that way, the leaders, managers and staff members are to undergo a series of training and coaching sessions preparing them to function effectively in the diverse workplace environment, understand the importance of inclusion of all the cultural groups, and be able to resolve their conflicts peacefully and productively working out the innovative practices suitable for their unique situations. In turn, the improvement of the employees’ and their managers’ understanding of the roles of transformational and ethical leadership will lead to the creation of the environment encouraging and stimulating lifelong learning and ongoing professional growth (Beer & Spector, 1993).
Impact the Additional Information May Have on the Team, Leadership Dynamics, Organizational Culture, Value, Ethics, Social and Cultural Diversity
The additional information impacts many organizational dimensions changing the perspective of them. For instance, the team of leaders and practitioners comes across as highly fragmented and begins to experience tensions and doubts that weaken the organizational culture. In turn, the latter appears as broken while some of its components such as ethics and values are undermined, mismanaged, and overlooked. The social and cultural diversity that used to be considered as the organization’s asset turns into its obstacle to further development and successful performance. The leadership dynamics are compromised by the absence of flexible guidance adjusted to the unique problems and issues of the organization.
Additional Information Needed to Fully Understand the New Situation
To understand the new situation fully, it is possible to conduct qualitative research in the form of a questionnaire assessing the workers’ concerns as to diversity and inclusion in the workplace, conflicts they face, and undesired situations. Moreover, the organization leaders’ capacities and compatibility with their jobs could be assessed with the help of the existing KPIs, specialized suitability tests, and the core competencies in their fields and specializations (Gabčanová, 2012). These assessments would help collect qualitative and quantitative data and evaluate whether or not the leaders match their positions. The leaders’ concerns and problems need to be assessed with the help of a third party (an impartial leadership expert) for a purpose to determine their strengths and weaknesses as the workplace superiors and managers. Moreover, additional qualitative research (interviews or closed-end questionnaires) could be implemented investigating the kind of leadership the employees expect from the top executives.
Recommendations or Approaches to Address the New Challenges
It is important to educate the leaders about the diverse and flexible leadership styles required in an organization such as CVC where the employees have different needs in terms of guidance and control. The education about leadership roles and initiative could also be beneficial for the employees who need to be able to resolve their conflicts autonomously, approach the issues critically, and demonstrate a high level of emotional maturity and intelligence (Nguen & Mohamed, 2011). Different assessment techniques such the employees’ feedback, self-assessment, self-rating, third party observations, monitoring, and tests could be employed for the purpose to improve the leaders’ knowledge of the sources of the current issues and the employees’ skills that require enhancement (Beer & Spector, 1993; Bissel & Keim, 2008). Additionally, a set of carefully selected KPIs is required to monitor the maintenance of the newly enhanced skills as the essential parts of the organizational culture of CVC (Gabčanová, 2012).
Steps Needed to Implement the New Recommendations
- An expert specialized in diversity and inclusion in the workplace needs to be hired for the work with the clinic’s employees and address their issues concerning the cultural clashes and stereotyping.
- The work of this expert with the employees will be organized in several sessions. More than one professional in this field may be required to mentor the individual workers facing the most significant challenges and help them learn how to resolve conflicts.
- The assessment of the employees’ current concerns related to the work of their leaders, cultural tensions, and unclear policies should be carried out in several separate sessions of data collection (using questionnaires and interviews) divided according to the researched problems.
- A series of coaching sessions for the organization’s leaders are to be implemented to educate the top executive about their roles and the ways to comply with the practices of workplace ethics, diversity and inclusion, conflict resolution, response to different challenges, and the development of their flexible leadership styles.
- A policy should be developed covering the regular audits of the clinic’s management of resources and the provision of quarterly financial reports.
- A clear regulation needs to be created as to the employees’ use of the medical supplies provided by the clinic. Also, it has to be effectively communicated to the worker at different levels using memos and announcements (both spoken and written). This regulation is to be added to the employees’ handbook as well.
References
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