ADMG471 Assignment #5: case analysis using Quinn's 7 steps of Logical Incrementalism

Here's the situation. Everybody is under the same executive director.

There are three directors/administrators that report to the same

executive director. Everybody is in the same building, but the two

main service areas (medical and counseling) use two separate

reception/admissions areas that are connected. So yes, the two

different reception staffs are not currently cross-trained and use

different scheduling systems. Plus, the medical area charges for some

services and has a complex scheduling computer system, while the

counseling center never charges for services. Medical appointments are

commonly 15-20 minutes in length, while counseling sessions are 1 hr.

in length.

Two pages, double-spaced, minimum (7 points for thoroughness, and 3

points for writing style, formatting, and grammar.

Module #5 Case Scenario

One building houses both the Student Medical and Counseling Centers at

Central Washington University. Each center has a separate designated

admissions/welcome desk (and corresponding waiting areas), where

student patients/clients report for their appointments, schedule new

appointments, fill out paperwork, and ask for information on billing.

Both centers have separate entrances, with common hallways without

barriers between center areas. Therefore, students could use either

entrance to access both reception areas.

Historically (currently), the reception team at the Medical Center

desk (two staff) reported to the Medical Director (Medical Doctor),

while the team at the Counseling Center desk (two staff) reported to

the Director of Counseling (Licensed Psychologist).

Additionally, a billing specialist (who helps out with reception

duties during busy times) was also located in the medical reception

area. Both the billing specialist and a medical records specialist

(located in a different designated office suite) reported to the

Business Manager of the combined Health & Counseling Services. The

Business Manager also hired and supervised all student employees (10

+/-), who mostly worked at one or both of the respective center

reception desks. The Business Manager’s supervisor is the Senior

Director of Health & Counseling Services.

Therefore, the Medical Director, Director of Counseling, and the

Business Manager all report to the Senior Director of Health &

Counseling Services.

These four administrators compose the leadership team of the Health &

Counseling Services.

It became apparent that cross-training of receptionists would be

helpful during times of high student volume, unplanned staff absences

(illnesses), and vacations, where counseling and medical reception

staff could float between both desks to fill in and help with staffing

gaps. Additionally, coordination of training and supervision of the

respective staff, along with monitoring student staff, has proven

inconsistent and cumbersome, as the respective directors employ

different levels of accountability and concern for client

satisfaction, while “under the same roof.”.

Furthermore, evidence of competitiveness and disenchantment, between

the reception staff members, exists given the perceived workload

differences between the two reception areas (counseling appointments

are usually in one-hour increments, while medical appointments are in

10-15 minute increments).

Lastly, the counseling desk uses a very simple scheduling software

program (given they do not have any ancillary charges posted to

student accounts), while the medical desk is forced to use a very

complicated billing and scheduling system due to the need for

ancillary charges (X-rays, lab tests, medications) to be posted to

students’ CWU financial accounts. This system is a technologically

complex software program that interfaces with CWU’s PeopleSoft student

financial management package. This situation represents one of the

major cross-training issues.

You are the Senior Director of Student Health & Counseling Services.

This situation is “coming to a head,” as reception staffs are engaging

in infighting, while medical staff are forming allegiances with

“their” receptionists against the counseling staff and “their”

receptionists. You see a possible way to fix this situation.

You believe that the way to improve this situation is to reassign all

staff, with any reception, billing, or transcription duties (including

student staff), to the Business Manager who is risk tolerant to change

(who just so happens to have a BS in Business Education/ITAM). The

medical director and director of counseling are not as risk tolerant

to change as the business manager.

You’re getting ready to have an unofficial and off-the-record

discussion with the business manager to float the idea. But before you

do this, you want to review what you would need to do to make this

change, assuming the business manager agrees to the new

responsibilities. Furthermore, you have the legitimate positional

power to just make the change on your orders, but you want to take the

“long view” in exploring the implications of this change, and what it

would take to convince the reception people, and the three

administrators, of the “reasonableness of your ways.”

Therefore, you want to put together a little document to outline and

review the potential impact of your new proposed strategy.

Using Quinn’s seven factors, please prepare a document to predict,

uncover, and prepare for any and all eventualities related to these

seven factors. This includes getting clarification on questions where

you do not yet know the answers.

Use the “Summary of Quinn’s Seven Factors” document as an outline for

the order of the seven factors. Keep in mind that factor #6 could

include the reaction of employee’s union representing the

receptionists. Your perspective should be, what considerations and

information do I need to collect, uncover and contend with, related to

the impact of this decision and change process.

Feel free to use a bulleted format under each factor, double-spaced,

and a minimum of two full pages. If it helps you, feel free to

cross-reference the issues outlined within Quin’s seven factors with

Bolman & Deals’ Four Frames, as the seven factors fit into the four

frames quite nicely (especially the political and symbolic frames).

Lastly, read into this scenario. Contemplate what are the possible

resistances from the respective desk staff (e.g. Is there more

prestige in reporting to a medical doctor, vs. a business manager?).

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