Barbara Norris Case Study Case

1. How well has Barbara Norris done in her first month as Nurse Manager of the GSU? Was she a good choice for the position?
Ans. Barbara Norris comes from a background of nursing professionals as her grandmother as well as mother were nurses. Hence she had developed a deep respect for the profession. When she joined General Surgery Unit (GSU) at EMU, she knew she had a tough job ahead managing the employees, considering they were short staffed, with hiring freezed and employee satisfaction at all time low.
 Beginning an off-site for the staff was a key step by Barbara to tackle the above issues. It provided an open forum for discussion of issues which were previously ignored.
 She also maintained anonymity w.r.t grievances raised by employees in the meeting which motivated the employees to jot down every issue without any fear whatsoever.
 Also, her approach in solving the above

Obstacle 1: Resistivity to change As the working environment at GSU is very hostile with many nurses working for GSU for decades, it wouldn’t be easier to implement any kind of Organization Change Management. Barbara would need to make a healthy and collaborative work environment by
 Holding regular short meetings to tackle issues
 Making the employees work together rather than individual
 Assignments allocated bases on competencies and skill sets
Obstacle 2: Changes to Performance Review System Fair and transparent review system should be put in place to increase employee satisfaction levels. Since Barbara didn’t have the authority to do so, this should be forwarded as strong recommendation by Barbara in turning around the unit. The suggested changes to the current system should be
 Appraisals (Compensation Increment) linked to performance review system
 Appropriate recognition/acknowledgment in terms of monetary benefits for external achievements
 Proper documentation and maintenance of annual performance review reports.

Obstacle 3: Manpower