[Resource and Operations Management]
[MG 6625 ]
[***Fall, 2003***]
Friday, 1-4:30 p.m.
CONWAY 003
Instructor: Kevin Costello
Work Phone: 816-404-2562
Pager: 816-717-2424
Email: Kevin.Costello@mcmed.org
Instructor: Michael Tansey
Cell Phone: 913-485-7550
Work Phone: 816-501-4007
Fax:
816-501-4693
Email: Michael.Tansey@rockhurst.edu
Office hours: by appointment only (Tansey will be on sabbatical). Call 913-485-7550
Text: Human Resources in Healthcare, Managing for Success, edited by Bruce J.
Fried and James A. Johnson
Text: Goldratt/Cox, The Goal.
Course Description:
Human resource and design issues are explored for small practices, non-profit
organizations, and large for-profit organizations. The course will revolve around human
resource issues as they pertain to the student at a personal/professional level, at a private
practice level, and at a health system level. We will emphasize that the understanding of
human resources is a responsibility of anyone who will be managing/directing the work
of others. The course will focus on strategic and systematic thinking about human
resources and will concentrate on ways to effectively implement HR practices within
private practices or healthcare systems.
Learning Objectives: Students should be able to…
 Use basic math skills to measure important quantities and make simple
projections in health care

Know the different employment laws and regulations that impact their human
resource decisions

Write employee performance reports and manage the career development of
others

Understand recruiting, retention, and succession planning strategies

Identify contemporary issues that pertain to HR in healthcare

Adapt HR policy to cross-cultural sensitivities in healthcare

Explain the components of compensation and benefits

Know the terminology and history of quality management programs as applied to
patient care

Understand the terminology, methods, and principles of production planning and
control

Assess performance of individuals and utilize appropriate coaching techniques to
improve performance

Create criteria useful in conducting performance appraisals fairly

Utilize corrective action techniques for individuals when appropriate

Understand the challenges in leading a multi-cultural work team
Course Structure: This course will be interactive. Students will be expected to come to
class having read the assigned chapters and apply that learning to the class discussion.
I. HOMEWORK #1 (10% of grade): Due Sep. 12, 2003***. This assignment tests
your ability to use and to find data. The first version will be turned in on the second day
of class. If you are not satisfied with the grade you receive you may turn a second copy
in as late as November 14 for up to half the number of points lost on the first assignment.
However, the paper will have to be completely redone and must achieve a 100% standard
in order to receive the additional points (in other words, work with the teacher to get it
right).
II. EXAM (40% of grade). Date of final is Nov 14, 2003.***: The exam is based on the
textbook, class lectures, class exercises, problem solving examples presented in class, and
handouts distributed from time to time in class. Exams and the final are open book. Bring a
calculator if you would like. Computers will be accessible. The material will cover human
resources, quality issues and math experience.
III.Homework #2- A Paper due Oct 17***. (50% of the grade):
Regardless of which option that you choose below, you should begin your paper with
what your subject is going to be about and how you are going to go about covering your
subject. Then you make your presentation. Then you have a conclusion that summarizes
the major points that you have made. The paper will concern the HR or resource function
of a practice or business. Clear, concise writing is expected. Choose from one of the
following two options:
1)
Write a 6-8 page position paper on the role of Human Resources or Quality
Management in your current rotation experience or work site. If you are not currently
empl.oyed then use a previous work experience that you have had. You will evaluate and
critique (strengths and weaknesses) the HR or purchasing functions, and use illustrations
from your experience at work. In your paper make use of the skills you have learned in
class and organize your presentation, using the vocabulary and the framework provided
by the textbook. For example if you are criticizing how your boss evaluated the
performance of employees, you would want to consult the chapter on performance
management and use the framework and vocabulary that Fried and Johnson use in that
chapter to organize your answer. You will be graded on how well your answer applies
the structure of the textbook. See Appendix I for an example and some typical critiques
that are made of papers.
2)
Prepare a description (6-8 pages written plus extra tables and diagrams as
needed), as if you were writing a business plan, of how you would set up a practice (or a
business) to ensure quality service (or production). Specifically describe the number of
people in your practice (business) by their specialty, salary schedule, benefit schedule,
role in the organization (organization chart), supervision, and production expectation. Set
out the standard operating procedures that your practice (business) would use in hiring,
dismissing, and retiring workers. Show within the financials of your business plan how
the human resources appear (make sure your description is consistent with the financials).
Invent and describe a significant HR event (eg. fraud by a worker, higher turnover of
personnel, expansion of the practice, etc.) and show the impact of that event on your
financials (in other words, show what the financials would look like if the event did not
happen and what they would look like if the event did happen). See Appendix II for a
sample of the papers.
GRADES: The following grades will be matched to weighted percentage scores on the
above graded assignments: A=90%+, B=70-89%, C=below 70%. These limits may be
adjusted downward but will not be adjusted upward. "+" and "-" may be awarded in
borderline cases.
POLICIES:
Make-up exams. Any makeup exams will be essay (therefore, not necessarily comparable to the
exam given in class) and will take into account the advantages of taking the exam later than the rest
of the class.
ON-Time Assignments. DUE BY ***1:00 p.m..*** IN CLASS: NO EXCEPTIONS
(HOMEWORK CAN BE TURNED IN EARLIER: 50% OFF IF LATER). The deadlines for
some assignments may be extended beyond what is shown in the syllabus. But such extensions
will be made before the deadline shown in this syllabus and can be done only with permission of
the professor. In-class experiments, simulations, and worksheets may not be made up.
Individual Effort. Exams, papers and homework will not be team efforts; they must be done
alone.
Attendance: As most of our classes are either technical and/or discussion based courses,
attendance is of great importance. Any absence may result in the professor requiring an
additional out-of-class project. Students who are absent during more than 10% of the
class, may have their final course grade reduced by at least one full letter. For example, if
the class meets 10 times, then only one absence is permitted. The only exceptions are
made for University (UHS or RU) sanctioned events, where your professor receives a
email from the sponsor.
Professionalism of Assignments: As most of us are preparing for a career in business
or other professional environment, I expect all assignments to be submitted as you
would submit them to a boss. Therefore, everything is to be very neat, stapled, typed,
not folded, etc. In other words, all assignments should reflect an aire of professionalism
that will be required in your career. I will lower the assignment by at least one letter
grade if not up to those standards.
Academic Honesty Policy: Students are expected to observe the University's policy on
academic honesty in all aspects of this course. Plagiarism (incorporating excerpts of
published works into documents or presentations without proper attribution of original
authors) and cheating (e.g., reliance upon unauthorized resources including, but not
limited to, professors, professionals and published materials and other students) are
serious breaches of ethics and professionalism in both academic and professional settings,
and as such have serious consequences. Page 236 of the 2002-2003 Rockhurst University
Catalog provides explicit examples of academic dishonesty. Pages 236-237 outline
procedures, penalties and due process accorded students involved in a form of academic
dishonesty.
ADA Statement: Rockhurst University is committed to providing reasonable
accommodations for students with disabilities. Please contact Sandy Waddell in Access
Services (Massman Hall, Room 7, 501.4689, sandy.waddell@rockhurst.edu) to provide
documentation and request accommodations. If the Access Office has already approved
accommodations, please communicate with the instructor(s) of this course regarding
these arrangements by the second week of class in order to coordinate receipt of services.
Regression Analysis Review for those desiring to resubmit homework #1. Click here.
Topical Outline
DATE
SUBJECT
Text Readings Class Events
Sep 5
Forecasting, Productivity, Inflation
1
Handouts Lab: C104
Sep 12
Recruitment/Hiring/Selection
2,5,6 Handouts Homework #1
Sep 19
Selection and interviewing
Handouts
Professor
Tansey
Costello
Costello
Sep 26
Oct 3
Oct 10
Legal Environment of Human
Resources, Diversity
Performance Management and Job
Coaching
Corrective Action and Termination
4,
14
7,15
Handouts
Costello
Handouts
Costello
9,10,
Handouts
Costello
12
Oct 17
Oct 24
Oct 31
Nov 7
Nov 13
Leading a Diverse Workforce
Total Quality Management:
Process Control, EXAM (example)
NO CLASS
Leadership Field Trip
Handouts
Handouts
Paper Due: Lab C104 Costello
Tansey
Finish The Goal
Tansey
Tansey
EXCEL INSTRUCTIONS
1. Turn on the computer by pushing on the lower button at the center of the panel with the crossed-zero
marking. You may also need to push the button to turn on the monitor (TV screen). If the computer has
not been logged in then log in. The computer should respond with a screen with many different “moniker”
symbols on the left hand side.
2. Double click the “EXCEL” symbol.
3. The computer responds by giving you a blank worksheet with toolbars across the top which contain little
pictures.
4.
Put your diskette into the slot (disk drive) on the computer. The top of the diskette should face to
the right when you put it in a vertical slot or should face upward if you have a horizontal slot. Don't jam it
in.
5. At the top left corner of your screen click "file".
Click “OPEN” in the new menu. In the “OPEN” menu that is presented, there is a little “Look in” box. Hit
the black arrow at the side of the box a new menu will appear.
Double Click on the “Isabel(R)” words
Wait for the courses to appear.
Double Click on “Ec3100”
6. There will be a set of files. Select the one which you are interested in or the file you have been asked
to find.
7. You can Print whatever file you have on your screen. Go back to the upper left "File" column on your
screen and:
Click the word, "File".
8. From the resulting menu
Click "Print".
A Print menu comes up. You can select how many copies and which pages you want to print. After
making a selection, Click "OK" at the bottom of that menu. Your results should come out
at the printer.
9. When you are done, go to the upper left hand corner and click the button with the minus sign.
10. If worst comes to worst you can always turn off the computer.
INSTRUCTIONS on getting PowerPoint Slides used in class
(C-2,C-16)
1. See step #1 above.
2. A new menu comes up with the different monikers.
Double click the “Power Point” symbol.
3. The computer responds by giving you a blank worksheet with toolbars across the top which contain little
pictures.
4.
Put your diskette into the slot (disk drive) on the computer. The top of the diskette should face to
the right when you put it in a vertical slot or should face upward if you have a horizontal slot. Don't jam it
in.
5. At the top left corner of your screen click "file".
Click “OPEN” in the new menu. In the “OPEN” menu that is presented, there is a little “Look in” box. Hit
the black arrow at the side of the box a new menu will appear.
Double Click on the “Isabel( R)” words
Wait for the courses to appear.
Double Click on “Ec3100”
6. There will be a set of files. Select the one which contains the chapter you are interested in or the file
you have been asked to find.
7. You can Print whatever file you have on your screen. Go back to the upper left "File" column on your
screen and:
Click the word, "File".
8. From the resulting menu
Click "Print".
A Print menu comes up. You can select how many copies you want per page and which slides you
want to print. After making a selection, Click "OK" at the bottom of that menu. Your
results should come out at the printer.
9. When you are done, go to the upper left hand corner and click the button with the minus sign.
10. If worst comes to worst you can always turn off the computer.
APPENDIX I. Critiques of the fist option for HOMEWORK
ASSIGNMENT #2
Sample (do not copy this! Use your own format):
[100% This is simiply fantastic. Can I use it as a model for future students? It incorporates what we have
learned with an appropriate degree of skepticism. I love it. ]
Tim Howard
MG 6625
July, 15, 2003
At the end of a very long and busy shift, on a cloudy rain-sprinkled night, my partner and I
responded to a priority 1, 911 call on the south side of town. The call was a routine, yet urgent, call for
abdominal pain. We arrived on scene to what appeared to be a typical routine call. Unfortunately, the call
was anything but routine, and after only four short minutes, my partner and I lay bleeding and beaten, near
death, in the street beside our ambulance. It was one of the longest nights of my life, and one that has just
recently come to an end. The details are many, and the story long, but what I learned about human resource
management that night, and in the years following, I will take with me forever.
In the following paper, a critique of the company human resource division that managed that
fateful night will be done. In doing so, five areas that seem to encompass the company’s approach to their
employees will be discussed. First, an outline of the hiring process at American Ambulance will be given.
The criteria for determining job fit were essential to the company’s success in hiring outstanding field
employees.
Next, a discussion of the working atmosphere created by the management team at the company
will be presented. The underlying philosophy of the upper management turned out to be very different
from that that was laid out to the employees when they were recruited or hired on.
Much of this philosophy was probably the result of the third topic of discussion, which will focus
on looking at a management verse coaching approach that was taken towards employees at all levels of the
company structure. In this case, coaching of employees was never considered and management rule by
authority was the norm.
Why the company chose to adopt a management vs. coaching approach was probably due to lack
of proper use of a performance planning cycle. In the next section, what actually occurred will be
illustrated in an attempt to point out, in this case, the failure of the process.
Finally, in what became one of the greatest morale damagers for the company, documentation of
employee behaviors will be discussed. The five “Cs” of documentation will be commented on, both on
what the company did effectively and on what they managed so poorly.
In closing, I will give some personal insights on what this experience will mean to me in the future
when I open my own business. Though it was a difficult event to process in my life, the outcome taught me
things that will forever be valuable when I, one day, set up my own practice and take people’s lives into my
hands, both as staff and as patients.
The selection process at American Ambulance is one of their finer points. The evidence of this is
the quality of the employee working in the field. Both the Paramedics and the EMTs that were hired were
of the highest quality. To get these employees, a rigorous screening process was undertaken in order to
insure that there was a good initial fit. The first hurdle was a written test to determine whether the
candidate had the proper knowledge to work on an ambulance. A certificate or a license was also required
depending on whether they were attempting to get a job as an EMT or a Paramedic, respectively. The top
10 candidates on the written testing were selected for interviews. The interview process was a two-fold
procedure. First, there was a skills assessment. The second part was a panel interview. Aside from
standard interview questions, there were also a mixture of behavioral questions and theoretical scenario
questions. The behavioral questions were not complete SARs (Situation-Action-Response), however.
While the interviewer did ask for the situation and the action taken by the candidate, they did not ask about
the result of the action taken. While the theoretical questions were designed to determine whether the
candidate could make a decision, the questions still would have been better off asked from a behavioral
standpoint. If the candidate passed this portion of the hiring process, they then had to take and pass a
physical agility test, a medical physical, a drug screen, and a DMV printout check. If all these things
worked out, the person was offered a position at the company. Except for some of the interview question
types, the hiring process was probably the strength of the company. Past this, much of the rest was
downhill.
One of the reasons that things went downhill after the hiring process was the atmosphere that the
management at the company created. That atmosphere was one of near tyranny. In order for an EMT to be
checked off to work in the metro area, they had to go through a training period with a field training officer
(FTO). None of the FTOs really had any formal training in teaching. Instead, they adopted the attitude of
upper management, which was to criticize and micromanage. Each mistake made drew more scrutiny and
greater pressure. New hire Paramedics were evaluated even more closely. Style and personality
differences became focal points for unrest instead of clinical ability. This atmosphere trickled down from
the top. Robert Greenleaf stated (Kevin, class 7/8/03) that the manager’s job is the serve people, the idea
being that the staff were also customers. This idea suggests that the management was there to support the
employees. In a business where anything can happen, management support is essential. In the atmosphere
at American Ambulance, the opposite was true. Management support rarely came, and the motto of “the
customer is always right” was taken to the extreme. Even if the customer did not state the truth, the
employees were often punished and written up for damaging the image of the company. To know that you
could do your best for the company, have something go wrong with a patient or family interaction, and then
have the company turn its back on the employee, was far too common.
The atmosphere create at American Ambulance was created by a rigid and dictatorial management
team. Instead of using the fundamentals of coaching leadership, a harsh micromanaging approach to the
business occurred. The problem with this approach is that, at least at the Paramedic level, they were
dealing with well-trained individuals. A supportive coaching role would have produced incredible results
including less burnout resulting in sick days, better patient care and fewer complaints, better turn around
times, better report writing, and less CQI production. By identifying the preferred outcome, conveying the
importance of the employee to the company, removing barriers to effective work effort, laying out
structured plans for improving weak areas (without undo criticism), creating an atmosphere of enthusiasm,
and giving positive feedback on a regular basis, the management team could have gotten the employees to
buy-in to the overall company plan. By taking a purely managerial approach, they instilled a sense of
anger, frustration, doubt, suspicion, and rebellion. In doing so, they created less productive employees and
created large turn-over. This is, of course, bad business.
One reason why there seemed to be a breakdown in effective management was that the company
did not appear to be using a performance planning cycle. In the first step of this cycle, expectations are set.
These expectations are supposed to be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound. By
effectively creating expectations under these guidelines, an employee would have been able to take more
personal responsibility for their performance, knowing that feedback would be available as well as help, if
necessary. At American Ambulance, the expectations of the employee were generally unclear, measurable
mainly by subjective measures, rarely attainable without compromising patient care, and usually not
relevant to the job. One positive note was that time constraints were pretty well defined in the
expectations. The problem was, without the other 4 variables coming in line, time became the enemy.
Ongoing tracking of performance did occur, but feedback only came when mistakes were made or
someone made a complaint. Even if the complaint was not valid, the management usually refused to accept
the employee version of the story. Feedback then became a written memo in their personal file. Instead of
using performance tracking and feedback for learning, and to create good employees, the system was used
in an almost “big brother” fashion. All mistakes were magnified and creativity among employees was
squashed; with it went the enthusiasm for the job. Progress reviews were performed in the form of twice
yearly evaluations. This usually occurred by a peer review structure known as “evaluators”. Because of
the pressure for perfection put on the evaluators by management, few people wanted this position. As a
result, there were never enough evaluators to do the job for all of the field employees. It was, therefore, not
uncommon for a Paramedic to go nearly a year without a review and for the EMTs to go literally years
without being reviewed. Since yearly merit raises of up to 5% were based on these reviews, even the most
basic reward system was lacking. At all three stages of the performance planning cycle there were some
gapping holes. This lack of structure contributed to management inefficiency and low employee morale.
The greatest morale breaker was probably the second best thing the company managed to do:
documentation. Both with documenting employee incidents, and in assessing efficiency of patient
documentation, the company was always on top of it. All patient documentation was written up
immediately after a call, and no later than 24 hours after a call (should there be extenuating circumstances
for not getting it done immediately). All documents went through a rigorous three tier evaluation for
efficiency, accuracy, and billing information. The problem was a great many of the flagged patient run
forms were flagged for billing problems. With any conflict on scene of a call, the run sheet was the first
document pulled.
In terms of documentation of employee behavior, the company managed to succeed in
accomplishing three of the five “Cs” of documentation. The document was usually always
contemporaneous. There was never a lack of delay in getting the incident documented in the employee file.
The document was usually complete, at least from the management’s point of view. It was also fairly
concise and went right to the point of what the manager wanted to say. However, the great majority of the
documents in a person’s file were negative behavioral documents. Positive behaviors were rarely
documented and were even not filed if they were present. They managed to never make their way out of
the supervisor’s in-box and often found their way into the round file after enough time had gone by. In
addition to this, often times the document was not technically correct. What this means is that the
document usually only had one side of the story, so not all the facts were present in a disciplinary letter.
Employees were allowed to respond to an investigation over some alleged complaint, but the response was
rarely, if ever, factored into the disciplinary letter or case file. In this way, the company was able to
compile large files to hold in reserve against the employee should the need to terminate ever come into
play.
The final “C”, consistency, did not apply at American Ambulance. What one employee was
written up for, other employees were not. If a newer employee showed up to work more than 10 minutes
late for any reason, a letter was put into their file. Older “veterans” of the company could show up late and
nothing would happen. If an employee called in sick, a letter was put into their file. If someone called in
sick too many times, it was held against them, even if they had adequate sick time on the books to cover it.
Complaints from the public were also handled with a lack of consistency. In a write up, it seemed to be
who you were, and not what the truth actually was, that determined whether another negative document
appeared in an employee’s file or not. This documentation system created an environment where field
employees were always looking over their shoulder waiting for the other shoe to fall. It created fear and
unrest, as well as a sense of disharmony among employees. The sense of injustice ran high at American
Ambulance. This too, was a cause for higher turn-over than would have otherwise existed.
These five areas, the hiring selection process, the atmosphere created by management, the coachless leading philosophy, lack of an effective performance planning cycle, and inappropriate and
inconsistent use of documentation and documentation screening created a toxic work environment at
American Ambulance. The difficulty in seeing the dysfunction is that it did not come out until the
employee found themselves in some sort of high profile situation. You see, the company was all about
exterior image. As long as the public, and the governing county agency, saw American as functioning
effectively, all was well. If any situation arose to tarnish the image, regardless of where the truth of the
matter lay, the employee involved was blacklisted. More than two incidents were enough to establish a
mountain of paperwork that could then be used to terminate the individual. And this is where my story
comes to light. On that fateful Friday night, five years ago, my partner and I came into the spotlight at the
company. We had done nothing wrong. We had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. But what
our beating represented to the management was enough to turn them against us. Instead of dealing with the
inadequacies of the current system in regards to safety and dispatch protocols, it was easier to target the
employees. After the beating, two model employees suddenly found themselves constantly under the
microscope. Events that would have been dismissed if it had involved other employees were blown way
out of proportion and documented. I later found out that, even though the State of California believed our
story enough to send a man to prison for the rest of his life, the County EMS agency, based on
documentation from American Ambulance, believed we were responsible for bringing upon the beating.
Of course, none of this was true, but none-the-less, the damage was done. Whether it was because of the
tarnished image, the threat of a lawsuit, or the added worker’s comp expense we were now targeted for
removal. For another three years, we endured that process, fighting for our integrity every step of the way.
And in those three years, I learned some of the most valuable lessons I have ever had the benefit of
learning. I learned what I will not be about when it comes to conducting human resource management
when I open a practice. Oftentimes, no matter how difficult a life event, you can learn more from the
painful and negative experiences than all the positive ones put together. I learned that in the health care
field, your employees are your business. They are your most precious resource and should be honored and
respected as such. In order to insure that I do this, I will create an atmosphere of enthusiasm and ownership
in my business. I will serve my employees. I will move quickly from a management standpoint to a
coaching philosophy in bringing new hires along. I will implement and effectively use a performance
planning cycle. And I will use documentation for both disciplinary measures and to recognize the
accomplishments of my staff. Most of all, I will never forget that as a physician, I have two client groups:
my patients and my staff. And I will never forget to show dignity, honor, and respect to everyone who
walks through my door, no matter what side of the counter they stand on.
Here’s a good starting paragraph:
The purpose of this paper is to critique the HR practices of my former employer,… . This paper will also
look at three areas of solid HR practices within the organization and elaborate on why they are strengths.
In establishing this critique, I will cite examples from Mr. Kevin Costello’s lectures. I will also bring
personal experiences to illustrate these points. [Good starting paragraph!!!]
Sample grading of papers:
“As many other human resources departments, the human resources department at [HOSPITAL]
also shared some weaknesses. [HOSPITAL] is located in an area with low-income population. Therefore,
Medicaid supported high percentage of patient population at [HOSPITAL]. As a result the amount of funds
that were available for its employees were very limited. While many other organizations were able to lure
nurses toward their organization with financial incentives, [HOSPITAL] was not capable of providing such
compensations. In my opinion, this was a weakness at human resources part because the department itself
should have raised the issue in front of hospital’s board to set more money aside to provide financial
incentives for nurses and other staff members.” [ Your approach here is disjointed and could take advantage
of a systematic statement of compensation goals (eg. P. 173 in the text).]
[84%You have an interesting story to tell that directly focuses on Costello’s information on
interviewing processes. Can you tell us anything more about the types of questions that were asked in the
interviews- eg. Behavioral questions- or was it just a matter of unskilled interviewers and poorly thought
out processes. At least some of the information you provide suggests an unresponsive management as well.
You need to use the concepts you learn. Also try to state where you are going, go there, and then
summarize where you have been]
[85% This HR course has given you a vocabulary and a way of systematically organizing your
approach to HR issues. Some of the major areas that you have spent your time on are recruitment and
selection, performance management, and continuous quality improvement. But none of these words or the
outlined approaches they involve are used. You are simply not using the material of the textbook, nor very
much from the course. But if you used those frameworks you would be able to translate your very
insightful experiences into an easily understood form for business people to understand. If you read your
paper carefully, you are throwing some terminology like “cost effectiveness”, “conflict resolution”, etc.
around with no regard to their exact meanings or frameworks for use. If you master the HR lingo it will
actually simplify your discussion. ]
[87% You are not using the perspective taught in the course. Business people want to hear certain
buzz words- such as “employee ownership” and “performance management” which involves “coaching”
and “feedback”. Use these terms to organize your story so that others can shake their head and understand
where you are coming from. Good starting paragraph.]
[90% While you have a very well organized essay, you could use some of the materials provided
in the course to give you a checklist of considerations (see below) for compensation and other issues of
employee welfare. In some areas such as performance management you are unclear. There is a distance to
your description of what goes on which I can’t quite put my finger on- perhaps an unwillingness to divulge
your personal experiences with the system?]
[95% Your first paragraph is on a much broader subject than you in fact cover. Try to tailor the
beginning more modestly to reflect what you are actually going to cover. Then you cover it. At the end
you summarize it. Your style is more of a diarist who reaches out occasionally to the course material
instead of providing an essay that systematically uses the course material (eg. Page 173 on compensation)
to organize your approach to the issue at end. Other than these two comments you have written an
excellent paper and have well integrated the course material.]
[99% AT first you lose the reader by starting with an experience in the middle of nowhere. It is
only after you finish that experience that the reader learns that you are in control of the material and have a
firm outline in mind. Why not tell the reader where you are going to go and at least have an outline that
says the order in which you are going to go.
You make very good use of the textbook in borrowing its criteria for customer focus and good HR
practices. I would not agree that XYZ is cost effective- they are (1) paying higher wages than others and
(2) hiring anyone as a result of their unwillingness to manage workload appropriately. By overburdening
people and tolerating mediocre performance, they push the good people out, raise turnover rates, and are
head hostage by the mediocre people. They are lucky (and take advantage of the fact) that nursing home
patients have no recourse to complain about the treatment they get.
They continually seem surprised (which means they refuse to take action) about the burdens that
turnover throws on those people who come to work.]
Appendix 2. Example of the second option for Hwk 2.
Sample (do not copy this! Use your own format)
[99% You have done a terrific job on this assignment. Couldn’t ask for more. ]
A Business Plan for:
SANTA FE ORTHOPAEDICS
[NAME]
Founder, CEO, Chief Surgeon
Santa Fe Orthopaedics is a privately owned clinic specializing in sports medicine and general
orthopaedics. SFO has a surgical contract with St. Vincent Hospital in Santa Fe and serves all of northern
New Mexico and southern Colorado. In addition to the main clinic in Santa Fe, SFO has clinics in
Farmington, NM and Taos, NM.
SFO consists of three orthopaedic surgeons, two physician assistants, and one radiology
technician. In addition to the medical staff, SFO employs one full-time and two part-time office managers.
The founder and owner of SFO will perform the duties of CEO and chief surgeon. The organization of the
clinic will be as follows:
CEO/CHIEF
SURGEON
SURGEON 2 & 3
FT OFFICE
MANAGER
PHYSICIAN
ASSISTANTS
PT OFFICE
MANAGERS
RADIOLOGY
TECHNICIAN
Surgeries are performed in the mornings five days a week and patients are seen in the Santa Fe
clinic five days a week as well as twice a week in Farmington and Taos. Based on area research SFO
predicts to have a patient base of 3000 with an average of almost 1.42 surgical and non-surgical procedures
per patient. The predicted total of 4250 procedures per year will consist of 500 surgeries and 3750 nonsurgical procedures.
Salaries and Benefits:
The salary schedule is based on predicted total revenue and will be broken down as follows:
 Surgeons will receive fifty percent of the total collected from services they performed.
 Physician assistants will receive a competitive salary based on the average salary of P.A.s in New
Mexico and Colorado.
 Radiology technicians will receive a competitive salary based on the average salary of radiology
technicians in New Mexico and Colorado.
 Full-time and part-time office managers will receive a competitive hourly rate based on average
hourly rates of similar positions found in New Mexico and Colorado. (See Figure 1. for 2002
wages)
The benefits for SFO employees include:
 Full health and dental insurance
 Health and dental plans for families
 401k retirement plan
Human Resources
The Human Resources team at SFO will be made up of the CEO, all surgeons on staff, and the full
time office manager. The HR team will be in charge of all decisions involving hiring, performance
management, dismissals, and retiring. The hiring process will begin with the opening of a position or the
approval of a new position by the HR team. Once the need for hiring has been recognized the following
steps will be taken:
 Posting of job
 Acceptance of applications, résumés, and curriculum vitaes
 Phone interviews to guarantee eligibility and minimum requirements
 Call ins
 Interviews performed by HR team
 Data review
 Selection and notification
The final step, selection, will be performed by approval of the hired by a majority of HR team members. In
the event final approval cannot be made by a majority of the team, the CEO is responsible for selection.
Human resources will also be responsible for performance management. Performance will be
based on fulfillment of established expectations for each position and response to coaching and feedback.
The expectations will be based on the SFO mission statement and set by the CEO with help from the HR
team. Expectations will be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound. Expectations will
also include the rules of conduct for safety and ethical health practices. Performance tracking and feedback
will be ongoing processes. Semi-annually the SFO employees will confidentially and anonymously fill out
electronic performance evaluations for the entire staff, including themselves. The CEO will also send out
an evaluation of each employee. The HR team will then discuss all the anonymous evaluations to
determine if expectations are being met and to summarize feedback to be returned to employees. Feedback
and performance ratings will be sent back to the employee electronically.
The CEO will only dismiss employees after violating rules of conduct or failing to attempt
improvement to fulfill expectations. If employees continually do not meet expectations they will receive
constructive criticism and notified that it had been documented that they are failing to meet expectations.
Employees that have been documented will receive two evaluation periods to improve. Following the
second evaluation period, if no improvement has been made, the employee will be notified that they are to
be released in one month. Any employee who breaks the rules of conduct will be immediately dismissed.
HR Event
Last year, one of the part-time employees who worked at the clinic in Taos began stealing
supplies. It was noted in June and July’s financial statements that supplies were disappearing and could not
be accounted for. Further research discovered that supply expenses had been increasing since the previous
December without a corresponding increase in patient visits. The CEO proceeded to take a strict inventory
over the next two months and approached the office manager of the Taos clinic about the disappearing
supplies. The office manager immediately confessed to stealing the supplies and was dismissed on the
spot. The HR department immediately began the hiring process and a new office manager for the Taos
clinic was hired three weeks later. The turnover cost and cost of supplies totaled $30,000 (see income
statements).
SANTA FE ORTHOPAEDICS
INCOME STATEMENT 12/31/2001
Patient payments
1,236
3rd party payments
2,201
Total Revenues
3,437
Wage Expense
Rent
Insurance expense
Loan repayment
Human Resources
Supplies
Bad Debts
Depreciation on equipment
Total Costs
Net income before taxes
(650)
(25)
(70)
(20)
(10)
(45)
(5)
(15)
(840)
2,597
SANTA FE ORTHOPAEDICS
INCOME STATEMENT 12/31/2002
Patient payments
1,236
3rd party payments
2,201
Total Revenues
3,437
Wage Expense
Rent
Insurance expense
Loan repayment
Human Resources
Supplies
Bad Debts
Depreciation on equipment
Total Costs
Net income before taxes
(870)
2,567
(650)
(25)
(70)
(20)
(34)
(51)
(5)
(15)
Figure 1.
Surgeons
Physician Assistants
Radiology Tech.
Office Manager (FT)
Office Managers (PT)
Total
SFO Wages for 2002
Non-surgical Surgical
procedures
Procedures Hours/Yr
1250
167
Wages
Earned
50% 575500
salaried
70,000
salaried
40000
1750 $20/hr
35000
800 $20/hr
16000
736500
Rate