Management Scenarios: Three Tricky Case Studies
Case #1: Scheduling
Amy, a registered dietitian recently promoted to director of Food and Nutrition, is trying to
make the kitchen schedule for next month. All day long, employees drop into her office to let
her know their needs and desires. A few employees can work only 3 or 4 days in a row,
because they get too tired otherwise. Most every employee has a shift preference. Some of
the employees already are asking to change their regular weekend off. Some of the
employees are requesting specific days of the week off. A couple of employees have stated
that they have child care issues, and that if they are scheduled on certain shifts or days, they
will need to leave in the middle of the day to get their children off the school bus or to find
them a place to stay after school.
After several hours of working on the schedule, Amy thinks that she is finished, and she
makes copies to distribute to all of the employees and then hangs another copy on the bulletin
board in the kitchen.
When she comes back later, she finds that employees have written all over the schedule—
switching shifts and days with each other, circling days that they do not think they can work,
and writing notes on the bottom of the schedule to each other. She also finds a number of
day-off requests in her mailbox and under her office door for days that the employees were
already scheduled to work. Worse yet, the employees are very disgruntled and come to her
saying things such as, “I told you that I cannot work on Tuesdays. Did you forget?” Amy has
no memory of several of these conversations.
What should Amy do to fix these issues?
Possible answers:
 Interviewing and time of hire: Amy should review her interviewing notes, and make sure
that all employees were told at the time of their interview and again at the time of hire that
the expectation is that they are available to work all days and all shifts, as well as
alternating weekends and holidays. In addition, Amy should have:
– Stated in clear terms that the schedule was likely to change as circumstances changed and
that flexibility was a requirement of the position
– Kept documentation that this information was provided in an official manner
– Had employees sign a statement during their orientation period stating that they were
provided with and understood this expectation
– Made a copy of the paperwork, if she had written proof that this was explained to the
employees, and disseminated it as a reminder
 Deadline for requests: In the future, Amy should give all employees ample time to turn in
requests by:
– Posting the deadlines and other requirements on a sign
– Verbally telling employees, several days in advance, when she plans to complete the
schedule
 Request sheets: Amy should design formal sheets for employees to use to request shift
changes, which should include the following procedures:
– Using a form that includes spaces for the dates of the request, what each employee’s
original shift was, and room for each employee to sign the agreement
– Not allowing employees to write on the schedule themselves
– Reviewing the request and making schedule changes—only after the director (Amy) has
reviewed the request, can she personally make the change on the schedule and let the
employee know if the request was approved
 Staff meeting: Amy should hold a staff meeting and make it clear that:
– She will try, even though she cannot guarantee, to meet as many of the requests as
possible
– Filling out a Request for Time Off Form does not mean that the employee will
automatically get that day off
 Paper trail: Amy should begin to keep logs of conversations that she has with individual
employees regarding scheduling issues:
– If an employee then fails to show up for work or continually states that they cannot work
certain shifts, Amy will have a paper trail of prior conversations
 Filing: Amy needs to make certain that she has a good organizational system for storing
employees’ Request for Time Off Forms, agreements to change shifts, etc
Case #2: Employee morale and dissatisfaction
Sean is the dietary supervisor. Recently he has found it difficult to get much work done at the
office, because whenever he is in the office, his employees come in and complain about each
other. When he offers to intervene, they ask him not to and state that his intervention will
only “make things worse.” He tries to take care of these issues by making broad statements
about behavior, but sometimes the employees know to whom the statements were directed,
and later come to him insisting that they need to know who said these things about them, so
that they can “handle it like adults.”
Sean is beginning to dread coming to work. He feels like his hands are tied and that unless he
stays in the kitchen to constantly watch everyone, things get out of control. His boss is
getting upset with him, because many of his large projects and reports are not completed in a
timely manner.
His employees appear to have low morale overall and make catty remarks to each other on a
regular basis. He also has found employees whispering to each other in the walk-in cooler
and other storage areas. Lately, he has heard several employees state, either directly or
indirectly, that he does nothing to change things in the kitchen.
What can Sean do to save this department?
Possible answers:
 Solution-driven department: Sean should hold a meeting and let employees know that
they are now employees of a solution-driven department, meaning that all employees,
whenever possible, should have possible solutions in mind before they come to him to
discuss a problem that they are facing; he should:
– Reiterate the importance of a nonretaliatory work environment, and explain what that
means to all employees
– Make it clear that if a problem is serious, it is necessary to address it—asking him to not
intervene is not fair to him or others
– Communicate that it is every employee’s responsibility to bring serious issues to
management’s attention
– Explain the chain of command
 Professionalism policy: Sean should consider writing a policy on professionalism and
disseminating it to all staff, making sure that all employees:
– Understand and sign this policy
– Know that whispering to another employee is considered a nonprofessional behavior,
which may result in disciplinary action
 Open-door hours: Sean should ask management if he can have specific open-door hours,
during which employees may come to talk to him, but that if his door is closed, it means
that no one can come into his office (barring an emergency)
 Logs: Sean needs to keep very careful logs about what employees are telling him about and
what he is seeing with his own eyes, carefully differentiating between what is hearsay and
what he has personally seen or heard
 Management OK: Sean simply cannot stay in the kitchen during all working hours, and
should consider asking management if the cooks could:
– Serve as the “leads” of their shifts
– Take some responsibility for making sure that the kitchen runs smoothly in his absence
(if this is not already the case)
Case #3: Job duties
Regina developed checklists for her employees several years ago, so they could track their
daily job duties. During orientation and times when work is slow in the kitchen, the
employees have to complete these checklists and submit them to her. Not everything is
accounted for on the checklists. It is Regina’s expectation that all employees will pitch in and
help during stressful times and special events, and that all employees will perform cleaning
duties and put stock away when they have time. Unfortunately, her employees are now
fighting about who has responsibility for getting these extra things done.
Regina knows that it is impossible to create checklists that account for every possible
situation that could arise in the kitchen. Sometimes the employees come to her, angrily
demanding that she clear up all of this confusion. The checklists say, “work on getting prep
done,” because Regina knows that assigning specific food products to prep would prove
impossible because of the wide variation in what patients order each day.
For the past 2 years, Regina has attempted to make teamwork the basis of everything in the
kitchen. Some of her employees seem to take this seriously, at least short term, while others
do not. Several employees have stated that they just come in “to do their job” and then they
“go home.” Lately, Regina has noticed that not only are employees not putting stock away
appropriately, but that they almost seem to try to make as much of a mess as they can. She is
finding pudding mixes in the cracker containers, frozen pancakes on the floor of the freezer,
etc.
What should Regina do about all of these issues?
Possible answers:
 Break work down by food product: Regina could consider breaking work down by
certain food products, such as:
– Salads and sandwiches
– Cold desserts and fruits
– Baked desserts, etc
– For example, only the employee in charge of all cold desserts and fruits would benefit by
getting the work done quickly
 Storage area mess: This system of assigning each person to a specific group of food
products also would help her to track who is making a mess in the storage area
 Restocking: Regina could come into the kitchen once a day to:
– Declare a 15-minute period to put stock away, at which time all of the employees would
go into the dry storage area, the cooler, or the freezer and put several boxes of food away
– Watch that people with medical restrictions do not lift more than they are allowed, but
that they still help to put away the lighter boxes
 Posting of tasks: Regina could designate a bulletin board or a dry erase board to list when
to complete special tasks during the day or week, and ask employees to:
– Make notes beneath her comments on what they have done
– Initial their progress
 Cleaning duties: Regina should develop a cleaning duties list, which would:
– Specify the day of the week and the specific position that is in charge of completing each
duty on the list
– Have room for employees to initial when they have completed their duty for the day
 Mandatory checklists: Regina might find it helpful to make it mandatory that all
employees complete their checklists again, but with these additions:
– An added space at the bottom for “other work done,” avoiding the term “extra”
 Surprise visits: If Regina does not currently spend much time in the kitchen, she may need
to make it a priority to occasionally make “surprise” visits through the kitchen, asking
employees:
– What they have done so far during the shift
– What they hope to accomplish for the rest of their shift
– Other pertinent questions
Review Date 4/14
G-0935