The Community Health Systems, Stress and Their Meanings - Research Paper Example

 Table of Contents Question 1) 3 Question 2) 6 References 8 Question 1) The Community Health Systems was facing a conflict with 2000 of its service staffs who worked in their three hospitals. The employees were not happy with the company’s projected offer for salary increases and benefit packages over the next four years and were threatening to strike unless the health system agreed to increase the salary and benefit packages to a satisfactory level and signed a contract with them by Friday. The employee union was represented by Jim Brentward; whereas Tim Hardwood, the CEO of Community Health Systems had chosen Mary Martin, who was the Vice President (VP) of the human resources department, to negotiate on the company’s behalf. The employees realized that the due to the prevalent condition of the industry where reimbursements were waning and regulations were mounting, the Community Health Systems was facing financial complexity; yet they were not satisfied with the offer the company had proposed and believed that they should be paid better compensation. Jim Brentward had said that they would conduct an informational picket on Thursday and after that they would decide depending on the strike vote by the group of employees. He had added that although the employees did not wish to strike there was a strong possibility of one if the company did not collaborate with them. Mary Martin, on the other side, found it hard to believe that the employees would go for a strike because if they did so, they would be paid only half the amount that they would have earned for a week. The 2000 employees involved were in the bottom end of the company’s pay scale, and hence Mary Martin was confident that due to monetary constraints the employees would not vote in favor of strike. Moreover, this group of employees included patient transporters, housekeeping and cafeteria workers, and the Community Health Systems was already thinking of outsourcing their dietary department to another firm, Thomson Healthcare Food Services; and hence even if the employees did go for a strike, the organisation could carry on their cafeteria services without interruption. Instead of reconciling the existing differences and trying to arrive at a consensus by agreement, both the sides were rigid in their stands and were not in a mood for negotiation. Generally, the outcome of a negotiation is reliant on the power relationship between the two sides. In this context, the employee union was not aware of the company’s plan to outsource their dietary requirements, and therefore might have considered themselves to be in a stronger position as their strike would interrupt the company’s services. Thus, the power relationship seems to be actually slightly tilted towards the company. However, what Mary might not have taken into account is that apart from the employees in the cafeteria segment, there were patient transporters and housekeeping staff also in the group, and the company had no back up for these services which could lead them into difficulty and chaos. As a mediator, one’s main task would be to win the trust and acceptance of the employee union and the company’s management, talk to them and find out the in-depth reasons of discontentment, the hurdles to a probable resolution and recognize the concerns in order of priority. The principle, "Seek first to understand, then to be understood," was pioneered by Steven Covey, in his book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Billikopf, 2009). If one persuades others to clarify their side initially, they will be more inclined to listen to one’s. Both the groups should be then convinced to resume the negotiation procedure with a fresh perspective, it would be advisable for both the parties to remember that theirs’ is a symbiotic relationship where one depends on the other and are mutually benefitted from each other. Another important principle introduced by ‘Roger Fisher and William Ury’ was that groups in disagreement ought to focus on their requirements and not on their positions. When the groups concentrate on positions, they are likely to emphasize on the differences, but when they focus on needs, they would find they have more in common than what they had thought (Billikopf, 2009). As a mediator, one should hence advice both the parties to reconsider their respective proposals keeping in mind the benefits and interests of both, the employees and the organisation. The company should understand the employees’ plea and if it is not financially viable to increase the monetary compensation, it can think of other ways to benefit them. The service employees should also recognize the company’s position and agree to reconsider their earlier demand. They can then put forward proposals and counter proposals till they zero down to a mutually acceptable proposal and sign the final settlement which would be acceptable to both the management of the company as well as the employees. Question 2) Stress is generally characterized from a ‘demand-perception-response’ viewpoint. The fundamental notion is that stress depends on both the persons’ perceptions of the demand being made from them and also on his individual perception of his potential to meet those demands. Any disparity between the two perceptions would lead to stress for the individual (McVicar, 2003). In this case, the management of Community Health Systems perceived that the demands made by the group of 2000 employees were not appropriate considering the financial state of the company and felt that they were not in a position to meet those demands. This mismatch and the panic of the disorder that might result if there was indeed a strike probably caused a lot of stress to the CEO Tim Hardwood, the VP (Human Resources) Mary Martin and the management. On the other side, the employees were not satisfied with the remuneration offered to them and were prepared to go on a strike, even though they knew that this would reduce their earnings to half. They felt that the company’s expectation that the employees would continue to work at the offered compensation was not justifiable. These employees were in the bottom-end of the health system’s pay scale, and therefore, low personal incomes and low levels of education also caused higher stress. This might have perhaps led to a lot of stress for the employees because they knew that going for a strike would be financially very tough for them. In order to mitigate the organisational stress, one has to include a planned approach towards its attainment. The situation has to be analyzed and assessed; the blueprint of an action plan has to be drawn, the chosen action plan has to be properly implemented and finally, it has to be evaluated in detail (Leka & Et. Al., 2003). A problem can generally lead to a lot of stress is an uncooperative organizational culture.  As a result of which, the employees within the organization may feel secluded and alone. The most excellent defense against such a circumstance is healthy communication. Managers as well as trade union representatives should be conscious of the culture of their organization and investigate it in relation to the management of organizational stress. If required they should consider culture change activities in order to improve the process of stress management. One can also lessen the stress by promoting a positive attitude in the organisation.  Every one should make sure that he or she offers positive input when confronted with problems, and encourage other members of the organization to do the same. A mentor can be appointed to hold workshops in order to help the people cope up and relief organisational stress. The mentor tries to understand each participant’s perspective; sets ground rules for improved healthy communication between the parties; trains participants on efficient communication styles; equalizing power; and in planning for future interface. References Billikopf, G., (2009). Conflict Management Skills. University of California. Retrieved Online on July 27, 2011 from http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/ucce50/ag-labor/7labor/13.htm Leka, S. & Et. Al., (2003). Work Organisation & Stress. Systematic Problem Approaches for Employers, Managers and Trade Union Representatives. Retrieved Online on July 27, 2011 from http://www.who.int/occupational_health/publications/en/oehstress.pdf McVicar, A., (2003). Workplace Stress In Nursing: A Literature Review. Integrative Literature Reviews And Meta-Analyses. Retrieved Online on July 27, 2011 from http://www.journalofadvancednursing.com/docs/0309-2402.2003.02853.x.pdf Read More