What are the challenges that you have encounter in implementing the decision making in the case?

CASE

It had been a long week and it was only Tuesday. At 2:30 p.m. on a Tuesday afternoon in Prairie City, a small town located in a rural area in the upper Midwest, all indications were that this was going to be a difficult week. Ann Smith, the new clinic administrator for Prairie Health Services, had just finished taking her third call from a frustrated patient and each of the calls was related to Prairie Health Services’ multiple billings. What the patients did not understand was that Prairie Health Services had four divisions: hospital, clinics, nursing home and nursing service. Although they were housed together, each division functioned independently and had separate billing processes.

Over the years, Prairie Health Services had grown from a small county-owned hospital to an organization that provided a broad range of services, operating a community clinic and a satellite clinic, a nursing home, and a home healthcare agency in addition to the hospital. It was that growth and the comprehensive range of services that had first attracted Ann to the position of clinic administrator.

When Ann accepted her position two months ago, the CEO and chairman of the board had charged her with reducing clinic losses. As a result, when she was not fielding calls from frustrated patients, she spent much of her time working on reducing the time from providing service to receiving payment for service,reducing bad debt and increasing cash flow. She was also beginning to realize that the multiple billing issue was just one aspect of the problems faced by Prairie Health Services and one of many reasons that monthly financial reports continued to show losses.

Ann decided to raise the issue of multiple billing the following day at the monthly administrators’ meeting.At that meeting, she learned that the other division administrators (Nick Hamm, nursing home administrator; Bonnie Little, nursing services director; and Carl Nord, CEO and hospital administrator) had also been receiving patient complaints about multiple bills. During the course of their discussion, Ann learned that Nick, Bonnie, and Carl were also extremely concerned about the continued viability of their Prairie County-owned healthcare facility, which had been bleeding financially for some time.

The division administrators and their staff knew that the information technology environment at Prairie Health Services provided basic system functionality at best, and was outdated at worst. The software packages used by each of the four divisions were entirely separate from the software used by other divisions, and any data transfer from one system to another had to be accomplished manually. Each division was required to enter all the patient demographic and insurance information. This was not only inefficient; it resulted in duplication of effort and in creased the likelihood of inaccurate information due to clerical error. It was also inconvenient for those patients who were seen on the same day by two or more divisions. They were required to repeat their demographic and insurance information two, three, or even four times in a single day. Ultimately, lack of integrated technology was one of the primary reasons that Prairie Health Services was incurring large losses.

Ann, Nick, and Bonnie wanted to integrate and update their information technology with a software package that had the capability to link all four divisions in order to increase efficiency and timeliness, and ultimately to reduce financial losses. Carl agreed to present the administrators’ concerns to the board of directors and propose a capital expenditure for a new software system. The board of directors was supportive of this capital investment because board members had also received complaints from patients regarding the multiple bills.

EGOS AND COUNTY POLITICS COLLIDE

The political nature of the organization’s governance added yet another layer of complexity for administrators. The board of directors of Prairie Health Services was comprised of the five elected Prairie County commissioners and two board-appointed community members — most of them small farmers or small businessmen whose families had lived in the county for generations. Their intentions were good, butt hey had little formal business background and were ill equipped to oversee what had become a complex,comprehensive healthcare system. Although Carl was the CEO, he was not originally from Prairie County,and members of the board often bypassed him to speak with Nick or Bonnie,who had both grown up in local communities.

It had not taken Ann long to see that the relationship between Carl and the division administrators was strained. The fact that board members sidestepped Carl in their efforts to understand the financial issues of their healthcare system left Carl feeling angry and in secure. He perceived this as a subversion of the chain of command and forbade Nick, Bonnie and now Ann from talking with board members unless he was present. In fact, while Nick, Bonnie and Ann were expected to attend all board meetings, they kept their opinions to themselves, allowing Carl to speak about anything related to Prairie Health Services. In spite of his insecurity, Carl was politically astute and skilled at verbal manipulation. This meant that his presentations to the board were not always entirely forthright. It also meant that Ann, Nick and Bonnie faced ethical challenges. By keeping silent, they gave tacit approval to Carl’s questionable behavior, but they were too intimidated by him to speak out.

CARL’S POWERS OF PERSUASION

The process of searching for potential software vendors was complex, and despite the fact that he was the CEO and hospital administrator, Carl declined to participate in the process. His explanation was that he did not understand information technology. Instead, he asked that Ann, Nick and Bonnie gather all the necessary preliminary data and make recommendations to him. After several months of research, the administrative team determined that five software companies had products with the capabilities to integrate the four Prairie Health Services divisions. Representatives of these software companies each came to Prairie City for two days to demonstrate their software to the administrators and support staff. Carl was absent from the demonstrations, but met privately with representatives from each of the firms. Most of these meetings were held in his office to discuss the costs and implementation process associated with purchasing particular software pack ages. However, the representatives for Southern Healthcare Software also entertained Carl at private dinner meetings at a local upscale dinner club.

Following the interviews and demonstrations, Ann, Nick and Bonnie determined that two vendors (Pine and Prairie Software, headquartered in the same state as Prairie County, and Southern Healthcare Software, headquartered in a Gulf Coast state) had appropriate integrated software packages that were also in line with what the organization could afford to pay. While neither package met all the specifications of Prairie Health Services, Pine and Prairie Software, with a price of $550,000, was more user-friendly, more closely matched Prairie Health Services’ needs, and was Windows-based. Southern Healthcare Software was judged to be more cumbersome and less flexible, seemed to be somewhat outdated as well as a step down from current software, and was not Windows-based. However, Southern Healthcare Software claimed to have the ability to integrate all four divisions, although it appeared to be best suited for hospital use. The cost of Southern Healthcare Software was $750,000.

Ann, Nick and Bonnie spent approximately two months evaluating both software proposals. They talked with administrators of other healthcare organizations that used either Pine and Prairie Software or Southern Healthcare Software and determined that their clear preference was for the adoption of the Pine and Prairie Software product and implementing a gradual integration of the divisions to ensure a successful transition from four unique software systems to one.

At the same time, representatives of Southern Health care Software returned to Prairie City several times and had further private dinner meetings with Carl. Based on these meetings, he determined that Prairie Health Services should adopt Southern Healthcare Software. He was in favor of an immediate integration of all four record-keeping systems, despite the fact that, admittedly, he did not understand information technology, the challenges that an immediate integration could present, nor the resources required to accomplish the task successfully.

Once Carl’s relationship with Southern Healthcare’s salespeople became known to his administrative staff, it was obvious that he was going to recommend purchasing Southern Healthcare’s software regardless of what his administrative staff’s recommendations were, even though the administrative staff had actual expertise. Despite the expressed preferences of the majority of administrators and staff of Prairie Health Services, Carl recommended Southern Healthcare Software to the board of directors. He also made it clear that he expected the unqualified support of the Prairie Health Services administrators.

Carl knew that he had to play his hand carefully in order to ensure that the board would adopt his software preference without question. In his presentation, he highlighted the fact that some of the software packages reviewed had cost well more than $1,000,000. He did not, however, indicate that the Pine and Prairie Software bid came out at $200,000 less than the $750,000 Southern Healthcare Software bid. Further, he neglected to state that the administrators and staff had overwhelmingly preferred the Pine and Prairie Software. On the contrary, he was adamant that the Southern Healthcare Software was the best fit for Prairie Health Services.

recognize the principal strategic characteristics of mature industries

Question 1: Use the eight phases of the communication process to analyze a miscommunication you’ve once had with a classmate, teacher, friend, or family member. What idea were you trying to share? How did you encode and transmit it? Did the receiver get the message? How do you know? Based on your analysis, identify and explain the barriers prevented your successful communication in this instance.

Question 2: Based on what you studied in chapter 1, explain why you think this situation is an ethical dilemma or an ethical lapse.

Mark worked as a marketing specialist for 10 years in a well-known car company. Due to financial issues, he lost his job with the company. After about 6 months, he found a new job in another company with the same position he used to hold before. To impress his supervisor, he shared with him confidential information about his previous (competing) employer's major clients.

Question 3:After five years of work in the human resources department at Cell Genesys ( a company that is developing cancer treatment drugs), you were laid off in a round of cost cutting moves that rippled through the biotech industry in recent years. The good news is that you found stable employment in the grocery distribution industry. The bad news is that in the three years since you left Cell Genesys, you have truly missed working in the exciting biotechnology field and having the opportunity to be a part of something as important as helping people recover from life-threatening diseases. You know careers in biotech are uncertain, but you have a few dollars in the bank now, and you’re willing to ride the rollercoaster again. This means going back to the biotech industry.

Your Task: Write an email to Calvin Morris, your old boss at Cell Genesys, reminding him of the time you worked together and asking him to write a letter of recommendation for you.

Question 4: Revise these sentences to be positive rather than negative.

1. You messed up the interview. Your answers were rude and inappropriate.
2. Despite our reminders, you have not specified the color of the electronic clocks. As we need time to make bulk arrangements, we cannot ship the shipment until you send us the information.

Question 5: Revise these sentences to eliminate bias.

1. James, an African American basketball player, lives in Los Angeles.
2. A pilot must have the ability to stay calm under pressure, and then he must be trained to cope with any problem that arises.
3. A company owned by a 65-year white woman earned a million dollars last year.

1. Briefly explain the war between Sony and Nintendo.

2. How are the strategies of Sony Playstation and Nintendo different from each other? (Are they different? Or are they not different?)

identify the factor that determines the returns to innovation and evaluate the potential for innovation to establish a competitive advantage

Do you feel that outsourcing by MNC’s improves the household buying power of the host country while increasing jobs that were lost?

Also example of increasing jobs, and decreasing employment ?

How would you compare Boeing’s response to the 737 Max crisis to Johnson & Johnson’s response to the Tylenol crisis in 1982? In your opinion, what are the three most important things that an organization can do to effectively manage a crisis?

what kinds of tools and resources are available to improve academic writing

Explain the difference between a data warehouse and a data mart. Use the analogy of a supply chain.

1.Suppose you are implementing a new employee developmental plan. You are requested to design a complete form that you would use to implement this new program. Ensure that it contains all of the elements of a good developmental plan including employee’s personal particulars.

2.Now you are required to establish a personal developmental plan for yourself by filling ALL required information in the form that you have designed in Task 1. In your personal developmental plan, you have to cover the following items: a. Identify any THREE of your strengths and areas for improvement each

b. Based on the results in (a), set THREE objectives for your own development

c. How can your developmental objectives be achieved

d. Recommend appropriate measurement and standards for evaluation of your achievement of developmental objectives. Justify your recommendations and write your answers in a separate paragraph from your form.

Creation of context diagram & DFDs (current and Proposed) ?

A few years ago, Ronald Montgomery founded Cultural Learning Experiences (CLE), Inc., a small firm in Chicago that organizes and plans educational trips for faculty and students seeking a unique learning experience abroad. At first, the company focused mainly on organising these educational experiences in France and Switzerland, but as the interest continued to grow, Ronald increased the scope of operations to include many other countries, including Spain, New Zealand, Germany, and others.
Ronald has the help of Isabella Aubel (office manager) and two other employees that help with the day-to-day office tasks. At the present time, the work processes are entirely manual for this organization. With the recent growth in the business, it has become quite challenging for the current workforce to manage all of this manually. Everything is rather disorganized, with many mistakes being made with the recording of important information regarding students and their scheduled classes and locations, for example. Such errors are adding to the existing inefficiencies, thereby creating a work. environment that is stressful and hectic. Even more importantly, customer needs are not being met and customer satisfaction is at an all-time low. It is, therefore, necessary to implement a database solution at the present time. It is important to note that while Ronald intends to eventually automate all business processes, including payroll and accounts payable, the more immediate concern is to make certain that efficiencies in data storage are improved. The database solution should include a user-friendly interface that allows for entry, modification, and deletion of data pertaining to students, teachers, and classes, for example. Additionally, the database solution should be designed to ensure consistency of data entry (formatting) and should include enhanced reporting capabilities. Such functionalities should be considered in order to resolve the problems the company is currently experiencing. The total amount available to fund this project is $65,000. It may be possible to expand this budget, if necessary, but the company is hoping that the project can be completed with the specified amount. The company currently has only two computers, both with the Windows 7 operating system and Microsoft Office Professional 2010 installed. The machine is currently being used for electronic mail communications and simple word processing and spreadsheet tasks. It will be necessary to purchase two additional machines for this office, as Ronald would like all of his employees to have access to the new database management system. Ronald is hoping that this database solution will be instrumental in improving customer relations and employee morale, as both are critical to the continued success and growth of his business. With an automated work process, Ronald knows that efficiencies within the organization will be dramatically improved.
Cultural Learning Experiences, Inc. is essentially the middleman between faculty and students & international opportunities to teach and learn. CLE organises educational trips/programmes for college students (to take) and college professors (to teach/lead) in the USA and across the world.
You have been hired to provide them a mean to keep track of the classes offered in destinations around the world, all of the students who sign up for a particular class, the professors who are teaching specific courses, etc. You have several goals that you want to accomplish with this database. First, you will need to keep track of all the

students –their studentID number, address, telephone number, e-mail address, etc. You will need to keep track of faculty members and their contact information as well.
As students register for classes and pay their registration fees, the owners of CLE want to be able to record this information directly in their database. An outside accounting firm handles all of the billing processes. CLE simply provides this firm with a physical copy of a report containing the information necessary for billing. (Your team is responsible for designing this report.) All payments are made directly to CLE. Beyond the recording of whether or not the registration fees have been paid, this system should not be concerned with accounting practices. The recording of all billing and payment details will be handled outside of the boundaries of this system. CLE also outsources the marketing function and provides reports on a regular basis to an outside marketing firm that seeks to inform potential faculty participants of the educational trips that are available through CLE and to increase awareness in general. You should design at least one report that would provide useful information to this marketing firm. (You may make assumptions here.)
CLE would like the database to be password protected. Beyond the creation of these reports, Ronald wants you to focus on making data-entry as easy and efficient as possible for her staff while simultaneously ensuring accuracy of the entries. An organised database, focusing on data-entry and reporting, is essential. (Your team will need to explore various options within Access that will allow for this).

what are the 10 steps you think student should follow to write a paper at doctoral level

Explain the methods for evaluating and reporting on mentoring programs. Answer in 200-250 words.

What criteria can be used to screen and match mentors and mentee? Answer in 100-150 words.