Question

Case 13.2

Ralph O’Riley is a dynamic CEO of a large for-profit system. He is well known in the community. He is a brilliant businessman, and he is highly rewarded for it, enjoying various perks such as a beautifully appointed office suite, a company car, and a parking spot right outside of the hos- pital entrance.

He rarely attends employee-related functions, and he only occa- sionally visits the other facilities in the system, let alone the units on his own campus. He is a mythical figure among employees and intimidates his own leadership team. He shows up to meetings late, relies on hischief executives to “fill him in on the agenda,” and does not know all of his staff’s names and their positions. He does not participate in oper- ational discussions, but he gives orders that affect operations, some- thing that confounds his team and angers employees.

Once during a retreat, he was overheard by some of his team members boasting about his golf game and his power: “This is a waste of my time,” he complained over his cell phone. “It’s not PC to say it, but I own these people. They do what I tell them to do. I made a lot of money for this system. Now they should give me a break.”

Questions

Obviously, everything Ralph is seems to run counter with the practices that build and enhance trust.

1.          What long-term effects does Ralph’s behavior have on the team, the employees, and the organization as a whole? Are these effects irre- versible?
2.          Ralph is clearly a financial wizard and has great business instincts. How should he leverage these competencies to create a better cul- ture? To make himself even more powerful by being approachable and trustworthy?
3.          What role does power play in Ralph’s success?

Answer 1

Answer 1:

Ralph’s behavior will have following long-term effects on the team, the employees and the organization as a whole:

a. Negative impact on employees and damaging company’s image.

b. Poor employee retention and demotivates the remaining employees. Making the employees to be less productive than they would otherwise be.

c. Low employee morale.

d. No communication with employees and being unheard, lead to frustration among the employees.

e. Leading to employee’s dissatisfaction and high attrition rate.

f. Building communication gaps and execution gaps in the organization due to fearful image of top bosses.

g. Decreased trust on top management for their stability towards organization goals and success.

h. The culture and feeling of being neglected and unrecognized, by their leader ignorance will develop.

These effects will not be easily irreversible for a couple of upcoming years and will need a huge transformation in the company and its culture, if needs to be changed.

2. Ralph is clearly a financial wizard and has great business instincts. How should he leverage these competencies to create a better cul- ture? To make himself even more powerful by being approachable and trustworthy?

Answer 2:

Ralph should follow the following ways to improve the organization culture:

a. Being approachable and interact politely.

b. Encourage and motive the employees, teams and the organization.

c. By promoting trust among his employees.

d. Establishing a strong team relationship.

e. Offer flexibility at workplace.

3. What role does power play in Ralph’s success?

Answer 3:

Power has the biggest role in Ralph’s success, because being a CEO of the company and the capacity he carries in the company, he has been able to take all the top level decisions for the success of the company. Else, without power he would not have been at such top level of decision making and running business.

However, a CEO can succeed only when the organization grows as a whole and succeeds. Therefore, having happy and productive employees and by himself being approachable and trustworthy Ralph can strengthen his powers and achieve faster and longer organizational goal with the support of his people.