Managing Change

I wanted to learn more about change and how it impacts different people in different ways.  I also wanted to learn more about the ways that change happens in the workplace and the best way to implement change to lessen the impact on the staff.  I do feel that I was able to learn quite a bit more about the ways that people are affected by change.  I learned that I like the book/video "Who Moved the Cheese."  I also learned there are people that actually like it when things change, and I think that I might have a little bit of that in me.  I like to see progression, and often times that means change is inevitable. 

I enjoyed the video of "Who Moved the Cheese," and the discussion that followed.  It was a great way to learn a bit more about my team and how they handle change and how they perceive change in the workplace.  I also liked the assignment related to the Power article.   It brought up things about men and women in the workplace and perceptions.  While talking about change, that is something that needs to be changed.  Both the stigma of men in nursing, and also women, in general, in the workplace being lesser then men.  Neither of those are true.  

I will use this information gained in this lesson to be able to help those around me at work and other places to realize that change is bound to happen and realize it is better to embrace it than fight against it, because all it will do is leave us unhappy and dissatisfied with life.  While change isn't always easy to take, it is important to continue to progress forward.  

Budgeting Interview

This week, we had to conduct a budgeting interview.  I chose to interview an individual that is in charge of business operations and finances at a small electronic hardware company.  His name is Steven and he is also co-owner.  My team came up with the following questions for our interview:

1. What is the most difficult aspect of budgeting?

Taking the time to do it.  Doing a budget isn’t rocket science, he said. It is merely creating something and sticking to it.  He said they weren’t very good at it when they first started about 12 years ago, but they have gotten to where it doesn’t take nearly the same amount of time as it used to. 

2. What areas of the budget are the first to be affected when making cuts?

He said that there are standard costs that have to be done every month, such as required supplies, rent, utilities, and salaries.  The first things that get cut are marketing expenses, part-time employee hours, and the owners pay. 

3. What do you enjoy most about creating a budget?

He says that he is a self-proclaimed nerd.  The thing he enjoys the most is the numbers and the spreadsheets.  He said that it sounds dumb, but it still gets him excited to make a new budget.  Also, when he sees how well they are doing, it makes him happy. 

4. How much flexibility do you allow in your budget?

Steven said that this question depended on the definition of flexibility.  If it means to spend more than what is budgeted, then no flexibility.  If it means that midway through the year, the budget can be altered to for something specific following a meeting of those that need to be involved, then there can be a lot of flexibility.  As long as the individuals who oversee the spending and budgeting are aware of the changes that need to be made, then it is important to feel free to make changes as they arise so as to always be working with the best information. 

5. What are your feelings on making annual budgets widely available for publicly traded companies?

They are a pretty small outfit, so he didn’t really know much in terms of that.  He and his business partner have talked about making their budget known to the staff of their employees, but they chose not to, as it wasn’t really necessary.  Also, each department knows what they have to work with within the budget and can always requisition for changes. 

6. How many previous years’ budgets weigh into the decisions for the current year's budget?

Definitely 1 year, and sometimes it is good to look another year or so for comparison.  It is good to see where things were, so that plans can be made in terms of expectations.  It is also important to take into account all of the reasons for the budget and year doing what they did in the past. 

7. How accurate do you budget; do you budget down to the penny or do you tend to be more liberal with your budget?

He said that they place a cushion in most areas, but that cushion has gotten smaller and smaller the better they get at budgeting.  It isn’t down to exact pennies in the budget unless it is an expense that never changes.  The budget is round numbers based on information gathered and then the actually spending is obviously tracked to the exact penny. 

8. How does going over the budget affect you or your team?

Steven said that going over the budget is not an option.  Aside from the first few months in business when they were working out the kinks in the budget, they have never gone over budget and it is because that is a priority that was made a long time ago. 

9. How much influence do you have on your budget versus getting it handed down to you from corporate?

He and his partner have full decision making abilities in regard to the budget since they are the highest up that it goes.  They do not have a corporate entity to answer to. 

10. How would you change corporate’s budgeting style?

As he is a small business, this question didn’t apply to him.  There isn’t a corporate to report to. 

11. What do you do when you go over your budget?

They have a once a month budget planning meeting and a once a year meeting to look at previous months and years and make decisions based on current business and projects that are in the works.  They also look at marketing and planning for the future.  They will also hold a special meeting as needed to make any changes to the current budget if there is a need expressed to do so. 

12. What does corporate do when you go over your budget?

As they are a small operation, this question did not apply to him or his business. 

13. Has the budget ever been so restrictive that it prevented you from doing the job properly?

He doesn’t feel that a budget is restrictive.  It is more freeing.  It is what allows you to do things, because it has been budgeted to do that thing, whatever it might be. 

14. How important is staying in the budget?

One of the most important things about running a small business is being able to stay within a budget.  His estimation is that not staying in the budget is probably one of the top reasons a company will go out of business. 

15. What are some things in your budget that may not typically be thought of as important to include in a budget?

He initially said toilet paper in jest, but said that if money is going to be spent on something then it is important and needs to be included in the budget.

From this interview I learned that there is a lot that goes into budgets.  I discovered that I don't want to work in the budget department.  There is too much pressure to make sure the money is going to all the sources that it needs to be going.  I get a headache just from figure out my own personal budget.  I respect the people that do work with budgets though.

Staffing and Career Development

This week, I expected to learn more about helping myself and others to develop a plan and a career.  I also wanted to learn more about staffing and what it takes to staff a unit in the hospital, and the role that the nurse manager plays in that process.  Most importantly, I wanted to take a introspective look at my own career as it is in the beginning stages and make some plans for the future.  

The group assignment on staffing was a fantastic way of looking at what it really takes to staff a unit.  It is not as simple as it might initially seem, and while realistic, it was even easier than real life.  It showed how much time it can take to do staffing.  The staffing discussion was also good to look at the ways that different places do staffing and see the pros and cons of each type.  The career development discussion and activity was good to see what others are planning to do and to be a help in coming up with things they might not have thought of in their own plans.  

In my current nursing practice, I will have much more respect and appreciation for my manager and those that work on the schedule for my unit.  It is very time consuming and everyone will ultimately not ever be pleased with the decision.  You just need to do what is best for the unit and try to accommodate as many as possible while making the staffing the priority.  I will also always have a plan for my nursing career and life in terms of moving forward, so my career development doesn't become stagnant and suffer. 

Budgeting

I expected to learn what goes into budget planning. I wanted to learn what are the different elements that are needed to form a budget. I expected to learn how much budgeting goes into nursing and healthcare. Also I wanted to learn the terms used for budgets.

I learned that there are fixed and variable elements of budgets. Even though a budget may seem overwhelming it can help in the long run. I learned that you can't charge an individual for equipment used during their hospital stay. I also learned that there are different types of budgets as well.

I had a difficult time trying to come up with the right places to cut.  I felt like the activity was very difficult and I understand why it can be easier to just say that we are going to make cuts than deal with the budget because my group seems like they essentially came up with the same idea.  I don't have much desire to be a manager of a hospital unit after that activity.  

I will utilize the information covered so that I can learn what my manager has to deal with for our unit. I will be better prepared to help plan a budget. I will try to be more sensitive to the amount of products that I use so that I can help to cut down on supply cost.

My feelings on the material was that it was interesting to learn about budgets. I had never really thought about all that goes into planning a budget. I know that I need to sit down and do a budget with my husband so that we can find ways where we can save money. Learning about budgets made me not want to be a nurse manager. It seems kind of overwhelming.

Leaders as Educators/Future of Nursing

This unit intrigued me quite a bit purely from the title only.  I have often wondered about the future of nursing.  As I began to consider a career in healthcare, the Affordable Care Act was passed.  I believed and still believe that this piece of legislature will play a huge role in the inner workings of careers in medicine.  I steered clear of chiropractics because of it.  It actually pushed me towards nursing because I believed that the future of healthcare, due largely to the ACA, would be led by nurses.  I hope that I am right!!

This unit helped me to see a few things about healthcare and the general public and the way that nurses and their role are perceived in healthcare.  I learned quite a bit about the current structure of healthcare and the way things are done at national and state levels.  I have come to the realization that I wish there were more standardization of roles in healthcare on a national level instead of being different from state to state.  It seems odd that there isn't more standardization, especially since the test to become a nurse is a national standardized test. 

I enjoyed reading other team members views on the future of nursing.  I think that it is bright, but I feel that things need to take place soon or we could see some difficult times ahead.  One team member brought up the need for "money to talk louder."  I think that right now it doesn't "pay" to advance in education and or degrees in which you are still a RN (i.e. BSN, MSN).  I believe this to be true.  I think that nurses need to push for more to blaze way for the future of nursing.  The information gained from the video of Dr. Gonzalez-Guarda will be very important as I continue in my career.  I would also like to become more involved in the decision making aspects of the future of nursing as my career advances.  This will be very important to me. 

Power Reflective Journal Entry

From this unit I expected to learn what goes into determining if a better leader is male or female. I wanted to learn if my class thought that men or women were better leaders and what qualities make them better leaders.

I learned from the reading, that women excel over men in a lot of different areas except for decisiveness. But even with that being said, we still think that men are better leaders than women overall. We couldn’t come up a consensus during our discussion, but overall, everyone had really valid points to bring up. I learned that a lot of our reasons for this come from how society has influenced and raised us.

I will utilize this information into my nursing practice by making sure that I show what I can do as a leader.  I personally don’t think that the sex of an individual is what defines them as a great leader or not.  It is the steps they take and the actions they have.  I also feel that there are situations that men are better suited for and likewise for women.

Overall, I feel that the information that we covered this week was very good. I learned a lot. I feel that some of the information I already knew but it showed or explained it in a different light. I need to be aware of my biases and make sure that I don't judge that something is a man or woman's job.

Firing and Discipline Interview

Firing/Discipline Interview Questions

For my firing and discipline interview this week that I had to conduct, I chose to interview a friend that works as a general manager of a local fast food chain that serves chicken.  My team came up with 15 questions for our interviews.

1.     Who is involved in the discipline interview?

Usually, he likes to have himself and the employee as well as the specific day staff management (day shift or night shift manager), operations manager, or shift supervisors as a last option if the other managers are unavailable. 

2.     Do you try to work things out with the employee, such as a transfer or leave of absence, before termination?

My friend is a big fan of trying to work with his employees and trying to find a resolution of the problem.  Because he is the general manager of 4 separate locations, he has been able to transfer an employee and make it beneficial for all parties.  Some times it is a change of scenery that will benefit the employee greatly, so they feel fresh and alive and it has extended a number of employment opportunities for multiple employees.  Normally, termination is such a hassle, so it can be easier to keep an employee than start over with training. 

3.     How do you start a firing/disciplinary interview?

This depends on what meeting it is.  Most of the time, the employee is aware what is going on.  He said the he usually starts out by discussing a last meeting that took place between the employee and he and his management staff.  If this is the first meeting between the employee and his management staff and him, then he will start by talking about the good things that the employee does and then discuss the problem area. 

4.     What is the most common reason you have to perform a firing/disciplinary interview?

There have been a number of reasons for having to do a firing or disciplinary interview.  He said the most common reason is related to the age of the employees that he has.  He mostly works with young employees and the biggest reasons are violations of certain policies involving timeliness and attitude. 

5.     Are there times where a disciplinary interview is just a formality, always leading to firing?

He doesn’t believe in formalities.  He tries to be a mentor to the employees that he has, especially due to their young ages, for most of the employees.  Therefore, he takes each and every possible change to help them in any way that he can. 

6.     How often is a formal disciplinary interview necessary, where an informal reprimand would not suffice?

Formal disciplinary interviews are necessary when any sort of informal reprimand does not suffice. He tries to work with all of his employees, but sometimes they are unwilling to work with him or even themselves. 

7.     What day of the week is best for firing or disciplining employees?

Disciplining for the most part can be done on any day, but his only rule of thumb is to try not to do a firing on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.  He prefers the early part of the week.  This allows the employee to hopefully find something during the rest of that week to be able to move past the firing. 

8.     Under what circumstance would you discipline two employees differently from the same action of misconduct?

This is a tricky question.  The circumstances would depend on the misconduct and how many times a violation has taken place by each employee.  For example, a new employee of a few months that has been late almost every shift for the past 3 weeks and has been talked to repeatedly about this will be dealt with differently than a model employee that has been with the company for 15 years and hasn’t been late for a shift in over 8 years. 

9.     How do you make employees aware of expected behavior and guidelines?

They are given an employee handbook and a policies and procedure book when they are hired on.  They also go through orientation and the expectations are again repeated.  They are also discussed each time in is deemed necessary by any of the management team. 

10.  If an employee violates a company policy, do you feel it is necessary to give appropriate disciplinary action in a timely manner?

Timely manner is one of his biggest things that he pushes for.  He said, that is how actions get rectified and people don’t assume they are being reprimanded for a separate issue.  He said that you have to be very timely in making swift decisions and executing the plan of any sort of disciplinary action. 

11.  Where do you usually discipline employees?

In his office behind closed doors.  My friend said that no one else needs to know what is being said or dealt with and so he never does this in front of another non essential personnel, and most definitely not in a public place.

12.  Do you find yourself frequently disciplining employees or are the majority of employee’s complaint with policies?

Policy mishaps are, again, probably the biggest reasons that he is having to discipline an employee. 

13.  What is the most difficult aspect of having the responsibility to discipline or fire employees?

Firing employees is very difficult.  He works with a number of adolescents and so he likes to give the benefit of the doubt in working with these young men and women.   He feels that he is a mentor for the youth and feels that he has let them down when it gets to the point of having to let them down.

14.  Do managers in your company receive any formal training on how to handle disciplinary situations?

No.  They do not receive any formal training.  He does like to involve the other management team in each and every time that he does anything like this to make sure they do get exposure to it, but no training. 

15.  Is it important to have another person in the room when an employee is fired? Why or why not?

Usually, he likes to have himself and the employee as well as the specific day staff management (day shift or night shift manager), operations manager, or shift supervisors as a last option if the other managers are unavailable.  This is a multi-part reason.  First, for the legal reasons.  Second, to make sure that it doesn’t get out of control, and lastly, for exposure for the other management member. 

My friend said that it is important to not just jump straight to termination.  Termination is a very complex process and lots of documentation needs to be obtained. There needs to be concrete reasons for firing. First, an improvement plan needs to be implemented.  There are always going to be people complaining of someone but shouldn't result in termination. But if the situation is serious enough then he would act and hopefully something positive will come out of it.  Ultimately he is there for the whole team and not just the individual.  If the employee is a bad egg then sometimes it is better for the person to be transferred, fired or laid off.

From this interview, I learned that firing and disciplining employees is a difficult situation.  The manager or boss doesn't want to be in the position with the employee either.  I learned that a lot rides on the performance appraisals that are done each year.  It is important that we identify our weaknesses so that we can improve on them.  Each company has a different way of disciplining employees.  I hope I'm never put in a position that I'm having to discipline employees or am getting disciplined.