Guided Response: Answer any questions your instructor has about your initial post. Review several of your classmates’ posts, prioritizing those who have not received feedback, and respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts by Day 5.  Each of your responses to your classmates should be at least 100 words in length. Compare the list of organizational challenges you prepared with the list your classmate prepared, noting differences and suggesting ways to reconcile differences. If you and your classmate differed in your identification or description of various challenges, make suggestions that support your perspective or that acknowledge your classmate’s perspective

Peer feedback 1

Southglenn Physical Therapy Clinics (SPTC) has three privately owned branches in Salt Lake City. They have been serving the community for a long time and they provide services in orthopedic rehabilitation, sports medicine, deep tissue massage therapy, aquatic therapy, and work-related injuries with a very sound reputation.  Lawanda Hastings has just stepped into a leadership role for the main branch of SPTC, which was an internal move for her coming from another branch of SPTC.  In her role, she reports to Dr. Nelson along with the administrator for the clinic and the marketing coordinator, which makes up the leadership team for the main SPTC.  The management team in the clinic consist of managers who oversee the clinic’s physical therapy services and rehabilitation services, they directly supervise physical therapists, occupational therapist, massage therapists, and athletic trainers. Lawanda needs to take every measure necessary to provide a safe and motivating work environment for employees as well as the quality of care to the customer.  As the first initiative in her new role, Lawanda spent time with her manager and subsequently conducted interviews with her managers.  The various challenges Lawanda is facing in taking this role as a leader of the main branch are as follows.

· The lack of patient satisfaction – The first challenge Lawanda gets is the results of the client feedback survey that showed a downward trend in patient satisfaction in the downtown clinic. The negative feedback is around employees who are negligent in their duties and being rude to customers. If this organizational challenge of customer dissatisfaction is not addressed it can lead to significant negative impacts on the business like creating a bad reputation and loss of customer loyalty. Understanding the details behind the customer feedback and speaking with her team will be necessary for Lawanda before initiating any changes.  Lawanda will have to play her leadership role in ensuring that quality services are provided to the customer, which will lead to customer satisfaction (Northouse, 2019).

· Low staff morale – The second challenge is the feedback from the employee survey which stipulates that employees like what they do, however, the challenge is having tight schedules so there is a constant rush through the appointments. Some feedback related to some managers being micro managers and not available when needed, making the relationship hard. The dissatisfaction is much higher among new hires.  This presents itself as a significant risk to leaders and managers as it affects job quality for the customers, and it can eventually lead to ethical and legal issues for the company.  In addition, it could also lead to attrition, which is costly for an origination among other things. To address this Lawanda will need to spend time speaking with employees to address the challenges.  She needs to have regular conversations to understand what motivates them, what challenges they see, what are skills they would like to develop.  Also, having clear goals and expectations for each manager and employee will give them concrete objectives to work towards.  Without her team being engaged, it will be difficult for Lawanda and her managers to build motivation towards objectives. According to Kinicki & Williams (2018), it is critical that managers understand what motivates employees as well as the process of motivation so they can guide the organization to accomplish goals.  Lawanda can use one situations approach of supporting the team. Since the employees like that they do and they are competent, however, are not motivated, S3 (supporting approach) seems appropriate to use, this would enable Lawanda to focus on supportive behaviors that bring employees together to accomplish goals, this would include: listening, asking for input, giving feedback and being available to facilitate problem-solving (Northouse, 2019).

· Staffing – The third challenge for Lawanda will be replacing the manager of physical therapy. Since the initial screening for the role already occurred under the old director, she is left with 3 candidates to choose from. Since she is new to the team, she will lean towards hiring the interim manager who was during this job while the previous manager was on maternity leave. We can assume that the manager has high competencies and commitment Since this manager already has competencies (since nothing negative is addressed in the case study), Lawanda will be able to use delegating approach with the manager. By using it she will be able to offer less input and social support and her involvement in planning, controlling, and goals clarification will be less (Northouse, 2019).  However, this can possess a challenge if other candidates are diverse, but are being omitted due to Lawanda trying to close the process fast.  

· Sexual harassment allegations and divided employees – The fourth challenge is about having divided employees due to the accusations of sexual harassment against the previous director. Since the organization is split in terms of holding the director accountable, this creates a lot of negative attitudes and behaviors as well as motivation being low. One of the things Lawanda can do is roll out a solid sexual harassment training and policy that all employees would be required to take.  The policy would need to show to all employees (current and new hires) so they understand that sexual harassment is not tolerated in the workplace.  Her manager should also be trained in title VII so they know what process to follow when sexual harassment occurs promptly and objectively (Kinicki & Williams, 2018).  She also needs to stop the flow of rumors and speculations and ensure employees are focused on meeting objectives. 

· Misuse of facilities and supplies – The fifth challenge is about the misuse of facilities and supplies by the staff. The previous director unofficially allowed services to be provided to his family and staff’s families.  Lawanda must face this challenge right away as it can contribute to the lower profitability of the organization by incurring extra costs.  Lawanda needs to meet some of the hygiene factors for employee needs by putting policies and rules in place (Kinicki & Williams, 2018).   

· Implementation of electronic records – The sixth challenge is implementing a new electronic record system in place of paper one that the organization and staff have been used to. This process has started under the previous director however the staff has been very resistant to the change, making the progress slower than anticipated. Since employees are not only resistant but don’t have the necessary skills due to lack of training, Lawanda needs to upskill her employees by providing them with proper training that is essential to achieving success (Galli, 2018).  Once this is done, employees will be more receptive to the change.

Galli, B. J. (2018). Change management models: A comparative analysis and concerns. IEEE Engineering Management Review, 46(3), 124-132. https://doi.org/10.1109/EMR.2018.2866860

Kinicki, A., & Williams, B. K. (2018). Management: A practical introduction (8th ed.). McGraw Hill.

Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and practice (8th ed.). Sage Publishing.

Peer feedback 2

Organizational Challenges

Lawanda, coming into her new role as manager, faces several organizational challenges within the Downtown office after the previous manager left. It is important to take note of the definition of a manager when evaluating the challenges, she faces and the responsibilities she faces.  Management is concerned with the day-to-day operations and keeping up productivity in support of the company mission (Northouse, 2019).  After discussions with her senior manager, Matt, Lawanda faces the following organizational challenges:

· Poor reviews from clients- feedback surveys suggest customers are upset with the occupational therapy department stating difficulty in scheduling appointments, late appointments, and impolite staff. A decline in appointments will lead to a decline in sales for the company.  Kinicki & Williams (2018), outline the need for companies to have four levels of management; top-level, mid-level, first-level, and team leaders.  Lawanda should implement managerial levels within her organization in order to ensure that policy and procedures are being followed.  The highest-ranking manager would be Matt, Lewanda should instate herself as a mid-level manager, and she should hire a first-level manager who would be responsible for appointing a team leader.  This organizational structure will hold employees accountable under the new managerial structure.  When employees are held accountable for their own decisions, they have a greater understanding of the company’s performance (Knicki & Williams, 2018).

· Staff surveys show a high-pressure environment-While staff stated that they enjoy their work, they also said they felt micro-managed and pressured to rush through appointments. New staff member satisfaction is low and managers are unable to help out where needed. According to Herzberg’s (2003) two-factor approach to motivation, Lawanda should incorporate both hygienic and motivating factors into her management. Hygiene factors that Lawanda should include are competitive salary and benefits since she states that employees feel they are in a high-pressure environment.  Lawanda should also include motivating factors such as development opportunities in order for her employees to feel empowered.  According to Northouse (2019), employees who feel empowered within the company perform to greater satisfaction within their roles.

· Physical therapy managerial candidates- After the physical therapy manager quit, the interim manager is now amongst the three possible candidates. Lawanda is faced with the challenge of replacing the current interim manager or hiring one of the new candidates.  In order to objectively evaluate the best fit for the role, she should take into consideration the trait approach to managerial selection.  According to (Northouse, 2019), key traits required for management include determination, dependability, diligence, and empathy.  Since Lawanda has experienced recent turnover in managers, she should choose the trait that satisfies her greatest need, dependability.  In order to assess the presence and level of these traits, Northouse (2019) suggests that she use one of several questionnaires; the Leadership Trait Questionnaire (LTQ), Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory or the Myers-Briggs Tyle Indicator.

· Sexual harassment allegations- Colleagues are upset and on edge about the harassment allegations against their former director. Opinions and gossip have created a negative atmosphere of mistrust and skepticism between managers and employees creating low morale and motivation level.  According to Kinicki & Williams (2018), Lawanda should have all her employees receive Title VII training on a regular basis.  In efforts to curtail the gossip and mistrust, Lawanda should implore regular performance reviews in which she provides consistent feedback to employees regarding their performance.  According to Kinicki & Williams (2018), periodic performance reviews should happen often, roughly every three months, and can be either formal or informal.  By conducting these sessions with her employees, she will be providing opportunities for communication For example, she can inform employees of their need for discretion in sensitive HR matters since these tend to be strictly confidential (Kinicki & Williams, 2018).

· Uncertain financial prospects- Accusations of monetary misuse have been circulating amongst employees. The previous manager turned a blind eye to physical therapy services being provided after hours on company property.  According to Northouse (2019), management is defined as the day-to-day external processes concerned with workplace operations.  In relation, Kinicki & Williams (2019) describes management as a four leveled approach including top-level managers all the way down to team leaders.  By hiring several levels of managers, Lawanda can ensure that policy and procedure are being bet and that employees are being held accountable.  If an employee attempts to enter the grounds with a family member after hours, she will have team leaders and first-level managers able to quickly address the situation.

· Transitioning from paper to electronic records-Staff have been resistant to change and no course of action in place to transition staff from the previously used paper records to the new electronic system required by HSS. If the records are not transitioned to electronic, Lawanda faces consequences with HSS.  According to Galli (2018), Lewin’s theory on change states that managers should start the process by first unfreezing, then moving to the transition phase, and then the refreezing phase.  By properly planning each segment of change she can ensure a smooth transition and expect less resistance.  According to Kinicki & Williams (2018), Lawanda may encounter change resistance but can combat this by planning carefully and being sensitive to those affected by the change.  Lawanda should look out for concerning behaviors such as insecurity and fear.  If she comes across someone displaying these change-resistant behaviors, she should provide resources, extra time, and thorough explanations (Galli, 2018).

Galli, B. J. (2018). Change management models: A comparative analysis and concerns. IEEE Engineering Management Review, 46(3), 124-132. 

Kinicki, A., & Williams, B. K. (2018). Management: A practical introduction (8th ed.). McGraw Hill.

Northouse, P. G. (2019).  (8th ed.). Sage Publishing.