Case Study 3: An Inconvenient HR Challenge As the hospital administrator for Forest Glenn Medical Center, you oversee human resources functions for the medical center. Recently, within the outpatient medical team, three of the five doctors have submitted resignation letters effective immediately. You recognize that this presents a big problem because the outpatient medical team is a high-performance area in the medical center and cannot function with two full-time physicians alone. You immediately organize a meeting with the director of the outpatient medical team, Dr. Caron, to determine why these physicians are so determined to resign immediately. You meet with Dr. Caron and he states that he is just as surprised as you are that three of his team members have decided to leave suddenly. He is at a complete loss as to why they have decided to leave. After meeting with Dr. Caron, you decide to set up individual meetings with the three physicians, Dr. Lowe, Dr. Howell, and Dr. Cardenas, to process and discuss their resignations. Upon meeting with Dr. Lowe and his purpose for resigning, he states, “I just could not continue working for a tyr
annical leader like Dr. Caron. While I love providing care to our patients and working for Forest Glenn, I cannot live up to the standards that Dr. Caron wants. Nor does he even let me try.” You decide to delve a little deeper into this complaint and mention to Dr. Lowe that there is a process in place to submit complaints for a hostile work environment. He states that he did not want to get anyone in trouble, and that he would rather find employment elsewhere. You then meet with Dr. Howell and Dr. Cardenas, who appear to corroborate with Dr. Lowe’s reasoning on resigning from Forest Glenn. You approach them with the possibility of talking to Dr. Caron about these complaints and whether they would be willing to stay while you search for suitable replacements if the hostile work environment is alleviated. Both Dr. Howell and Cardenas agree that they would be willing to stay for two months while you address the issues with Dr. Caron in the outpatient medical team. You immediately schedule a meeting with Dr. Caron to discuss the complaints and to initiate necessary steps for the establishment of a productive and effective work environment.