Case Study

Buchbinder,   S.B. & Shanks, N.H. (2017). Introduction to health care management (3rd Ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Recruitment Challenge for the Middle Manager —Case for Chapters 2 and 12

By: Jon M. Thompson

You are the director of strategic planning and marketing in a large, multihospital based health system. The office includes 10 professional positions (including yours), and you currently have five professional staff members and one support staff member who report directly to you. Your office has responsibility for managing and updating the organization’s annual strategic planning process, including managing external (e.g., competitor and market information) and internal databases (e.g., service volumes and projections, patient origin data, and payer data), as well as managing all public relations and marketing activities. You are engaged in the process of filling a newly approved position that reports to you, called senior planning analyst, which will have a leadership role in managing the planning process. Currently, there are two planning analysts who report to you and will work with this senior analyst. Of all the candidates you are considering, one has the appropriate education and significant experiences in planning in other health care settings and is the best fit for the job. However, her salary demand for the job is $9,000 more than the salary range for the position allows.

Use your knowledge of human resources management, the role of the line resources department staff to effectively address this situation and to respond to the following questions. 

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. How do you convince your boss and the human resources department that this is the candidate you want to fill the job? 

2. What steps would you undertake to get the salary approved?

3. What problems does this situation present for you, and how can you effectively address each problem? 

4. What options do you have if the salary remains a “sticking point”?