Background

You are the manager of a department that provides hands on service to both inpatient and out patients of a large urban health care facility. One of your employees, a senior therapist named William, has been taking an increasing amount of your time and attention in ways that have filled you with growing concern. William has been in the department nearly 10 years, which is two years longer then you have been there, and at one time he seemed to have had ambition to run the department. You feel that you have been watching William’s overall reliability and effectiveness decline for the last couple of years. Specifically,

William’s performance has been steadily deteriorating. He now arrives at work chronically late, although for years tardiness was not a problem. He is slow to start, takes numerous breaks, overstays his lunch period, and seems not interested in his patients.

Two other employees have told you confidentially that they feel William has become an alcoholic; however, even remaining alert to this possibility you have not detected any signs he’s under the influence while at work.

On several occasions he has been absent from work without notification, claiming sudden illness after the fact. This has fostered ill feelings among other staff because of the last minute staffing changes that have had to be made.

You have discussed William’s sagging performance with him every three or four weeks for the past six months. William denies any changes in attitude or performance, and concerning his absences he says only that his “allergies are more troublesome that they used to be.

Discussion

Assess each of the possible ways you could “solve” the problem. Are the alternative ways to deal with the problem too strict or too little? (describe at least 3)

Which of the above choices would be our course of action and why?