Question: Case Study: Whose Patient Is it Anyway?

James Johnson, Vice President of Medical Affairs at Sunshine Memorial Hospital and Health System, hung up the phone and shook his head. He had just had a lengthy and loud conversation with Dr. Horst, the managing physician of the largest general surgery group in town. Dr. Horst and his physician partners were furious that Sunshine Memorial was exploring the possibility of opening a cancer specialty center at Sunshine. The general surgeons were certain that opening such a specialty would lead to a decrease in business for them as patients sought cancer specialists for surgery instead of general surgeons. In addition, the increase in specialty surgeries would lead to a decrease in "block time" in the operating rooms for the general surgeons, also leading to decreased business.

In addition, the general surgeons have been complaining for a couple of years about the operating rooms needing renovations and their desire for newer equipment. James Johnson and the senior management team in general had been unresponsive to these calls for change, providing little information to the surgeons about the possible renovations and the impending cancer specialty center.

Dr. Horst had thundered at James on the phone, "We'll never get these improvements now because you will make sure all the money goes to the cancer center!"

Still fuming from this conversation (well, he really hadn't said much, just listened to Dr. Horst yelling at him), he set up a meeting with the COO and CEO to inform them of this newest dilemma in the ongoing dissatisfaction of the general surgeons.

After the COO, the CEO, and the rest of the senior management team discussed the situation, they decided to have a meeting with the physicians in the surgery practice to reach an understanding and agreement about the future of their relationship with Sunshine Memorial. Johnson called Dr. Horst and scheduled the meeting for 6 a.m. the following Tuesday morning (one week away). Both the senior management team and the team of surgeons realize the importance of this meeting and the need to resolve this problem to mutual benefit. The teams begin to prepare for the upcoming meeting.
By Day 4, post a comprehensive response to the following:

• Based on the readings regarding negotiations, what would you suggest the senior management team do to prepare for the meeting and ultimately the negotiations with the surgeons? What would you suggest the surgeons do to prepare for the meeting and negotiations with the senior management team?

• Suggest some ground rules for the meeting that will help lead to productive negotiations and assist both teams to come away with a win-win solution.

• Utilizing the six tactics from the Eisenhardt, Kahwajy, and Bourgeois (1997) article, develop at least three approaches to use to reduce interpersonal conflict in negotiations and increase the chances of reaching the closure and implementation stage of the negotiation process.

• Based on your background and experience, and the knowledge you've gained in this course, what would you suggest would be a mutually beneficial closure to this situation?