DISLIKE THE ANSWER? ASK SOMEONE ELSE
An employee recently asked her manager about the application of a particular personnel policy. The manager answered the question. The employee then asked the same question of the department head-her manager's manager-and received a different answer. If you were the subordinate manager, you might have cause for concern about the effects of this situation on your authority.
Situations like the one just described are bound to occur from time to time when there is an open-door policy operating in the organization. When there is a true open-door policy-a true open-door policy being one in which employees know that higher management is accessible to them-not everything communicated to higher management will be appropriate. Also, not every answer obtained will be correct unless all members of management are completely in tune with each other on the subject of every question. An honest open-door policy is highly desirable overall, but it places pressure on management to be both accurate and consistent in supplying answers.
For questions like the foregoing about personnel policy, always check the written policy before answering. Rarely will one manager possess off-the-top-of-the-head knowledge of every policy affecting all employees, so if an answer was provided in that fashion, it could have been incorrect. Should you ever discover you have provided a wrong answer in this fashion, immediately seek out the employee and set the record straight. However, if double-checking a response only convinces you that your answer was correct-but a different answer was supplied by higher management-the matter must be pursued further.
The problem should be researched to determine why the employee might have received different answers. The wording of the policy could be sufficiently imprecise to honestly lead to differing interpretations. Also, the reality of the policy's application may have legitimately changed since the policy was formulated, making the written statement no longer accurate. It is also possible that the higher manager simply supplied an incorrect answer, or that a different answer resulted because the employee actually asked a similar but not identical question.
The 2 managers should discuss the situation and compare both questions and answers. As the manager who was first asked, you will likely be the one to initiate this discussion. If the misunderstanding persists, it is your authority that is undermined, so you have the most at stake. If you and your manager can reconcile your differences, you can then jointly get back to the employee with a consistent response.
If you and your manager continue to have different answers, consider seeking a third-party interpretation. It is one of the responsibilities of the human resource department to interpret policy that applies to employees organization-wide. Even if a questionable policy is departmental only, human resources should still be able to supply an impartial opinion of its appropriateness and consistency of application.
The manager-and the manager's manager-should also consider whether the employee
* simply did not understand the first answer and was seeking clarification,
* did not like the first answer and felt that higher management might provide a more acceptable response, or
* was "game playing," altering the question to elicit a more favorable second response. (Some employees will either consciously or unconsciously play one manager off against another if it might seem to their advantage.)
If at the heart of the problem there is only misunderstanding or misinterpretation, and if the organization does indeed function under an honest open-door policy, the subordinate manager's authority remains intact. If such an error can be reconciled and a mistake admitted and corrected, the open-door policy is working to everyone's benefit. Undermining the lower manager's authority becomes a problem only if the situation is perceived as one in which the higher manager has overruled the subordinate manager.
Many managers stop themselves short of adopting a true open-door stance because of precisely the kinds of problems just described; they see an "open door" as a trap, and they tend to avoid answering certain kinds of questions.
It is certainly true that problems and misunderstandings arise because employees may have access to all levels of management. Yet, this state of affairs is much preferred over one in which higher management remains totally inaccessible. A question asked or a concern voiced may generate a problem, but that problem, once known, can be dealt with and usually resolved. However, a question or concern that is frustrated by management inaccessibility eventually becomes an unknown or hidden problem, the kind that can do the most damage over the long run.
To further enlighten and assist the working manager, this issue of The Health Care Manager offers the following:
* "Coding, Reimbursement, and Managed Care" discusses the emerging role and significant financial impact of medical coding in reimbursement for health care in general and in relation with managed care organizations in particular and suggests the directions in which coding practices must be evolving to most effectively serve their intended purpose.
* "The Improving Efficiency of Critical Access Hospitals" reports on a study undertaken to analyze the efficiency of critical access hospitals-those hospitals that are essential in helping rural communities meet their health care needs-using a variable returns-to-scale Data Envelopment Analysis model.
* "Personality Traits and Career Satisfaction of Healthcare Professionals" examines a theory suggesting that vocational satisfaction arises from a good match between one's personality and career choice and looks at broad and narrow personality traits that characterize health care workers in comparison with professionals in other occupations.
* The Case in Health Care Management, "In a Rut," asks the reader to consider the problems faced by a newly hired manager in trying to institute positive change in a group of apparently uninterested and inflexible workers who seem locked into doing "the same things in the same old way."
* "Health Care Professionals' Perceptions and Knowledge of Infection Control Practices in a Community Hospital" describes the use of a specific theory-based model used to predict health-related behaviors in assessing hospital clinical professionals' perceptions and knowledge of infection control practices.
* "Crucial Conversations: The Most Potent Force for Eliminating Disruptive Behavior" reports on a study that addresses the likely effects of rude behavior by physicians and nurses on patient care and on employee retention and engagement and suggests how to eliminate disruptive behavior by changing the culture of silence surrounding the problem.
* "Simulation Modeling for the Health Care Manager" explores the use of simulation software to solve administrative problems faced by health care managers involving matters such as facility planning, resource allocation, staffing, patient flow and wait time, routing and transportation, supply chain management, and process improvement.
* "Impact of e-Consults on Return Visits of Primary Care Patients" acknowledges the growth in importance of virtual medicine as the cost of medical care rises and the potential for Internet applications expands, and reports on a study undertaken to evaluate the impact of e-consults on the frequency of return visits for family medicine patients.
* "Succession Planning: Perspectives of Chief Executive Officers in US Hospitals" reports on a study undertaken to explore the perceptions of chief executive officers in US hospitals concerning the origins of leadership and how they viewed internally developed successors versus externally recruited successors.
* "Effective Oral Presentations: Speaking Before Groups as Part of Your Job" addresses the importance of public speaking to every advancement-oriented manager and stresses the necessity of learning the basics of public speaking and purposefully overcoming the fear of speaking experienced by many individual managers and others.
* A Manager Asks: "But the Boss Is Always the Boss" deals with some questions submitted by working managers involving superiors who, through carelessness, ineptness, or complacency, are making life difficult for those who report to them. These few brief scenarios recognize the harsh truth embodied in the old, anonymous saying: "The boss isn't always right-but the boss is always the boss."