Problem Analysis Worksheet

Scenario Number: 2

Identify the Problem.

Analyze the Problem and Ethical Considerations.

Smiley Hospital staff are not satisfied with their evaluations that they feel do not accurately reflect their responsibilities. They also feel that the evaluations measure them on performance outcomes that are beyond their control. Their morale has dropped because of the belief that their efforts are not being recognized and work distribution is unfair.

Staff evaluations are supposed to accurately capture how employees execute their defined roles and responsibilities (Osibanjo et al., 2018). It is important that employees are evaluated on areas that are captured in their job descriptions because they have control over such outcomes. When employees’ performance is evaluated based on outcomes not directly under their control it is unfair to the employees (Osibanjo et al., 2018). One of the ethical considerations when performing staff evaluations is that they should only assess relevant components of the employees work. In this case the evaluations are not assessing relevant components of the employees work because they evaluate areas employees do not have any outcome over.

Solution #1

Potential Positive Effects

Potential Negative Effects

Review the evaluation process to only focus on outcomes related to the employees job descriptions

The employees’ morale will increase and they will work harder knowing that their efforts will count. Employees will be accountable for their duties and responsibilities knowing that someone else will not be evaluated on their duties and responsibilities. Because of the accountability and the increased morale the organization will realize increased performance and output.

Employees may only stick to their job descriptions and avoid engaging in overlapping responsibilities that may not be captured on their job descriptions. Team work may be impacted negatively because of a focus on personal duties and responsibilities (Warr & Nielsen, 2018).

Solution #2

Potential Positive Effects

Potential Negative Effects

Involve employees in the crafting of the evaluation objectives.

When employees are involved in the crafting of the evaluation objectives they are clear on what is expected of them. It also makes the evaluation and appraisal process easier because objectives had been discussed ahead of time.

There may be a lot of disagreements with the management as employees are likely to haggle and attempt to reduce areas of evaluation (Warr & Nielsen, 2018). Finding consensus on the evaluation objectives and processes may be a challenge in which case the management may decide on a way forward leaving employees feeling that they were not heard.

Solution #3

Potential Positive Effects

Potential Negative Effects

Review job descriptions to enable a fair distribution of duties.

Reviewing job descriptions would ensure that duties are distributed fairly. It would also make sure that employees are performing the roles that they are hired and paid for. This will improve employee morale and performance because bottlenecks that may be caused by overworking employees will be avoided. It will also lead to a more accurate evaluation process because employees will be measured based on a fair workload.

The review of job descriptions and reallocation of duties is bound to leave some employees unsatisfied (Warr & Nielsen, 2018). At the end of the review and the reallocation it is inevitable that employees who had lesser workloads prior to the review may realized increased workloads and be discontented.