The Main Arguments for Foley to Counter: CEOs and Their Responsibilities
Striving for the benefit of the organization, as well as the well-being of all its members and the provision of high-quality services to the customers and supporters of the organization is generally considered the duty of the company’s COO. However, in practice, it often becomes clear that, for the sake of staying afloat, the company often has to sacrifice some of its principles and choose the options that might be regarded as not quite ethical.
In the case study in question, as a new COO and a leader with quite a little experience, Foley has to deal with the organization’s financial issues. Even though according to the hospital’s state of affairs, it will be more financially rewarding to become a for-profit company, Foley believes that the hospital should retain its position as a charity organization (Gentile 1).
It must be admitted that Foley’s opponents provide several reasonable arguments. To start with, the fact that the organization is suffering a range of financial issues should be considered. Unless these issues are solved, the organization is most likely to go bankrupt, which makes the option of going for-profit rather tolerable.
The next issue to consider is Foley’s lack of experience. Truly, she has deserved her position of a COO, yet the steps that happen to be the pivoting point of a company’s evolution should be taken by someone with the least bit of experience.
The last, but not the least, the issue concerning the motivation of the employees should be considered. While it is clear that, the given organization being a non-profit company from the very start, its employees had other motivations than financial profit – presumably, these were job satisfaction, acquisition of new skills and feeling self-important by helping others.
However, the question is whether the staff of the given organization is going to be just as driven when they realize that they will have to work in even less inspiring conditions, i.e., with sufficient lack of funding.
Levers and Arguments for Foley to Check Her Argumentation: Analysis
As the arguments above show, Foley has several arguments to fight against in her attempt to keep the hospital run on a charity basis. Foley is not in charge of the entire company and is allowed to supervise only a small part of the processes within it, which is going to slow the process of the organization’s transformation, setting it to a much slower, bureaucratic pace.
However, by far the most compelling argument concerns the risk that Foley is putting the organization in. The fact that Foley’s plan means that the fate of the entire company and the people working in it will be put at stake begs the question of whether taking risks is worth it. After all, it is important to keep in mind that, unless the experiment turns out to be successful, the organization will most likely go bankrupt, and its staff will be left without jobs.
Another obvious argument that Foley will have to face is the fact that she has little influence to help the organization change so that it could provide the services of the same quality to its customers and job satisfaction to its members.
Indeed, being only one of the managers, Foley does not have all the necessary means to control the organizational processes and check that the changes should be implemented efficiently. However, it can be argued that, by offering the head of the organization a clear and efficient course of actions, Foley can succeed in her mission.
Certainly, working on the development of an action plan is not an easy task. However, several major notes on how the organizational processes could be shaped can be made. For an impressive start, Foley should suggest the means to reinvent the company’s perception of what their vision and mission are. The given goal can be attained by introducing the principles of knowledge sharing and the key principles of delegation.
The Reasonable Course of Actions to Be Undertaken by Foley
From an ethical standpoint, Foley should try to prevent turning the charity organization, which provides its services to all those in need, into the medical company that will out the stress on the financial profit rather than on helping the patients and addressing their health concerns.
Truly, this journey will not be easy, since Foley is going to face several protests not only from the financial department but also from most of the organization’s stakeholders, including, perhaps, even some of the patients. With that being said, it is necessary to consider some of the strategies that Foley can try to succeed in her endeavors.
However, seeing how Foley is only starting to explore the opportunities that the position of a COO can provide, it will be rather sensible to suggest that Foley should be very careful in the choice of her methods. To start with, it is clear that Foley should pick an appropriate leadership strategy to follow. Seeing how the lack of motivation has been mentioned, it seems to be a good idea to introduce a role model that the employees can follow, therefore, getting their professional priorities straight.
If Foley plays the given role, trying the principles of charismatic leadership, the motivational issue can be solved. Along with charismatic leadership, the transformational one should be used to reinvent the employees’ idea of proper organizational behavior and organizational code of conduct.
It is necessary to mix the two leadership types to retain the organization’s values and allow its members to survive the crisis. Besides the necessity to change the mindset of the staff, it is also important to make sure that every single employee should be able to manage his/her time for the organization to provide efficient services even in the time of crisis.
Another important point for Foley to consider is the source of future investments. Although it is clear that the organization can be run on a comparatively low budget, it is still necessary that the staff should address the patients’ needs adequately, which is impossible without up-to-date equipment and skillful staff. Thus, the money on technology and staff training must be found.
As a CEO, Foley should consider a promotional campaign that will attract more possible sponsors for the organization – or, at the very least, it will open new opportunities for finding cheap and decent resources. It is essential, therefore, to consider what the given organization wants to promote and how it is going to. In the meantime, the current financial resources must be distributed among the organization’s departments according to the urgency of the issues that need to be fixed.
Works Cited
Gentile, Mary C. Naiveté or Boldness? Wellesley, MA: Babson College, 2010. PDF file.