The Troublesome Professional

In a 2 - 3 page paper (500 -750 words), analyze the following case study. Support your answers using peer-reviewed or scholarly journals. Follow APA format and attach as a Microsoft Word document. You must use at least 1 external source in addition to your textbook.

You are the manager of a department that provides hands-on service to both inpatients and outpatients 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 2 years longer than you have been there, and at one time he seemed to have had ambitions about running 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 noticeably 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 alcoholic; however, even remaining alert to this possibility you have detected no signs of his being under the influence or actively using alcohol 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 change in attitude or performance, and concerning his absences he says only that his "allergies are more troublesome than they used to be.

Instructions: Your basic assignment is to decide what you are going to do about William. The obvious choices are to do nothing or to discharge him, but there are other choices available. You are to do the following:

1. Develop at least four alternative courses of action and express these in at least one full sentence each.

2. Assess each of your alternatives in terms of whether or not it seems likely to "solve" the problem, is generally appropriate or too little or too drastic, addresses the real problem or seems to be treating only problem symptoms, and gives rise to the necessity for additional decisions.

3. Select an alternative to pursue, explain why you selected it, and outline the steps required to implement your decision.

4. Describe how you will follow up on implementation, and note your possible courses of action if your decision appears to have been inappropriate.