Fire the Facilities Manager?

John Faber is the facilities manager employed at a 240-bed nursing home for the past 3 years. Before John, the facility had one supervisor over both housekeeping and laundry and a separate maintenance supervisor. Hiring John to supervise all three departments resulted in an annual savings of $7,000 in labor and materials. Prior to joining this facility, John was the maintenance supervisor at a 120-bed skilled care nursing home. Before that, he was a small business owner of a home cleaning service that employed six people. He sold that business 4 years ago. John’s background also includes ownership of a coin laundromat that he disposed of several years ago.

It is time for the annual performance review for all associates. For department heads, the corporate office has authorized a wage increase of between 0% and 6% based on performance. As the administrator (NHA) mulls over John’s performance during the past year, she is pleased with the ongoing cost savings and on-budget performance in facilities services. However, the NHA thinks that she has to hold John accountable for the citation in housekeeping during the certification survey just 2 months ago (rated as E on the Severity/Scope Grid). Last year also the facility had been cited for housekeeping (rated as H on the Severity/Scope Grid), and a resident who had tripped and fallen over a vacuum cleaner cord had sued the facility. Earlier this year, the corporation had settled the claim for $20,000.

The corporate vice president of operations just called and suggested that John should be fired for his poor performance, but the NHA does not share the same view. Her response to the VP of operations was, “I would like to think it over and get back to you tomorrow.” Now, the day has arrived for the NHA to have a phone conference with the VP of operations and a face-to-face meeting with John.

Questions

1.  How should the NHA resolve the conflict with the VP of operations? Provide adequate details, and incorporate in your response the leadership style you suggest using with John.

2.  The NHA’s decision is to not give John a wage increase, which leads to a disagreement between John and the NHA because he regards it as unfair. How should the NHA handle this conflict in which the objective should be to arrive at a win–win solution? Again, provide adequate details.