Business

 Question 1
    There are several reasons that could explain the behavior of Smith in the circumstances provided. Smith, has had a battered history herself. The fact that Smith has had illegitimate children and an aggrieved personal life can be the most important reason for her grumbled and aggressive behavior with the employees at Cedar Hospital.
    It however, cannot be concluded that Smiths actions are primarily influenced by her personal factors. The models of aggression do not support her behavior completely. According to the Frustration Aggression Theory, a person becomes frustrated when he is prevented from achieving his goals (Anger Management, 2009). There is no such instance presented in the case that speaks of the CFO being unable to meet any goals or objectives provided to her by the CEO or the company.
In fact the hospital was able to make significant cost savings under her administration. Thus it seems highly improbable that the social factors in the hospital are the major contributors of her behavior in the hospital (Anouli, 1995). Her personal factors can be blamed for her counterproductive behavior. The counterproductive aggression models suggest that there are a lot of situational factors in a workplace that would cause such an issue to exist in the workplace. Considering the fact that there are no reported issues in the case and that the instances occurred to a lot of employees, it can only be remarked that personal factors were contributing to the behavior of Smith at Cedar Hospital.
Hunger for power and status could be one of the factors that could be causing her behavioral problems, according to a theory (Stanley, 2008). The CFO has a great deal of hierarchical seniority  this negates the theory that Smiths want of power and organizational control could be fuelling her behavior. In conclusion, it can only be remarked that the most important factors that are influencing Smiths aggressive and counterproductive behavior could only be personal and are highly present as a result of her bad experiences with life. Though this is no justification or bail-out for here, it is very much possible that this has been the chief reason that has caused much distraction and de-motivation amongst the workforce at Cedar Hospital (Robbins  Judge, 2004).


Question 2
Smiths personality is one which warrants a lot of critical evaluation and understanding  the different experiences in her life are probably the most important reasons for her nature to be shaped up as vigorously as it is in the hospital.
It is very much possible that Smiths behavior at the hospital will act as a catalyst for a bossy attitude and the negation of work ethics at the hospital. This is due to the fact that being the CFO of the company, she is in command of an executive status and the way in which she goes about in that position can act as a benchmark for lower executive position holders in the hospital (Stanley, 2008). The point is that this behavior could be inherited and emulated by lower level executives in a bid to become like a high-level executive.
Though Smiths personal experiences cannot be taken as an excuse for her workplace behavior, it could cause a lot of disciplinary and motivational issues at the hospital. For one, the employees that have been working efficiently in the past without any red marks in their careers, like Peters, can feel dejected and de-motivated in the workplace due to the personal and vulgar comments they are bombarded with from Smith. It is very much possible that employees like Peters would consider switching to another hospital if they feel that Smith has reached the threshold and that they cannot take it anymore (Nohria, Groysberg  Lee, 2008).
Employees have different levels of understanding, perception and tolerance. Smiths behavior with most of the workforce has been insulting, bossy and rude. Not all employees would be willing to take her insults and let them sink in. There could be a feedback to Smith which could result in a conflict  a conflict of minds that could well lead to the workplace atmosphere becoming a battlefield for people trying their best to get things worked their way (Belton  Dyrenforth, 2007). Since different employees will be having different perceptions and attitudes, some employees may be negatively affected by Smiths behavior and contemplate talking back while others may find their morale down and their work being affected by it (Nohria, Groysberg  Lee, 2008). Yet another set of employees will not be able to take it all and will consider switching.
Though some employees may not be the direct targets of insults or comments, the employees hearing about these incidents or being witness to one or more instances of such will have serious mental convictions regarding the workplace (Daft, 2001). The immediate occurrences will be a dejected workforce, one which will be wary of Smiths insults and will be trying to avoid it. Avoidance of confrontation by Smith might result in lost productivity as employees may be pre-occupied with thinking about Smith and avoiding her  this could also lead to employees beginning to think of ways to call it quits from the hospital.
The influence of Smiths behavior on the workforce of Cedar Hospital will be drastic. Cedar Hospital is the loser  loser of experience, motivated workers and cash. Since a bulk of the employees were motivated to work and had collaboratively worked towards achieving a level of efficiency for the hospital, Cedar Hospital will find itself in need of new personnel who would have to be trained and taught the tricks only because of the personal grudges and misbehavior of a senior executive of the company (Fox  Savage, 2009).


Question 3
    Peters is in a very despairing situation  in spite of being acknowledged by the CEO for her cost savings and playing a key role for the Materials Management Department, she has been attacked brutally by the CFO of the hospital.
    Facing such attacks from such a higher level authority figure can often lead to serious re-thinking of the facts and reasons that contribute towards the motivation to work at the hospital. I believe that Peters repercussions about the situation are very valid. The case presents evidence of the fact that Peters has been an excellent employee with very few instances of sick leaves and no off days since November (Fox  Savage, 2009). However, in spite of that Smith attacked Peters with a nasty and rude personal comment that was highly non-civil by any standards of society. Considering these factors, the repercussions and mental storm in the mind of Peters is justified and somewhat the most natural reaction (Belton  Dyrenforth, 2007).
    There are a finite number of decisions that Peters could take at this point in time. Faced with the same situation, I would have personally spoken back to Smiths making her realize her mistake and tried to make her apologize for it. Being naturally an aggressive person, it is far above my threshold to allow somebody like Smith, having a reputation of bullying and misbehavior to pass rude comments to me on my face. Since Peters did no such thing, she has more options and time to contemplate what she could do in the future.
    Peters could hand in her resignation the next day citing personal reasons for leaving the hospital and start looking for another job. This decision will prove to be very devastating for her career as well as the hospital, that has been relying on her expertise for significant cost savings. However, this would cause the CEO to probably summon her and explain to her the reasons behind the resignation. She could choose to reveal the dialogue she had with Smith only to lead the CEO to think of Peters as a narrow-minded employee. It would not do her much good and would probably eclipse Smiths behavior in the workplace (Nohria, Groysberg  Lee, 2008). If she chooses not to share the incident with the CEO, she will be the biggest loser in the situation  no job, future and Smith will not have learnt a lesson.
    On the other hand, Peters could focus on getting well again and concentrate on her work in future trying her best to stay out of the way of Smith  avoidance. This is a very good strategy as far as things keep Smith and Peters from meeting  an event with a very high of occurrence. The confrontation would lead to Peters remembering the incident and would be distracted by her personal thoughts (Belton  Dyrenforth, 2007).
    A third option for Peters could be to stand up for herself and explain to Smith in her next confrontation with her that she will not be bossed around like other employees and that she should be treated with respect (Fox  Spector, 2005). Though that will be the easiest way to kick her job, it would also be the most honorable way to move in the hospital  with dignity. Then Peters could begin to support other employees and give them confidence to reply to Smith whenever there is a confrontation with her. This would naturally mean that Peters would have to start looking for another job soon enough but it would at least be the lesson that Smith should learn and allow the employees to have greater confidence, raising their motivation and productivity (Clark, 2008).
    The option chosen by Peters is highly dependent on her personality and will reflect her confidence and motivation in working for the hospital. Whatever the case, there are hardly any other option that she could consider in such a situation and benefit herself or the hospital from it.


Question 4
It is important to understand the fact that the issues highlighted in the case are not a rare find in normal workplaces. Employees like Smith exist in many workplaces and thus gathering facts and reporting observations to higher authorities such as the CEO would be a highly subjective task. However, since the task needs to be reported from an unbiased point of view, there are several points of importance in reporting the situation to a higher authority, the CEO.
    If I was appointed to advocate a study on the situation and report the findings to the CEO, I would consider several ideas and important points in formulating my conclusions. The fact that Smith has been subject to a lot of personal sufferings in her life cannot be considered as a factor to allow her leverage (Zapf  Cooper, 2005). However, I would consider this factor worth reporting, but not enough to justify her actions at the hospital.
The details of the actual incidents are very important and I would take great care to take first-hand reports from the relevant people regarding the instances of misbehavior of Smith with the employees. It is important here to reconsider the biasness of stories and reports collected from the witnesses and targets  verification of the same is necessary from more than one witness and any suspicions of exaggerations should also be reported (Nohria, Groysberg  Lee, 2008). The relationship, if any, of the targets to Smith should be highlight. Sometimes there could be personal reasons and relationships fueling misbehavior and aggression at the workplace. By consulting a few people, I would verify whether any such relationships exists and whether they are the source of conflict.
It is also important to note the different settings in which the instances happened. It may not always be true that Smith took the first step in putting forth rude and vulgar comments (Fox  Savage, 2009). Sometimes she may have been provoked  something that may have been overshadowed by the gravity of her future behavior in the incident. Thus, I would take great care to get to know the situation in which the instances happened and understand whether there were any provocations to her or not (Stanley, 2008).
I would also report the frequency of the instances within the period of study. Reporting the number and nature of instances will enable the decision makers to reach conclusions. Such conclusions will form the basis for further strategies and decisions aimed at improving things. The consideration of all these factors will make the real difference between judging a rude executive and a mentally aggrieved one (Lewis, 2008).