The Montevill Hospital

MONTVILLE HOSPITAL DIETARY DEPARTMENT

MONTVILLE HOSPITAL DIETARY DEPARTMENT

CASE SYNOPSIS

THE CONDITION

The dietary department employed approximately 100 employees, 95% were female. The department had two major responsibilities:

Ð'§ The planning, preparation, and serving of three meals a day to every patient

Ð'§ The operation of an employees' cafeteria

The Management

Ð'§ Mr. Thomas Ellis, the food service director, was an older man, a flashy dresser who wore no uniform and spent most of the day in his office. He rarely talked to anyone in the department except the Chief Dietician and the Chief Dietary Supervisor. He communicated to the rest of the employees by means of memos posted on a bulletin board, which usually contained instructions. He also relayed messages down the ranks via supervisors to the workers.

Ð'§ Mrs. Johnston, the chief dietician, was doing mainly administrative in nature, acting as consultant to the dieticians and assisting them when the workload was heavy. She helped out in the kitchen once in a while if the kitchen staff was shorthanded. In general, she tended relatively formal and distant from workers, although when she had suggestions, she often went directly to the workers instead of using memos. Her relationship with the four dieticians was informal and friendly, and she was highly respected by them for her technical excellence as a dietician.

Ð'§ Mrs. Kelley, the chief dietary supervisor, was in charge of hiring and firing. She also was responsible for making up employee schedules week by week, including the scheduling of the part-time workers. She was generally sympathetic to employee problems, relatively informal with the worker, although not on a first-name basis. The employees respected her, and her authority was rarely questioned or challenged by any of the workers. She seemed to be regarded as the real boss.

The three people constituted the main power structure in the dietary department, who tended to keep themselves socially as well as physically. Any changes, plans, or decisions made by them, and the final say being had by the food service director.

The supervisors were then told of any new policy and expected to inform the workers and implement the change. The chief dietary supervisor acts as a middleman between the director and the workers.

Ð'§ The supervisors, whose main responsibilities involved the diet aides and other kitchen workers, assigned jobs, made sure they got done, maintained discipline and order, and helped when needed. There were 3 supervisors; one of them was part time. Most of the time, they worked with the same group, and took turns covering the weekends.

Ð'§ The cooks' job was to prepare the food according to standard recipes and to put it on the serving line at meal times. They did their job efficiently and effectively. They kept to themselves, eating together and not mingling with the diet aides.

Ð'§ The dieticians also kept to themselves both physically and socially. They had their own office and ate together. Little was seen of them by the workers; but when approached they seemed quite friendly.

The Kitchen Workers

The full-time employees

Ð'§ The kitchen workers consist of diet aides, dishwashers, and porters. 25 % of them were full-time employees, mostly older women (40-65 years old) who had been working in the department for a long time (15-20 years). They worked a morning shift from either 6:30 am to 3:00 pm or 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.

Ð'§ Each woman had her own assigned task, which she did every day and there was a little shifting around the positions. This specific routine was heavily controlled by the tight time schedule.

Ð'§ They have to completely finish their tasks before leaving home; otherwise they have to work overtime, without extra pay.

Ð'§ There