Morgan Neems Applications Paper
HRM 537
INTRO: The goal of this paper is to create a plan to improve management techniques and
effectiveness of all supervisory staff in order to increase employee satisfaction, employee
retention, and to boost morale and overall production amongst employees (for this project, we’ll
call the organization THOLI). This ongoing intervention would include bi-weekly, interactive
seminars for supervisors and division managers, as both serve as supervisory staff at case
management sites while also serving as middle-men, so to speak, between administrative
management in the main office and case managers on the ground. The reason for this change is
multifaceted. Case management staff have demonstrated the following as shown in yearly
opinion surveys for THOLI employees:
-Dissatisfaction with management techniques of supervisors and division managers
-Low morale due to little recognition shown by supervisory staff
-Dissatisfaction with difficulty in using earned sick or personal time due to feeling guilted by
supervisory staff
-Concern regarding high rate of employee turnover and difficulty of employee retention
-Apprehension to deny offered overtime due to negative consequences from supervisory staff
-Dissatisfaction with pressure from supervisory staff and upper management to skip half hour
breaks on eight hour shifts to accomplish work
-Concern regarding unsafe agency vehicles as maintenance is not performed until deemed
absolutely necessary by upper management
-Dissatisfaction with difference in information on policy and procedure between supervisory
staff and management
-Distrust of upper management, Supervisors, and Division Managers as employees were
questioned about responses to anonymous opinion surveys in past
Question 1: A) THOLI (Transitional Housing of Long Island) is a non-profit organization run out
of a main office in Suffolk County dedicated to serving Long Island’s mentally ill who are also
recovering from substance abuse. Many of THOLI’s clients were homeless and were referred to
the agency by social services. Many clients also have a lengthy history of assault, petty criminal
offenses, and symptomatic behavior (ranging from schizophrenic hallucinations or delusions to
suicide attempts). As the non-profit organization is not funded enough to hire clinical staff with
medical or psychiatric degrees, sites are run by case management staff who have some interest in
social work or psychology. Supervisors and Division Managers are responsible to maintain all
sites remain up to NYS Office of Mental Health standards, and are responsible for managing all
case management staff on site.
Question1: B) As listed above, case management staff have reviewed the agency recently and
indicated problems with site Supervisors and Division Managers. While I worked at this agency,
Supervisors and Division Managers were not trained on interacting with case management staff
effectively. As far as I am aware, Supervisors and Division Managers were not coached on
advising case management cohesively on policy and procedure, as different Supervisors and
Division Managers approached site management in completely different ways despite no official
change in policy from site to site. Based upon case managers’ complaints, all supervisory staff
need to improve their communication to establish a uniform understanding of agency policy and
procedures, need to improve how they communicate with case management staff to ensure they
feel respected and understood, need to understand consequences of sharing confidential
employee responses, and need to be trained on benefits on communicating with employees
regarding overtime and personal/sick/vacation time without utilizing guilt.
Question 2: A) I would begin by taking into account the anonymous opinion surveys when
conducting my needs analysis. I would continue by reviewing rates of employee retention, rates
and types of documented conflict between supervisory staff and case management employees,
looking at advertised job description vs actual job duties, looking at frequency of promotions for
case management employees, reviewing exit surveys from employees who left the agency, and
reviewing current training materials/procedures. I would also observe working conditions on site,
interactions between case management staff and supervisory staff, and observe communication
between supervisory staff and upper management. Finally, I would administer an anonymous
survey exclusively on the training techniques and practices of the agency for case management
and supervisory staff to fill out.
Question 2: B) After completing my needs analysis and compiling data, I might come to the
following conclusions:
-Division Managers and Supervisors are not encouraged to acknowledge accomplishments of
case managers as the organization cannot sustain promoting case management staff on a regular
