MedCoach CASPer Question Bank: Dysfunctional

You work in an office with ten other staff. As part of your agreement, you pay 30% of your income to the owners of the office. It is the owner’s responsibility to hire staff for the front desk to answer phones, stock the clinic with the supplies, and ensure the day-to-day running of the clinic.

Sarah (one of the staff in the clinic) always seems ill-content with how the owners run the clinic. Sarah always seems quite frustrated and blames the owners for all of the problems in the clinic, sometimes in an unprofessional way by sending long e-mails to everyone at the clinic.

Recently the owners decided to respond with Sarah’s e-mail and to everyone’s surprise their tone was aggressive as well. They told Sarah that if she is not happy, she should leave.

You decide to go speak to the owners about this situation, as it is making some of the other staff feel uncomfortable. It is also affecting the efficiency of everyone’s work day.

The owners agree that they have a problem with Sarah and say that they have tried to contact her many times to meet in person and discuss the situation but Sarah refuses. They defend themselves by saying that they had no other choice to send an angry e-mail in return for all of the angry e-mails that she sent them.

You have 5 minutes to answer the following questions

  1. What is the main problem in your view?
  2. Would you get involved? If yes, why? If no, why not?
  3. What kind of solutions would you implement to create a better working environment for everyone going forward?