Running head: RESTVIEW HOSPITAL CASE STUDY 1

Restview Hospital Case Study Analysis

Kaitlin Welker

Leadership Theory and Research

Christopher Newport University

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Restview Hospital Case Study Analysis

In one of his case studies, Gary Yukl describes the situation of Mary Carter, the

accounting manager at Restview Hospital as she is tasked with finding a more modern software

for the company’s billing system. Restview’s faculty administrator, Jack Morelli, had a personal

relationship with the president of Standard Software, their current provider, pressuring Mary to

add Standard to the list of potential products. However, Standard’s software was used by few

hospitals and proved to be less flexible and user-friendly than other programs in contention

(Yukl, p. 187). After a thorough investigation of potential software products to use, Mary sent

her report and recommendation of software use from Reliable Computers. While Jack was

listening to her presentation on her findings, he was not attentive and gave very little response,

appearing to have already had his mind made up. The board later decided that despite Mary’s

hard work in finding Reliable Computers to be the best option, the company would choose the

software from Standard (Yukl, p. 187). It appears that Jack’s personal relationship with the

president of Standard Software Systems was the reason behind the decision to choose their

product.

Out of the three main players in this case study, Jack seems to have the most power and

influence because he in greater charge of the final decision. This kind of power is described by

Yukl as legitimate power, routing from the formal authoritative position he presumes (p. 155).

Jack also has strong referent power because he wants to please his dear friend the president of

Standard, and chooses their program to maintain his personal relationship (Yukl, p. 160). But

Mary has the power that Jack lacks. She has power because she has access to and control over

the findings she has researched of the different programs offered, what Yukl defines as

information power (p. 163). She also has expert power, or the power of “task-relevant knowledge
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and skill” (Yukl, p. 161) that comes with being the accounting manager. Since she is the one who

will use the software and understands the importance and utilization of the potential programs,

her power comes from being the expert of the situation. While these two employees expressed

direct power over the situation, the president of Standard Software Systems proved to have

indirect power and influence of the final decision. Because it was his company and product in

question, and it was his relationship with Jack that influenced the hospital’s choice, the president

had ecological power (Yukl, 163). Specifically, the president has ecological power because of

the indirect control he processes over the environment and technology of Restview Hospital

(Yukl, p. 163).

Unfortunately, because Mary did not have the power to make the decision on the

purchase of the best software to modernize their system, the hospital had to use a software she

did not recommend the board should choose. Although she did not have the power to make the

choice, there were tactics Mary could have used to gain more influence over the decision. She

could have used the apprising tactic that “explains how carrying out a request or supporting a

proposal will benefit the target personally or help advance the target person’s career” (Yukl, p.

172). Since Jack seems to be persuaded by his personal agenda, this tactic would most likely help

influence him to be in favor of Reliable Computer’s software if she implied it would make him

look better in the future. Mary also could have used the influence tactic of ingratiation by

flattering Jack and expressing confidence in his decision and an understanding for how difficult

his job is. If she presented this tactic before her presentation he might have been more open-

minded about her recommendation. Inspiration appeals is another influence tactic Mary could

have employed that would have involved appealing to Jack’s values and ideals to invoke

enthusiasm in the Reliable product (Yukl, p. 172). If Mary could get Jack to be excited about a
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product other than that of Standard’s, she could capture his attention and convince him why the

other software is the best decision.

Even though Mary had put a large amount of time and energy into researching the best

possible purchase for the company’s new software, Jack hardly considered her findings and went

with the product that benefited himself personally, rather than what benefited the company as a

whole. Because of this poor decision, Restview Hospital lost thousands of dollars and did not

increase in billings systems efficiency (Yukl, p. 187). Perhaps if Mary had used influence tactics

to persuade Jack and the board, they would have purchased the best software.

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References

Yukl, Gary (2010). Leadership in Organizations (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson

Education, Inc.