on and values.
Despite this mission statement that is ostensibly distributed to all employees on their business cards, there is confusion about the values and vision that guide the decision making process at the hospital. Individual employees act in ways that do not violate their personal values and ethics; as a result, some employees recognize and respect DNR (do not resuscitate) orders while others ignore these orders. Other conflicts regarding care have also been noted. Some counselors, for example, provide pro bono services while others will work only when there is an acceptable and accepted insurance program in place for the client.
The main problem seems to be confusion about the ethics and values that are to be used when making decisions at the hospital. Employees must certainly act within their personal frameworks, but ideally, these frameworks should be consistent with the organization as a whole. If there is conflict between the two, the organization's processes should take precedent over the employee's. In the short-term, the hospital may lose some qualified individuals who are unable to adapt to this structure, but this should also help the hospital recruit employees whose personal values and ethics mirror those of the hospital. At this point, however, lacking a formal ethical and values framework, it is difficult for the hospital to define such a decision making process (Velasquez, 1998).
The mission statement of Faith Community Hospital is not clearly communicated to new employees. Printing the mission statement on the back of business cards is an excellent idea, but without a formal introduction to the mission statement and how it should guide the behavior of employees, the mission statement is vague enough to be left open to multiple interpretations. A training session for new employees·and an orientation for employees who receive promotions to go over the mission statement as it applies to their new p...