The setting is a Level 1 Trauma Center with a full time position available for a registered nurse on the night shift. The same group of nurses always works together, so there are 2 teams for nights and 2 teams for days. Carol is the team leader of the night shift with the open position. Carol was informed that there were 8 applicants for the position. She was told by the department manager (Dan) that she would be notified of the date and time interviews would be held as she would be included in the interviewing process.

However what happened was that she was not notified or included in the process. The interviews were held by the dept manager (Dan), one of the day shift team leaders (Steve), and another male nurse who does not even work in the same department. At the time interviews were held there was a female team leader available in the department. However instead of including her in the interviewing process they went outside the department and found another male nurse to complete the interview team. This all male interview group then chose the only male applicant. This person was an outside applicant. There were other applicants that were part time employees of the hospital with more years experience, and with more education. Those applicants were female. The hospital policy is that all positions are posted to in house staff prior to outside posting. The interview group did not include anyone that works on the shift for which they were interviewing. There was no interview that lasted for more than 15 minutes.  

Many of the staff (myself included) feel that this was not a fair and unbiased interview, and would like to know how to best deal with this. The department manager was not receptive to discussing this. 

Thank you in advance for any thought you might be willing to share on this.

 

I have never worked in a medical setting so I cannot claim to fully understand the power structure or political environment.  That being said, I would generally take this to HR once Dan opted not to have an open dialogue about it.

There are several things going on here that I can see.  Let me try to make sense of this.  These are rhetorical questions, so there is no need for an answer to all of them, please.

1.       What is your level of authority or your network of supporters?

a.       Do you or your ‘buddies’ have the power to ultimately resolve this situation and any that might occur in the future?

                                                               i.      If yes, then great.  Lets move forward.

                                                             ii.      If no, BUILD YOUR NETWORK and we’ll meet up again when you’ve got influential friends!

2.       Did Dan specifically violate a company policy, procedure or process (forget about the discrimination to woman for a minute)?

a.       Does he always do these types of things? 

b.      Was it posted internally, first?  Is he really the one to post it?  When were the applications given to him?

c.       Who is in HIS network?   Does he or his buddies have a vested interest in any of the candidates that were selected?

d.      Was the policy, procedure or process CLEARLY defined?  Has he done this before?  Should he have known?

                                                               i.      If the answers are generally NO, then I would have a real heart to heart and make everything documented and crystal clear for him.  If the hiring decision has not been made, I would gracefully back up and start it all over again with the right players, and offering the promotion from within potential first as it builds the team loyalty because you are growing your people - if and only if they are REALLY the most qualified.  I am fan of the understanding that someone's ability to perform the job is VERY DIFFERENT from their education and length of service.  I can't stress that enough.

1.       I would caution you to not focus on the woman aspect so much, and I can say that because I am a woman.  We are talking about a high degree of knowledge, capability and decision making in a Trauma Unit.  Regardless of where they come from or who they are, they would have to be the “right man for the job" for me.  We are talking about saving lives – it doesn’t get more critical than that!

                                                             ii.      If the answer is generally Yes, then I would take a corrective action on this guy for poor performance and non-compliance with company protocol. And redo everything if able.

3.       Is the company policy clear and everyone trained?

a.       Make it clear and train if it’s not.  You know, mandate that the unit manager for that shift HAS to be involved (if not give the final answer).

4.       Are their any other males on the night shift in the department or area of the building?  Do you have security on the third shift?

a.       As much as I might hate to admit this, sometimes you NEED a man on the night shift if there isn’t anyone else to “protect” when it’s needed: to end an altercation, to remove someone from the premises, to move that heavy piece of equipment or heavy patient, and on-and-on.  Honestly, sometimes a man is MORE qualified for a particular position.

5.       Does Dan have access to specific information about the other candidates that perhaps you do not have?

a.       Such as they have poor attendance, low productivity, inability to provided highest quality of care, prone to gossip, etc, etc, etc.

6.       What does Dan think of Carol?

a.       Is she REALLY capable?

b.      Does she have any performance issues or a drive to make her shift the best trauma unit?

c.       What is her track record of success with selecting and retaining employees?

d.      Was she available?  How fast did the position have to be filled?

7.       I think you get the idea, that there might be more to this than discrimination.  But the last question to ask if all else fails is DID Dan discriminate against the most qualified individuals BECAUSE they were woman?

a.       If the answer is no, then you need to help support and train Dan on the fact that reality is not reality, but rather the perception of reality is really reality. 

                                                               i.      In this case, it’s a simple example of what happens 95% of the time, you have a manager who is a boss not a leader.  He would need to having leadership training and mentoring.

b.      If the answer is yes, then he needs to be called to the mat with the facts that you have gathered from your investigation and the appropriate actions need to be taken.

Heather,

Thank you for your reply. You asked great questions and brought up some very valid points that I hadn't considered. As far as the security issue the applicant is a retired police officer. She has also worked as a flight nurse, and therefore has "advanced practice skills"; she also does PALS (pediatric life support) BLS (basic life support) and ACLS (advanced cardiac life support) training. 

I can’t really say how Dan feels about Carol, and he may have information not available to me.

 I think you hit the nail on the head in one simple statement "it’s a simple example of what happens 95% of the time, you have a manager who is a boss not a leader"

We are still working on it but I wanted to thank you for taking the time to write such an in-depth and helpful post!

Sue