Management Case Study: Pharmacy Management and Employee Turnover

This case study discusses the reasons behind employee turnover in a pharmacy management setting and suggests strategies for reducing it. It covers topics such as leadership skills, conflict resolution, and employee motivation.

Running head: MANAGEMENT CASE STUDY
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Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

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Case study
Pharmacy management
Increased turnover of the skilled employees from a well-run pharmacy can lead to loss of
productivity and repudiation of the organization. There are several factors behind the increased
turnover of the employees- that is lack of motivation, excessive workload and burnout,
occupational safety and might be remuneration issues. Transition of the employees from one
profession to the next can also be due to some self-factors (1). Working in the comfort zone
sometimes might bring stagnancy in the job, and such employees feel deep inside that the next
level of responsibility requires learning of new skills and get used to be uncertain, and thus wants
to learn and face fear once again (1). Hence, in this case Leah might have felt a stagnancy in the
job. From the case study it is evident that Leah had a poor sense of self-regulation and a low
level of communication skills, due to which he could not reach out to the managers to clear out
his grievances. Again the idea of stagnation might be a contradictory with the statement of the
pharmacy manager as he has expressed that Leah always came up with new ideas and worked
enthusiastically, except for the last few days when the employee looked a bit demotivated and
distracted from the work.
Demotivation among the employees might occur due lack of career visions and in
majority of the cases, money is one of the prime reason for the employee’s motivation (1). Some
of the other reasons that might have caused demotivation in the concerned employees are- job
security, feeling undervalued, poor leadership skills, conflict and the unrealistic workload.
According to the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, employees remain motivated by the fulfilment of
the physiological needs, the self-esteem needs, safety needs, social needs and needs of self-
actualization. Hence it has to be understood that un-fulfillment of any of these needs might lead
to demotivation among the employees.
One of the main reasons for the employee turnover is the lack of proper management.
Employees need to feel that they are being valued (2). It is evident from the case study that the
number of the management staffs had been cut short due to the financial constraints. Hence,
Leah might not have got the scope to share his difficulties with the manager. Furthermore it is
the duty of the managers to look after the needs of the employees which requires frequent

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feedback from the employees (3). In this scenario it can be clearly seen that there were no
provisions of feedback due to the shortage of staffs. This displays lack of proper leadership
skills. Some of the critical leadership skills that was lacking in the managerial group was
provision of any sorts of recognition or awards to the employees. In spite of coming up with the
new ideas, Leah was not provided with any kind of appraisals. It is necessary to make a
contagious vision and provide opportunities to the employees to follow that vision ,but in this
case it can be found that no innovative strategies has been introduced so far since last two years.
Strategic communication skill among the manager was lacking (9). The management of the
pharmacy lacked long term views regarding the organization and thus did not implement any
innovative strategies for long two years, which indicates that the managers might be lacking the
courage to challenge the status quo or were afraid to take implement changes in the organization
(4). In certain cases, managers often are afraid to implement any change in fear of the conflicts
that might take place after the implementation of the measures. In this scenario, conflicts among
the employees might be a reason for the resigning of the concerned employee. Conflict
resolution is common at the workplace and can hamper the workflow of the organization that can
disrupt the momentum of the work in the organization. However it is duty of the managers to
resolve any kind of conflicts (3). A proper leader should be able to gather data, analyze data and
choose and implement the best solution (3). Poor time management, lack of leadership and
management, personal conflicts have been recognized as one of the important reason for staff
turnover.
Empathy is an important aspect of the leadership skills. In the case scenario the manager
displayed poor skills of empathy as he did not notice that one of the employees might have been
suffering from some emotional problem (6). Leah might have had an Amygdala hijack as he
might have felt emotionally threatened which could have been managed by proper counseling.
Proper counseling and motivation might have retained the employee at work. A proper leader
understands that human development are the core element for the growth of an organization (4).
Staff turnover can be reduced in the future by following proper transformational
leadership policies. Some of the important aspects of a transformational leadership are- creation
of an agenda and then disseminating the vision to the other employees, reflection on their own
mistakes and thrive for the best to avoid the in future (5). Managers should excel themselves as

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leaders and should apply proper conflict management strategies such as obtaining regular
feedback, displaying empathy and active listening to their opinions, welcoming others opinions
(9). A leader should be able to train his employees regarding dealing with the workload and
working beyond the comfort zone (7). Rewards and recognitions, looking after the health and
safety of the employees, respecting their cultural beliefs and showing them empathy can be
recognized as one of the important strategy for retaining employees like Leah.
It has to be mentioned that proper managerial and leadership skills help to strengthen the
economic output, increases job opportunities, motivates the employees and decrease staff
turnover.

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