Ron Ventura at Mitchell Memorial Hospital

Brittney L. Newton

MBA612 AM

September 17, 2017

Dr. Katherine Ruger

Ron Ventura at Mitchell Memorial Hospital

Problem Statement:

        Andy Prescott must decide whether to renew the contract of Ron Ventura. Ventura is a great vascular surgeon, but he has been having issues with staff regarding morale which would usually cause Andy not to renew someone’s contract, but this is a difficult decision because Ron has brought in 3.2 million dollars in revenue during the time he has been there. Andy has to either let Ron go and risk revenue for the hospital or keep him while risking the staff’s morale diminishing.

Hypothesis 1: It may be that Prescott did not handle Ventura’s abrasive personality in the appropriately. Ventura did not respond the way Prescott, causing this uncomfortable situation. If the Prescott had approached Venture appropriately, maybe this issue would not have increased to such heights.

        Persons with abrasive personalities have a passion for perfection, accuracy, and completeness, they will push themselves very hard and can be counted on to do well, often spectacularly. (Levinson, 1978) Although Ron did excellent work, it was very hard for him to work with others. One colleague even described him as “arrogant, overbearing, insecure and sometimes flippant” (Abelli, 2013). When Ventura was hired, he had one goal in mind, and that was to male vascular surgery the strongest division at the cardiovascular center. In the process, some of his colleagues developed some type of Ventura. Prescott even developed this. “I tried to be diplomatic and give advice in an understated way. I didn’t want to confront Ron head on. No one did.” (Abelli, 2013) Since Prescott neglected to approach Ventura about certain issues, nothing was ever solved. Harry Levinson, in The Abrasive Personality, gives some great advice on how to deal with abrasive personality types. Instead of being passive, Prescott needs to be direct with Ventura and tell exactly what kinds of issues he is seeing. This will make it easier for Ventura to identify what he needs to work on, ultimately improving is his behavior.

Hypothesis 2: It may be that Venture served under an Army surgeon with an abrasive personality and his VABEs were based off the Army surgeon.

        Ventura served under an Army surgeon at the beginning of his career. This surgeon was extremely stern and expected nothing but the best from Ventura. While he learned a lot from him, he would order Ventura around all the time, much like Ventura does with his own colleagues. Being young and impressionable, this is the behavior Ventura modeled. According to James Clawson in his article titled, Why People Behave the Way They Do, people begin learning the difference between right and wrong, as well as behavioral trait as early as birth. (Clawson, 2001) Because the Army surgeon was Ventura’s mentor, Ventura modeled his way of conducting surgery, as well as how he worked with others. The environment Ventura was in shaped his VABEs. Since Ventura’s VABEs were established at such an early point in his career, it may be difficult to adapt to others VABE’s. If Ventura was given more time, he could recognize that his VABEs are significantly different from his colleagues. For example, in the staff review, other staff members complained that Ventura needs to work on team working skills. This shows that Ventura does not value team work in the manner that his coworkers do. Ventura needs to realize that his VABEs do not align with others at the hospital. Although this is not impossible, it may take while. When he realizes this, he will adjust his attitude, producing a better work environment.

Hypothesis 3: It may be that Ventura suffers from the Paradox of Excellence. Since Ventura has produced increased revenue for the hospital during his tenure, maybe he fells pressure to continue performing well.

        Thomas and Sara DeLong, in their article The Paradox of Excellence, describe people with this paradox as high achievers who often let anxiety about their performance comprise their progress. (DeLong, 2011) Ventura has produces $3.2 million in revenue since he began working at the hospital. Under pressure to keep performing, Ventura’s bad attitude could be a way to let out his frustrations. Most high achievers like Ventura expect the people who work with them to embody the same type of work ethic. “I work hard and expect others to.” (Abelli, 2013) Thomas and Sara spoke of ways to ease the Paradox of Excellence. They spoke of using a support system. High achievers like Ventura, are very independent and do not like to think they need a lot of help. (DeLong, 2011) In the efforts to reduce some of Ventura’s stress, Prescott should recommend more team revenue building incentives. This way, all the surgeons will work together to bring in more revenue to the hospital instead of all of the pressure lying on Ventura, decreasing stress and improving his attitude.