Jennifer is the vice-president of coding operations of a company that offers remote coding services. The company is located in the Midwest, but has client sites nationwide and in India. Jennifer oversees five regional managers and to this point each region has operated fairly autonomously. With the recent expansion to India, Jennifer saw her time spent in communication with the regional managers grow. She finds herself answering the same question multiple times and puts out the same fires across the country. Jennifer hired each regional manager and knows their capabilities well. She is confident that given the opportunity they can come together as a team and self-manage in areas such as recruitment, training, compliance, and customer satisfaction. Jennifer would be kept in the communication loop, but would not be a member of the team.

The regional managers are the following individuals.

• Northeast: Devon, a 31-year-old single African-American male. He has a bachelor’s degree in biology and the Certified Coding Specialist (CCS) and Certified Coding Specialist–Physician-based (CCS-P) credentials. He has been with the company for two years. He came from a consulting company where he was a remote coder for eight years. He has been vocal about the lack of minority representation and lack of a diversity plan in the company.

• Midwest: Sarah, a 36-year-old married white female. She has a bachelor’s degree in business and the Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT) and CCS credentials. She has been with the company for five years and has worked her way up from a temporary coder to regional manager. Sarah is concerned about the decreasing motivation among the coders in her region.

• South: Alice, a 62-year-old divorced white female, has a masters degree in business administration (MBA), and the Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA), CCS, and CCS-P credentials. She has been with the company from day one, almost 11 years. She came to the company from a management position at a large teaching hospital, and relocated to the South in order to care for her elderly mother. Alice is worried that the younger managers will perceive her need to care for her mother as a lack of commitment to the organization.

• West: Maria, a 32-year-old married white female. She has a bachelor’s degree in HIM and the RHIA credential. She has been with the company for four years and worked her way up from a temporary coder to a regional manager. Maria echoes Sarah’s concerns about decreasing motivation.

• India: Pavan, a 40-year-old single Indian male. He is a medical doctor (MD) with no coding credentials. He has less than one year with the company. Pavan has not vocalized any personal concerns with either Jennifer or other regional managers.

Assumptions

• Jennifer is the team sponsor. She expects to be kept in the communication loop.

• All of the US employees have met face-to-face at least once. Pavan has not met any employee in the United States face-to-face.

• There are no immediate plans to bring the regional managers together for face-to-face meetings.

• All coders go through an intensive orientation, but once they are on their own, there is no formal quality check plan. There are no written policies and procedures for recruitment, training (other than a coding orientation program), or logging of customer feedback.

• Current company statistics indicate that upper level management is 100 percent white female, middle level management is 87 percent white female, and coding professionals are 83 percent white female.

Create a report to send to the president of the company. The report should include the following components:

• Recommendation for creating a self-managing team including the rationale for creating the team
• Outline of communication technology to be used for meetings
• Suggest a person for appointment of a team leader and provide a rationale for the choice
• Recommendations for frequency and time for meetings
• Assessment of the need for a diversity plan
• Description of three strategies to address motivation concerns