Dr. Azziz needs to get RID OF THE POINT SYSTEM, if he does that the morale will change in an instant. That POINT SYTEM is a THORN in the employees side. (MCGHI side that is).
Medical College of Georgia President Ricardo Azziz has formed a new Faculty Satisfaction Action Team to develop ways to improve morale and communication.
"We'll be presenting a report every week to the president, and I have already submitted my first report," said School of Nursing Dean Lucy Marion, who will lead the team with Jack Yu, the chief of plastic surgery and vice chairman of the University Faculty Senate.
Before Azziz became president July 1, he identified the priority of addressing recent faculty concerns, particularly in light of media coverage regarding senior leaders' salaries.
"Many initiatives to improve satisfaction are already well under way, particularly regarding improved communications and administrative transparency," Azziz said Monday in a news release. "Forming this group, which will rely heavily on recommendations submitted last week by the University Faculty Senate, allows us to do much more to improve faculty satisfaction at MCG."
Marion said the team will likely form four subgroups.
"The job is to be done in 90 days," she said. "We'll take about 30 days for immediate goals and 90 days for the rest, and then we'll see how it goes from there."
Evaluating and implementing the recommendations, she added, could take longer than 90 days.
The team will also be evaluating a 2008 Morehouse Associates Inc. survey that identified several faculty concerns, including administrative bureaucracy; communications; and faculty development, reward and recognition.
Other team members are Vice President for Strategic Support Deb Barshafsky, Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration Bill Bowes, School of Nursing Assistant Dean for Administration Pamela Cook, Associate Professor of Cellular Biology/Anatomy and Neurology Dave Hill, Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy Lynn Jaffe and Associate Vice President for Human Resources Susan Norton.
Comments
Dr. Azziz needs to get RID OF THE POINT SYSTEM, if he does that the morale will change in an instant. That POINT SYTEM is a THORN in the employees side. (MCGHI side that is).
New guy sounds like a bureaucrat ("Faculty Satisfaction Action Team"). How about showing some leadership and make some positive changes quickly.
The typical higher education response to a perceived problem is to do one of three things:
1. Form a committee
2. Hire a consultant
3. Do both 1. and 2.
Maye this will work, but MCG like most academic institutions already has an alphabet soup of committees and governance structures. Get their imput, create a plan to address the problem, implement it, check to see if it needs correction, then adjust the plan as necessary.
Dr. Azziz, break out of the mold!
Maybe some team members can explain their own exorbitant salaries to Dr. Azziz. When a hack typing press releases makes as much as a successful Hollywood screenwriter, the good doctor might want to examine the casting couch. There's got to be more than chump change in those cushions but he shouldn't wait 90 days and expect a straight answer from foxes doing henhouse duty.
When is he going to form an Employee Satisfaction Action Team. They are the core of the University and the Hospital. If it were not for the emloyees that are assisting the faculty members and doing the other jobs, menial or not, they are necessary for the running of the University and Hospital. Their satisfaction is needed just as much as the Faculty satisfaction is needed however they are too often overlooked.
Dashiel, foxes doing hen house duty is right on. So far Dr. Azziz has only recycled the same faces to fix the problems they created themselves. The real buzz at MCG wonders why a fresh leader who is the new sheriff in town would simply push the replay button. It can only mean that the new sheriff in town is not the fresh leader we hoped for.
I agree with dashiel....the committee is top loaded with the very administrators that received the 90 to 92% salary increases while faculty & staff were taking mandatory furloughs and students faced the threat that academic programs would be abolished leaving them with half an education & no degree (even though magically that issue resolved itself). This committee is a joke!
Funny, isn't it? Right? Why print an article that only relates to the Faculty within the Medical College Organization? The thousands of employees have little or no collective voice or advocate. Is the article intentionally misleading to suggest to the public that Dr. Azziz and the Medical College Organization (notice the suggestion the illusion of a “single unit”) are trying to be fair and reasonable? Certainly the faculty being made happy-or rather "improving faculty satisfaction" is important, but honestly, the Faculty at the Medical College are not going anywhere unless the Organization wants them gone. It was the Faculty that received the pay raises. It is ironic that the pay raise complaints will now be a springboard to provide more “Faculty satisfaction” and again, it appears as if, the public is being fed the idea that all employees are going to being well provided for because the organization was concerned enough to create a group to talk about it. Thank God for the trickle down effect. No really, things will all work out in the end. SMILE. Everything will be just fine. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. Have a nice and blessed day! Public Relations. Nice.
It's sad to see yet another committee to address a problem over there. Seems like all they do is create committees and/or hire consultants (like agustinian said) to come up with solutions, but the solutions never get implemented, just more committees are created or more consultants hired. Yes, there is a faculty turnover problem at MCG. I heard that a couple of years ago, the Faculty Senate came up with a proposal to make MCG a destination university instead of a stepping stone, but the leadership opted for yet another survey conducted by a consulting group. Hopefully the committee listed above is going to address how to implement a solution to attract, develop, and retain quality faculty. Dr. Lucy Marion is a top notch leader with high ethical standards, so I trust that her committee will actually create an implementation plan. The question will be .... will the "leadership" support the implementation, or hire yet another consulting firm to do another survey? MCG also needs to address the employee dissatisfaction issue too!
As for the committee's make up, having past and present leaders of the Faculty Senate on there makes sense, but why the other administrators? Didn't that one VP used to be Dr. Rahn's overpaid speech writer? Since he's gone, why isn't she? I sure hope Dr. Azziz can speak for himself and wing his own speeches. I would expect that of a true leader. Besides, we don't need any more "teleprompter Presidents."
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