ABSTRACT
Community Pharmacy Limited has a high turnover of pharmacy staff. A dispensary technician has been on stress leave for several weeks. The manager, Dianne, has not made any permanent arrangements to fill the vacancy, and often the pharmacist has to work with little support. Susan, the technician, is very close to Dianne because she looks after Dianne’s aged mother at times. Recently, Susan was offered a bonus for completing the stock audits well before the due date. Although other technicians supported her too, their contributions were not recognized. Important tasks were assigned to Susan, and therefore the other technicians did not know their responsibilities. At the monthly review, Max pointed out that Susan had been responsible for more near misses than others. Often,
during the legitimate lunch break Dianne would interrupt and instruct Max to go to the dispensary for checking dispensed items. Twice during the previous six months, Dianne refused leave for Max to attend professional development courses during the daytime. Staff knew neither what they had to achieve nor their individual responsibilities. Morale was low and the dispensary staff developed bad work habits. Max, as the responsible pharmacist, realized that he had to motivate the staff, and for that he needed the support of the manager.
