Omega House

Insubordination or Unclear Loyalties?*

Abstract

Ellen, the program director of Omega House, a hospice, was wondering how to deal with the new development officer, George. He reported to her and was also part of a cross program task force on fundraising within the Social Action Consortium (SAC), the umbrella organization for a variety of service agencies located in the Midwest. Ellen was accustomed to working in a team and found George’s communicative approach disconcerting. She was puzzled as to how to deal with the situation. Was the problem with George structural rather than individual? George’s job seemed unclear, with him reporting both to her and the SAC development office chief, who headed the task force. Thus, she asked herself,
Sometimes the director had seemed capricious in how we would arbitrarily fire program directors. Ellen also regarded her as insensitive; the director would come in, unannounced, leading a delegation of visitors through the facility. Since Omega was a hospice, Ellen felt that such visits should have been handled with greater sensitivity. Also, the director had tried to micro-manage many of the programs. She would make decisions about minutiae, sometimes change programs without consulting the program director, and involve staff from the various programs in SAC issues, such as the cross-program task force on fundraising. Ellen understood that this was a large concern for SAC and she knew that George, who was assigned to Omega, needed to participate in this fundraising task force at SAC. However, Ellen was concerned that Omega’s internal fundraising efforts were not getting the attention they deserved from George. It was apparent to Ellen that Lisa, the student intern, had assumed leadership role, filing the vacuum left by George. However, Lisa was temporary and should not supplant