This paper examines the organizational crisis at Mountain States Healthcare (MSH), a multi-state hospital system spanning Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, and Idaho. Following a consolidation of billing systems, newly appointed director Kyle Christensen's rigid, top-down leadership style triggered widespread employee dissatisfaction, staff turnover, and project delays. The paper analyzes two core failures — ineffective communication and inflexibility in management style — drawing on transformational leadership theory and change management literature. It concludes with recommendations for adopting a democratic leadership approach and improving organizational communication to achieve successful change outcomes.
Mountain States Healthcare (MSH) is a hospital system spanning four states: Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, and Idaho. Following the acquisition of additional hospital units, MSH began experiencing a significant increase in administrative expenditures that were adversely affecting the organization's returns. To prevent future losses, Aaron Nelson, the Vice President of Technology, decided to consolidate the billing systems. This decision prompted a search for a director to lead the newly created directorate. The two primary candidates for the position were Kyle Christensen and Colleen Kennedy. Having previously worked under the VP, Christensen was selected.
Christensen's main approach was to follow his own agenda while avoiding input or information from other parties. The consequences were severe: the organization's situation deteriorated, as employee roles were cut, tasks were altered, and flexible scheduling was eliminated. These changes had an adverse impact on staff morale and performance (Cohen, n.d.).
Having successfully managed the state billing office, Colleen Kennedy made significant attempts to stabilize the situation among disgruntled personnel and repeatedly tried to contact Christensen to outline existing problems and potential solutions. For the most part, however, Christensen either ignored her meeting requests or attended without genuine interest. Matters worsened when the most proficient billing clerk announced she was leaving for another organization, followed by numerous other staff departures. These developments also caused delays to the software project schedule, placing the organization in an increasingly precarious position. Feeling that her ideas and contributions were being overlooked, Colleen ultimately submitted her 30-day notice to Christensen (Cohen, n.d.).
Mountain States Healthcare was experiencing a crisis of poor leadership and mismanaged organizational change. Change management is essential for any organization, and effective handling of change is critical to sustaining a competitive advantage in a fast-moving business environment. Organizational change is increasingly common in the contemporary landscape, compelling organizations to adapt or risk becoming obsolete. At MSH, organizational change centered on the consolidation of billing facilities to achieve cost-effectiveness and prevent long-term losses. Nonetheless, this objective was largely unmet due to the poor leadership of Kyle Christensen (Cohen, n.d.).
Christensen was unsuccessful in fulfilling the role of a transformational leader. According to Vigoda-Gadot and Drory (2006), transformational leadership is a style centered on a motivational relationship between the leader and subordinates that challenges their basic expectations and encourages participation in new and demanding objectives. This was precisely what Christensen needed in order to bring the state operations on board with his consolidation plan. His primary strategy was to replicate the approach he had employed in the consolidated billing office in Utah over the preceding two months (Cohen, n.d.). His failure stemmed from two key deficiencies: a lack of communication and transparency within the organization, and a tyrannical approach to management.
Communication and the flow of information play a pivotal role in organizational change. According to Petrescu (2011), resistance to change during organizational transitions occurs when individuals are not made aware of clear, well-explained objectives and goals for the transformation. In this case, staff expressed a lack of confidence in Christensen's approach and a reluctance to abandon operational practices that had previously been successful (Cohen, n.d.). Communication is a critical strategy for reducing resistance to change, as it helps employees understand the rationale for the transformation. This approach is particularly effective when the primary source of resistance is a lack of information among those involved in the change process (Petrescu, 2011). Christensen compounded this resistance by consistently failing to communicate his vision and objectives to the broader organization.
The importance of transparent communication in managing change is well established in the management literature. When leaders withhold information or fail to engage meaningfully with employees during transitions, uncertainty increases and resistance intensifies. In MSH's case, Christensen's silence and dismissiveness created an information vacuum that employees filled with anxiety and dissatisfaction — a dynamic that directly contributed to the subsequent wave of resignations and project delays.
Another key factor contributing to the crisis at MSH was Kyle Christensen's rigidity in his management style and processes. Despite Colleen Kennedy's repeated meetings and calls — as well as her persistent efforts to encourage flexibility — Christensen refused to adjust his position and continued with his inflexible, top-down approach. This intransigence worsened the situation, ultimately resulting in the departure of the most proficient billing clerk, mass staff resignations, delays to the software project schedule, and finally Colleen's 30-day notice (Cohen, n.d.).
A more flexible management style could have prevented many of these problems. Flexibility in leadership enables better responsiveness in conflict situations and in circumstances that require a leader to alter their course of action (Secord, 2003). It is also a vital element in sustaining employee motivation, a sense of significance, and personal growth. Flexibility allows a leader to function more effectively and appropriately across varying circumstances (Vaari, 2015). As an effective leader, Christensen should have recognized that multiple options exist and that there is rarely only one solution or approach to a change process. Above all, flexibility requires the capacity to acknowledge that one may not always be correct and that other valid strategies may exist — a quality that Christensen demonstrably lacked (Secord, 2003).
One of the key recommendations is a transformation in Christensen's style of leadership and management. His complete inflexibility was the primary driver of the difficulties at MSH. It is imperative that Christensen adopt a democratic style of management — one that aims to build consensus and unanimity among all parties (Marques and Dhiman, 2016). This style involves taking into consideration the perspectives and ideas of all personnel when making decisions. By doing so, Christensen would be able to weigh the input of Colleen and other employees, gain a clearer understanding of the problems at hand, and develop workable solutions. Furthermore, this management style would facilitate employee participation in the change process itself. The primary advantages include increased cooperation among employees, greater levels of organizational trust, and improved morale (Marques and Dhiman, 2016).
A second recommendation is substantially improved communication among Kyle Christensen, Colleen Kennedy, and the rest of the personnel involved in the consolidated operations. On one hand, Christensen would be able to clearly convey his vision, objectives, and agenda to employees. On the other hand, Colleen and the broader staff would be able to inform Christensen of the mistakes being made in the change process and highlight the strengths of the previously successful systems they had operated. Through an open and effective communication channel, the organization would be better positioned to arrive at a shared strategy and a viable path forward for a successful change process (Petrescu, 2011).
"Inflexibility causes staff departures and project delays"
"Democratic leadership and communication as solutions"
"Academic sources cited throughout the paper"
You’re 89% through this paper. Sign up to read the remaining 3 sections.
Sign Up Now — Instant Access Already a member? Log inAlways verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.