The Problem at the City Zoo

The Problem at the City Zoo

City Zoo Case Analysis

The case is about the City Zoo, which is a popular tourist attraction animal zoo that attracts tourists from all over the country. The zoo had gained a remarkable reputation locally, provincially, and nationally for providing a high-quality environment for its animals and enabled children of all ages to learn about different types of animals and their habitats at the zoo. The zoo operates with a committed staff of 157 full-time employees and 550 part-time and seasonal employees. Most of its revenues are from a special tax levy on city property owners who vote on whether or not to renew during the city elections, which are held every three years. The zoo experienced several problems in its management, communication, teamwork, and organizational structure, and as a result, several animals died in the zoo, which sparked much attention from the public and regulators. As a result, the employees of the zoo had low motivation, and the zoo faced risks in the deterioration of its revenues. The main issues identified in the City Zoo’s case that will be explored in this paper are leadership and management, communication, motivation, and teamwork.

As mentioned, several animals died while under the care of the City Zoo. The deaths led to the Ministry of Natural Resources investigating the zoo as a result of these deaths. The zoo also conducted its own investigations with the aim of finding out what the Ministry was worried about, that it conducted thorough investigations at the zoo. From the findings of the investigations, it was noted that the zoo had ignored the warnings of Dr. Tim Bernardino, the head veterinarian at the zoo. The report issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources showed that the veterinary recommendations by Dr. Bernardino had not been addressed for a long time. The report also stated that the zoo had failed to give enough authority to Dr. Bernardino to ensure the provision of adequate veterinary care. What followed was a series of changes, including the firing and hiring of different officials at the zoo in an attempt to get the zoo back at its feet and increase its revenues and minimize the public speculations that negatively affected the zoo. The City Zoo’s case presents a situation that is characterized by poor leadership, poor communication, and poor decision making.

Problem Statement

From the City Zoo’s case, some staff at the zoo complained about William Lau’s leadership and how he managed the zoo. Despite his success in raising City Zoo’s profile externally, particularly in leading fundraising efforts, which led to more exotic animals being brought to the zoo, most of the employees did not necessarily see him as a good internal leader.  The employees complained that he often shouted at them and undermined them. As a result, most of the employees had fear and did not express their concerns regarding the animals’ wellbeing at the zoo. The case also shows that there were strained relationships between various employees at the zoo, and there was no flexibility among senior members of the zoo. Sr. Tim Bernardino, the director of animal health and nutrition at the zoo, felt that he was not included in the decision-making process and that the board often alienated him when making decisions. He also felt that his authority at the zoo was reduced.

Since the zoo did not have a general curator, whose work was to oversee the work of the veterinarians, the curators, and the zookeepers, and to solve any problems that might arise amongst the three groups, the zoo created the Biological Program Committee (BPC) which would perform the duties of a general curator. This committee consisted of mammals’ curators and birds, fishes, and reptiles’ curators. It also consisted of an animal behavior specialist, together with members of the veterinary staff of the zoo. However, the voting rights were given only to the four groups of curators and the animal behavior specialist. Many of the staff were not happy with this new management committee, including Bernardino, who felt that his authority was diminished as a result of the committee’s structure. The introduction of the BPC in the City Zoo does not seem to have been necessary as it somehow disrupted the organizational structure of the zoo. Particularly, as Bernardino highlighted, the curators did not pay enough attention to the animal-care issues, and they also treated the veterinary staff like second-class citizens as they were not in the committee. As a result, the BPC was not necessary as it was clear that the committee only brought more disruption, miscommunication, and poor management

After the zoo dismissed Bernardino, claiming that it was not due to the inspection by the Ministry of Natural Resources but was due to his administrative and management skills that he failed to address. He received some negative comments in his reviews where a former supervisor wrote that he was intense and inflexible, which caused strained relations with other employees. As a result, the management asked him to focus more on people skills in the department and with curators (559). Additionally, the negative appraisal comments were related to his relationships with the zookeepers and curators. The zookeepers respected him, and he maintained good relations with them. However, some curators felt that he empowered the zookeepers too much, which led to the zookeepers going around their curators to make complaints about animal care. This shows that there was no openness within the zoo, and there were no discussions to foster communication and decision making within the zoo’s management.

The dismissal of Bernardino was not necessary since he seemed to be likable among most of the zoo’s staff, and his motives were for the overall betterment of the zoo. His performance reviews showed his exceptional management and performance of duties. Instead of firing his due to his year-long struggle with the zoo’s administrators, the management should have worked to improve their relationship with him and grant him more authority since he seemed to know what was required to be don for the zoo to enhance its management. The board of directors only reinstated him as the director of Animal Health and Nutrition of the zoo to quiet speculation by the community members concerning the zoo.

Causes of the problems

To solve the various problems experienced at the zoo in its management, communication, teamwork, and motivation. A number of things need to be done. The first thing is to solve the communication problem experienced among the zoo executives and staff. The lack of effective communication within the zoo is the source of all other problems. The lack of effective communication is as a result of the weakness of some of the staff at managing people. From the case, some curators made minimal effort in responding to the proposals of the zookeepers and their suggestions to improve animal care. Also, veterinarians at the zoo experienced similar difficulties as the curators did not see the need to consult them concerning animal management issues. Apart from this, curators complained that the veterinarians occasionally undermined them by choosing to contact with the keepers and ignoring them. Such a case shows that the ideas and interventions to improve animal care and generally improve the quality of the zoo are there, but the means to communicate these ideas are lacking. There was lack of communication among veterinarians, keepers, and curators, and this led to the poor care standards for the animals. Therefore, by enhancing the relationships of all the staff, communication can be enhanced and improve the quality of care provided to the animals at the zoo.

Another issue is the zoo’s organizational structure. The lack of teamwork, communication issues, and lack of coordination are some of the main problems related to the structure of the zoo. Such problems led to the deaths of the animals. During the investigations of the Ministry of Natural Resources, the task force realized that most of the zoo’s staff were not involved in the reporting of animal care. The task force noted that the organizational structure was not well organized as most of the staff did not know to whom they are supposed to report to concerning important issues arising in animal care.

Employee conduct was also another problem experienced at the zoo. There was a lack of consistency, uniformity, accountability, and resoluteness in the execution of standards of conduct across various departments of the zoo. Additionally, the employee relations department was poor at imposing standards of conduct. This can be noted from the complaints of some of the zoo’s employees who felt that the management expected the employees who worked hard to compensate for those who did not work as hard and were underperforming. The five-step process used by the zoo where an employee was terminated if he or she received five written infractions within a period of 12 months seemed to be ineffective as none of the employees were terminated. In fact, no employee had been terminated in 20 years.

Finally, the Biological Program Committee was the result of most of the problems experienced in the zoo’s management. The committee created a mutual management society for the curators and allowed them to overlook the concerns raised by the veterinarian and keepers staff. Additionally, there was no real accountability for decisions as a result of the BPC.

Possible Solutions and Recommendations

The new Executive Director, Emma Breslin, had a huge task of restoring trust morale among the employees. The first thing that Emma should do to restore trust and morale among the employees is to improve communication effectiveness within the organization. Effective communication helps to enhance employee motivation and improve their morale. For communication to be effective, there need to be good relationships among the employees, and effective communication can be a great way to strengthen relationships between the employees and the managers. Additionally, effective communication drives collaboration, which in turn improves the morale of the employees by fostering an environment whereby employees can work together and motivate each other. Therefore, Emma can greatly improve the motivation and morale of the staff by enhancing communication within the organization. The best way to improve communication is through inclusion, where everyone should be involved in the communication process and in the decision-making process.

One of the biggest hindrance that Emma faced was the public relations problem that the zoo faced as a result of the problems encountered in the zoo, and partly due to the firing of Dr. Tim Bernardino. Wynona Singh, who reported to Bernardino before he was dismissed, was not a favorite among the veterinary and animal food staff. A survey conducted by Bernardino among these staff showed that he had major communication problems. However, she received positive reviews from the curators and associate curators. Therefore, before considering whether or not to promote Singh to the position of the head veterinarian, she should consider her performance reviews. Despite having some negative reviews, Singh also has some positives. Additionally, she has been a full-time veterinarian at the City Zoo since 1999, and therefore, she has a considerable amount of experience working at the zoo. Emma should, therefore, promote her and not hire another person from outside. However, she should encourage Singh to work on her management skills, particularly her communication skills, to improve her relationship with the veterinary and food animal staff.

Concerning the improvement of the organizational structure of the zoo, Emma should consider implementing strategies aimed at enhancing coordination and teamwork among the workers. She should design and implement a structure that enables each worker to report to a specific person in case of any concern. The communication of important should be simplified in a manner that a specific employee, knows whom to report to in case they want to communicate a certain issue or concern.  She should consider implementing a horizontal organization structure where the most prominent executive should be at the top of the hierarchy, and the rest should follow down the hierarchy in terms of their ranks. Each person should communicate to the person above them in the hierarchy. Finally, to restore the trust of the community members, Emma should first fix the internal organization of the zoo, using the strategies mentioned above, then implement ways to communicate the various changes to the community. She can do this by using the marketing team, whereby the positive changes and outcomes can be communicated externally through marketing strategies such as advertising and promotion. By implementing all these changes, Emma will be able to solve the management and communication issues in the zoo and restore motivation and trust among the employees and also trust from the community.