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University of Phoenix Material

Ballard Integrated Managed Services, Inc., Part 1

Barbara Tucker looked out her 6th floor office window to view the sprawling campus of the Douglas Medical Center (DMC). Her employer, Ballard Integrated Managed Services, Inc. (BIMS), provided food and hospitality services on a contractual basis for all patient and staff needs. As general manager of this site for BIMS, Barbara was concerned about her staff’s morale. She felt that it had been weakening over the past several months, but she could not figure out why. The turnover rate seemed somewhat higher than usual, but no new information was emerging from exit interviews. Her department heads and supervisors agreed that something was happening to morale, but they could not tell her why either.

Headquartered in New York City, BIMS is a support services company that specializes in providing housekeeping and foodservice to corporations and institutions. A nationwide company, BIMS contracts with large organizations that prefer to focus on their own core competencies and lease support functions to outside vendors. BIMS distinguishes itself in this highly competitive industry by combining several services: housekeeping, foodservice, general cleaning, and physical plant maintenance. The BIMS list of clientele includes 22 Fortune 100 businesses, over 100 midsized firms, 16 major universities, 14 medical centers, and 3 larger regional airports.

Located in a major metropolitan area, the contract for this 510-bed regional medical trauma center includes the full range of BIMS services. Four months ago, the two firms had completed negotiations to renew their contract, extending the initial 3-year, just-ended arrangement for 5 more years. The Douglas Medical Center had been very pleased with BIMS’s work to date and had been willing to renew under the same terms and conditions. The BIMS corporate headquarters had also been satisfied with Barbara Tucker’s management of this site and her...