PHARMACIST STEVE

One of  my fellow bloggers Jim Plagakis  has a issue with MBA ‘s in the corporate pharmacy system. Calls them MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE.. and no doubt they  have some impact on how/why things are being done.  MBA’s are part/parcel of just about any corporate structure – both for profit and non-profits. Personally, I think that JP give these people too much responsibility for what is going on.. not only in our industry but all industries.

IMO.. the real THREAT MASTER is “THE STOCK MARKET”… I don’t care if you are Larry Merlo.. the President of CVS/Caremark  on down to the floor staff at the local CVS…  The real source of all intimidation and threats come from this single source… THE MARKET .. only cares about market share and profits…

Big Corporate execs – like Merlo – are like professional sport starts… typically they have a very short life span on their “playing field”… and what/how they score is done by  THE MARKET…  THE MARKET likes/doesn’t like  the way things are happening or not happening under your leadership… it causes your stock price to go down or up. If you are Merlo.. bonuses, stock options, even your very job is balanced on the perception and expectations of the THREAT MASTER.

If you are like Merlo… when the THREAT MASTER states.. I expect your EPS to be x.xx .. or your growth is xx% or some other figure that THE MARKET expects to see .. OR.. THE THREAT MASTER will see that someone is found that can do it..

So what comes down from the executive suite.. all the way down to the floor level employees…  You need to do more with less.. it is imperative.. if you can’t do the job.. we will find someone who will… what many of us don’t understand that the person telling you this and everyone at or above their position in the last few days.. have been told the same thing…  since THE MARKET is all about numbers and the MBA’s are the number crunchers… guess who has to come up with some ass-hole plan to try to “meet the numbers” so that those, the likes of Merlo .. can keep their job, bonuses and stock options.

Of course, your boss is not going to be honest with you about the threats that they are getting about the security – or lack of security – of their job. Just think about it.. they have worked very hard to get to the corporate level that they are at .. only to find that the pressure/threats is as bad or worse than they were at the previous level… and if your are a upper level RPH management.. if you get booted out.. how easy it going to be to get back at that level at another employer.. if you  have been out of the real practice of pharmacy for very long… you knowledge base is probably dated as well as your skills.. and you know that all those metrics having nothing do to with good patient care and collectively.. it is damn near impossible to achieve an acceptable score on all required metrics concurrently.  Could stepping back into the Pharmacy as either a PIC or staff RPH.. just be one more step toward out the door.. since you know that the Rx dept is basically a MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

Filed under: General Problems