CASE: BALANCING THE FUNCTIONS
Betty Wilson was administrative manager of the department of radiology. She was an outstanding example of someone who had come up through the ranks; Betty had been chief technician, a special procedures technician, a technician assigned to routine procedures, and years earlier a student in the hospitals school of radiologic technology.
Because of her broad knowledge gained through experience and additional academic study in matters of radiation safety, as administrative manager she found herself called on more and more to substitute for the hospitals radiation safety officer and to fill in as a special procedures technician when that area was short staffed. More frequently, however, she found herself resisting these technical-work intrusions on her management role, doing so until it became clear that Dr. Arnold, the medical chief of the department, disapproved of her behavior.
One day her manager, the hospitals associate administrator, asked, Whats wrong between you and Dr. Arnold? He claims that youre no longer willing to help out in special procedures, and that the radiation safety committee has just about fallen apart because you wouldnt take the chair and see that things got done. Is your work piling up to where youve got too much to do?
Betty shook her head. No, my workload is under control. I know that radiation safety needs help because of Susans off-and-on health problems, and the turnover in special procedures is killing us because those people are so hard to find in this area just now. What I think the problem really is”I seem to be in a dual role that Im not comfortable with.
Meaning what?
Meaning that I dont really know if Im a manager or a technical staff member or neither or both. I know special procedures and radiation safety fairly well, but it doesnt take a manager to serve as radiation safety officer, and if I let it do so, radiation safety alone could take up more than half of my time.
Betty continued, And I always thought I was a good special procedures tech, but times change and its been a long time since I did that day in and day out. More than half the equipment there has changed since I worked there full time. One of the last times I was in there at Dr. Arnolds direction, one of the techs”actually the only full-time special procedures tech we have”said hed rather not have my help because coaching me along would slow him down and he could do it faster without me. Yet Dr. Arnold seems to regard me first and foremost as an extra pair of hands to be put wherever theres staff work to be done.
After a moment Betty concluded, Ive always believed that the basic job of a manager was to get things done through people, and Ive tried to practice that ever since I entered management. I guess I really dont know if Im supposed to be a real manager or just another employee, and Im afraid that doing all of this technical work is somehow making me less of a manager.
Questions

How is Betty functioning in both line and staff capacities?
Do you agree that Bettys performance of technical work as described could be making her less of a manager, as she fears? Justify your answer.
Propose one set of circumstances under which Bettys involvement in the technical tasks described would be fully appropriate.