Your first task is to study the problem at FutureSystems. You look at absentee rates, customer complaints, interview supervisors and workers, examine job site conditions, read the minutes of meetings, and so on. You gather information about the current insurance program and the relevant company's policies. In so doing, you discover a pattern of problems that goes beyond substance abuse to include family problems and a host of stress related conditions.

You then look at the problem of lost productivity and try to calculate its costs.

Then look at what other companies in similar situations are doing.

Critically Examine the Literature

And although this step is discussed in detail in other modules, it is at this stage that you study employee assistance programs as programs. You gather the evidence and studies that are relevant to the task at hand. It is not enough to just gather and read what others have said and done about this problem.

In this, as in all situations, we need to understand the rationale for each possible solution-its principles, the rationale for its design, and the evidence that shows how well each solution works.

We need to understand the operation of a solution, the structure of the program, the scope of its services, the qualifications of those who provide it, the responsibilities of FutureSystems, and its costs.

To answer these questions, we need to perform four tasks:

1. Select the possible solutions, in this case the programs that seem useful
2. Understand the rationale and philosophy behind each program
3. Understand in practical terms how each program works
4. Test your own assumptions about what should be done at FutureSystems against what is done elsewhere
   
   

Selecting Alternatives