About a third of staff at the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) have concerns about how the organisation is being run, an internal study has indicated.
The study for the board, which involved 400 employees or around 68 per cent of the total, also revealed that a significant number of staff felt more needed to be done within the organisation to deal with bullying and to tackle grievances.
The IBTS organisation survey report, drawn up by SHR Consulting, reveals that a large majority of employees strongly believe that senior management is committed to standards of excellence in all matters.
However, many staff would appear to be sceptical about how top managers carry out their jobs and how they deal with people in the organisation. Just over 30 per cent of those surveyed in a detailed questionnaire had doubts about the assertion that top management were a credible group to lead the IBTS.
Just over 35 per cent agreed broadly with this concept while a further one-third were strongly supportive.
When asked about top managers being role models in terms of their professionalism and commitment, more than 35 per cent indicated that more needed to be done in this area.
More than 37 per cent of staff surveyed expressed scepticism that the goals set by management were understood and accepte
Nearly 70 per cent broadly disagreed with the assertion that there was a real sense of teamwork between management and staff.
The survey indicated that more than 40 per cent of staff across the organisation believed that more had to be done in the way that bullying and harassment were dealt with.
More than 56 per cent generally disagreed with the concept that the organisation dealt fairly with all its employees.
More than 44 per cent of those surveyed broadly disagreed with the assertion that staff could voice their opinion without fear of reprisal.
IBTS chief executive Andrew Kelly said he was "surprised" at some of the findings. However, he stressed that steps were being taken to address concerns raised.
Mr Kelly said that staff in some of the regional collection centres would not have had many dealings with senior management but that this issue would now be looked at in the future.
He said 14 focus groups had been established within the organisation to examine each of the major areas of concern.
Recommendations on how these could be tackled as well as a timescale for action would be issued to staff within two weeks.
Meanwhile, the IBTS confirmed yesterday that its board is to receive a final draft report into the reasons for delays in notifying a number of patients in its Munster centre that they had tested positive for the hepatitis C virus.
