How does something that sounds so good turn out so awful? - Program Coordinator Operation Smile Employee Review

- In the last year alone, 13 out of roughly 30 people from the international programs department have quit. Only 4 out of these 13 people left with jobs or alternative plans. Furthermore, though we are requested to stay for two years, five out of the nine people that I started with have quit before their two years are up. This goes to show how much dislike and distrust those who are on the ground the most have for this organization. - Though there are numerous reasons to leave, the majority of those who quit seem to blame upper management for their desire to get out. The complete lack of communication between those running the organization and the absence of quality strategic planning means that the International Programs Department, specifically program coordinators, are forced to clean up upper management's messes - sometimes with solutions of questionable legal standing. For instance, thanks to poor planning, on numerous occasions, program coordinators have been requested to hand carry medical items with them on international flights. This is technically against our policies and there have been instances where the person making the request will send an email stating that we are not allowed to hand-carry the items while, immediately after, telling us in person that we have to or the program won’t happen (ie. Saving their own butts in writing just in case something bad happens). In some instances, I have even seen the organization change the stated price of hand carried items in order to reduce or eliminate import taxes - actions that carry the risk of imprisonment abroad for the person carrying the items. When asked about this, I have been told by higher level staff that it is the program coordinators job to say “no” if they are uncomfortable. At the same time, my immediate manager has informed me that I should try not to get cast as the “no” person in the office. What gives? Do we say something when we think it is wrong or do we hold it in so as not to be ostracized. - Looking to grow in the organization? Unless your last name is Magee or you are willing to spend several years kissing up to someone in the Magee family, don’t bother! Like a communist organization, growth at Operation Smile is contingent on your standing in the ruling party and your ability to follow without dissent. Have suggestions for making the organization better? Better to hold it in or you might just find yourself out of a job or almost certainly out of consideration for promotion. - Think you’re joining an organization with their morals in check? Think again. Before this job, I had a generally positive outlook on marriage and family. After watching volunteers cheat on their spouses with other volunteers, prostitutes (help the kids AND the international sex trade woohoo!), and others for the last two years, my outlook has soured. Despite media attention about this matter, Operation Smile has done nothing to curb these actions from taking place. - But at the end of the day you’re making a positive impact and changing lives, right? Maybe. Maybe not. It’s easy to look at the before and after photos and determine that Operation Smile is making a positive impact. Get into the nitty gritty, though, and you might not like what you see. For all the rhetoric surrounding safe surgery, our quality assurance is truly abysmal and lacks teeth to actually make changes when they come across problems (and they come across plenty of problems). Furthermore, a greater focus on research and churning out research papers has reduced our focus on patient-centered care. This is especially true when you consider that the IRB approvals for this research, if they are acquired at all, tend to be acquired in sketchy roundabout ways from within the local country. When research, marketing, and the money that comes along with it starts driving our programs, you know you have a problem.