Managing Business Activities to Achieve Results - Assignment Example

Managing Business Activities to Achieve Results By Institution: Course: Date of submission Introduction SCAS (South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust) begun in 2006 as a mobile provider of healthcare. It was formed following the merger of the Hampshire Ambulance Service, the Royal Berkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, and the Oxford Ambulance Services NHS Trust. The organization serves the counties of Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Hampshire, and Berkshire. In 2006, the organization became a foundation trust. About four million people receive excellent patient care from the organization. Its primary purpose is to give response to 999 emergency calls as well as get treatment to patients who are experiencing serious illnesses or injuries, and life-threatening conditions, as quickly as possible. Through the Patient Transport Services, the organization is able to offer pre-arranged transport service to patients suffering from medical conditions, to and from medical facilities. Through the commercial division, the organization offers numerous services, and they include community equipment service, first aid training, and logistic services. The organization works with staffs, partners, patients, as well as the community to come up with innovative ways of improving the outcomes of the patients as well as patient experience. The organization’s departments and services include Patient and Transport Services, 999, Community First Responders, and commercial services such as training on first aid (SCAS 2015, p. 1). Task 1.1: evaluate the interrelationship between the different processes and functions of the organization Business function entails the specific activity performed by the firm to produce its services, produce its products, or attain its objectives. The beginning of the process is the input procurement and its end is the provision of services once there are the sales of goods and services. Business processes can either be core or supportive. The core processes of the business entail the organization’s basic business, with the organization’s operation representing the company’s key industry activity. Support business processes offer facilitation to the core business processes. The core business functions include the following: Procurement, logistics, and distribution: this function entails the activities related to obtaining as well as storing inputs and storage and transportation of finished products to the clients. Operations: activities that ensure that there is the transformation of inputs into outputs, either services or goods. Products and services development: activities linked to bringing a new, superior, or redesigned service or product to market. These activities include marketing analysis, research, design, as well as engineering. Marketing customer accounts and sales: activities that aim at offering information to the existing as well as potential buyers. They include advertising, promotion, tele-marketing, retail management, and selling. Customer and after sale services: these entail services offered to clients after they buy the service or the good. These services include help-desk services and training. Support business processes: Three main support business practices are present in a firm. They are follows: Firm infrastructure and general management: they include building services, administrative services, and corporate governance such as legal, planning, government, finance, and public relation. Human resource management: this entails activities related to hiring, recruiting, compensating, recruiting, as well as dismissing personnel. Process and technology development: these are activities that relate to automation, Maintenance, redesigning and designing of equipment, procedures, hardware, software, and technical knowledge (Brown 2012, p. 5). The key functions of the Trust include the following 1. PTS (Non-emergency patient transport) This service is meant to transport eligible patients from home to medical facility as well as back. The journeys entail the transportation of patients for hospital admissions as well as discharge, hospital transfers, as well as to the outpatient clinics. The number of journeys made by the PTS ensures that SCAS remain to be the main emergency service provider as well as non-emergency transport of the patients in the south central region. There are four business areas of the organization and they are Oxfordshire, Hampshire, Buckinghamshire, and Berkshire (SCAS 2015, p. 5). Logistic and courier services The logistic and Courier Services of the organization provide non-patient services across Oxfordshire and Berkshire and these services include moving passengers, parcels, as well as medical specimens securely and safely. The organization offers online booking as well as payment systems. Through its membership of Ambulance services group, the organization has been able to ensure that there is the tendering of the ambulance services as well as the splitting of the contract delivery. FACT is purposely meant to offer first aid services as well as clinical training to the public in order to make sure that there is the meeting of the recommended legal standard in companies when it comes to the provision of first aid. All trainers offered by the company are healthcare professionals who have experience in practical and operational situations as well as being skilled instructors (SCAS 2013, p. 5). Social and community issues Apart from offering healthcare as well as other services within the community, the Trust also plays a role in ensuring that a better social society is built through its investment in the local area. The organization continue to make investment in the local community through recruitment, training, as well as the development of a team of volunteers who are from the community who work together with the organization’s staffs to ensure the delivery of care in the medical emergency. There are more than 400 schemes in the SCAS and the Trust has the capacity to call about 957 community responders whose response is a three miles radius. Together with this, the organization has made effort to install PADS (Automated Public Access Defibrillations). First aid and clinical training The organization is a high quality as well as competitive provider of first aid and clinical training. Recently, there has been the rebranding of the commercial training as FACT (First Aid and Clinical Training) (SCAS 2013, p. 15). The organizational structure An organization is structured in various ways and this is dependent on their culture as well as their objectives. An organization’s structure determine its manner of operation as well as it performance. The structure allows for the clear allocation of the responsibilities for different processes and functions to various departments as well as employees. Part of the organization’s structure features the workforce. In 2015 for instance the organization has focussed on recruitment as well as retention, increased on knowledge about what causes the staffs to be motivated, as well as what really causes them to leave the work. The organizational structure of the Trust is such a way that the patient transport service, the Healthcare Professional, and the Emergency 999, are working closely so that the three can share resources to ensure that there is the accommodation of the peak in demand. The organization also works closely with GPs, with out of hour’s services being hosted or run in the organization’s clinical coordination centre. The organization also aims at hosting staffs that have other specialized skills such as skills in advising people experiencing mental illnesses or social care enquiry. There is also the mobile care team that include clinicians who have higher practitioner skills, in order to ensure that there is the enhancement of the clinical assessment as well as broaden the diagnostic ranges and treatment provided at the scene. There is also a flexible working of the staff members in order to ensure that there is the accommodation of the fluctuating emergency services’ nature as well as urgent business (SCAS 2015, p. 7). The organization also works for 24 hours per day, seven days per week to ensure that there is the availability of optimal vehicle numbers during the peak hours. Presently, there has been the adoption of a functional (flatter) and decentralized structure by the organization and this enhances flexibility in working. The arrangement of the functional structure is as per the work of each department or section. Such a structure has helped in resolving the communication problem. It also ensures that the employees there is the delegation of the tasks by the employees to the level that is low that have the willingness to take responsibilities and have the desire to achieve the organization’s goals. The two core functions of the organization are the provision of transport services to the patients and offering first aid training services to the community and the organization. 1.2 Justification of the methodology to be used to map process to the organizational goals and objectives The process mapping entails visual aid that assist in comprehending the SCAS work process. Any business’s success is dependent on the capacity to communicate the key activities and the core functions of the business. Process mapping entails a process where there is the conversion of the workflow of the business or business process into visual, as well as step by step diagram. The aim of the core process is to ensure that there is the achievement of the key activities and this ensure that the business objectives are achieved (Brown 2012, p. 15). 1.3 Evaluate the output of the process and the quality gateway Since its initiation in 2006, SCAS has always aimed at attaining all its mission factors. The organization has ensured that it is offering high quality ambulance services. Today, the organization is the leading ambulance services provider in the nation, benefiting many people. The management continuously introduces new objective in its strategic plan and this is in SMART criteria. Any business process’s outcome are based on critical success factors and goals. Some of SCAS’s business process measures include the following: The high quality ambulance services have ensured that SCAS dominate the market segment which forms part of its quality output requirement. Presently, the product portfolio in the ambulance service industry is at its peak. The company also has a low throughput in that it has increased the number of ambulance vehicles, reducing the amount of time taken by the patient to reach hospital or home after hospital discharge (Buchanan and Baddy 2012, p. 37). 2.1 designing plans The organization has made a full commitment to ensure that it is meeting its responsibilities under the 1974’s Act on Health and Safety at the workplace, Safety as well as Health Management regulation, as well as other legislations. Under this legislation, the organization will comply with its responsibilities under the legislation indicated above. Planning is essential for the achievement of the objectives by a business. Although there is unpredictability of some environments, all organizations do operate in certain settings. For an organization to achieve success there is a need for the management to cope as well as adapt to uncertainty and changes. For South Central Ambulance Services, planning is the main tool for management for them to have the organizational adaptation and achieve future success. Planning is essential for the organization because it helps it define its activities as well as purposes. It also helps the organization to set the standards of performance to ensure that a comparison of result with the standards is done to ensure that the managers are seeing how the Trust is progressing towards the achievement of its goals. There is also the demonstration of the planning need by the link between the management functions and planning. SCAS is aware that planning is the initiator of the process of management (Brown 2012, p. 23). The following four planning elements of planning have been considered by SCAS: Objective Actions Resources Implementation The plan of SCAS is to ensure that there is proactive monitoring of people’s health especially those who are frail, who are susceptible to health deterioration, or those who are experiencing mental illness. The organization’s clinicians have a close working relationship with GPs as well as other community-based services to ensure that there is the safety of the people within the community and that there is the restoration of people after a hospital discharge. There is an integral plan in the organization since they give the specifications of the future conditions that are considered adequate by the management. Among the objectives of the organization is for instance carrying an expansion of its clinical assessment mobile healthcare, and signposting healthcare services into a large geographical area. Actions entail the specific as well as chosen means by which the objectives are achieved. One of the recent action by the organization is embracing FACT (first aid and clinical training), as part of its program. Resources entail the production factors which are vital for to carry out the implementation process. Finally, implementation entails the assignment as well as personnel direction to ensure that the plan is carried out. Through FACT, the organization has been able to train both the staff and the community volunteers, equipping then with first aid skills (SCAS 2015, p. 13). 2.2 SMART objectives SMART is an abbreviation for the following: The organization has considered Doran theory of SMART objectives in the following manner: Specific: the organization’s NHS111, Emergency 999, Patient Transport Services, and Healthcare Professional have a close working relationship to ensure that there is the sharing of the resources to accommodate the pinnacles in demand, so that they are able to tailor the response type to meet the patients’ needs. Measurable: the targeted revenue growth for the organization is £174.6 million in the year 2016/2017. Attainable: improved satisfaction of the clients Realistic: to remain the most competitive ambulance services provider in the nation Time based: its aim is to improve the customer satisfaction throughout the year by ensuring the provision of high quality services (Buchanan and Baddy 2012, p. 44). 2.3 implement appropriate systems to achieve objectives in the most efficient way, on time, to budget and meeting organizational standards of quality In order to ensure that there is there is the implementation of appropriate standards, SCAS utilizes project management tool mainly in its CRM process. A project entails a unique venture comprising of the initiation and the end date and people conduct it to meet the set goals with a cost quality and schedule parameter. The organization uses the work breakdown structure as shown below. Work breakdown structure of CRM Process in SCAS. The above work breakdown structure will assist South Central Ambulance Services to carry out the customer relationship process and will assist them in knowing the tasks to be performed as well as the important tasks and without these, there will be a failure of the whole process (Basu 2009, p.12). 2.4) Carry out work activities meeting the operational plan through effective monitoring and control. SCAS operation plans are meeting objectives, customer satisfaction through quality services, and organizational constrains. The company has a strong brand of ambulance with high public trust. Apart from that, the organization offer services at affordable prices compared to other service providers. The staffs are also motivated leading to an improvement in the outcomes. Among the organization’s constrains include high costs of references, limited number of qualified clinicians, limited investment scope, and lack of virtual platform of telephony. The organization has consistently made efforts to meet its objectives. The services offered in the organization are of good quality, ensuring that all the customers are satisfied. The price for the service is affordable. Since it serves a large number of people, services are usually of high quality, and this has helped the company to continue enjoying a large market segment. In the next five years, there is a likelihood of variation in the financial gaps in the local health economies. Presently, several health economies including Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire are experiencing difficulties. However, these financial difficulties have not hindered SCAS from attaining contractual position (Doran 2011, p. 7). The organization continuously strives to ensure that it is presenting the right care, in the place that is right, at the right place, for every patient. The organization is also planning to introduce a tool to help in bringing improvement in the demand pattern analysis as well as deign rosters. This will ensure that there is a better resource plan alignment with fluctuating demand. There will also be the reviewing of the working pattern in order to ensure there is the creation of flexibility to match the roasters of the staffs to fluctuating patterns of demand. There will also be the introduction of attendance and time system, to ensure that there is the recording of the actual roasters assigned to the staff and ensure that there is improvement in efficacy of operation, through better time recording and attendance, as well manual processes reduction. The organization is making every effort to ensure a reduction in operational cost. The management team of SCAS have made effort to ensure an improvement in coordination between the various departments of the organization. Total quality management has been essential in ensuring that there is a better coordination between the management and staffs (Miller 2004, p. 23). 3.1 Design system to manage and monitor quality standard specified by the organisation. Quality is presently one of the most significant factors in determining the position of the organization to achieve market competition. High quality services ensure that there is customer satisfaction and goodwill and this eventually leads to royal customers. The system to monitor as well as manage quality at SCAS is provided by the top management as follows: Should provide services that are able to meet the set standards every time Facilitate higher consistency between contracts, enabling the company to attain the possible economies of scale Subjecting different NHS111 contracts to competitive tendering once there is the availability of the new specification Ensuring that there is operational efficiency as well as effectiveness, in order to ensure that the record of accomplishment is good for the performance, and that there is minimal cost. The merging of the various emergency services such as fire, police, and ambulance with 999 control centre SCAS had adopted TQM as the control methods. In SCAS quality assurance entail conforming to the set standards in the entire organization and ensuring that there is compliance to ensure customer satisfaction. The organization ensures that there is the delivery of quality services in its headquarters in Oxfordshire, Bicester, as well as Hampshire and Otterbourne regional offices. It is also in these sites where there is clinical coordination centre whereby there is the receiving of the 111 and 999 calls, provision of clinical advice, as well as dispatching of emergency vehicles. All staffs within SCAS are required to ensure that they are offering total quality services (Basu 2009, p.13). 3.2) Demonstrate a quality culture to ensure continuous monitoring, evaluation and development of the process. Quality control for SCAS entails a continuous process assessment. Total quality management ensures that there is the management of the organization to ensure that the needs as well as expectations of all the stakeholders are met efficiently. Although there is a continuous change in culture, there is quality and this ensures a continuous monitoring as well as the development of the process. There is a continuous monitoring of the services to make sure that they are of the high quality. The headquarters as well as regional branches carry out continuous checks to the services. The organization’s services are in high demand and this requires that it is improving the quality. With the vision of saving lives as well as ensuring that you are receiving the services that you desire, the organization has developed a culture of availing appropriate healthcare to the people by carrying out the assessment of individual needs as well as directing people to the services they require. The organization also has a culture of ensuring that people are safe by availing mobile healthcare close to the people(Buchanan and Baddy 2012, p. 51). 3.3 recommend improvements which align with the organisation’s objectives and goals and which result in improvements. The adoption of six sigma theory is essential for the organization since it will ensure an improvement of the process’s output quality. It is essential for performance measurement, meeting objectives and goals, as well as improving the process. The six sigma ensures that there is an improvement of the business processes within an organization and ensure that there is the removal of deficit, making the organization to achieve productivity to ensure that the needs of the clients are met (Process Quality Associates, 2008, P. 3). The summary of the six sigma is shown below. 3.4) Report on the wider implications of the proposed changes within the organization? It is important for SCAS to utilize the six sigma since it has the capacity to ensure that the organization has an improved productivity and that the operations are efficient to ensure that the expectations as well as the needs of the clients are met. Six sigma function to ensure that the client requirements are met, there is the retention of the customers, and that there is an improvement of services (Adams Six Sigma 2013, p. 4). SCAS will gain numerous benefits when it utilizes the six sigma and they are summarized below: Among the other wider implications for adopting the proposed changes include the following: The process involves high cost Statistical errors due to lack of qualification Inexperience may lead to implications such as decreased quality management and profits Sometimes, this theory may fail to match the organization 4.1) Carry out risk assessments as required by legislation, regulation and organizational requirements ensuring appropriate action is taken? The Board of Directors and the Chief Executive are primarily responsible for safety and health in the Trust. There has been the designation of the Director of Quality and Patient Care by the Trust who accounts to the CEO, and his role is meeting the relevant safety and health legislation. In case of liabilities such as injuries and death that may occur while working, the organization has arranged insurance for the employees. All the employees are required to comply to the 1974 health and safety Act as well as the ‘1999 Management of Health and Safety at Work’. Workers are subjected to disciplinary action if they bleach these Acts. The Director of Patient Care ensures that the procedures of the workplace are well kept. All workers are provided with induction training to include health and safety, procedures, and precautions, and safe working methods. There is an undertaking as well as recording of alarm testing and fire drill as per the policy of the Trust. There is a quarterly inspection of the health as well as safety workplace in connection with the safety and health representative. 4.2) demonstrate that health and safety regulations and legislations applicable in specific work situations are correctly and effectively applied? The law requires that every organization is protecting the employees as well as the entire society. The following are some the health and safety measures Workers All workers must: Ensure that they are caring for their safety as well as health as well as for the other workers’ safety Cooperate with the employer to ensure the adherence to the policies, code of practice, as well as departmental procedures Use equipment dangerous substance , transport equipment, among others according to the provided instructions Protective clothes must be worn appropriately Comply with all safe procedures of working 4.3) Carry out a systematic review of organisational health and safety policies and procedures in order to ensure they are effective and compliant? The Trust is willing to accept changes as well as forge the changes in the organization (Basu 2009, p.5). It is important for the organization to evaluate the efficacy of the safety and health regulations to determine whether they are compliant or efficient enough to practice safety and health regulations in their organization. The summary is as follows. Subject Evaluation Hazards, falls, and accidents All incidences of hazards, damage, dangerous occurrence, faults, must be reported Department safety All supervisors/managers should ensure that there is a full implementation of good management practices within the departments 4.4) Carry out practical applications of health and safety policies and procedures in the workplace? The practical application of the health and safety policy is as shown above. There is a need for the organization to seek the services of an outside organization that will assess the applicability of the safety policy. There is a need to practically use the safety and health policies in both the workplace and when handling patients, dangerous chemicals, machines, and equipments (Miller 2004, p. 36). Bibliography Adams Six Sigma. 2013. Benefits of six sigma. Available at: www. adamssixsigma.com/benefits_of_six_sigma.htm [accessed on 17th December 2011] Basu, R. 2009. Implementing quality. 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