Interview with the Administrator in the Health Care Industry - Case Study Example

 NEGOTIATIONS INTERVIEW Abstract Interviewing is the process of acquiring first hand information from an individual or groups of people in the professional or social field. It entails engaging in a rigorous exercise of presenting open or closed end questions to the interviewees in an effort of sourcing their opinion and position regarding a certain issue under consideration. Interview exercises are typical qualitative research processes whereby the researcher aims at obtaining direct responses from the respondent by the process of interactive dialogue and questioning. The different types of interviews available depend on the intended purpose of the responses collected from the respondent. Job interviews provide an insight into the skills and attitudes of a potential employee on the job (Neal, 2008). On the other hand, informational interviews supplement deep knowledge and information concerning a certain aspect in the social, political or economic contexts. Typical interviews involve conversational interactions between two people in a suitable environment. In this case, interviews are commonly used by scholars and other research parties in obtaining the actual insight concerning the actual state of affairs in the field. Interviews are reliable in providing information since the respondent can be quoted directly from the question responses. Therefore, interview information is not easily misinterpreted by the interviewer; hence the information and findings are free from subjective judgments and conclusions (Neal, 2008). In this context, we are going to conduct two interviews with two different administrators in the health care industry. It is known that the health care industry employs people from various academic backgrounds based on the various jobs required by the industry. Each job category is subject to handling a specific set of job responsibilities relating to the health care practices provided within any health care institution. Some of professionals working in this industry include doctors, nurses, accountants, social workers, and health care administrators among others. Each category of the profession is judged with different responsibilities aimed at achieving the intended goals of the health care institutions. In this context, the responsibilities of health care administrators include conducting of negotiation processes with the concerned parties in the health care industry. In this interview report, we will depict two different interview processes carried out on health care administrators with respect to their negotiation job responsibility. These interviews seek to unearth a deep understanding on the aspect of negotiation and its operation in health care institutions. It is a general guide interview aiming at establishing general information on the issue of negotiation skills applied by health administrators. The first interview will involve an administrator in a hospital while the other involves an administrator in a nursing facility (Neal, 2008). Interview 1 Tell us about the nature and job responsibilities of your career Health care administration is one of the essential professional fields applied in the health care industry. Management and administrative services are required by any organization, especially in the business sector. In this context, health care administration entails the application of management functions in the health care institutions. An individual can be eligible for a health administrator’s position upon completion of the relevant academic credentials in health care administration. Health care administrators are responsible for co-ordination and integrating all the technical and professional efforts of an institution’s human resources into achieving the institution’s objectives. Health care administrators have a duty of conducting employees’ hiring and facilitating recruitment programs. An administrator is also responsible of co-ordination an institutions logistical processes in terms of regulating financial materials, medical equipment supplies and any other resources used by the institution. In addition, health care administrators are involved in public relations activities, and conflict resolution exercises within the organization (Leigh, 2010). Based on your career track, how did you rise to your current position? I started my career as a subordinate first line manager at the institution's department concerned with public relations. It has taken me seven years to rise to my current administrative position. Through hard work and competence in my administrative duties, I was able to climb the career ladder. I worked hard in performing the job responsibilities of an administrator in the public relations department, which included negotiating with customers, ensuring appropriate relationships among the institution’s employees and discussing various issues with patients among others. I should say I demonstrated professionalism in establishing health relationships with these parties (Leigh, 2010). What academic qualifications and trainings did you receive? I trained as a health care administrator by taking up a Masters in Health Care Administration degree program from a local university. I gained substantial knowledge in administrative skills like the theoretical and application concepts of negotiation skills in the health care industry. Through research and project activities during my academic period, I developed strong negotiation skills in different health contexts. I also received additional administrative training lessons for one month after joining this institution. Most of these trainings were centered on employment of negotiation tools in developing and maintaining relationships with the internal and external environment. What personal and technical skills are required of an administrator in the health care industry? Good communication skills are the most valuable aspect required of management professionals. In addition, one should have the combination of positive personality traits like confidence, extraversion and conscientiousness. This will facilitate the development of meaningful and successful conversation contexts with any concerned party. Among the technical skills required include a thorough understanding of the negotiation and communication theories. In addition, an administrator should be in a position to articulately employ the theoretical concepts learned in negotiation processes (Leigh, 2010). What tools and techniques are essential in administrative duties at your work place? Before I respond to this question, it in inherent to emphasize that the administrative duties of a public relations officer revolves around the area of negotiation. In this case, an administrator must be capable of integrating the negotiation skills with the theoretical negotiation techniques in striving to achieve meaningful goals. During negotiations with the concerned parties, an administrator must be guided by the goals expected upon completion of the exercise. I always strive to prioritize the objectives of negotiation when structuring any question and response during the exercise. In addition, I focus of the aspect of relationship between me and the other party. This entails acknowledging the past relationship record and striving to take advantage of the strengths available from the history. I am usually focused at appraising consequences of loosing a negotiation as this will determine the efforts I will apply in ensuring a win-situation on my side (Leigh, 2010). Are there any challenges faced in the work place as an administrator? Yes, just like any other profession in the health care industry, health care administration has its own challenges. The key challenges come in during the negotiation processes with the patients, employees or the institution’s customers. These challenges normally results from the barriers available during negotiation exercises. One challenge concerns the cultural aspect. The aspect of cultural diversity is highly pronounced in the health care industry. Therefore, negotiation processes are hindered by cultural differences. Communication is another challenge. The involved parties may face challenges in their efforts to engage in effective communication processes due to factors like language barrier. A part from negotiation barriers, lack of technical and logistical support in terms of negotiation tools is another challenge as an administrator. The institution lacks structural systems meant to facilitate effective negotiation processes like appropriate environments and other relevant logistics in these environments (Leigh, 2010). Interview 2 Describe the nature of your profession? I am a health care administrator in a nursing environment. I am involved in all the administrative duties of ensuring smooth delivery of services by nurses in this health care institution. This institution deals with the provision of nursing care services to ailing and older members of the society. In this regard, I am always involved in ensuring a health relationship between the institution's staff and patients. In addition, I am concerned with developing a good relationship with the general public in an effort of maintaining sound public image and reputation of this institution (Leigh, 2010). How do you accomplish your duties and responsibilities? I am always occupied with appraising the nature of relationships that exist between the different parties within the nursing home environment. In the process of ensuring strong relationships within this institution, I usually employ my conflict resolution skills and together with mediation effects meant to create a consensus between the parties with conflicting interests and opinions. These collective bargaining exercises require the scheduling of negotiation contexts. Therefore, I use negotiation skills in ensuring health relationships within my work environment (Leigh, 2010). Who do you negotiate with and on what instances? I negotiate with the company’s employees in the contexts of performing their duties. This organization is driven by a stipulated mission statement outlining the objectives within a specified period of time. In this context, all the organization’s employees and nursing staff have a duty to perform their daily activities as per these objectives. In case they do not demonstrate objective efforts in their duties, the company’s management evaluates the causes of the situation and strives to motivate employees. Motivating the employees involves designing new or modified incentive systems. At this juncture, I am required to negotiate with the employees concerning the optimum incentive program that can be provided by the institution. Apart from the employees, I am involved in negotiations with the customers concerning payments of services provided by the institution (Neal, 2008). How successful have you been in your negotiations? I have been accredited with engineering and executing successful negotiation exercises on the aspect of incentive programs and compensation of employees by the institution. In fact, two of the current incentives programs used by the company are both products of my negotiations. As a result of my negotiations, I have managed to develop a successful public image of this nursing institution in terms of social responsibilities directed towards the surrounding community. Currently, the customer relationship graph is at the highest positive peak since the last 25 years. Collective bargains between the institution and the customers have resulted in win-win or win-lose situations mostly in favor of the organization in win-lose instances. Therefore, my negotiation processes as a health care administrator can be termed as successful (Neal, 2008). What do you think facilitated the success of your negotiation efforts? First of all, I attribute the success of my exercises to the efforts provided by the institution terms of negotiation environments. The organization has excellent negotiation infrastructure which include large discussion and conference halls. These infrastructures have contributed immensely to my success as a negotiator. In addition, I have a strong personality comprising of heightened confidence, agreeableness and conscientiousness. These personality traits have enabled the initiation, development and maintenance of a health negotiation environment in discussion and conference rooms (Neal, 2008). Are there any challenges in negotiations in your work place? I will be lying if I should say that all my negotiations have been successful. There have been few instances where I have ended up in a losing situation and others that have ended pre maturely. I was not able to execute these processes successfully due to the challenges present in the negotiation environment. One of the major problems in health care negotiations is the barrier caused by the aspect of cultural difference. Moreover, the business practices and objectives of the institution present a challenge during negotiation exercises. It is theoretically understood that there is usually a conflict between profit and social responsibility objectives of the company. In this case, the institution aims at winning all negotiations with each party. In the case of sustained winning by the company and loosing by customers or the employees, the later parties will be unsatisfied. This may result in damaged customer relationship and a decline in staff performance. In this case, I am left with a conflict of struggling to balance between the company’s profit goals and aspects of employees’ productivity and customer relationship. Clarification of Information Typical Types of Negotiations Used The compartmentalization of negotiation exercises depends on the parties involved and the nature of the result of the collective bargaining exercise. Based on the nature of the result, the process is categorized into distributive negotiations and integrative negotiations. Distributive negotiations aim at scattering the benefits or losses that result from the settled dispute or conflict of interests between the two parties involved. In negotiations, each party enters into the process with an objective of obtaining the maximum available benefit. In this case, every question and response posted by each party aims at pushing for the acquisition of the largest share of the pie. As illustrated in the marketing context, a seller usually aims for the highest price of his/her product while a buyer wants to commit the lowest resources into acquiring that product (Neal, 2008). In this case, each party in a negotiation aims at obtaining the highest benefit from the process. At this juncture, distributive negotiation is meant to distribute the benefits equally among the conflicting parties. In integrative negotiations, the two parties involved aims at integrating their efforts or roles played in accomplishing a certain goal. The two parties enter into negotiations with an objective giving mutual contribution towards resolving the conflict. In addition to contributive efforts, the parties aim at getting equitable benefits corresponding to the efforts committed towards providing a solution to the underlying problem (Neal, 2008). In the context of the health care industry, health care administrators are usually involved in both distributive and integrative negotiation exercises. Distributive negotiations are usually directed towards the customers. As responded by the interviewee in the second interview, negotiations in a nursing institution are directed towards establishing a reasonable agreement between customers and the organization with respect to the price of services provided. In this case, the organization aims at charging the customer's maximum prices for their services. However, the customers aim at obtaining the services at the lowest prices. As a result, the administrators have to reach an agreement to distribute the benefits between the service provided and the price of the service in a justifiable manner. On the other hand, the same administrators engage in integrative negotiations with the institutions’ employees. These negotiations are meant to solve the problem of productivity by joining efforts to provide efficient services to customers while sharing the benefits equitably (Neal, 2008). Parties involved in Health Care Negotiations The main purpose of negotiation is to establish a healthy relationship between all the involved parties in an organization. Healthy and optimal relationships are inherent if the business practices of a business organization are to achieve the stipulated objectives in the mission statement. This state of effective development of relationships is realized through the employment of practical negotiation exercises by the appropriate authorities. Therefore, it is the duty of a health care administrator to ensure healthy relationships between the company and all the business stakeholders. In a health providing organization, Maximum Corporation of all the stakeholders is essential in ensuring objectivity in daily activities, which results in profit maximization and corporate social responsibility (Leigh, 2010). The two interviews show that health care administrators are engaged in negotiations with the institutions’ employees, customers and the community. The major stakeholders in a hospital or a nursing institution are the employees, the surrounding community and the health care seekers. All these parties are prominent in the business operations of an organization. Employees ensure productivity through their efforts. Doctors and nurses generate revenue to a hospital through their diagnostic and medication services. In addition, the customers are the back bone of a business entity. The community should be looked after by the organization as a social responsibility process. From the interview responses, administrators negotiate with these three parties either through distributive or integrative processes meant to address their problems. The second interviewee responded that he deals with negotiations involving the services-price issue with the customers (Leigh, 2010). Challenges in Negotiations All negotiation exercises are not successful. Some ends up in a win-lose result while others end up with a lose-lose situation. The causes of these unsuccessful situations are attributed mainly to the challenges facing negotiation processes. From the interviews, both respondents highlighted that negotiation barriers are the main challenges in these exercises. The most common barrier with respect to the responses is the cultural aspect (Leigh, 2010). Cultural diversity is common in health care institutions. Employees and customers, who are the main stakeholders in the health care industry, come from diverse social backgrounds. Consequently, there are diverse social and cultural values held by these members of the society. Social values play a crucial role in communication and interaction processes in any social setting. The values determine the level and pattern of thought and reasoning prevailing in an individual’s mind. Therefore, two parties may not reach an agreeable conclusion in a dispute due to conflicting thought and reasoning patterns. In this context, cultural aspect remains the largest challenge in negotiation processes (Leigh, 2010). In addition, language barrier hinders smooth execution of negotiations. Language, which is spoken communication, is the main medium of conveying information during negotiations. In some instances, the two parties involved in a negotiation process may fail to reach an agreement due to language complications. In this regard, failure of the two parties to understand each other results in unsuccessful negotiations. Moreover, the conflict between an organization’s business goals has been cited as another challenge in negotiations. The conflict that exists between the objectives of profit maximization and employees welfare presents a challenge to the administrators involved in the negotiation exercises. This conforms to the response given by the respondent in the second interview concerning the nursing institution (Neal, 2008). Success in Negotiations Success in negotiation exercises has been attributed to different aspects by both the interviewees. In the first interview, the respondent highlighted the requisite skills in ensuring a successful exercise. In addition, the respondent asserted the fundamental techniques that should be employed during negotiations. According to this interviewee, thorough understanding of communication and negotiation theories is required to ensure a successful negotiation. Strong personal skills have also been highlighted by both respondents as essential in negotiations. An administrator should be confident, conscientious and extraverted. Confidence ensures that the administrator expresses his/her opinion efficiently. Conscientiousness facilitates achievement of the desired goals through consistence in opinions. In addition, extraversion ensures that the negotiator’s arguments are taken into consideration by the other party (Leigh, 2010). The other factor that ensures success in negotiation as postulated in the responses by the interviewees is the negotiation environment. According to the second interview, presence of discussion and conference rooms in a health care institution is responsible for most successful negotiations. Discussion rooms and conference halls ensure the parties involved in negotiations sits face-to-face with each other. The sitting arrangement facilitates development and maintenance of effective communication environment throughout the negotiation exercise. Employment of the appropriate techniques like prioritizing of goals and considering past relationship plays a role in the result of a negotiation (Leigh, 2010). Reference List Leigh, L.T. (2010). The Truth About Negotiations. New York: FT Press. Neal, W.B. (2008). Negotiations: principles and techniques. California: Lexington Books Publishing. Read More