The Management Team of Public Health - Case Study Example

MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES AND HEALTH CARE CASE STUDY Introduction The health care department just like any department has a certain organizational hierarchy. Organizational hierarchy refers to the distribution of ranks to individuals in a certain department depending on the level of management (Olden, 2011). It is usually designed inform of a ladder structure whereby those with the highest levels of management are usually at the top while their subordinates are usually below them. In this study focus shall be on the district health authority in Kirklands. To start off we shall begin by identifying the members and some of the roles that they play. Organizational hierarchy The first one is the DA which stands for the director of administration who is a very experienced health administrator and has tasks like; he is very influential in the context of top management team hence he can be convinced to support some form of change in the health system in kirklands. The person who occupies this position tends to have a variety of skills that are essential in other sectors. Other tasks may include overseeing the office management, technology especially information technology, finance, and human resource. This proves that director of administrator is a very powerful rank thus he has a lot of influence in the whole department as a whole. He is also very involved in decisions concerning the future of the health education department. Director of finance main concern is to maintain order and efficiency in the financial and accounting system of the authority and its component departments and to ensure that the account books balance well at the end of each financial year in line with government requirements. Other requirements include; He is supposed to approve the organizations’ budget plans, and manage the finance department hence proving he is very detrimental to finance matters within the authority and must be included in future plans concerning the authority (Ginter, 2013). Director of nursing is another administrative member of the authority and is a forceful and experienced character whose main concern is to maintain and improve nursing alongside the clinical care of patients. She is also responsible for monitoring the role of nurses in care and prevention. Other duties include; reporting to the chief nursing office of the organization, plan, develop, implement and evaluate strategic operations. She also coordinates new programmes and ensures new strategies are in place to improve current services, meeting with quality specialists to enhance the best possible patient care, and she plans regular interactions with influential clinicians and hospital leaders to play her part in furthering the organizations missions and values. This shows that the director of nursing has a great impact on any decisions that will affect the authority’s future and that of the health organization. Any changes that need to be done in the nursing sector will most probably be initiated by her. The director of public health is the only one in the management team with specific training in population health. None the less despite him being an experienced health professional he is not a very ambitious and creative health manager. This may not make him the best management personnel to impact positive change and amendments to the health organization thus he may be excluded in decisions concerning the company’s future. Other roles include; holding hearings, administering oaths, and establishing and maintaining working relationships with both public and private health organizations. He may also be involved with management of department’s budget in case of a disease outbreak, safety hazards and other health issues. They may have to travel and give conferences and talks relating to health issues (Gupter, 2005). Consultant representatives bring the best technical and medical services to the team and their main aim is to ensure the best provision of medical services possible in Kirklands especially in the hospital department. They include staff members like clinical officers, pharmacists and medics. They are not very highly placed in the organizational hierarchy but their work is very important and the organization needs their services very much. The health education professional provides a variety of health education to various clients and constituencies and is in charge of the health education department. He feels that he and his department are under constant pressure from the government due to budget cuts and cost cutting thus he feels offended that his area is not taken seriously by higher management concerning the roles that it fulfills. Even though his duties may not be taken seriously the health education professional usually plans, develops, coordinates and presents clinical education programmes that improve the performance of the health facility hence having the organizations best interests at heart (Kahtri, 2010). Another community member of the authority is the university representative who is also a health management specialist and WHO consultant. He is very much involved in the health care management and is very concerned with health education and primary health care. He has done a lot of research and investigations concerning international health care development and its impacts on the broader and more effective approaches on community care and health promotion. A new chairman who is an ex industrial senior executive is a member of the authority and is very interested in making an impact in this new role. He has considerable authority and is a strong leader. He is very concerned with increasing effectiveness in the authority’s service delivery and believes that most of the problems rise from key post holders likes head of health education and the director of public health. This shows that he is very ready to implement change and happens to be very powerful and influential. The university representative and chairman have a very good relationship borne out of mutual professional respect and they have a desire to move the authority forward hence proving that they are ready for change unlike other authority members who have their own priorities and goals which are not of the best benefit to the authority and they intend to redirect the budget elsewhere. Each and every sector of health care services has to give an account of its annual operations due to this, which never used to happen before. Case study Sometimes restructuring of the organization and its management could occur as it did in a private healthcare organization where I used to work. This was caused by some mismanagement in the sales department. Background A sales function of a £50m packaging business had become dysfunctional and ineffective A lack of talent management had created several people issues in the sales function: Team was not motivated; fixed salaries were significantly larger than bonuses Extremely high turnover in Head of Sales position meant limited leadership No formal training, guidance or mentoring programme had been conducted for 24 months which was very unusual. Feedback and performance management processes had broken down entirely because performance in the department and the sales targets were not being met or even monitored. With no new sales in the past year, the CEO of the hospital asked for a total reorganization of the sales function/team because it was very clear that there was a problem with the sales management. Action Reorganized the sales team into roles that reflected sales process and business needs Communicated changes and managed concerns of sales team with HR and legal departments. Linked rewards to sales performance and aligned team’s incentives to business goals thus motivating the other team members. Recruited proven talent into the team to improve standards and create leadership at the management level. This involved laying off the current people who were in charge and hiring new management personnel. Instigated training and mentoring/coaching programme to reinvigorate morale and install confidence in the remaining team members. Impact Created a ‘high performance’ culture; retained best talent and sympathetically managed the exit of lowest performers without disruption to the business. Persuaded ‘top talent’ to join the team and in doing so leave respected, larger brands which involved giving them attractive remuneration packages. Significantly reduced fixed costs and linked cost of sales to revenue growth at the drug store. This restructuring procedure led to improvement in the department’s performance and the sales levels went high. To begin with the change was met with a lot of resistance from some personnel especially those who were bound to lose their jobs but in the end the restructuring procedure was successful (Jones, 2006). Conclusion Management is very significant in any organization or institution to facilitate the smooth running of business and other affairs. It also assists in achieving group goals which are essential in any organization. Management is also essential in the proper and good utilization of resources thus preventing wastage of any kind. Cost reduction is another importance of management hence ensuring that the organization incurs the least expenses. Every management requires members who will facilitate it and thus they are usually referred to as managers or administrators who are capable leaders and role models. Any top decision affecting the department is usually addressed by these personnel so as to create a way forward. Luck of proper management can lead to disruption of business (Goldsmith, 2014). References Ginter, P. M., Duncan, W. J., & Swayne, L. E. (2013). Strategic management of health care organizations. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Goldsmith, S. B. (2014). Understanding health care management: A case study approach. Burlington, Mass: Jones & Bartlett Learning. McConnell, C. R. (2011). Case studies in health care supervision. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Mullins, L. J. (2007). Management and organisational behaviour. Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall. Read More