Strength and Witnesses of Scientific Management Theory Applied to What Nurse In-Charge Does - Case Study Example

Managers Behaviour Name Course Instructor Date Case study At Chan Health Centre, a community health care facility, it was realised that there was a problem with hand cleaning hygiene and thus the Nurse in-charge of the facility, who also sat in as the institution’s manager, was charged with the responsibility of ensuring that she came up with strategies that would be essential in averting the ailments that had arisen as a result of the vice that was being propagated within the community. What had warranted such an undertaking was the fact that many community members had be admitted at the facility with ailments that had been caused by improper hand cleaning techniques. A review that had been carried out within the community had indicated that approximately 90% of the population did not wash their hands after visiting the washrooms. Moreover, an even lesser percentage ever took time to ensure that they cleaned their hands before eating. The nurse in-charge of the facility sat down and came up with a strategy on how the problem at hand could be handled. In her analysis of the problem, she discovered that a triangulated approach would be essential in helping her address the issue. She decided that she was going to use posters, a performance movie and educational forums. The posters were to spread a hand washing message and they were to be placed at all the village market centres because these were the areas that the targeted audience frequented. The movie too was aimed at emphasising the key message of the posters. The movie was an appropriate prop to use because it had a video representation of the stages that the audience could use in ensuring that they practised the expected hand hygiene. The educational forum was expected to augment the other two measures that were to be employed. To start with, she needed a group of the facility’s employees with whom she could work with in order to ensure that the project she was embarking on proved successful. She came up with a group of ten nurses and she divided them into groups of three so as to effectively handle the project. Each group had a task to look into; one group worked on the posters, the other on the movie and the last one organised the educational forum. Her duty as the overall group leader was to ensure that all the activities between the subgroups were well coordinated and that the response on what she had tasked them to report on were timely and accurate. She took part in every activity so as to ensure that the project was a success. Before tasking them with the duties, she fully explained to them what her expectations were and what the project required. She then guided them on how they could go through the assignment and she was always present to supervise or advise on how something was to be done. As the facilities manager and the overall group leader her keen eye on how the duties assigned out were being carried on ensured that the group members did their best in ensuring that the group succeed in it endeavours. Her presence was essential as the guiding principle and she was ever available to handle the issues that arouse. She ensured that she closely scrutinised the duties that she had given out because she knew that she would be fully liable for any misrepresentations that arouse. Managers undertaking of the activity under study The manager successfully undertakes the activity under study because she ensures that the outcome of the hand washing sensitisation project is successful. She ensures that each member of the group timely completes the tasks that they are given. She personally reviews everything thus ensuring that the expected goals, values and targets are met. By ensuring that she reviews everything that the other group members present shows that the Nurse in-charge is not putting anything to chance because being the team leader, she knows that she will be fully liable for any setback if they arise. This view is related to the scientific management’s assertion that it is the managers who takes accountability and not the employees ((Celik & Dogan 2011)). By ensuring that she delegates parts of the constituents of the project to other team members and then placing other individuals under them shows that she has trust in the group that she is working with. Moreover, she takes time to ensure that the available work is equally shared by the group so as to increase the efficiency of the entire group and wind up the project within the stipulated time frame (Cosgriffe & Dailey 2009). The Nurse in-charge ensures that she is working with a group that knows the project’s expectations and that is why she takes time to inform them of the requirements and what is expected from their input. As a manager, she had the expected outcome in mind and in order to achieve it, she had to ensure that the team and her were reading from the same script. She knew that that was essential in ensuring that the projected outcome was realised. As a manager, she ensured that nothing was being left to chance and that is why she ensured that all the possible learning avenues were tried so as to make the project audience’s understanding easier. As a manager, she seriously took her role as a group leader to ensure that her group members were fully prepared for the task. The briefing that she held with her group was essential in ensuring that all the necessary information had been shared. As the group leader, she ensured that she was the force behind every activity that was being undertaken. The major push in her arm behind the project’s success was the fact that she personally selected the individuals she wanted to work with. This was essential in realising the project’s success because her choice of group members worked in her favour ((Cosgriffe & Dailey 2009). The scientific theory and what the Nurse in-charge does In the workplace, it is usually the role of the manager to depict leadership tendencies because those under them often look up to them. In many cases, managers often assume that they are leaders and that those under them will automatically tag along because they hold the position. In the real sense, such managers usually forget the assertion that a position often designates a label and not leadership (Hall et al 2012). True leadership often occurs when an individual persuades other individuals or a group to subscribe to their beliefs, values and principles. The main aim of the persuasion is usually to attain a collective objective. Efficient leadership, a manager, often involves a positive sway on those under them thus making them believe that what is being pursued is achievable (Northouse 2001). This paper will use the scientific management theory in explaining what the Nurse in-charge did and why she was doing it. Science of management is a theory of management that has been in existence for quite a while because its existence can be dated back to the time of the Sumerians around 5000BC. The theory attained establishment under Weber, Fayol and Taylor. It is a theory that arouse on the back of human beings because it was realised that communal goals could be realised if the human society came together and formed a human organisation. This need for collective pooling arises because there were human requirements that had to be attained and this could only be done through communal responsibility (Celik & Dogan 2011). This need to achieve communal goals in order to attain individual needs fuelled the desire for humans to live in groups and thus organisations arose so as to champion their causes (Taylor 1911). Taylor’s theory of scientific management was of the view that managers and those under them were to operate as per the set scientific models and thus disorganized work schedules were no longer to be entertained. In this new model, organisational activities were to be carried out in a harmonized and steady manner because it was thought that running organisations in a confused and unpredictable manner often resulted in organisational inadequacy and thus affected production (Management Lab 2013). To ensure that organisations remained productive, not only were the employees supposed to be experienced and cut for their tasks, they were also expected to subscribe to the scientific management strategies. Moreover, to ensure that an organisation continued being productive, the theory advised that the best and well experienced employees were to be selected by the human resource department. Investing in an experienced workforce was essential in ensuring that a scientific management theory functioned (Taylor 2005). In order to ensure that the hand washing sensitisation project worked, the Nurse in-charge ensured that she subscribed to the scientific management theory. She ensured that in order to attain the goals of the project, she laid down working principles that had to be adhered to. In briefing the group about what was expected in the assignment, she was ensuring that strict procedures were followed in ensuring that the end goal was the targeted one. She knew that the group’s activities were to be well coordinated in order to bring forth results. This coordination ensured that haphazard tendencies had no place in the entire process. To ensure harmonization, the activities to be undertaken were divided into three and each task given to an identified group so that it would be easier to point out who was doing what and when feedback was to be expected. As the scientific management theory advised, set principles were being adhered to so as to ensure that the results were productive. In the same way that the scientific management theory advises the use of highly qualified employees, the Nurse in-charge ensured that she practically selected the individuals she thought shared the same interests as she did. She knew that she could count on their industriousness, collaboration and tact in ensuring that the project attained its objectives. Since specialisation is essential in scientific management, the group members that the Nurse in-charge decided to work with had some background information in the nursing field and thus knew what was expected of them. They knew the significance of what they were getting involved with and the implication that the end results were going to have on the targeted audience. The manager also subscribed to Fayol’s approach of scientific management whereby she fully took advantage of his assertion that employees often liked being supervised because they feared liability and thus lead the group. In that position, she ensured that she coordinated all the group activities and that was essential in the eventual success of the undertaking. In his works, Fayol had stressed human capital as an essential aspect of any organisational undertaking, and to this end, the Nurse in-charge fully involved her group members to ensure that the hand washing sensitisation project worked (Hardin et al 2011). Scientific management’s key pillar was ensuring that an organisation’s needs always came before an individual’s, and in this line of thought, the Nurse in-charge ensured that all the available resources were used on finding lasting solutions to the illnesses that failure to hand wash caused. Time and resources were spent in ensuring that the project succeeded in addressing the problem that had been identified. According to Peterson (2008), under scientific management, it is the obligation of the manager to ensure that the required work is done and done successfully. To further this tenet, the Nurse in-charge took charge of the group and coordinated all its activities so as to attain the desirable goals. As per the theory, she also ensures that she provides exhaustive instructions on what is expected regarding the assignment so as to have the expected results. Moreover, she personally oversaw the functioning and working of the group so as to ensure that they performed to their optimum levels. Since the scientific management theory agitates for a corresponding sharing of tasks and duties between the management and the employees, the nurse in-charge shared the available duties and tasks equally to the group members so that the outcome of the whole project could be shared collectively (Thenmozhi, 2011). Strength and witnesses of scientific management theory Like any theory that has been studied, each usually has its fair share of success and failures and the scientific management theory is no exception. The scientific management theory was essential because it tried to ensure that organisations worked efficiently and effectively thus increasing the production of the organisation. Since the theory stressed a pecking order in the management level, this ensured that there was a recognised flow of organisational data and information from the highest levels to the workers which made it known to the workers how things worked. With such recognised channels of communicational hierarchies, there were no problems with conflicting messages and thus it made organisational work easier. Since it was only the top management individuals that sat and made organisational decisions, decision making processes were not tedious. The major strength of the management strategy is that since it emphasises efficiency and effectiveness in organisational structures, soaring levels of direction are usually experienced. Since the theory emphasises the use of highly trained personnel, meeting organisational goals and values is usually attainable. In any organisation, it is usually easier to work under set roles and duties, and this theory is part of the management strategies that are propagating for such an undertaking (Brimo 2005). Although the scientific management theory transformed the organisational and management world, it enjoyed a fair share of its weaknesses. Critics alleged that there was little participation or involvement in the organisations undertaking by the employees because the theory focussed more on principle rather than the human input. Moreover, since there was no incentive or a reward scheme for the employees, they showed little morale in the organisational activities that they undertook. With little morale came resentment and discontentment and thus it was easier for the employees to go on go slows because their occupational desires, expectations and needs were not being met. Since the theory was founded on strict principles, transforming an organisation was usually an issue because the strict scientific principles were not malleable (Celik & Dogan 2011). Conclusion In conclusion, a manager’s behaviours are usually essential because they often paint a picture of how an organisation is being run. Moreover, their behaviours also enable one to identify the type of management structure that has been put in place. Effective and efficient leadership is usually essential to an organisation because it often increases the production and the quality of delivery thus enabling organisations to meet their goals, values and expectations. Like a mirror through which an organisation is looking at itself, an organisation’s manager is usually it true reflection. References Brimo, A, 2005, Business Management and Change. HSC Business studies. Randwick: Marcellin College Randwick HSC. Cosgriffe, H, & Dailey, R, 2009, Teamwork in Problem Solving. Accessed 16/10/2013 http://www.joe.org/joe/1969summer/1969-2-a2.pdf Celik, M, & Dogan, E, 2011, A Theoretic Approach to the Science of Management. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, Vol. 1. No. 3. Hall, J, Johnson, S, Wysocki, A, & Kepner, K, 2012, Transformational Leadership: Transformation of Leaders and Associates. University of Florida. Accessed 17/10/2013 http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/hr/hr02000.pdf Hardin, L, Lucas, S, North, L, & Prewitt, L, 2011, From Institution to Individual: the Beginnings of Organization Theory. AEL 682, Leadership and Organizations: Theory and Applications. Accessed 17/10/2013 http://susanlucas.com/it/ael682/paper.html Management Lab, 2013, Scientific Management. Accessed 17/10/2013 http://pages.ubbcluj.ro/monicazaharie/files/2013/10/Scientific_Management.pdf Northouse, P, 2001, Leadership Theory and Practice, second edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Peterson, E, 2008, Management Theories, Roles, Motivations and Communications. Accessed 17/10/2013 http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/epeterson/Avia179/docs/Chap3.pdf Taylor, F, (1911), Principles of Scientific Management. London: Harper & brothers Co. Taylor, F, 2005, The Principles of Scientific Management. First World Library, Ltd. Thenmozhi, M, 2011, Evolution of Management Theory. Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Madras. Accessed 17/10/2013 http://www.nptel.iitm.ac.in/courses/IIT-MADRAS/Management_Science_I/Pdfs/1_2.pdf Read More