Organizational Design, Culture, and Adaptation Essay 1

This continues from Essay 1 that is attached to this module. Read and resume from that essay based on what is required here: SLP: Second Part Many healthcare programs have modified their operational design and culture to one of being patient-centered while being fiscally viable. As part of your interview of a healthcare manager or executive selected for module 1 discuss how the program was or will be transformed to be patient-centered. In your discussion please address the following questions. 1. How was the program restructured or reengineered to adapt to internal and external factors impacting it? 2. What internal and external factors were considered in the transformation? 3. What were the barriers or obstacles were encountered (e.g. internal politics, economics, resource limitations, time constraints, etc.). 4. What is the potential impact on the program of technology, legislation, etc on the services provided on the program. *Please note that you may add any additional questions that tie into the themes presented in module 2. Expectations The intent of the SLP is for you to apply the theoretical and general aspects covered in the module, to real-life and practical cases. The SLP will have specific questions you will need to address, using information from literature and/or your own personal experience The page length for this assignment in 3-5 pages. Please do not exceed required length. Please be sure to provide at least 3 citations of sources consulted in preparing your paper in the body of the actual document itself (i.e., in addition to furnishing a reference list). Remember, any statement that you make that is not common knowledge or that originates from your synthesis or interpretation of materials you have read must have a citation associated with it. For guidelines on in-text citations, visit the following web site: http://owl(dot)english(dot)purdue(dot)edu/handouts/research/r_apa.html Required Readings Jerry D. VanVactor. (2011). A case study of collaborative communications within healthcare logistics. Leadership in Health Services, 24(1), 51-63. Click here Accessed 02/20/2012 Roy Liff. (2011). Promoting cooperation in health care: creating endogenous institutions. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management, 6(1), 46-63. Click here Accessed 02/20/2012 Applebaum, S. H. & Wohl, L. (2000). Transformation or change: some prescriptions for health care organizations. Managing Service Quality. Bedford: 2000. Vol. 10, Iss. 5; p. 279. Click here Accessed 02/20/2012 Coddington, D. C., Fischer, E. A., & Moore, K. D. (2000). Characteristics of successful health care systems. Health Forum Journal. San Francisco: Nov/Dec 2000. Vol. 43, Iss. 6; click here Accessed 02/20/2012 Dubbs, N. L. & Browning, S. L. (2002). Organizational design consistency: The PennCARE and Henry Ford Health System experiences / Practitioner application. Journal of Healthcare Management. Chicago: Sep/Oct 2002. Vol. 47, Iss. 5; p. 307. Click here Accessed 02/20/2012 Ghodeswar, B. M. & Vaidyanathan, J. (2007). Organisational Adoption of Medical Technology in Health Sector. Journal of Services Research. Gurgaon: Oct 2007-Mar 2008. Vol. 7, Iss. 2; p. 57. Click here Accessed 02/20/2012; Note - please read only the first sections up to the \"Discussion\" section. Vachon, G., Ezike, N., Brown-Walker, M., Chhay, V., Pikelny, I., & Pendergraft, T.. (2007). Improving Access to Diabetes Care in an Inner-City, Community-Based Outpatient Health Center with a Monthly Open-Access, Multistation Group Visit Program. Journal of the National Medical Association, 99(12), 1327-36. Click here Accessed 02/20/2012, Optional Readings: Cuellara, A. E. & Gertlerb, P.J. (2002). Strategic integration of hospitals and physicians. Working Paper. Click here Accessed 02/20/2012 Kovner, A. & Neuhauser, D. (2001). Health service management: Case studies. Sixth Edition, Illinois: Health Administration Press. Mintzberg, H. (1989). Mintzberg on management:Inside our strange world of organizations. London: Free Press Essay ONE: SLP Questions: 1. Identify a manager or coordinator for a healthcare program that you would like to interview. I recommend that you select someone who is considered to be an inspirational leader. 2. In your paper please discuss your affiliation with the program manager you selected to interview. Provide demographic information on this individual (e.g., age, number of years in healthcare, education). Discuss his/her role and provide a brief description of the healthcare program managed and the organization itself. 3. Identify his/her key leadership characteristics. Provide examples that demonstrate each leadership characteristic. 4. What are his/her strengths and weaknesses as a leader in healthcare management? How could his/her work performance be improved to result in better delivery of healthcare management services? Abstract It is commonly said that unless an organization has a stable leadership, then it is doomed to fail. The same case applies to a program that might be enrolled in any setting. Unless there is a proper management with a dedicated team, then there is no way that success can be achieved. Leaders need to be committed and well informed on their roles. The essay below is an illustration of how a leader should be. It was written after an interview with a health program manager. Leadership and Role of Managers Brittany Charlton is a 32 years old lady who has worked in the healthcare sector for the past five years. She is a graduate of the Harvard School of Public Health with ScM in Epidemiology and also studied at the New School where she trained in BA. She is a coordinator for public health work in Congressman Jerrold Nadler's (NY-8) district office. While at her service, she is charged with ensuring that the health concerns of the people with regard to epidemiology are taken care of. Her main concern is in HPV and cervical cancer, contraceptives and LGBT health disparities. Due to the nature of her work and the demand that it inserts on the person responsible, she has enrolled for doctoral studies at the Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology. Besides her work, she also enjoys SCUBA diving, triathlons, skydiving and photography (Charlton, personal information). As a coordinator for the public health, there are many people that work at her directive. As such, she is more of a supervisor than a manager. Charlton understands this pretty well and therefore seeks to have all the necessary leadership skills at hand. First of all, she aims at being an inspiration to the people working under her. She does not want to be just a manager, but also wants to be a leader who leads by example not by directive (2007). For instance, she indicates that whenever there is a need for fieldwork activity, she always accompanies her staff to the field and leads in doing the work. She also understands that in her trade, she has to obtain a balance between leadership and management. This is quite important since she has to show the people that they have to do the right thing and also do things right (Rothbauer, 2009). This means that she has to know when to assert her opinion and when to let the people decide. In illustrating how this happens, she quips that whenever there is a departmental meeting, she tables the agendas and lets the people decide the mode of action they want to take and the implementation process. Since the people are the ones who come up with the directive, she follows to ensure that they accomplish what they agreed on, failure to which there is a reprimand. This is fair enough given that the people were given a chance to decide how they want to go about the issue at hand. She is also very close to her workmates and gets along easily with them. This is leadership strength in as observed by Guo and Anderson (2005) who observe that a leader should be competent in participation, conceptual, interpersonal and leadership skills. All these can be found in Charlton as described in the above paragraphs. From the interview conducted, there are some strengths that are found in Charlton. First of all, she participates in the work that her office is directed to. As such, she understands the challenges that the people working under her face, and can therefore relate with their situation. She is also committed to her work and has great interpersonal skills. These make her such an asset to her employer. By far, her greatest strength is in the fact that she knows the value of education. As she seeks to know more, she has enrolled for further studies in her area of specialization. This makes her an even greater asset to the people she serves. Another good aspect is that she engages in physical exercises. This not only helps to maintain physical fitness but also improves her mental performance. There is always the other side of the coin, and Charlton also has her dark side. She observes that having to combine her work with studies is quite a tasking job. Though she does not admit it, it can be inferred that there is a possibility that her productivity is affected. She also observes that at times she leaves some office work unattended to as she goes out with the filed based team. This can be quite hectic. In order to improve her work, there are various measures that can be taken. It is true that the leader needs to participate in the actual work (McNamara, 2007; Rothbauer, 2009). However, it is also important for the leader to have enough time to attend to other matters. As such, it could be of great benefit if her work was programmed such that there are specific days when she goes to the field and those that she attends to office matters. Alternatively, she can take some time during the day, preferably in the morning to attend to official matters then take the afternoon for field work. This could ease the pressure on her. After all, planning is also part of leadership.