Case Study and Theories

Authority, Delegation, and Control

The president-elect, Donald Trump exercises authority by developing plans that will ensure efficiency on the government bureaucracy. Both the president-elect and the Republican-controlled Congress exhibit rational-legal authority since they serve a higher authority and are responsible for the execution of tasks. They have the authority to make decisions such as freeze hiring process by not replacing employees who leave work. In the case study, the president can freeze hiring without getting approval from the Congress. The president has the power to issue an executive order to federal agencies. Conversely, authority encompasses accountability; however, due to poor management skills and lack of accountability, the Department of Veteran Affairs have failed to ensure that veterans have access to their benefits. The VA need to enact policies that will ensure proper management and employees are accountable for their actions.

Engineering Management and Diversity

The theory concerns managing groups of people from different background. Donald Trump shows his management skills by promising to manage diverse groups of individuals living in the U.S. Diversity entails recognizing the uniqueness and differences that exist among people. Management and diversity do not work well in areas where there is political favoritism. The Republicans want to ensure efficiency in the management by protecting civil service against political favoritism. The Department of Veteran Affairs exercises engineering management by improving the technological and administrative ability of the organization. The management should train employees on how the system works to avoid data manipulation. Moreover, they should encourage diversity since people from different backgrounds will come with innovative ideas and improve the performance within the department.

Game Theory

Game theory involves interactions of two groups of people. Cooperation and trust versus self-interest are critical in an institution since the assumption underlying the concepts states that if individuals involved in an activity are unsupervised, they are likely to make decisions that would favor their interest. Regarding the case of the Department of Veteran Affairs, the lack of supervision by the management resulted in the manipulation of data that affected veterans’ accessibility to benefits. Regarding the decision theory, the analysis requires acquiring information before making a decision. When making a decision under certainty, the management knows the state of nature that will occur, and they will choose an alternative that will result in the highest payoff. Republicans should make decisions that will have a significant impact on the economy and government institutions.

Group Dynamics

With group dynamics, one should understand the nature of group, laws involved in group development and interactions between individuals and groups. Group interactions in the case study are shown by the positive reactions such as solidarity and the need to provide help to improve the performance of the institution. In the case study, the Republicans show solidarity in time when government institutions experience poor performance. Through interactions, the group can help improve performance by eliminating waste, fraud, abuse and poor performance in government institutions. The possible way of action that the Department of Veteran Affairs can use to improve Veteran’s access to benefits is by employing reforms that will ensure discipline and accountability. Cohesion is essential in a government institution since it will promote a healthy relationship among groups from different political parties.

System Theory

The elements of the system are interdependent. When the management of an organization changes, then there would be changes in the other part of the institution. For instance, in the case study, the proposal by the Republicans to freeze hiring process, fire poor performers and employ new reforms will bring changes to the government institutions. The big project will eliminate the corrupt government and ensure positive changes. With equifinality, the management or government can have more than one approach to attaining the desired results. In the case of the VA, the management can train employees and recommend proper supervision avoid manipulation of data.

Bureaucracy

A bureaucratic organization has clear rules and responsibilities, the hiring of employees is based on skills and knowledge, and promotions and appointments are formal. Although the Department of Veteran Affairs exercises bureaucracy, the mismanagement within the department has resulted in incompetence, inefficiency, and poor performance. The management should get rid of officials who manipulated waiting list data and hire qualified and skilled employees. With Bureaucracy, laws govern the operations of employees. Moreover, since the hierarchical power is concentrated among fewer officials in an organization, it is easy to delegate duties and ensure employees perform well.

Leadership

Leaders have the qualities to challenge, encourage and inspire followers. For instance, the case study, the president-elect, and the Republican-controlled Congress have promised to shake up the current system of the government in a bid to look for improvement. Republicans question the corrupt influence of government and as leaders, they would like to have a system of government that is corrupt free and perform to the benefit of the people. On the other hand, the Department of Veteran Affairs has failed to show good leadership and that is why they are struggling with improper management and lack of accountability. Leaders in the Department of Veteran Affairs need to exhibit role model behaviors so that other people may follow their footsteps.

Managing Engineers and Technical Personnel

Engineers have the ability to design materials, systems and consider challenges due to safety, cost and regulations. On the same note, management entails setting strategies and coordinating employees to achieve the objectives. The Department of Veterans Affairs should employ qualified software engineers to design and develop software systems that will help prevent officials from manipulating data. Moreover, the management of the department should support their engineers through motivation, and this will increase the productivity within the department. Incidences of mismanagement and poor engineering process are the main causes of problems in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Similarly, the management at Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center uses their engineering skills to falsify and reduce the number of emergency rooms, which is unethical.

Organizational Structure

An organizational structure defines the hierarchy of staff, duties, and their workflow. Moreover, it has an influence on the leadership, management, change, and communication. The organizational structure of the Veteran Affairs Medical Center is a functional structure. The major functions of the healthcare facility are grouped internally. The grouping of employees is based on specialized functional areas. Even with the existence of a functional organizational structure, the coordination, and control within the facility is poor. In addition, due to different functional areas and high degrees of formalization, the management finds it hard to communicate with other employees. For the management to avoid cases of manipulation of data, they should establish uniform performance standards and employ reforms that govern employees.

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