Health Care Management: Chapter 1 Review Questions

Health care management is a profession that gives directions and plays a leadership role in organizations which offer health care services to people and departments and units within the health care organizations. Health care managers are the senior officers in health care management who shape the organizations through making critical decisions on health care matters.

The functions of managers include planning. In this function, the managers set performance targets for the organization and oversee their achievement. Also, health care managers are responsible for organizing the organization for instance through the distribution of authority among various positions in the organization. Managers also have the staffing duty of hiring and retaining their workforce. Control is also another significant function of healthcare managers. Control is achieved through monitoring staff performance and activity in the organization. Moreover, decision making in the organization is also a manager’s function. Decisions made include operation methods and designs.

Interpersonal skills are a necessary competency for the manager to run the organization effectively. Interpersonal skills enable the managers to communicate effectively with the other staff in the organization. They may be useful when a manager is counseling an employee whose performance is below the expectations. The skills allow the message to be understood clearly.

The team structure of an organization is where the organization is made up of several teams all of which are working towards a common goal shared by the whole organization. Another organizational design is the matrix structure. In the matrix design, specialists from separate divisions within the organization are assigned to work on one or more projects together. A project manager is attached to a project handled y the matrix. In the organizational project design, the employees of a firm are assigned to projects rather than departments. At the end of a project, they are then reassigned to another project. In both the team and project structure, specialists bring their expertise to the team. Besides, all designs work towards the same target for the organization.

The fundamental role of a healthcare manager is to ensure that at the end of the period his division or organization achieve high performance. However, high performance cannot be achieved in a group without a leader. The manager is responsible for setting performance targets for the whole organization which ensures that all the employees are working towards achieving the goals set. Also, the manager conducts follow-ups on the workers to ensure that they play their roles towards achieving high performance. The manager also performs continuous evaluations to determine the progress towards meeting performance goals.

Due to the many changes in the environment, the healthcare industry cannot remain static. The healthcare manager spearheads the process of change management. The manager determines which innovations are to be adopted by the organization based on research and costs associated. Similarly, the managers have to consistently assess their operational processes to identify the knowledge gaps existing in the system. However, the extent to which a manager embraces change determines the success of the organization since change is inevitable. Also, the manager has to address resistance to change within the organization to ensure that all the staff is in line with the change strategy applied.

 
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