Insight into healthcare industry
Discuss About The Comparing Management Leadership In Healthcare.
Healthcare has emerged out to be one of the most promising sectors globally and has contributed immensely towards the welfare of mankind. The healthcare industry is looked down upon in pretext of the excessive work load and lack of a hospitable organizational culture causing huge amount of employee turnover with every passing year (Mannix et al.2013). It is interesting to note here that the health care industry operates under six major sub divisions that includes, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical insurance, distribution and facilities. Efficient administration and management in these sectors can lead to improvement in the organizational culture existing in the healthcare industry (Barr and Dowding 2015). This essay revolves around the existing disparities between the management and leadership in the healthcare industry. In order to develop a crystal clear understanding of the same, the initial segments of the essay would deal with the development of understanding of the services being offered by the six sub-groups that are functioning under the core industry and further the essay would delve deeper into the topic and correlate the establishment of an optimistic and positive organizational culture entirely based upon motivating leadership and employee friendly management strategies.
Insight to healthcare industry-The medical equipment sub-industry deals with the production of medical instruments such as pacemakers, sphygmomanometers, orthopaedic devices and other important devices that help in dispensing adequate medical services to the patients. Although, the valuation ratio of the equipment sub-industry is lower while compared to the significant mean ration of the overall industry, however, it still seems to have bright scope for expansion. The pharmaceutical sub-industry essentially deals with the production of medicines that are designed chemically and are targeted for the recovery of the patients from illness. However, the biotechnology sub-industry deals with the designing of drugs using the principles of biochemistry and biotechnology and is mainly concerned with the utilisation of genetic manipulation techniques for imparting services such as gene therapy, genetic counselling and genetic screening. The pharmaceutical industry has progressed through huge leaps and bounds after the passing of the Affordable Care Act that made it possible for common people to avail pharmaceutical drugs at a cost effective price range. The biotechnology industry too has yielded an impressive profit ratio of 60.20% as suggested by the recent NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (Weaver et al. 2016). The Distributor sub-industry deals with the effective supply of the pharmaceutical drugs and medical equipment to the whole-sellers and other various medical shops in order to make the products available for the people. The facility sub-industry deals with the medical experts and various hospitals and nursing homes where patients visit for availing treatment facilities. Finally, the managed health care sub-industry deals with the designing of health insurance policies in order to provide health care facilities to people from each and every economic background to avail the facilities at a very nominal price rate. Therefore, these sub industries provide an elaborate insight to the overall functioning of the healthcare industries globally.
Organizational culture prevalent in healthcare industry
Organisational culture prevalent in healthcare industry demonstrates that health care sector has emerged out to be the most strenuous sector of all times according to recent survey reports published online. Reports predict that out of all the professions, health care professionals experience the worse stress associated with work pressure and that accounts as the basic reason for a huge number of employee turnover in this field (Ahmad et al. 2013). Inadequate pay, tremendous work load and abnormally long durations of work are promoting an undesirable organizational culture among healthcare professionals which are ultimately leading to a dissatisfaction among employees (Weller et al. 2015). It has become increasingly important, to look into the matter and employ better strategies to effectively enhance the organizational culture.
Improving work performance output-The efficiency of the work output of a health care industry can be predicted with the mortality rate of a particular health organization (Al-Abri and Al-Balushi 2014). A reduced number of death rate would reflect the proficiency of the nurses in handling the patients with utmost care as the notion goes ‘happier the patients, healthier the patients.’ Hence, it can easily be said, that a sharp decline in the mortality rate of the patients would reflect better job role played by the nursing staff of a specific health organization. Also, a hike in the number of healthy patients means a happier and a healthier work atmosphere that leads to a reduction in the amount of stress that the nursing professionals are subjected to almost every single day. In order to promote a healthier organizational culture it is important to create a safer and a happier work atmosphere for the existing nursing professionals in an organization and not resort to recruiting more and more fresh professionals to combat with the problems of employment turnover. Employee loyalty serves as a USP for any organization after all. Thus, it is extremely important to promote a better and a safer workplace environment for healthcare professionals. The idea of a good organizational culture is not confined to the IT industries or the finance sector, however the practical scenario advocates an ironical situation in context to the health care sector. It is critical to note here that the physicians too deserve a stress-free work environment and an employee friendly organizational culture. From the initial stages of medical school, the medical experts are overloaded with a burden of handling perpetual tedious tasks throughout the day and intensive decision making which leads to causing mental stress and frustration among the professionals. Stress is extremely detrimental to the personal life and health of the medical experts and it eventually affects the quality of care being dispensed by the health organizations according to the survey reports published by the New England Journal of Medicine. It is important to analyse and understand the concerns and address them in order to cater to the basic requirements to promote a better organizational culture.
Improving work performance output
Comparing leadership and management essentially deals with efficient management practices that are indispensable in order to promote a sustainable organizational culture (Al-Sawai 2013). Management strategies are based on factors that incorporate primary factors such as management of human resources, ensuring quality delivery of services and appropriate management of finance capital and concerned medical devices and equipment (Barr and Dowding 2015).The development of good management practices are dependent upon monitoring a close networking and coordinating with the factors such as human resources, effective planning and management of resources, interactive community services and disposal of quality services (Carayon et al. 2014). It is important to critically understand here the literal and practical meaning of the terms ‘leaders’ and ‘managers’ with regards to the healthcare industry. Both these terms are extremely important in order to ensure quality output. Although, both the terms sound more or less similar, however there are differences that exist between both the terms (Daly et al. 2014). Leadership and management go hand in hand and it can be concluded that it is mandatory for a leader to possess great management skills and the managers should also possess excellent leadership qualities. Despite possessing a lot of similarity, there is a requirement of entirely different duties, skills and attributes to justify both the job roles appropriately. There are entirely different set of job roles assigned to the leaders and managers working in an organization (Delmatoff and Lazarus 2014). The main responsibilities attributed to a leader are those of motivating other professionals, focusing on the vision of the organization and influencing the manpower to yield increased output (De Bono et al. 2014). Some of the qualities that are considered to be the utmost essential attributes of a good leader involves, effective problem solving techniques in order to promote a positive environment for the employees, influential and impressive personality traits, quality of motivating professionals at times of acute crisis, ability to introspect and take impromptu decisions and promote a team spirit among the employees working in the same group (Deniz et al. 2013). In contrast to the job responsibilities of a leader, the managers too, play a pivotal role in maintaining an efficient administration system. Managers ensure that the resources that are available to the organization are put to the best of use and at times of acute emergencies or crisis, the limited amount of facilities and resources that are available are used to the maximum so that the production of the company remains unaltered. Comparing the economic scenario prevailing across low to middle income countries, the managers of various healthcare organizations might have to swap job rules and take over the job roles of effective leaders in order to make use of the limited amount of resources available in order to maximise the profit outcome for the company (Derengowzki et al. 2013).
Comparing leadership and management
Differentiating leadership with Management-Leadership focuses on the ‘vision’ of an organization and a good leader is one who ensures that the true vision of the company is lived up to in every respect. A leader strongly focuses on the fact that the professionals working under the banner of the organization never fail to serve the aim of the company and yield the best quality production in terms of output. Management on the other hand highlights more on the importance of efficient organizing power, excellent supervising and communication skills, capability to carry out negotiation with higher authorities to ensure that the minutes of the daily agenda are carried out properly and the objective of the company is served appropriately. Considering the poor organizational culture of the healthcare sector, it is absolutely essential to design better approaches that would encourage positive conditions for the implementation of management practices (Free et al. 2013). Factors that could serve the purpose adequately would include criteria such as selection of administrative managers exclusively on the basis of merit so as to ensure quality both in terms of merit and experience, also, managers must possess a crystal clear understanding of the job responsibility that is assigned to them and the desirable expected outcome. In addition to the above said, the management authorities must outline a clear code of conduct which must highlight the decorum that must be strictly followed by every professional working in the concerned companies in order to avoid any possibilities of situations that might lead to defaming the reputation of the organization and the commitment of the organization to dispense the supplies of pharmaceutical drugs and medical devices and also ensure the smooth operation of the administration entirely depends on the team that is assigned the managerial role in the organization. The trend of the healthcare industry is dynamic and is seen to change every day and it is important that the management department identifies the changing trends and modify the management policies accordingly to suit the changing scenario in the concerned sector (Giltinane 2013).
Improving patient care-The most important factor responsible for employee retention in the healthcare sector is providing a psychologically favourable work environment under great leadership which would eventually lead to the creation of an emotional attachment between the employees and the organization. Good leadership is extremely important in order to provide encouragement to the employees. The worst organizational culture of the healthcare industry has remained the hot topic of discussion for many years and it has been pinpointed that poor ‘leadership’ and ‘management’ policies have led to the strenuous and hostile work atmosphere operating in the sector. It has now been established universally that leadership plays a vital role in motivating the employees and bringing out the best in them. The virtues that the leaders possess and share with their employees reflect the positive culture dominating an organization. A positive organizational culture is directly proportional to the success rate exhibited by any organization.
Conclusion
Characteristics of leadership and management- Typically, five types of psychological variables have been studied which are held responsible as a consequence of improper leadership (Giltinane 2013). Firstly, ‘intimidating’ personality of a leader deals with displaying extreme strictness followed by undesirable humiliation of the subordinates and the staff publically which is too harsh and mortifying for the employees. The second type of personality is the ‘inhibiting’ type where leaders have a tendency to dominate the employees unnecessarily and misuse the power and authority endowed to them on the basis of their position. Keeping the subordinates waiting for long tenures, intentionally avoiding or prolong delay to respond to the official concerns of the employees include some of the behaviours put up by ‘inhibiting’ leaders. The next category of leaders are classified under the ‘partial’ type who intentionally practice office politics by defaming some employees or intentionally excluding employees from a team. These leaders are extremely cold and harsh to fresh employees and openly judge employees. The last category of oppressive leaders, are branded as the ‘offensive’ leaders who touch the opposite sex employees inappropriately and sexually harass the co-workers and make obnoxious sexual remark and comments. These five types of leader personalities are extremely detrimental for the working environment of the employees in accordance with the scenario prevalent in the healthcare industry. Hence, it can be concluded that hostile and disruptive behaviour of the leaders in an organization ultimately lead to increased rate of employee turnover, errors in facility handling, lower efficiency in providing satisfaction to patients and poor team performance (Grol et al. 2013). Similar to leadership, management also operates on the basis of different approaches which have been mainly categorised into four major types (Giltinane 2013). The first among the four categories include the ‘Bureaucratic’ approach wherein the management emphasises on the hierarchical structure of the organization ensuring strict obedience among the employees regarding work order and delivering quality performance (Macphee et al. 2013). The second approach includes the policy of introducing necessary reforms in the organization in order to launch the company as a strict competitor in the market. This type of approach taken up by the management authorities is listed under the improvised policy promoting new management. The third type of approach is defined as the ‘Traditional Japanese model’ where the management approach is restricted to promote and strongly hold the pride of the organization and infuse in the employees working for the organization a true spirit of the pride of the organization. The fourth kind of management approach aims at the conceptual application of ‘positive professionalism’ where there is a sense of trust instilled among the employees working for the company and their performance is not judged on the grounds of strict code of conduct. The fourth approach can thus be defined as a perfect blend of the Japanese model and the positive professionalism approach (Kash et al. 2014). Keeping aside the strategies of management practices taken up by various healthcare organization it is also noteworthy that the role played by the managers in a workplace is also categorized under three heads, which include, firstly, ‘Decisive’ type which encompasses of the entrepreneurs who deal with the implementation of new laws that would fetch more profit to the organization, strive to resolve disputes between the managers and make the best use of resources that are available to the organization (Hung et al. 2014). Secondly, the ‘Informational’ type comprises the managers who assimilate information pertaining to the requirements of the organization, ensure proper communication and the flow of information and finally ensure that the extrinsic flow of the information is maintained to the external environment. The third category consists of the ‘ideal interpersonal’ managers who motivate the employees for better production and focus on quality training of the employees and also maintain databases in the extrinsic and the intrinsic environment of a concerned organization (Hutchinson and Jackson 2013). Hence, it can be concluded that the organizational structure of a particular workplace is clearly reflected by the quality of managers and leaders working for the organization.
Thus, having mentioned the requisites of a good leader and a good manager, it must be kept in mind that even though the two terms ‘leadership’ and ‘management’ seem to be almost synonymous, the word ‘almost’ clearly underlines the thin line of difference between the two terms (Nica 2015). It can be stated that in a healthcare organization, the management regulates the overall functioning and working of the organization but leadership is more concerned with running the working of the organization in terms of managing the entire staff strength and maintain a positive work atmosphere (Martin and Waring 2013). In large healthcare organizations the role of management and leadership is often misunderstood on account of similar job responsibilities being shared between the management authorities and the administrators, however the notable difference can only be analysed with extensive study and experience in the healthcare field (Mannix et al. 2013). Healthcare leaders keep a track of the facilities being offered at the concerned organization and strive to better the quality. The healthcare managers and leaders both possess an educational background related to healthcare that give them a better insight to maintain the quality of the services provided to the patients by the organization (Shanafelt et al. 2015). The behaviour of an organization considers various factors that include, the economics and commerce, psychological factors, social culture and the vital analysis of individuals as well as group performances that are pivotal in maintaining an optimistic organizational behaviour. The main purpose served by the healthcare organization includes three key factors which are the work culture, the operation and process and the net process output in a sequential order (Popescu and Predescu 2016). Work culture includes educated and capable leadership which is responsible for imparting appropriate training to the professionals, impressive incentives that would motivate the employees and proper maintenance of facilities so as to regulate a healthy and progressive workflow. The operation and process unit deals strictly with the monitoring of the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of the patients placed under the various care units and finally the net process output deals with attaining patient satisfaction, reduction in the incidence of diseases and disorders and a reduced mortality rate (Sheng et al. 2013). It is important to ensure an employee friendly organizational culture in healthcare organizations and for that the key elements that need to be kept in mind include components such as better management of human resources, lucrative incentives to motivate employees, coordination between the management of information technology and the teams working in the organization. Good management tactics reflect the success rate of an organization. On the other hand, strong influential leaders help in providing quality guidance to their subordinates, motivate them with their knowledge acquired through their experiences and steer them in the right direction in order to yield profitable returns for the organization (Spurgeon et al. 2017). Therefore, it must be noted that these factors serve as positive catalysts that accelerate the overall progress of an organization (Taplin et al. 2013). The critical situational circumstances faced by the employees in an organization renders demotivation of the employees and brings down their confidence and morale, but the right personality of the senior leaders can instil confidence in them and help in pushing their limits to the extremes in order to improve their performance in the company and also add into the production figure of the company. The organizational culture plays a vital role in the establishment of a cooperative environment that drives employee loyalty to the organization (West et al. 2014). If the set-up of a healthcare organization that deals with clinical practices is taken into consideration, then it is extremely important to maintain a smooth and fast inflow of important informations (Trastek et al. 2014). The major problems that have been identified with the healthcare set-up include issues related to tremendous workload, unavailability of appropriate incentive schemes that would drive employee motivation and absence of a clear organization structure that leads to piling up of tasks to be taken care of by a limited number of available employees. Most of the research studies in the past have focused on maintaining an employee friendly work culture based on the qualities of good management and leadership abilities in the Information Technology and Corporate sectors, but healthcare has remained to be the most ignored sector despite serving mankind since the dawn of the civilisation and striving hard to impart a decent standard of living.
The scenario of the healthcare industry is gradually changing in some parts of the world. However, there is still a need to incorporate more reforms especially in the developing nations to promote the functioning of a healthy work environment that would reduce the occupational depression the health care employees are facing with the passage of time. For instance, it is interesting to note here that the government authority of Saudi Arabia has introduced reforms in order to serve the interests of the healthcare employees by providing free of cost medical facilities to every person whether or not of native origin working in any public healthcare organizations (Ahmad et al. 2013). At the same time there are issues that nursing personnel face in terms of managing workload, efficient leadership and safety concerns in the United Kingdom. Safety concerns include serving patients belonging to a particular creed or race in a certain population. Despite the presence of valid laws that work in favour of promoting interest of the healthcare workers, a huge number of nursing staff are recruited from other countries to work as nursing personnel in various hospitals and organizations of gulf countries due to a decline in the availability of indigenous nurses to work in the health organizations. However, the fact that cannot be ignored here is that the nurses recruited from foreign countries would serving the native population of the gulf countries who possess a completely different culture and are used to a different set-up of society. The indigenous patients do not feel comfortable being served by the foreign nurses and find it extremely difficult to communicate their problems due to a massive difference of the local language. It is here that the security of the foreign nurses are under a big question mark. In view of all the major issues faced by the healthcare professionals, the primary solution that can possibly be designed would include taking a closer look at all the personal issues prevalent in the healthcare industry and take necessary action regarding the same (Weaver et al. 2016). Despite Saudi Arabia being one of the largest countries of the Middle East region, it must be noted that the health care sector has not been steady with the development rate. Also, due to the massive ‘oil-wealth’ of the company, a large number of individuals line up to serve in the healthcare sector due to the lucrative salary and incentives that the nation has to offer and also the well-structured systematic administration and excellent medical infrastructure that the country is equipped with. In addition to all these factors, the ministry of medical health has a decentralised structure that works with the help of effective planning and efficient management, along with a structured administration that is committed to provide quality patient care. The ministry of health in Saudi Arabia also encourages the elite entrepreneurs as well as the local and the foreign business holders to invest in the healthcare sector that offers a wide range of services from hospitals, nursing homes, emergency units, dispensaries, rehabilitation centres to units concerned with physiotherapy and anaesthesia (Al-Sawai 2013). Several privatised health organizations also provide free of cost treatment to serious cases such as cancer or thalassemia to underemployed citizens of the country. The entire industry follows a hierarchal structure and operates through the three important levels that include the primary, secondary and the tertiary level that is targeted to serve the citizens from different economic backgrounds.
Hence to sum up, it is critical to consider the two most important facts on which the entire healthcare industry runs and the factors include two considerations, the first being the services offered to the patient and second being the quality of the standard of services offered. The above two considerations further involve three distinct factors which are the target audience availing the services, the manner in which the facilities are being offered to the patients and finally the concerned workforce that is responsible for providing the services to the people in general. Eventually, it can be figured out that the end result of the organization is dependent on the employees working in it, therefore it is extremely indispensable to ensure the fact that the employees working in the organization enjoy working there which would only be possible if the work atmosphere is a suitable one best suited to the interest of the employees. Motivating leadership and effective management policies work hand in hand and harness the best organizational structure in the field of healthcare.
References:
Ahmed, S., Manaf, N.H. and Islam, R., 2013. Effects of Lean Six Sigma application in healthcare services: a literature review. Reviews on environmental health, 28(4), pp.189-194.
Al-Abri, R. and Al-Balushi, A., 2014. Patient satisfaction survey as a tool towards quality improvement. Oman medical journal, 29(1), p.3.
Al-Sawai, A., 2013. Leadership of healthcare professionals: where do we stand? Oman medical journal, 28(4), p.285.
Barr, J. and Dowding, L., 2015. Leadership in health care. Sage.
Carayon, P., Wetterneck, T.B., Rivera-Rodriguez, A.J., Hundt, A.S., Hoonakker, P., Holden, R. and Gurses, A.P., 2014. Human factors systems approach to healthcare quality and patient safety. Applied ergonomics, 45(1), pp.14-25.
Daly, J., Jackson, D., Mannix, J., Davidson, P.M. and Hutchinson, M., 2014. The importance of clinical leadership in the hospital setting. Journal of Healthcare Leadership, 6, pp.75-83.
De Bono, S., Heling, G. and Borg, M.A., 2014. Organizational culture and its implications for infection prevention and control in healthcare institutions. Journal of Hospital Infection, 86(1), pp.1-6.
Delmatoff, J. and Lazarus, I.R., 2014. The most effective leadership style for the new landscape of healthcare. Journal of Healthcare Management, 59(4), pp.245-249.
Deniz, N., Noyan, A. and Ertosun, Ö.G., 2013. The relationship between employee silence and organizational commitment in a private healthcare company. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 99, pp.691-700.
Derengowski, K., Kocha?ski, B., Ka?u?ny, K., ?abejszo, A., Struensee, M. and Zukow, W., 2013. The role of the manager in a hospital ward. Journal of Health Sciences, 3(5), pp.457-470.
Free, C., Phillips, G., Galli, L., Watson, L., Felix, L., Edwards, P., Patel, V. and Haines, A., 2013. The effectiveness of mobile-health technology-based health behaviour change or disease management interventions for health care consumers: a systematic review. PLoS medicine, 10(1), p.e1001362.
Giltinane, C.L., 2013. Leadership styles and theories. Nursing Standard (through 2013), 27(41), p.35.
Grol, R., Wensing, M., Eccles, M. and Davis, D. eds., 2013. Improving patient care: the implementation of change in health care. John Wiley & Sons.
Hall, R., 2013. Patient flow. AMC, 10, p.12.
Hung, S.Y., Chen, C.C. and Wang, K.H., 2014. Critical Success Factors for the Implementation of Integrated Healthcare Information Systems Projects: An Organizational Fit Perspective. CAIS, 34, p.39.
Hutchinson, M. and Jackson, D., 2013. Transformational leadership in nursing: towards a more critical interpretation. Nursing inquiry, 20(1), pp.11-22.
Kash, B.A., Spaulding, A., Johnson, C.E. and Gamm, L., 2014. Success factors for strategic change initiatives: A qualitative study of healthcare administrators’ perspectives. Journal of Healthcare Management, 59(1), pp.65-81.
MacPhee, M., Chang, L., Lee, D. and Spiri, W., 2013. Global health care leadership development: trends to consider. Journal of Healthcare Leadership, 5, pp.21-29.
Mannix, J., Wilkes, L. and Daly, J., 2013. Attributes of clinical leadership in contemporary nursing: an integrative review. Contemporary Nurse, 45(1), pp.10-21.
Martin, G.P. and Waring, J., 2013. Leading from the middle: constrained realities of clinical leadership in healthcare organizations. Health:, 17(4), pp.358-374.
Nica, E., 2015. Moral leadership in health care organizations. American Journal of Medical Research, 2(2), p.118.
Popescu, G.H. and Predescu, V., 2016. The role of leadership in public health. American Journal of Medical Research, 3(1), p.273.
Shanafelt, T.D., Gorringe, G., Menaker, R., Storz, K.A., Reeves, D., Buskirk, S.J., Sloan, J.A. and Swensen, S.J., 2015, April. Impact of organizational leadership on physician burnout and satisfaction. In Mayo Clinic Proceedings (Vol. 90, No. 4, pp. 432-440). Elsevier.
Sheng, M.L., Chang, S.Y., Teo, T. and Lin, Y.F., 2013. Knowledge barriers, knowledge transfer, and innovation competitive advantage in healthcare settings. Management Decision, 51(3), pp.461-478.
Spurgeon, P., Clark, J. and Ham, C., 2017. Medical leadership: from the dark side to centre stage. CRC Press.
Taplin, S.H., Foster, M.K. and Shortell, S.M., 2013. Organizational leadership for building effective health care teams. The Annals of Family Medicine, 11(3), pp.279-281.
Trastek, V.F., Hamilton, N.W. and Niles, E.E., 2014, March. Leadership models in health care—a case for servant leadership. In Mayo Clinic Proceedings (Vol. 89, No. 3, pp. 374-381). Elsevier.
Weaver, C.A., Ball, M.J., Kim, G.R. and Kiel, J.M., 2016. Healthcare information management systems. Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Weller, J., Boyd, M. and Cumin, D., 2015. Teams, tribes and patient safety: overcoming barriers to effective teamwork in healthcare. Postgraduate medical journal, pp.postgradmedj-2012.
Weller, J., Boyd, M. and Cumin, D., 2014. Teams, tribes and patient safety: overcoming barriers to effective teamwork in healthcare. Postgraduate medical journal, pp.postgradmedj-2012.
West, M.A., Eckert, R., Steward, K. and Pasmore, W.A., 2014. Developing collective leadership for health care. King’s Fund.
Wong, C.A., Cummings, G.G. and Ducharme, L., 2013. The relationship between nursing leadership and patient outcomes: a systematic review update. Journal of nursing management, 21(5), pp.709-724.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
