Management, People and Organisations - Managing the United Kingdom National Health Service - Essay Example

Finally, the paper discusses the functions of management and the skills required to perform the managerial role and focuses on the "control" function to determine whether or not it can be performed without managers. Management is defined by Koontz and Weihrich (2004) as the process of designing and maintaining an environment in which, individuals, working in groups, efficiently accomplish selected goals. There are different definitions regarding what management precisely is. In another definition “Management is the art of getting things done through people” (Daft, 2005).

According to these definitions, the key role of management is to get things done by the people, through creating a suitable environment in which they can achieve organisational goals. The case study shows that many clinicians have taken on managerial roles into their existing role, in a bid to make a difference. This involvement in management can be time consuming and actually conflicts with their clinical roles. It is obvious that many of the symptoms which the case study demonstrates can be directly linked to conflict of roles.

A role is “a set of expectations and obligations to act in a specific way in a certain context” (Rollinson, 2008). In any given role, there are two aspects: The role player and his obligation toward the role, and the role setter who has expectations from the person performing the role. “Role conflict arises from inadequate role definition. The manner in which a person actually behaves may not be consistent with their expected pattern of behaviour. Such inconsistency leads to a number of results which reflect negatively on the manager’s performance and morale”.

(Leicester MPO, 2007) The first result is incompatibility of role. It arises when compliance with being a clinician makes it very difficult to comply with being a manager. Middle managers often face this problem with their senior and junior managers. (Leicester MPO, 2007) As