Management of a Health Care Staff Group - Essay Example

A Case Study in Management of a Health Care Staff Group Objectives: This paper addresses the importance of Human Resource Management concepts such as motivation and employment relationship in improving the overall healthcare services provided to the patients. Setting: The contradictions and conflicts arising among employees of a respiratory therapy division of a hospital have been considered. A respiratory therapist mainly performs duties such as performing diagnostic tests and conducting other exams, controlling patients' blood-oxygen levels, and setting up and providing assistance in utilization of cardiopulmonary equipments and mechanical ventilators. A respiratory therapy division involves culmination of multi-disciplinary professionals with the overlapping of daily duties of therapists and technicians. Participants: Methodology/Sequence of events: The behavior and method of performing duties of a set of employees in the respiratory therapy division was observed. The set of employees under observation included three respiratory therapists, an intern, an administrative staff member and a supervisory head managing their activities. Also, factors such as personal characteristics, likes and dislikes, professional motive and so on, which determine the behavior of employees were studied and noted down. The degree of complication involved in the situation was analyzed. The problem issues were listed followed with possible solutions. Outcomes: It was observed that there were varied activities going on within a single division. Some performed the activities directly related to respiratory therapy and the others were performing supporting activities. However, each activity seemed indispensable to the overall performance of the division. Among the respiratory therapists, one of them was young, extremely enthusiastic and high spirited. The other one was slightly older, calm, calculative and procedure oriented. The third therapist was as young as the first one, but lacked the enthusiasm, but anyway continued to perform his duties without complains. These therapists mainly performed duties such as analysis of the problem on hand, performing tests, setting up equipments and ventilators as well as educating the patients and their family members. The intern was new in the hospital premises. He only assisted the therapists by taking down the patients' explanations and acting only when instructed. The administrative staff member was responsible for helping the patients fix appointments, preparation of doctors' schedules, managing physical documents and attending phone calls. Though the number of duties the administrative staff member was assigned with was very few, her hands seemed to be full all the time. She showed a few signs of frustration, but nevertheless continued to work vigorously. The supervisory head only handled unusual or exceptional cases, and in the meantime supervised the work performed by the therapists, managed involvement of technicians and resolved conflicts, if any. The supervisory head had very few years of experience in supervision and management. Problems/Conflicts/Constraints: The therapists worked under constant pressure. They were often required in ICUs and ERs. Their duties were crucial to the well being of the patients. Their patience too was of great importance to keep the patients at ease. They attended to wide variety of patients from infants to the elderly. The young enthusiastic therapist seemed to get along well with patients belonging to all age groups. He was extremely friendly and the patients seemed to be at ease in his company. The slightly older therapist was more formal in his approach. He did put the patients at ease through his self confidence and strong belief in the system, but at the same time kept a distance from the patients by not going beyond the medical problem on hand. He treated all patients the same, whether infants, young, or old. The third therapist was always untouched by what was going on. He performed his duties quiet mechanically. The three were always on their toes keeping up with the patients. Though they worked quiet independently, they often had meetings amongst them wherein they discussed the courses they took or need to take in a particular case. At this stage, they had conflicts regarding the method adopted and contradictory ideas on various issues pertaining to the functioning of their division. The older therapist stuck by the book and believed in tested methods whereas the young enthusiastic therapist was more contemporary in his approach. For instance, he supported the view that the therapists today need to go beyond their traditional roles. He quite often expressed his views on introducing programs on drawing public's attention towards respiratory problems, smoking cessation counseling and so on. The older therapist strongly opposed this view arguing that these duties were of least importance. The younger therapist was of the opinion that the safety precautions they were expected to adhere to were too stringent and outdated. The older therapist stuck by them religiously and considered the other therapist too young and ignorant to know its significance. Their conflicts seemed to add to the tension between them while working together on any case. The third therapist, all the while, took a neutral position. In fact, he didn't seem to show any interest in their discussions. It seemed like he was dispassionate about the profession itself. While the therapists were busy attending to their daily schedules and resolving conflicts among themselves, the intern felt neglected. He felt like he was not given the share of work he deserved and was also not given the credit for the work he was doing. He felt he was not as indispensable as the others in the division were. The result was that he was not motivated to work with all his heart and also, didn't find a reason to cooperate with the others. However, the therapists considered the intern a raw hand and hence should just stick to their instructions. Moreover, they were of the opinion that he had not yet learnt to interact with the patients too well. The administrative staff member was busy with her own chores and accordingly had her set of complains. The other employee in the administrative division who shared her work previously had quit the job and was not replaced as yet. She considered her workload unreasonable and the reward for it unfair. As a result, she looked for ways to vent out her frustration. The victims were sometimes the therapists and other doctors and some other times, the patients too. This caused the therapists, interns and others to avoid her as much as possible and this in turn gave rise to communication problems amongst them. The supervisory head, though aware of the situation, did not know what exactly he was supposed to do to improve the situation. He observed that the therapists, in addition to the problems they were having amongst themselves, were also facing problems interacting with the technicians. He however chose to ignore the various issues assuming that the division was functioning sufficiently well despite the conflicts and contradictions. Discussions/Lesson Learned: A team is a unique type of group in two important ways. First, a team has a specific objective it is trying to reach. Second, reaching the goal requires collaboration - a coordinated effort. Achieving the goal requires working together. Effective teams are made up of members who are not only technically competent but also good at collaborating with one another to reach their common objective. The following six factors distinguish effective team members from the ineffective ones: (1) Experience: It is the first thing a team looks for in its members. The team looks for practical knowledge that is relevant to its objective. Accordingly, it expects an inexperienced team member to obtain more knowledge and become more aware of the whole project picture. (2) Problem-solving ability: Problem solving ability can be manifested in various ways. Some team members are adept at clarifying problems, some are good at developing strategies for overcoming problems, and some know enough to make constructive suggestions about overcoming a problem. Whatever their specific contributions, team members who help the team resolve problems are the strengths that keep the team focused. (3) Openness: Team members who are open are willing to deal with problems, help create an environment where people are free to say what's on their minds and promote an open exchange of ideas. (4) Supportiveness: Although supportiveness can take many forms, at the core is a desire and willingness to help others succeed. It also means, at the same time, to be less controlling. (5) Action Orientation: It means having tendency to act, a willingness to prod, to suggest courses of action, to try something different. (6) Positive personal style: Some team members have a positive attitude and are energetic and optimistic while others are cynical, defensive and hard-to-work-with (LaFasto and Larson, 2001: 4-25). The leader of a team is a key player in a setting that is filled with meaning, challenge, and risk. There are six dimensions that a competent leader may follow: (1) Focus on the goal: It is the team leader's responsibility to keep the team focused on its goal. The team leader should define the goal in a clear and elevating way and more importantly should help the team members see their relevance to the goal. The leader must always try and keep the goal alive. (2) Ensure a collaborative climate: A collaborative climate is accomplished by talking about it, reinforcing it, and guaranteeing it. A team leader must make it safe for everyone in the team to communicate freely. The team leader must also recognize and reward collaborative behavior. And most importantly, it is important for a leader to guide the team's problem-solving efforts. (3) Build Confidence: There are few behaviors that build confidence as well as a personalized expression of belief in an individual. One of the most direct signals of such belief is to trust someone with important and meaningful responsibility. (4) Demonstrate sufficient technical know-how (5) Set Priorities: As a leadership trait, the ability to set priorities is the ability to reconcile competing demands for finite resources of time, money, and energy. (6) Manage Performance: The team leader must make performance expectations clear and review results (LaFasto and Larson, 2001: 98-141). The challenges and complications increase with multi-disciplinary teams. Although multi-disciplinary teams bring breadth of perspective and expertise, they also bring fragmented loyalties, divided time commitments, and even conflicting demands. In multi-disciplinary teams, both substantive and process problems become intensified. In such cases, the fundamental principles of problem solving, such as goal clarity and issues analysis, are critically important to the quality of the group's outcome. Similarly, a communication climate that is open and supportive is essential for helping the group indentify, raise, and resolve the many process problems that will affect the group's success (LaFasto and Larson, 2001: 90-92). Motivation is yet another significant aspect of human resource management. Motivation is the reason for an act, or that which gives purpose and direction to behavior, but if the reason isn't the right one, it could cause the end result to be unsatisfactory. It is a well known fact that what employees want out of their jobs are the same all over the world - monetary benefits, security, appreciation and job satisfaction. The first three, being extrinsic motivational factors, are relatively easy to achieve rather than the latter one which is an intrinsic motivational factor and far more important as well as effective one. A team leader may consider the following tips to constantly motivate the team members: (1) Build a solid foundation for the members so that they feel invested in the project. (2) Create a positive environment that makes all the members feel worthwhile and important. Avoid playing favorites with the staff. (3) Work with each of them to develop a career growth plan. If members become excited about what's down the road, they will engage themselves better with the present work. (4) Help team members improve their professional skills by providing training and in-house career development. (5) Acknowledge member's contribution and boost their morale. (6) Provide Incentives. (7) Honor the promises made. Failure to do so will result in a loss of trust. (8) Match tasks to talents. Assign individuals with tasks they would enjoy or are particularly good at. This would help improve their confidence level. (9) Don't forget the fun. Once in a while, put work aside and do something nice for the members. (10)Set an example. Great people make others around them feel that they too can become so. (Ten Tips on Improving Employee Relationship, n.d.) The above lessons learnt, if applied to the problems discussed earlier, can significantly contribute to resolving existing differences among the staff members. It can make a positive difference in the overall health care service provided to the patients. Bibliography LaFasto, F. and Larson, C. (2001) When Teams Work Best, California: Sage Publications, Inc. Ten Tips on Improving Employee Relationship, Available: http://education.exeter.ac.uk/dll/studyskills/harvard_referencing.htm [3 May 2009] Read More