People Who Accept the Role of the Frontline Manager in a Health Care Service - Essay Example

Topic: To discuss one challenge and one opportunity presented to a person who takes on the role of frontline manager in a health or social care service. Introduction Today the change in the attitude of people displays considerable awareness about their health. The centers for health care are getting their due attention. Working at ‘health care’ is a social service oriented working profile. There are many people who get involved in this pious activity and dedicate their lives for betterment of others. The following essay peeps into the lives of such people who accept the role of frontline manager in a health or social care service. It also analyses what lies ahead of these people and what are common circumstances that they have to usually face at their work place. The essay also sheds light on two important aspects of a manager’s role: one challenge and one opportunity that he is presented with and the ways in which he can handle them. Keywords: health, interaction, power, communication, opportunity, service, disease, demands, resources, challenge The role of a manager is easier said than done. That’s because he has to shoulder many responsibilities. His actions are under constant vigilance by his peers, subordinates and superiors. Anything good that a manager may try to implement can have possible negative as well as positive effects on the entire organization. Thus well analyzed action plan is a must. Becoming a manager requires constant efforts and determination. It also requires leadership qualities such as patience, ability to lead and guide, perseverance, ability to interact well with everyone, etc. A person achieves this through hard work. Along with the respect that it brings, the managerial responsibilities seep the manager of all his energy and demand careful work at every stage. At a health care service unit, a manager comes to deal with a variety of people such as the care takers or the doctors, the accounting department, the staff, the patients or the consumers or the victims of health problems, managers from other branches of the health care unit and so on. While discussing the manager’s role let us analyze for him, An opportunity: of the power of making decisions and instituting policy changes, and A challenge: of the efficient and judicious use of resources (Managerialism, p.54). Managerial activity is a process of continuous change (Activity 3.2, p.33). One has to understand the current situation and implement new policies accordingly. No matter whatever are your previous experiences, being a manager is every time a new lesson. The first thing that comes to our mind about a manager is the amount of power that he is entrusted with! Indeed this power can work wonders if handled with opportune execution. He needs to be flexible enough to shape circumstances and adapt to demands of employed people and consumers. With all his powers he has the authority to regularize and implement changes such as discipline, better dress codes, punctuality, etc. on one hand and that of upgrading services, conducting awareness campaigns, ensuring active public involvement, etc. on the other hand. Managerialism has given a new dimension to social care services. It has given a cutting edge of business and industry oriented approach (Managers, Managing, and Managerialism- Introduction, p.49). A health care service requires to be updated about all kinds of services that a consumer can demand. Catering to such demands is a challenge in itself. It is the task of a manager to look into matters pertaining to service up gradation. It would in turn demand sufficient resources to meet the demands. Thus a crucial activity in a manager’s tasks is about managing budgets for ever increasing demands. However, if taken in positive stride it can help him improve his health care service to a new level. As we all know; changes are certain in any activity. The changes that a manager needs to look after could be: aesthetic changes such as changing the looks of the service unit by affixing proper signal boards, arranging the furniture in a proper way, making sure people in the waiting room get clean and pure drinking water, looking after the cleanliness of his entire unit so that it remains unaffected and doesn’t become a disease prone zone. He can also add a system of feedback from consumers and other employees. This way it can become easy for him to know the expected changes and reactions of everyone on the current and the newly implemented systems. Careful analysis of situation in his ward can lead to a drastic improvement in offering health care services to all. Thus we present his powers and ability to make decisions to control the service unit as an opportunity. Whilst trying to offer his best, the person at the managerial post can be faced with a multitude of challenges; many of them include effective handling of cash, competition from other health care service units across his region of establishment, the gap in newly implemented policies as they had been visualized and the way they have been actually implemented, handling the complaints coming from people, correcting the services to live up to everybody’s expectations, managing effective communication with everyone, etc. Amongst many challenges, one that we would discuss is efficient handling of resources. At every stage it is important for him to make resources available without which work can come to a standstill. Things such as establishing proper communication technique amongst all by providing telephones in far away located blocks of the health care unit and creating an atmosphere for friendly communication between all members of the unit are a few practical challenges faced by a manager. The man power that he has is also a powerful resource available with him. Judicious distribution of tasks among optimum number of people is an intelligent way of using resources. A manager should assign responsibilities depending on the qualifications of his subordinates. Regular reporting methods should be made mandatory to keep a strict watch on happenings in his health care unit. Good performances by people should be awarded to boost even better performances in future. A proper guidance by the frontline manager is a crucial aspect for the care unit’s development in a proper direction. It is important for every person in the unit to have a sense of responsibility towards his organization. Inculcating a feeling of integrity in the minds of every member is thus an important task. Paying attention to complaints of the people employed and analyzing their wants is as important as paying attention to those who need services. However at the back of his mind a manager should be aware that all his efforts are to be directed towards meeting the requirements of his consumers. Consumers are the one’s who really run an organization without their active involvement. It is for them that we devise various strategies to attract even more. Other important resource that needs a manager’s acute attention is the basic funding required to run an organization. It is one of his responsibilities to make available adequate value of funds by obtaining sponsorships. Increasing the current revenues is also an important task which can be done by issuing advertisements through various media possible. Issuing influential advertisements is necessary because however hard we may try to rectify our services and make available state of the art facility at our care service; it has to reach masses so that they know to approach us during their needs. Making the emergency services available is yet another way of helping people. Deploying required resources for this purpose can be a daunting task before him. An emergency ward should to be set up which is well equipped with resources needed to offer best service. While handling challenges before him and making a hundred percent use of all opportunities in his way, a manager’s role is that of a tight rope walk. Often he will have to compromise at a few aspects while developing other few but balancing all his activities and fulfilling his role efficiently will bear best results. References 1. The Open University. K303 Course Website and Record. ebook_k303_book1_D_chap3_l3_1. Managerialism. p.54. Retrieved on November 20, 2009 from https://msds.open.ac.uk/students/ 2. The Open University. K303 Course Website and Record. ebook_k303_learningguide1_e3i1_sup993722_unit3_l3_1. Activity 3.2. p.33. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from https://msds.open.ac.uk/students/ 3. The Open University. K303 Course Website and Record. ebook_k303_book1_D_chap3_l3_1. Managers, Managing, and Managerialism-introduction. p.49. Retrieved on November 20, 2009 from https://msds.open.ac.uk/students/ Read More