Management in Health Care: Theory and Working Together
The essentials of management, by far, are not historically new. One can imagine the management that was needed to build the Egyptian pyramids or the Greek Parthenon. The requirement was to have people work efficiently together toward a successful common end. However, with the rise of industrialization and now with the rapid speed of change and technological advancements, effective management is needed more than ever. Healthcare, which is having such a significant impact on today's society and also undergoing many transitions in a short period of time, is a prime example of an industry that requires the best management possible. Peter Drucker, an economist and journalist, is regarded as the founding father of the study of management by experts in the worlds of business and academia. According to Drucker (2001, pg. 10), management is based on several essential principles: 1) Management concerns first and foremost human beings, who must be made capable of joint performance, their strengths effective and weaknesses irrelevant; 2) Management is thoroughly a part of individual cultures and is variable; 3) Each organization must have a commitment to common goals and unifying objectives that are set my management;
In these days of global competition, such a leadership style is essential to point individuals in the most productive directions. One also has to prepare for continual change. In the past, management commitments for the future were based on the question, "What is most likely happen?" Now, it is necessary to plan for uncertainty by asking "What has already happened that will create the future?" (Drucker, 1995, pg. 40). All organizations, especially ones in the healthcare field, have to look at such factors as demographic trends; changes in industry, market structure, values, science and technology already in place but yet to have full impact; and trends in the economy and structure of society. They must then convert these "what is most likely to happen" into opportunities for the organization based on its strengths and competence. Further, it must develop the knowledge and people to be able to respond to these opportunities. What is known, Drucker says in Management Challenge for the 21st Century (1999b, pg. 142), are the six major demands that underlie this productivity: 1) need to ask, "what is the task?"; 2) individuals assume responsibility for themselves; Global society is in the midst of a major transformation, where knowledge is the primary resource if, and only if, it is integrated into a task. For managers, this dynamics of knowledge requires building change into the organizational structure. The organization must commit itself to continually creating something new (Drucker, 1995, pg. 79). As a result, management must emphasize continuous improvement or kaizen, exploit its knowledge to develop the next generation of applications from its successes and learn to innovate in a systematic process. This means that organizations must continually make changes. This may even lead to closing down a hospital when changes in medical knowledge, technology and practice make a hospital with
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Approximate Word count = 1285
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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