This activity is designed to provide you with the opportunity to speak to a healthcare manager to learn more about his or her job duties while integrating the topics related to healthcare management throughout the semester. Successful completion of this assignment requires students to locate an individual who has been working as a healthcare manager for a minimum of six months. Students will compose interview questions, and conduct the interview. The information provided by the healthcare manager will be used to compare and contrast his or her experience to the information provided in the class. The output will be a unique paper of no fewer than five pages.

Learning objectives

Upon completion of this assignment, students will be able to:

• Develop and utilize interview questions to effectively communicate with a healthcare manager.
• Apply course materials covering healthcare management concepts to a real-life situation.
• Analyze personal feelings about the roles and responsibilities of healthcare managers.

Assignment details and a rubric can be found in the attached Word document. Please be sure to contact me with questions or concerns.

AHS 626: SUPERVISION AND MANAGEMENT IN HEALTH PROFESSIONS

HEALTHCARE MANAGER INTERVIEW

Background
This activity is designed to provide you with the opportunity to speak to a healthcare manager
to learn more about his or her job duties while integrating the topics related to healthcare
management throughout the semester. Successful completion of this assignment requires
students to locate an individual who has been working as a healthcare manager for a minimum
of six months. Students will compose interview questions and conduct the interview. The
information provided by the healthcare manager will be used to compare and contrast his or
her experience to the information provided in the class. The output will be a unique paper of no
fewer than five pages.

Learning objectives
Upon completion of this assignment, students will be able to:

• Develop and utilize interview questions to effectively communicate with a healthcare
manager.

• Apply course materials covering healthcare management concepts to a real-life
situation.

• Analyze personal feelings about the roles and responsibilities of healthcare managers.

The learning objectives align with the following course objective:

CLO18: Analyze and report the lived experience of management in the healthcare sector

Additionally, depending on the questions that the student chooses to ask, the following course
objectives may align with this assignment:

CLO1: Describe the contemporary healthcare environment from the perspective of a manager
CLO2: Identify specific strategies for dealing with organizational change and the manager’s role
as change agent
CLO3: Analyze the phases of the organizational life cycle that reflect major changes and relate
these to the functions of the manager
CLO4: Identify the styles of leadership, their characteristics, and the circumstances under which
they are applied
CLO5: Define the management functions of planning and decision making
CLO6: Define the basic management function of organizing and identifying the steps in the
organizing process
CLO7: Describe the role and activities of the professional practitioner as consultant
CLO8: Differentiate among committee types, their general purpose, and recommended
guidelines

CLO9: Explain the basic revenue cycle, steps in the budget cycle, and requirements of successful
budgeting
CLO10: Identify the components of employee training programs
CLO11: Differentiate between adaptation and motivation, explain proper disciplinary action,
and demonstrate how to address conflict constructively
CLO12: Explain the manager’s critical role in fostering, enhancing, and improving interpersonal
communication
CLO13: Describe the fundamentals of formal and informal organizational communication
CLO14: Identify the essential elements of comprehensive management documents, including
the strategic plan, annual report, executive summaries, and project proposals
CLO15: Define the management functions of quality improvement and controlling
CLO16: Outline the functions of human resources and indicate how these relate to the role of
the manager
CLO17: Discuss the dual role of the health professional working as a manager
Resources needed to complete this assignment

To complete this assignment, you will need to use the following resources:

• Access to an individual to interview
• Access to all course materials (textbook, lecture PowerPoint files, videos, etc.)
• Microsoft Word
• An Internet connection (if access to the Purdue Owl site is needed)

Grading information
This assignment is worth up to 100 points. A rubric is included in the instructions for your use.

Students are encouraged to submit drafts to the instructor for feedback and corrections. All
submitted drafts will be carefully reviewed and returned ungraded with suggestions for
improvement. Only the final version will be submitted to the course dropbox and reviewed for
a grade. Once the paper has been graded, changes may not be submitted.

Directions
Part 1:
Interview an individual who has held the role of manager in a healthcare setting for a minimum
of six months. Students may wish to interview an individual at their current workplace or
choose an individual who works in a setting where he or she may wish to obtain employment in
the future.

Before conducting the interview, students should compose a list of questions to ask. Use the
contents of the textbook as well as weekly resources for ideas for question development. A
discussion board has been created for student and instructor feedback of interview questions –
students are strongly encouraged to use this resource prior to conducting the interview. The
following questions may be incorporated into the interview, but the student must also write at
least two unique questions:

a. What are your duties in a typical week (or month)?
b. How many people do you supervise?
c. What aspects of your job do you like the best?
d. What aspects of your job do you like the least?
e. Do you have advice for a student who hopes to enter your profession?
f. Where do you see yourself in five years?
g. What trends to you foresee (e.g., maybe more geriatrics, collaborative agreements

with other services, etc.)?

Urge your participant to be as descriptive and specific as possible about his or her experiences
and opinions. Do not be satisfied with generalizations such as “I am in charge of the budget.”
Be like a reporter and probe for concrete details, (e.g. “What parts of the budget are you in
charge of?” or “What do you have to do to prepare your budget?”) The more details you get
during the interview, the better your paper will be. Ask follow-up questions and probe more
deeply when appropriate. Do not settle for just quick, patented answers.

Part 2:
Use the materials from Part 1 to write a paper that contains the following elements:

• Title page: Include the title of project, class name, class number, your full name, and
date.

• Introduction: Begin with the first name of the person that you interviewed and a
description of the person (e.g., title, place of employment, length in the job, etc.).
Provide a brief explanation as to why you chose this person to interview. Perhaps you
work with this person, or he/she holds a job that is similar to what you hope to have in
the future. The introduction should set the stage for the discussion, providing as much
information as necessary to help the reader understand the context of the interview.

• Discussion: This is the body of the paper, and should include as much detail as necessary
to provide the following information:

o A description of the person’s day-to-day job duties: Provide information taken
from the interview to describe the person’s job in detail. Include a discussion of
opportunities and challenges posed by the person’s job duties, social and work
culture, and other work-related factors. Do not simply copy and paste the
interview. This portion of the paper should include numerous quotes and
personal reflections.

o Integration of course materials: Utilize materials that have been covered in the
course in the discussion. You may use the textbook as well as credible material
you may find on your own. Your paper should include at least five citations. Use
APA format to cite all materials and include a list of references at the end of the
paper.

• Conclusion: What did you take away from this assignment? What was most remarkable
or noteworthy? What did you learn about the individual that you interviewed? What did
you learn about yourself? How might these lessons be useful to you in your professional
or personal life moving forward?

• References: Supply a complete list of all references used in the paper.

• Appendix A: Include the interview questions that were used for this project.

Formatting Instructions:
¨ Files must be either Microsoft Word ( or x) or .PDF format. No other file format will

be accepted.
¨ 1” margins on all sides. 12-point font size. Double-spaced.
¨ Number your pages in top right hand corner.
¨ Use APA format to cite all materials and include a list of references at the end of the paper.

Refer to the Purdue OWL site for assistance if needed.

Healthcare Manager Interview Rubric
Use this rubric as a tool to help you organize your paper and ensure that all required elements are included.

Excellent Good Poor Not attempted
Introduction Included numerous details about

the individual who was
interviewed, providing the reader
with background to subject choice.

Included a number of details about
the individual who was
interviewed, providing the reader
with some details about subject
choice.

Introduction was limited to the
name and relationship of the
subject with little or no details
about why they were selected.

An introduction was not included
in the submitted paper, or no
paper was submitted.

Description of
the job

The job duties are described in
great detail with numerous quotes
from the individual that was
interviewed. The reader is able to
understand important elements of
the job including daily routines,
opportunities, and challenges from
a number of perspectives.

The job duties are described in
some detail with a few quotes
from the individual that was
interviewed. The reader is able to
understand most elements of the
job including daily routines,
opportunities, and challenges.

The job duties are described in
limited detail with minimal or no
quotes from the individual that
was interviewed. The reader is able
to understand basic elements of
the job, but many details are
missing, limiting the quality of the
work.

A description of the job was not
included in the submitted paper, or
no paper was submitted.

Integration of
course
materials

The work contains more than five
citations of materials (e.g.,
textbook, journal articles, books,
etc.). The references are logical
and add to the discussion.

The work contains more than five
citations of materials (e.g.,
textbook, journal articles, books,
etc.). The references are mostly
logical and add to the discussion of
the two losses.

The work contains between one
and five citations of materials (e.g.,
textbook, journal articles, books,
etc.). The references add little or
nothing to the discussion of the
two losses.

No citations were included in the
submitted paper, or no paper was
submitted.

Conclusion The conclusion provides a detailed
summary of lessons learned
through the activity with examples.
Application to the student’s
professional or personal life is
included. The conclusion is well
written and adds to the work.

The conclusion provides a
summary of lessons learned
through the activity but may not
include examples. Application to
the student’s professional or
personal life is missing. The
conclusion is reasonably written
and adds somewhat to the work.

The conclusion provides a brief
summary of lessons learned
through the activity with no
examples. Application to the
student’s professional or personal
life is missing. The conclusion is
difficult to follow or does not add
to the work in a meaningful way.

No conclusion was included in the
submitted paper, or no paper was
submitted.

APA citations
and reference
list

All references to material that is
not the student’s original work is
properly cited using APA style with
no mistakes. A complete list of
references following APA
guidelines is included at the end of
the paper.

All references to material that is
not the student’s original work is
cited using APA style with minimal
errors. A complete list of
references following APA
guidelines is included at the end of
the paper but contains errors.

All references to material that is
not the student’s original work is
cited but does not follow APA
style. A list of references is
included at the end of the paper
but is incomplete or incorrect
according to APA style.

No references are included in the
paper, citations are incorrect and
fail to follow any style, a list of
references is missing from the end
of the paper, or no paper was
submitted.

Excellent Good Poor Not attempted
Interview
questions

A complete list of interview
questions is provided in Appendix
A of the paper. The questions are
logical and include two or more
original questions.

A complete list of interview
questions is provided in the
Appendix A. The questions are
logical and include one original
question.

A partial list of interview questions
is provided in the Appendix A. The
questions are mostly logical but do
not include any original questions.

Interview questions were not
included in Appendix A or no paper
was submitted.

Length The paper is at least five pages in
length.

The paper is at least four pages in
length

The paper is at least three pages in
length.

The paper is less than three pages
in length or no paper was
submitted.

Mechanics Exceptional writing effort. No more
than 2-3 spelling, grammar and
punctuation mistakes. A proof-
reading effort has been made.

Good writing effort. No more than
4-5 spelling, grammar and
punctuation mistakes. Some proof-
reading has occurred however few
changes or corrections were made.

Acceptable writing effort. The
paper contains more than 6
spelling, grammar and punctuation
mistakes. Little proofreading or
effort made.

The paper is illegible, contains
numerous spelling, grammar or
punctuation mistakes and makes
little sense. No proofreading or
effort made, or no paper was
submitted.

Overall quality
of the work

The paper is logical and shows an
in-depth understanding of topics
covered in class. An exceptional
effort is apparent in the overall
quality of the work.

The paper is mostly logical and
shows understanding of topics
covered class but lacks depth. A
good effort is apparent in the
overall quality of the work.

The paper is acceptable, showing
basic understanding of the topics
but no depth. The overall quality of
the work is poor and shows little
effort.

The paper shows little or no effort
on the part of the student, or no
paper was submitted.