Modern Organizations and Healthcare – Week 6 Assignment

Influencing

It has come to your attention as the leader of a department that there are on-going statements being made that the “morale” of the organization is the lowest it has ever been.  For this assignment you will need to prepare a 20-minute presentation on team building and motivation to be presented to your staff on how you are going to improve morale in the department. 

You will prepare a minimum of 15 PowerPoint slides with no more than each bullet (sentence/point) having 5 words.  You will attach your notes to the bottom of the PowerPoint slides. You decide the issues that you want to address.  Please use your readings from this week to discuss yourself as a leader, influencing, motivating, and morale.

The overall goal of this assignment is to motivate and inspire your staff.  Have some fun with this!!!

Dunn & Haimann’s Healthcare Management: Chapters 20-24

Modern Organizations and Healthcare – Week 6 Lecture Transcript

Influencing

Slide 1

Let’s discuss the reading for this week.

Week 6 –Influencing

Chapter 20 –Giving Directives and Managing Change.

 In the beginning of the chapter there is a quote by Howard Shultz – “People want to be part of something larger than themselves.  They want to be part of something they’re really proud of, that they’ll fight for, sacrifice for, and that they trust”.  I believe this statement encapsulates how a successful organization communicates to its staff.  Please take some time and review Characteristics of good directives and techniques.  Please look at Theory X and Y supervision.  As a leader I learned that I could always “bark” out a directive or explain something.  Explaining things to my staff helped me to be a successful supervisor and get buy-in.

Chapter 21 –Leadership.  I believe that effective leadership is the main structural support of any organization.  Being a leader that provides guidance, support and hope are key.  Please take some time and look at the leadership theories, roles and styles.  There is a exhibit in the chapter -Healthcare Leadership Alliance Competency Model.  Leaders have the ability to draw in others, encourage them to listen, and energize them.  According to research an important fact is that workers tend to leave a job in the first year to 18 months of employment, due to poor leadership.

Chapter 22 –Motivation.  Motivating employees is a must for managers.  A manager needs to arouse, energize, and direct.  Lack of motivation can jeopardize productivity and performance. Theories of motivation include: Content Theory believes that individuals are motivated by need.  Process theory believes individuals are motivated by equity and expectancy – meaning equal compensation and treatment.  There is an exhibit in the chapter with generational workforce characteristics and generational clash points in the workplace, great information to know and share with others.  Example:  generational workforce characteristics – one area values accountability.  A baby boomer believes in work ethic=hours worked and monetary rewards/A millennial=values instant gratification.

Chapter 23 –Morale is defined as the total satisfaction a person derives from the job, work, group, supervisors, employing organization, and environment.  Every manager needs to be aware of morale issues and try to improve areas at work.  Please spend time looking at the importance of morale.  I know I spent many years working on improving morale at the workplace.  What I learned is that sometimes an individual may be an angry person in general so remember to look at the whole forest not one tree.  It is an on-going work in progress to improve morale.

Chapter 24 –Discipline.  All discipline is not bad.  Discipline could mean punishing or maintaining positive or constructive discipline.  All managers would like to avoid disciplining an employee if at all possible but, you need to remember that it is not you, it is the employee’s behavior and you have to maintain a sense of order in the workplace.  Things to remember as a supervisor – discipline in private, utilize a progressive process example informal talk, spoken warning or reprimand, written warning, suspension, demotion, and lastly termination.  A very important lesson that I learned as a manager is to keep written documentation on all types of disciplinary action, you never know when you will end up in a legal case.  Remember to be fair and consistent with disciplinary action – employees talk even when they say they won’t. 

Slide 2

What do we want to accomplish for Week 6?

When we finish this week you should be able to answer the following:

Let’s Check your Understanding.

These questions are for review only.  You do not need to submit your answers for grading.

Define the term “directives” and distinguish this term from suggesting and commanding.

What is meant by the term “consultative supervision?”

Define the term “leadership”.

Describe the basic tenets of Achievement Theory.

Slide 3

After you complete the reading for the week come back and try these fun facts on the chapters and check your knowledge.  This does not count towards your grade but, it will help your learning!  Good luck!