Building an effective team within a micro-system requires one to understand the mission of the micro-system and organization, and the goals that should be achieved by the team. According to Persily (2014), a good team must be multi-disciplinary in nature if possible to ensure that members can bring their skills and expertise in different areas to achieve a common success. The team members must be capable of handling various tasks (Murray, 2017). The weakness of one member should be addressed by the strength of other team members to ensure that the desired success is achieved.
The Setting and Patient Population
The setting of this micro-system is a maternity ward at ABC Hospital. The ward often handles about 35 patients per every given time and the recent trends shows that the population of patients is increasing. Two years ago, the average number of patients per given time was 28. However, the population is increasing and it is necessary for stakeholders to come up ways of dealing with the increasing demand.
The Mission
The management of this institution has been keen on ensuring that its operations are in line with the mission statement of the company. The following is the mission statement of this institution, which guides its operations.
To meet the medical needs of patients in professional manner that meets the set standards.
Key Players
It is important to define the key players in a given setting when planning to develop policies and procedures for inter-professional collaboration. The players should always be involved when making decisions to ensure that when implementing them, the entity does not face any form of resistance. The key players in this micro-system include general practitioners, midwifes, obstetricians, radiographers, obstetric physiotherapists, pediatricians, and neonatal nurse. These players have different functions within this very delicate setting.
Analysis of the Organization and Stakeholders
Resources
The team can only achieve success if the organization has the right resources to achieve its mandate. The hospital must have all the professionals mentioned above. Although statistics show that most of the deliveries are always normal, sometimes the unexpected may happen when complications arise during the delivery process. It is the responsibility of the team to ensure that when such complications arise, there will be the right professionals to handle the situation (Weiss & Tappen, 2015). The team also needs the right facilities in the maternity wards to aid the processes and care for the patients for the entire time that they will be at the wards.
Organization Readiness for the Change
Change is a force that this organization cannot resist (Weiss, Tilin, & Morgan, 2014). It must be ready align its operations with the emerging industry standards and expectations of the clients. It is important to appreciate that this organization, based on the researcher’s past experiences, has a team of experts who are not very enthusiastic towards change. Most of the stakeholders that the researcher has interacted with appreciate the need for change, but are slow when it comes to its implementation. This is specifically the case when it is a drastic change that requires them to engage in further training to align their skills with the new expectations. However, it is encouraging that they are willing to learn when it is necessary to do so.
Expected Facilitators and Barriers of Change
The facilitators of change are the top managers of this hospital who are always under constant pressure to meet the strategic goals of this hospital and to align its operations with the emerging trends in the industry. These leaders often know that any failure within the institution, irrespective of the department where it occurred, can have devastating impact on their image before the public. The possible individuals who may act as barriers are the senior nurses, advanced in age, who constantly view change as a threat to their skills and experience. Some of them fear that such changes may render their skills and experience meaningless, and that may threaten their job security within the institution.
Form the Team
Rationale for Inclusion of Each Team Member
Each of the team members will have different roles to play because of their positions in the maternity ward. The general practitioner will be needed because sometimes a patient may have non-pregnancy medical complication (Mosser & Begun, 2014). The midwife provides all antenatal care when the pregnancy is straightforward and delivery is normal. The radiographer conducts issues related to ultrasound scan, while obstetrician is responsible for pregnancy and birth. For patients who develop muscle or joint complications during or immediately after pregnancy, obstetric physiotherapist attends to them, while anesthetists help in relieving the pain (Borkowski, 2016). The neonatal nurse is responsible for handling newborns. In this team, not all of the above professionals will be members. However, we will try to ensure that the team is as inclusive as it is possible.
Assessing Strengths, Weaknesses and Developmental Needs
The table below analyses strengths, weaknesses, and developmental needs of each of the team members
Team Cohesiveness
Team cohesiveness is critical in ensuring that members can work as a unit to achieve the set goals and objectives (McConnell, 2013). It is important to develop trust, manage conflicts, and promote communication among the team members. The following strategies will help promote cohesiveness in the team:
- To develop trust, I will ensure that no secretes are kept within the team. Anything that is relevant to the team and its members will be shared freely with everyone. Once a decision is made on a course of action, then it will be followed unless something arises that makes members believe and agree on an alternative approach.
- To manage conflicts, I will ensure that any differences among members are addressed as soon as they arise in a proper way. Cases of unnecessary provocations will be discouraged.
- Members will also be advised to avoid any acts of racism, whether verbal or otherwise, at all times to enhance unity and respect among the team members. The members will be encouraged to consider diversity, both in profession and in any other factor, as a strength that makes it possible to achieve the desired goals.
- To promote effective communication, I will ensure that there is a regular meeting of members where each person will be given permission to express self in an orderly and respectful manner. Such meetings will have a chair responsible for controlling the debates.
- The team will also rely on technology to enhance communication, especially in cases where coordination among members is necessary but the team members are in different geographical locations. The team will ensure that a proper platform is created to enable use of technology-based communication systems.
References
Borkowski, N. (2016). Organizational behavior, theory, and design in health care. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
McConnell, C. R. (2013). The health care manager’s human resources handbook. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Mosser, G., & Begun, J. (2014). Understanding teamwork in health care. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
Murray, E. J. (2017). Nursing leadership and management for patient safety and quality care. Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis Company.
Persily, C. A. (2014). Team leadership and partnering in nursing and health care. New York, NY: Springer Pub. Co.
Weiss, D., Tilin, F. J., & Morgan, M. J. (2014). The interprofessional health care team: Leadership and development. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Weiss, S. A., & Tappen, R. M. (2015). Essentials of nursing leadership and management. Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis