Introduction
Every organization values good leadership. In fact, even Healthcare organizations require excellent managers. This is necessary for organizations to achieve their objectives. Additionally, healthcare systems require strategic management to aid efficacy in provision of healthcare services.
HCA has a role of regulating healthcare services throughout the United States. To achieve this, the organization needs effective leadership. Essentially, HCA requires a successful leadership system with the capability of providing effective governance to heath centers. It should also be noted that leadership is central to the success health organizations.
Good leadership can put in place beneficial programs for the organization. Additionally, it can help the organization to implement and review healthcare policies and programs in an efficiently and reliable manner. This paper will explore the keys to leadership in HCA (Dye, 2010).
Healthcare industry and leadership
Healthcare Industry is considered one of the fastest growing industries in the world. Its growth has been widely witnessed in recent times with advancement in technology. For instance, it provided over 14.3 million jobs to the population. Moreover, it is projected that the industry will provide over 3.2 million jobs by 2018. This would be more than any other sector.
This projected rise is mainly due to ever-increasing population of the aged. It is also quite important to note that among the 20 fastest careers and occupations, 10 come from Healthcare industry. In addition, the industry employs workers from different fields. These include those working in medicine, IT, finance, education, franchise, sales, and engineering, among other fields.
The industry employs people with different levels of qualification. While some take courses that surpass four years, others attain their qualifications in two years. These include skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled workers. Moreover, Healthcare has always received mixed reactions regarding its development and effects on the population. While advances in technology has generally improved the quality of life, introduction of insurance policies have made it quite expensive for American population.
All the same, introduction of prepaid measures and incentives have improved quality of life at affordable rate. In essence, perception of Healthcare has continued to improve as we hope for better quality of life and efficiency, which is the main purpose of Healthcare industry. The industry has continued to embrace advances in Technology, which are also aimed at improving quality of life.
For instance, it currently not only helps physicians to diagnose diseases, but also treats patients in a better way that earlier done by human. For instance, advances in technology have enabled treatment of ailments such as cancer, which were formerly seen as untreatable. Moreover, laser technology has been vital in reaching out for internal organs, which were difficult to treat in the olden days. Technology therefore presents a bright outlook for Healthcare industry and is set to continue improving quality of life (Gardner, 1990).
This surge has led to challenges in management of healthcare sector. In fact, healthcare sector has turned into multinational corporations with huge capital bases and complex infrastructures. Additionally, healthcare sector has a huge workforce. Each healthcare organization needs to regulate their workforce effectively to facilitate delivery of healthcare services.
Moreover, organizations need to establish ways of coordinating activities in health centers. Moreover, processes in healthcare facilities require close monitoring to ensure that procedures are conducted smoothly. In essence, all the processes in healthcare organizations need to be managed from a central point. In this regard, organizational structure needs to be put in place to formulate policies aimed at regulating healthcare activities.
Skilled personnel in management should lead these structures. Moreover, they should possess leadership qualities to ensure that the organization is led effectively. Like any other organization, HCA requires a working organizational culture. Departmental leaders should be tasked with the responsibility of implementing organizational culture.
Leadership
Leadership is essential in every group. It ensures good organization of the team to maximize productivity. It enhances group dynamics as well as improves communication between members. The portfolio on personal learning and skills for success provides an individual with the ability to perform self-assessment.
The paper explores all aspects of leadership in healthcare organization. This includes ways of improving personal performance, evaluating growth in learning goals, evidence of learning, evidence of personal qualities and skills, evidence of competence in-group work, and evidence of competence in independent work.
The paper also explores competence in exercising responsibility, leadership, persuasion, negotiation, problem solving, task management, dealing with conflict, managing difficult situation, working under pressure, managing change and learning from mistakes. Moreover, the paper explores competence in creativity and written communication skills.
The paper is essential in bringing out an individual’s leadership values and practices. Leadership values of great essence in HCA include embracing accountability, building trusts, achieving commitment and managing conflicts. In essence, HCA requires leadership skills that would follow practices to ensure constructive conflict, bonding, commitment and accountability. Moreover, such leaders would work to discourage dysfunction of teams such as mistrust, absence of accountability and failure to focus on the objectives of the team.
Leadership values and practices at HCA
Leadership values which are required at HCA numerous. They include accountability, trust, commitment, conflict management, and focus on goals. Moreover, they focus on achievement of goals. For instance, HCA group is characterized with trust, care, and fairness. That is, teams are modeled to focus on the goals of the organization.
Moreover, staffs are encouraged to treat one another with respect and care. Notably, team members are trained to accept and help one another as equals within the group. This is essential in enabling the team to achieve group cohesion. Moreover, it aids the team to perform group activities without hindrance.
Other elements of leadership come through promotion of democracy, trustworthiness, and compassion. Leaders at HCA are expected to be fore front in promoting equality among staff members as well as among organizations, which it regulates. Sound leadership is therefore central to the development of HCA. Additionally, healthcare ethics should also be implemented to stamp out irregularities.
Effective management of HCA is possible through creating effective teams. This has the propensity of developing leadership qualities among members. These important qualities can be gained in-group meetings through sharing of roles within the group. In fact, group dynamics are central in enabling members to learn from one another. In the end, this improves followership and leadership theories. In some cases, teams consider themselves equal and in each turn, a new leader was selected to moderate group tasks.
These groups are usually considered democratic and the groups show a pattern of trust and leadership. These values are valuable in any group as they ensure that the team is unified in all their tasks. Moreover, it gives way for creativity and innovation, which is essential in a dynamic business environment. Of great importance is trust in any given group. Trust brings out openness and dependence on one another for achievement of goals within the group.
Trust helps in building strong bonds within the group. This is essential in ensuring continued cooperation between members of the group. Moreover, it enables constrictive conflict and confrontation between individual members of the group. For instance, the dynamic, pattern or theme of our group reveals both formal and informal authority.
However, this depends on the kind of role given to each individual after a democratic selection. For instance, the leader can moderate group activities while other members are given other roles. In effect, all members are active and this plays the role of leadership and followership. This affords the leader formal authority over team members during group proceedings. However, it is necessary to not that the first meetings are usually characterized by cautiousness.
Nonetheless, group dynamics play a big role in ensuring cohesion and hence interplay of the concepts of leadership and followership. Leaders are expected to act as role models in healthcare environment. For instance, nurses are expected to be fore front in advocating for patients. Additionally, doctors can lead by example by demonstrating compassion for patients as is expected of nurses.
Essentially, it can be noted that trust is very important in solidifying groups. In addition, commitment is also important in ensuring compassion and responsibility. This helps in achieving desired goals. Moreover, when this is added to accountability, then utilization of resources is maximized for success. These qualities are essential.
Notably, project management skills are also essential as it enables the team to organize itself effectively for achievement of goals. Moreover, creativity and innovation is also essential in leadership. This helps in tracking the changes in healthcare environment as it enables the team to be dynamic. Additionally, conflict management methods are essential for any leader.
For instance, it ensures that conflicts are resolved to improve performance and unity in the group. Essentially, various leadership values and practices are essential for management of a team. Moreover, one should be able to manage himself/herself before going out to manage others. This can be achieved through self-assessment.
Leadership responsibilities
Leaders have numerous responsibilities. They are tasked with the responsibility of management organizational resources to achieve productivity. Additionally, they are tasked with the responsibility of ensuring smooth movement of activities in healthcare sectors. Leaders are also responsible for innovative development of the organization.
To achieve this, leaders are expected to take part in all programs and compel compliance with all development planning and performance evaluation policies. Additionally, leaders are expected to carry out formal assessment of management evaluations for the achievement of consistency. Still, leaders are expected to make emphasis on significance of performance evaluation and career planning programs upon management at HCA.
In addition to that, leaders are expected to ensure the existence of better environment for innovators for the successful achievement of professional career path goals. Moreover, leaders should supervise advancements and achievements of workforce in health care settings. Moreover, leaders should delegate duties to practice management, giving them an opportunity to learn and prosper. It should also be noted that leaders are tasked with the responsibility of supervising and implementing internal operations within the organization.
Additionally, leaders should posses the ability to handle all arising issues appropriately and ensure that implementation of the organization’s standard procedures and policies are done appropriately. Leaders possessing such skill shave the ability to rise through the ranks of healthcare organizations. Moreover, such leaders would have the skills necessary to develop new leaders and hence followership.
Challenges that face leaders and teams
Teams face numerous issues. Moreover, leader experience observed several pitfalls in teams. These are mainly brought about by dysfunction issues. For instance, most issues arise from unresolved conflicts and mistrusts. Additionally, cultural differences also bring numerous challenges to leaders and their teams. Some of the issues leaders face includes mistrusts, which come about through the fear of confrontation. For instance, one member could have an idea to contribute but would shelve it for fear of being ignored.
This brings about mistrusts as some members feel that their views are ignored. In addition, methods of solving conflict within the group can sometimes be faulty. This increases uneasiness within the group. In addition, team members are sometimes not accountable to the tasks given. This brings about lack of commitment and hence failure to achieve team goals. These problems can be intensified when the team breaks down into smaller groups as members join various affiliations.
In essence, the pitfalls in teams are increased thereby exposing the dysfunctional aspects of teams. This is quite difficult for leaders who expect their teams to work efficiently. Healthcare environment brings together people from different cultures, if this is not handled appropriately; leaders are faced with increased conflict. In essence, issues that face leaders include conflicts, complexities, inadequate resources, hostile patients, and logistical issues, among others.
Leadership practices and understanding of dysfunction team
To obtain leadership practices, it is essential that the team monitor its progress. Leaders should be capable of exposing problem in teams. Moreover, performing self-assessment for each individual in the team is also important in achieving better performance. Additionally, learning new leadership styles as well as practicing them is important in fostering them in an individual.
Furthermore, one should place more effort on problem solving techniques as well as in conflict resolving methods. This will mitigate on dysfunctional aspects of the team. Self-assessment is very essential for capacity development. Leaders conduct self-assessment test on various skills and capabilities. These are usually done on audit report.
Notably, six major areas have a great bearing on a leader’s personal and professional development. These include the leader’s ability to adapt knowledge to novel situations, relate theoretical knowledge to practical situations, and convey views to different audiences. Moreover, the leader should have the ability to manage ambiguity, complexity and change, reflection and skills in cultural literacy.
Good leadership is crucial to organizations. leaders give valuable information on management skills. For instance, the dynamics in any team are usually overwhelming. This required ability to coordinated and handle such pressures.
Without good communication skills and coordination, one cannot handle essential tasks of a team. In this regard, the articles provide good insight in managing projects and other team activities. Leaders need to have Insight into conflict management methods, which include dispelling of dysfunctional aspects of the team such as fear of confrontation, mistrusts and absence of accountability among others.
By dispelling such practices, one is able to solidify a team in order to handle challenging tasks. This improves the team’s net worth and dynamics. Moreover, the team is able to handle various challenges, which suit them for the ever-changing healthcare environment. Health facilities are faced with unpredictable environment, which change without notice. Such challenges can only be tracked by a solid team, which embraces dynamism (Kouzes & Posner, 2011).
Self-assessment is also essential in monitoring both personal and team performance. This enables leaders to monitor their contributions in a team. Additionally, it enables one to acknowledge failures and make corrective measures to realize better performance. Insight into self-assessment is therefore vey essential in realizing success of the team. Healthcare Industry has enjoyed major transformations since its inception to provide Healthcare products and services.
It involves combination of both human touch as well as medical technology to diagnose, administer drugs, care and respond to patients’ needs. The industry serves millions of people in United States alone, this range from terminally ill people to newborn babies. Moreover, the industry has continued to embrace advances in technology, which are also aimed at improving quality of life. The future therefore, looks bright although with continued increase in cost of Healthcare (Atchison, 2003).
Conclusion
Leadership is essential to the development of any organization. Leaders perform crucial functions that aid in day-to-day running of organizations. Running health care facilities is quite challenging in a dynamic world. In fact, globalization has created complex issues to leadership.
These include cultural differences, work place issues, relationships and loyalty among others. These issues require good leadership to achieve productivity and efficacy in health care settings. In essence, effective management, which comes through good leadership, is central to HCA. Additionally, followership is also important in establishing loyalty to institutions. This ensures that activities are done as required by those appointed as seniors.
Moreover, respect is strengthened when followership and leadership theories are fostered. This paper provides a clear and concise description of qualities and practices desired of a leader in groups as well as individuals. It gives important insights on good leadership. Moreover, it gives significant insights discouraging dysfunctional teams.
The insights gained are profound and essential since they articulate on matter relating to focus on goals of the team. Moreover, these insights foster unity and ethical management of tasks. For instance, followership creates ways of improving personal performance through self-evaluation and practice.
In addition, monitoring of activities through leadership improves performance. It should also be noted that feedback is essential in achieving close monitoring of progress and performance. Notably, learning of new leadership styles as well as business dynamics is also beneficial in increasing insight into better management methods.
For instance, self-confidence is improved greatly because of ethical confrontation between team members. Moreover, openness ensures constrictive conflict between team members. However, it should be noted that the tasks of leadership comes with its numerous challenges. Leaders are always liable for failures in their respective teams.
This makes them untenable in organizations. Moreover, mistakes done by junior officers are enough to put leaders out of work. Moreover, the dynamics involved in leading numerous people from diverse cultures has the propensity of creating conflict. The two theories are thus essential in improving productivity in healthcare. Moreover, they are important in developing leaders and followers in healthcare organizations.
References
Atchison, T. (2003). Followership: Practical Guide to Aligning Leaders and Followers. Illinois, IL: Health Administration Press.
Dye, F. (2010). Leadership in Healthcare: Essential Values and Skills (2nd ed.). Michigan, MI: Health Administration Press.
Gardner, W. (1990). On Leadership. Michigan, MI: Free Press.
Kouzes, J. & Posner, B. (2011). Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership. New Jersey, NJ: Pfeiffer.