Closed-System Perspective on Management Views Essay

The age of the family physician or the nurse that saw a family through their life cycle is no more, creating a more impersonal and less psychologically well-informed healthcare system.

Q8. Perhaps the most important factor contributing to employee stability is that of a pleasant work environment. Collegial relationships between employees, managers that actually listen to staff members, and humane working conditions (i.e., not constantly scheduling nurses to work nights and back-to-back shifts) are essential. Workers should also be fairly compensated, given the work that they do and the education demanded by their position. In the case of high-demand and highly-skilled professionals like nurses, salaries and benefits must acknowledge the competitive nature of the field and the fact that many institutions are offering attractive packages to enhance retention. Factors that work against retention and contribute to high turnover include insensitive management, a highly competitive and backbiting working environment, long and eccentric work shifts, unfair allocation of work shifts and other 'perks' and low rates of remuneration.

Q10. Six Sigma management is a philosophy of 'total quality' management. It emphasizes the concept of zero defect management at all costs ("What is Six Sigma," Six Sigma, 2011). This is particularly relevant for a healthcare organization, given that 'zero defects' is an important aspect of ensuring quality care for all patients.Zero defect management might include reducing high return rates to the hospital due to improper aftercare, and improving the long-term results of procedures.

Q11. Benchmarking involves setting goals for the organization, and creating a strategic plan to meet those goals. The operating budget process of health care facilities usually involves setting comparative quality and financial improvement benchmarks by the governing board on a macro level, as well as on a micro level by departments. Departments are charged with creating corrective plans to reduce overspending from the year before, and using techniques deployed by the institution (such as 'balanced scorecard' management) to justify their future budgetary decisions. Once drafted, the budgets are submitted for review and revision, and only after a period of negotiations to create a balanced organizational budget for all departments is the holistic budget finalized (Clark 2005).

References

Clark, Jonathan J. (2005). "Improving hospital budgeting and accountability: a best practice approach."Healthcare Financial Management. FindArticles.com. 11 Feb, 2011. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3257/is_7_59/ai_n14817852/

"Open and Closed Systems." Encyclopedia of Management. Ed. Marilyn M. Helms. Gale Cengage, 2006. eNotes.com. 2006. 11 Feb, 2011 http://www.enotes.com/management-encyclopedia / open-closed-systems

"Six Sigma Management." Six Sigma. 11 Feb, 2011

http://sixsigmamanagement.com/.....