Management of Health Programmes- Organizational Design and Culture - A Essay

Management of Health Programmes- Organizational Design and Culture - A Process Centered Concept (SLP) - Essay Example Health care management has acquired a qualitatively different character from the days of voluntary service of philanthropic spirit to present day business driven corporate spirit. In this Session Long Project (SLP) based on the general aspect of the knowledge of organizational design and culture, a practical example is given how one big pediatric hospital with stood the wind of changes from old style stable health practice to modern day market driven patient centered health care. The children’s hospital of our interest was started by a group of doctors around three decades back with the purpose of serving the society of course with an allied intention of making little bit fortune also. In this setup each unit head was master of ones own destiny. As shown by Mintzeberg (1973) the design and culture of the organization was largely purpose driven and the staff used to report to their respective unit heads (Mintzeberg, 1973). ... maintenance of doctors position,and that the human rights are above professional privileges" (Bethune& Hannat, 1998,p.103). The whole atmosphere was informal. In this conducive, idea driven environment the hospital prospered and became one of the best in country. Two Decades Later Now the hospital had several departments catering service in different streams of pediatric specialty. Most of the doctors who lived for the ideas they cherished were retired and the new generation was almost unaware on who's shoulders they areManagement of Health sitting. At the height of glory decay started. The previous purpose driven informal atmosphere became privilege for people with vested interest. Few individuals gained importance at the cost of process and function. Inflationary pressures coupled with mismanagement made the hospital costly. At the end of two decades there was utter chaos. Corrective Measures At this juncture series of measures were taken. First, a Director was appointed and every staff of the hospital were made accountable to him, including the unit heads. As shown by Mintzberg (1973) the work was organized on the process driven principle and everybody started reporting to the Director (Mintzberg, 1973). Second, monthly once a full day was devoted to the meeting, with parents of the children treated by the hospital the previous month. An interaction was setup between medical fraternity and patients. Customer satisfaction took precedence over revenue generation. A regular Public Relation Officer (PRO) was appointed. First time in the history of the hospital process was given equal