Paper Example on Work and Role of Line and Middle Managers in Health Care Services

The problems of contemporary management and currently operating managers are being generally defined from the perspective of basic theoretic explanation of the managerial processes instead of explicitly and comprehensively discussing exact set of decisions and actions for specific situation happening in a chosen sphere of commercial and non-commercial activity (Hales, 1999). Correspondingly, the currently offered research is going to discuss the process of management from the perspective of managers responsibilities, through which they use the current resources according to a chosen set of rules defining and shaping their responsibilities, at the same time. Consequently, the research will comprehensively discuss the exact components of managers work, the most widely accepted principle of time distribution for managerial activities, the interactions of managers along with informal connections significance for managers and specific set of themes and qualities defining an effective manager (Hales, 1986). As a result, classical definitions of management along with the aforementioned parameters will be considered further followed by more contemporary theories and approaches towards defining the exact set of managerial decisions in order to realize corresponding functions. One of such approaches will be the systems theory of management, which represents a comparative and quantitative approach towards managing a business. It is generally based on communications mapping and related calculations, which proves its quantitative nature. At the same time, the approach remains comparative due to the fact that these calculations are associated with exact set of measured variables according to a chosen context (Charlton, & Andras, 2003).

Due to the fact that the author of the current study has more than sufficient theoretical and practical background in the sphere of health services along with the fact that the topic represents high interest for him, the paper will consider the role of management and previously defined objectives and priorities of managers directly in the sphere of health care services. From the academic and empirical perspectives, it should be accepted that there are more than significant challenges in realizing models for enhancing the process of health care generally defined by the upper management (ANDREASSON, ERIKSSON, & DELLVE, 2016). It is therefore assumed by the author of the current study that changing such approach may positively affect this trend. Moreover, it should also be accepted that it great number of countries, especially the developing ones, there is crisis of health services workforce, which completely undermines the functions of health care systems along with effective realization of their responsibilities (Mkoka et al., 2015).

In this regard, the paper will correspondingly consider the exact set of managerial decisions employed by the health care institutions in order to attract and further retain their labor resources and gradually improve the provision of health care services. The examples of various health care facilities implementing effective human resources management will be offered to support the authors claims and suggestions with empirical evidence. For example, it has been shown by the researchers that HR roles prioritization by the management has positive effect on the commitment of employees (Shipton, Sanders, Atkinson, & Frenkel, 2015).

That has been suggested as one of the most effective and important ways of enhancing the level of service given by the companies in the industry. This is achieved by assigning and maintaining the HR roles to line or middle managers. What is more important in this regard, the researchers tend to report that specifically these types of managers lack motivation to engage in activities and objectives outside their specialties (Currie, Burgess, & Hayton, 2015). As a result, this specific category of managers will be discussed the most in the current paper. The increased significance of these categories of managers lies within the fact that they represent a combination of professional and managerial responsibilities ensuring the adequate level of exaction of managerial decisions while also being responsible for providing services to the customers (BURGESS, STRAUSS, CURRIE, & WOOD, 2015). In addition, it should also be stated that the systems of management in the health care services sector are rather similar in majority of developed Western countries. Moreover, it has been reported that some representatives of medical staff start taking up the management training in order to enhance their credibility from strictly managerial perspective, while representing a health care worker at the same time (Hartley, & Kautsch, 2014). Similar trends have also been shown by the evidence considering the nurse managers, as the process of empowering leadership has been proved considerably more effective than conventional principles and methods of management (SPENCE LASCHINGER, WONG, GRAU, READ, & PINEAU STAM, 2011). However, at the same time, there is also evidence stating that health services staff defines managerial responsibilities contesting their specializations, nevertheless (Briggs, Cruickshank, & Paliadelis, 2012). At the same time, the health care workers tend to report that they care relatively less about the overall leaderism of their positions; instead, they value the flexibility of the leadership capabilities of them, which therefore has potential to connect previously contradicting concepts of health care provision and being an effective manager (Bresnen, Hyde, Hodgson, Bailey, & Hassard, 2015).

In addition, the problems and challenges faced by the managers in health care services sector will be comprehensively discussed. Specifically, it is reported by the researches that the hierarchical depth combined with increasing executive span within the industry results in severe devaluation of middle management also decreasing their autonomy. As a result, these managers tend to demonstrate increased levels of stress and low morale due to their lowering expectations considering their job and functions. On the contrary, some of them may develop exit strategies or become hyper-effective, which negatively affects their performance and level of provided service, as well (Belasen, & Belasen, 2016).

In general, the currently offered project will demonstrate strictly managerial research related to health care services through detailed and comprehensive analysis of currently offered publications discussing the management problems and ways of their resolution. In other words, the questions of what line and middle managers do in the sector of health care services, how do they perform their managerial operations and what problems they face will be considered in the research.

References

ANDREASSON, J., ERIKSSON, A., & DELLVE, L. (2016). Health care managers views on and approaches to implementing models for improving care processes. Journal Of Nursing Management, (24), 219227.

Belasen, A., & Belasen, A. (2016). Value in the middle: cultivating middle managers in healthcare organizations. Journal Of Management Development, 35(9), 1149-1162. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jmd-12-2015-0173

Bresnen, M., Hyde, P., Hodgson, D., Bailey, S., & Hassard, J. (2015). Leadership talk: From managerialism to leaderism in health care after the crash. Leadership, 11(4), 451-470. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1742715015587039

Briggs, D., Cruickshank, M., & Paliadelis, P. (2012). Health managers and health reform. Journal Of Management & Organization, 18(05), 641-658. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1833367200000584

BURGESS, N., STRAUSS, K., CURRIE, G., & WOOD, G. (2015). ORGANIZATIONAL AMBIDEXTERITY AND THE HYBRID MIDDLE MANAGER: THE CASE OF PATIENT SAFETY IN UK HOSPITALS. Human Resource Management, December 2015, 54(S1), S87S109.

Charlton, B., & Andras, P. (2003). What Is Management and What Do Managers Do? A Systems Theory Account. Philosophy Of Management, 3(3).

Currie, G., Burgess, N., & Hayton, J. (2015). HR Practices and Knowledge Brokering by Hybrid Middle Managers in Hospital Settings: The Influence of Professional Hierarchy. Human Resource Management, 54(5), 793-812. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21709

Hales, C. (1986). WHAT DO MANAGERS DO? A CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE EVIDENCE. Journal Of Management Studies, 23(1), 88-115. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.1986.tb00936.x

Hales, C. (1999). Why do Managers Do What They Do? Reconciling Evidence and Theory in Accounts of Managerial Work. British Journal Of Management, 10(4), 335-350. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.00143

Hartley, K., & Kautsch, M. (2014). Polish and UK doctors engagement with hospital management. International Journal Of Public Sector Management, 27(5), 430-440. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ijpsm-05-2012-0065

Mkoka, D., Mahiti, G., Kiwara, A., Mwangu, M., Goicolea, I., & Hurtig, A. (2015). Once the government employs you, it forgets you: Health workers and managers perspectives on factors influencing working conditions for provision of maternal health care services in a rural district of Tanzania. Human Resources For Health, 13(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12960-015-0076-5

Shipton, H., Sanders, K., Atkinson, C., & Frenkel, S. (2015). Sense-giving in health care: the relationship between the HR roles of line managers and employee commitment. Human Resource Management Journal, 26(1), 29-45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12087

SPENCE LASCHINGER, H., WONG, C., GRAU, A., READ, E., & PINEAU STAM, L. (2011). The influence of leadership practices and empowerment on Canadian nurse manager outcomes. Journal Of Nursing Management, 20(7), 877-888. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2834.2011.01307.x