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Management and Organizational Behavior Quiz. Discuss the diff between groups and teams
Management and Organizational Behavior Quiz
Discuss the diff between groups and teams?
A group is an informal rather informal and often meets in order to come up with a solution to a short term problem. A group often comprises of four or more people who come together around a common objective and have impact on each other. On the other hand, a team is a syndicate that comes up with feasible solutions to long-term problems. A team usually has a formal set up and has good coordination and structure. In addition, a team usually has a group of people. Therefore, a team can develop into a team provided it has well-coordinated effort aimed at achieving a common goal. Lastly, it is not always necessary that a group will constitute a team since a team needs a well-coordinated effort, collective effort and common resource.
Name the five dimensions of the general environment and describe each dimension
The five dimensions include:
Economic Dimension- this usually encompasses inflation, tax rates, interest rates, recession, rates of charitable contribution, strength of dollar, unemployment and NASDAC
Technological dimension includes the internet, online bill, email and bar code technology.
The Sociocultural dimension- this includes aging baby boomers, low-carbon foods, pro-union sentiment and Population Migration towards the South and Southwest.
The Political-Legal dimension which encompasses welfare forum, gay marriage statues, the USDA and Americans with Disabilities Act
International dimension encompasses exchange rates, international outsourcing, language difference and Varying Environmental and Labor Policies.
Management and Leadership in Nursing
Management and Leadership in Nursing
Name of Student
Institution
Management and Leadership in Nursing
The current nursing environment is faced with many challenges, from nursing shortage and nurse turnover to issues elated to adoption of technological changes in nursing care practice. The challenges pose a great need for strong leadership and management skills and competencies in order to maintain and improve on the standards of nursing care delivery. As such, nurse leaders and managers are likely to adopt different leadership, management theories and principles in an attempt to be effective in their discharge of duties. Additionally, one’s personal and professional philosophy is likely to affect their approach towards leadership and management. While some approaches are better in some situations, they perform poorly in other scenarios. This essay discusses the different approaches that a nurse manager is likely to adopt, as compared to a nurse leader in addressing the challenge of nursing staff shortage and turnover, in a nursing hospital case scenario.
The nursing shortage is a thorny issue in many nursing settings. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) (2014) projects that; because of the aging baby boomers, and the continuously rising need for health care, the nursing shortage will remain for some time. According to AACN, there are efforts through nursing schools, nursing organizations, the media and the government to give extra attention to this issue. However, it is likely that the problem will last for long. As such, nursing settings must deal with the issue skillfully since quality health care delivery cannot be compromised.
Although nurse managers and nurse leaders are often times confused to be similar, a difference exists between a nurse leader and a nurse manager. Jain and Sharma (2013) defines a leader as a person who influences the others in the accomplishment of an objective and also gives direction for an organization in a way that brings coherence and cohesion. According to these authors, leaders do not enjoy delegated authority, as managers do. Instead of asserting personal power, a leader asserts the power that comes from his/her colleagues in their group. In their discharge of duties, leaders have been found to focus on empowering, motivating, influencing and inspiring others. In the nursing context, a nurse leader will have good interpersonal communication skills and a positive inter-professional collaboration skills. The leaders that are naturally true are also energetic and sincere in their deeds (Jain and Sharma, 2013). Even though leaders are risk takers, true leaders do so in a careful manner that does not make others to appear reckless.
On the other hand, a nurse manager exercises a power that has been given to them by someone else in formal arrangement. Unlike leaders, who can assert power informally, managers exercise formal power, given to them through an established system. As such, mangers have specifically defined duties and responsibilities. Their roles include controlling the process, controlling the work of others and day to day decision-making. While leaders may lead with their natural-born knowledge, managers are prepared to coordinate both financial and human resources. In their duties, managers are encouraged to follow the rules strictly, centrally to leaders, who can compromise some set rules to provide direction in a situation. In order to perform their control role effectively, managers reward and punish workers as they discharge their duties.
In the hospital scenario faced with shortage of nursing staff, a nurse manager is likely to approach the issue differently compared with a nurse leader. It is agreeable that the management and leadership will maintain the standards of care with the available scarce human resource before employing more nurses. In the short-run, as the organization seeks to employ, nurse managers would handle the situation differently from nurse leaders. Considering McGregor’s theory X and Y, a nurse manager is highly likely to adopt theory X, while a nurse manager is likely to adopt theory Y. McGregor’s theory X assumes that the staff or employees naturally dislike work, and that they are naturally unmotivated (Mind Tools, 2014). This theory also assumes that workers are looking for opportunities to avoid responsibility and they need to be directed. In that case, the workers may need to be directed at every step, and, if need be, they are threatened in order to meet organizational objectives. Since workers are viewed as having no ambition to work, the management assumes that they need to be enticed to work. Considering this, the management is likely to assume an authoritarian style of leadership in order to meet the care needs in a hospital setting faced with a shortage of nurses (Jain and Sharma, 2013). As seen earlier, a manager has the role of controlling. The nurse manager, thus, can apply controls, which will not be limited to rewarding and punishing the scares human resource in order to meet the care needs with the available staffs. From a nurse manager’s point of view, for work to be accomplished by the few staffs available, they have to be forced and be followed step by step (Sullivan, 2012). The nurse manager will assume that applying an authoritarian style of leadership is unavailable to meet the required standards of care.
On the contrary, a nurse leader is likely to adopt theory Y in the case scenario of shortage of nurses in a hospital. As seen from the definitions, a leader focuses on influencing and inspiring people, rather than applying rules to make them work. Contrary to a manager, a nurse leader leads by forming strong working relationships with the workers. The leader assumes that the leaders are willing and motivated to work, and he/she is ready to inspire more willingness onto the workers (Sullivan, 2012). In light of this, the nurse leader will offer a participative style of leadership, and try to reason with the few staffs available about the challenge of the nursing shortage, and that nursing care has to be delivered to the standards. The nurse leader is, thus, highly likely to apply the servant leadership style to the situation at hand. The nurse leader will be concerned with the individual needs of the staff members and try to meet them in order to motivate them to be more dedicated to meet the required work standards. The nurse leader is, in the same way, likely to offer transformative and democratic leadership, contrary to the nurse manager who will offer aristocratic and authoritarian leadership.
The approach taken by the nurse leader best fits my personal and professional nursing philosophy. I believe a person should not be coerced to work; they should be motivated to work. Through the application of servant and transformative leadership, the leader identifies with the workers, and the workers are likely to be more comfortable as they offer their services. In addition, making sure that the workers understand that their services are highly crucial, valued and appreciated is an element of motivation.
In sum, management and leadership in nursing are distinct concepts. A nurse leader is likely to adopt different approaches to manage a crisis compared to a nurse manager. In the clinical nursing scenario of shortage of nurses, a nurse manager is likely to apply McGregor’s theory X, while a nurse leader is likely to apply theory Y. I presume that theory Y is the best in this case, and it fits very well in identifying with my personal and professional philosophy.
References
American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). (2014). Nursing shortage. Retrieved from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/media-relations/fact-sheets/nursing-shortage
Jain, S., & Sharma, K. M. (2013). Leadership management: Principles, models and theories. Global Journal of Management and Business Studies, 3(3), 309-318.
Mind Tools. (2014). Theory X and theory Y: Understanding team member motivation. Retrieved from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_74.htm
Sullivan, J. E. (2012). Effective leadership and management in nursing. Bloomington, MN: Pearson.
Management
Management
Students Name
Institution of Affiliation
Course Title
Date
The primary purpose of an employee handbook is to ensure a consistent means of communications that concerns the policies resources as well as the best practices for everyone in a firm (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). The handbook is, therefore, a guide to which allows the employers and managers as well as the staff to get an understanding of their expectations regarding the roles and responsibilities of each one of them. Despite the handbook being of significant assistance to the organization, there are grief consequences the results from the incorrect and the ineffective use of the handbook. Despite the lack of any legal requirements for the provision of a handbook to an employee, it aids in support of best practices and can, therefore, be used as a confirmation of the procedures in the case of being called into question regarding the legal purposes.
Various challenges result from the incorrect use of the handbook due to mistakes have done when developing and implementing the handbook. The omission of the legal review of the handbook is one of the errors that can lead to the ineffective use of the handbook (Reason, 2016). It is highly recommended that an organization have a legal counsel review of the handbook before it is distributed for implementation. The review by the legal counsel makes it possible to identify the mistakes as well as the misleading information. Having the omissions in the handbook, therefore, can lead to the organization having difficulties with the implementation of the handbook in the firm.
There is the challenge of inconsistent utilization of the handbook in the organization during the implementation (Ostroff & Bowen, 2016). The employers, employees and the managers are to use the handbook manual for the everyday activities. They should avoid making decisions and as well the approach of issues without prior consulting from the handbook. The consistent use of the handbook ensures the identification of mistakes and as well provides the review of the applicable policies. In addition to the inconsistent utilization, not including an employee acknowledgment page in the handbook is another challenge during the development of the handbook. Obtaining a signed acknowledgment receipt of the handbook from the employees for the personnel file provides a level of consistency as well as proof to which an employer makes the employees aware of the handbook. The lack of the acknowledgment page for the employees may, therefore, be a challenge to the implementation of the handbook.
There also arises a challenge in the implementation of the handbook in the event of the omission of the state-specific policies along with the federal requirements. The exclusion of the policies thereof is a violation of the conditions and if not followed may result to an employer becoming legally liable becoming a challenge in the use of the handbook. During the development of the handbook, it is important to avoid as much as possible the use of misleading information, promises or even an implied contract in the details of the policy or even the process. The language used should be comprehended and ensure that the outcomes are not guaranteed. Besides, the language used should ensure that there is no perception of any implied agreement so that there will arise no conflict during the implementation of the handbook.
A regular review of the handbook should be endorsed in an organization as there are challenges that may result from an inadequate analysis of the handbook (Bryson, 2018). It should be noted that the policies and practices tend to change on a daily basis and it is possible to have a previously written handbook to contain policies that have already been replaced. Regular updates of the handbook are therefore essential to keep the handbook updated with the current policies in the firm and therefore avoid inconveniencing the employees. Another challenge arises when a newly revised handbook is not presented to the employees, and this implies that the staff are not aware of the changes done in the handbook and therefore continue to use the outdated one. Through this, the employees may be led to confusion as they are not aware of the changes and thus become a significant challenge during the implementation of the updated handbook. It is therefore mandatory that the employees get notified of the updates done in the handbook regular to reduce the events of confusion and misunderstanding.
Taking into consideration that the firm has an employee number that amounts to 38 in total, provides health care services and that had previously not had any handbook made, I would recommend a handbook for the employees that in between 20 to 49 as that is the current state. Therefore the expected federal labor laws would include (Hood, Hardy & Simpson, 2016); the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1993 and the Consolidated Omnibus Benefits Reconciliation Act (COBRA) of 1986). But since the company seeks to enlarge its market boundaries and increase the number of employees from 38 to 51, the handbook would need to be revised to allow the inclusion of the new labor laws for 51 employees. Therefore the new federal labor laws would include; Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, EEO-1 Report filed annually w/EEOC if organization is a federal contractor, Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 (for employers who offer mental health benefits). Also, Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (for employers who provide mental health benefits) and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (for employers who provide health care benefits).
There are various policies that I could recommend regarding the behavior of the employees so that the organization’s image is boosted and raised (Wilensky, 2015). Some of the policies include; Sexual harassment policies, anti-discrimination policies, company property policy, social media policy and the drug, alcohol, and smoking policies. The above policies will guide the behavior of the employees throughout their tenure in the firm. Besides, the dress code policy, compensation, and benefits policy, leave policy as well as the exit policy would be stipulated and emphasized such that each policy explains clearly the procedures that fall under a specific category and therefore provides for the welfare of the employees. Again, considering that the firm will have multi-state operations, special considerations on the location and culture will need to be adhered to minimize any result of harm to the employees.
ReferencesArmstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Bryson, J. M. (2018). Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: A guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement. John Wiley & Sons.
Hood, J., Hardy Jr, B., & Simpson, L. (2016). Workers’ compensation and employee protection laws in a nutshell. West Academic.
Ostroff, C., & Bowen, D. E. (2016). Reflections on the 2014 decade award: Is there strength in the construct of HR system strength?. Academy of Management Review, 41(2), 196-214.
Reason, J. (2016). Managing the risks of organizational accidents. Routledge.
Saila Huq, S. (2018). Human Resource Management Practices and Policies followed and applied by The City Bank Limited.
Wilensky, H. L. (2015). Organizational intelligence: Knowledge and policy in government and industry (Vol. 19). Quid Pro Books.