Although researchers continue to make a case for health care management errors, exclusive reliance on this useful but one-dimensional circumstance can enhance the understanding of ideas that can benefit management in preventing as well as fixing these errors. Ideas within the reading help health care management to avoid pitfalls that could occur from each of the six errors faced in postmodern/complex adaptive systems.
Health Care Management Errors in a Complex Adaptive System
Introduction
Healthcare has encountered many problems and errors throughout history. Hospitals, clinics and doctor offices have implemented strategic plans to correct these errors. The post modernistitc/complex theories of management have interacted with many organizations today.
Managers have created new positions or teams to monitor and make sure that their organization is running smoothly. “For the postmodernist, all models are only partial descriptions of reality, and scientific models are shaped not only by traditional scientific processes, but also by political, social, and personal interest” (Johnson, 2009, p. 69). Managers today have employed employees with the postmodernist complex adaptive system theory because it helps with the implementing stages as well as the major components to the company. The paper will discuss errors in the health care organizations.
Failing to Account for Employees “Failing to account for employees' ability to learn safe machine operation methods by experimenting on their own with ways to speed up production and thereby reduce the effort they are required to use.” is the first error that will be discussed. The error evolved due to the fact that this error limits the employee to perform his or her job accurately. If management allows employees the freedom to develop new and more efficient ways to perform their jobs this error can be avoided. Since the failure to account for an employee’s ability to learn is failing to uphold the limits of comprehension an error arises. From this aspect a manager overlooking an employee’s ability to learn anything new about a machine an employee uses is failing to make allowances for ongoing learning. To avoid the error of “failing to account for employees’ ability to learn”, management should establish a panel of employees that maneuver the pace to brainstorm ideas. This would then allow the employees to become more efficient collectively as well as keep management in contact of new concepts and forthcoming changes.
Putting All Employees through the Same Orientation Program
“Putting all employees through the same orientation program regardless of differences in cultural interpretation or organizational hierarchies and thereby missing the potential for conflict among employees and between employees and management caused by different expectations of roles.”
This second example is an error because all employees are not the same.
The importance of relationships aspect of the postmodernist complex adaptive system is the forefront of this error. In this case the focus needs to be on the individuals and not a collective group.
Orientation for various departments should reflect that they are in fact different entities with different processes and regulations.
Avoiding this error would include exchanging hospital wide orientation for smaller department wide orientation.
This would allow for the process to be more personal and thus those doing the orienting will be able to relate to their orientees on a level more comfortable for them.
Disciplining one Employee
Another error that I have witnessed in my organization is, “disciplining one employee, expecting a modest change in that employee’s behavior but getting a massive union response,”
Once again, just as in the last error, this begs the importance of relationships aspect.
In this case the individual could very easily feel singled out and misunderstood.
Being part of a union allows
