MHA5010 WEEK 3 DISCUSSION AND PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS

MHA5010 Healthcare Management and Organizational Behavior WEEK 3 LECTURE NOTES

Power

Power is the ability to influence the beliefs, emotions, and behaviors of people. We think about power usually when there is an unequal relationship between two people, where one of the two is dependent upon the other.

Power is involved with people who have control over resources such as budgets or physical facilities, and can allocate them with discretion. When you have power, you have control over access to information that can give power. Also, formal authority and legitimate power comes from organizational positions.

People with power are flexible while people without power are rigid. People with power will always be accountable for their actions while those without power will refuse to be accountable to anyone other than themselves. People with power will be realistic in what they are seeking to accomplish, willing to build on. People without power will be idealists who will demand everything or nothing at all.  

Power is necessary to be able to influence an individual or group. Healthcare managers/leaders need power to be able to influence patients, physicians, and other healthcare professionals, as well as each other. Powerless healthcare manager/leaders are ineffective and the consequences of these leaders’ lack of power become less satisfied with their jobs.

Leadership

Leadership can be defined as the ability of the management to make sound decisions and inspire others to perform well in the organization. It is the process of directing the behavior of others towards achieving a common goal. In short, leadership is getting things done through others.

A manager directs the work of employees and is responsible for results. Whereas a leader inspires employees with a vision and helps those to cope with change. Two separate behaviors but both very necessary for an organization to achieve its goals.

Employees need their healthcare managers/leaders not just to assign tasks but to define purpose. Healthcare managers/leaders must organize workers, not just to maximize efficiency but to nurture skills, develop talent, and inspire results. Leadership and management must go hand in hand. They are not the same thing. But they are linked and must complement each other. The healthcare manager/leader should always be looking for the bottom line with the aspect of focusing on the future as well.

Transactional vs. Transformational Leadership

Transactional leadership focuses on task accomplishment and good relations between the leader and the subordinates through consideration of performance and rewards.

Transformational leadership focuses on the influence and management of institutional change and innovation through revitalization and vision. Transformational leaders may identify themselves as change agents, value driven, imaginative, creative, innovative, and visionary.

Leadership means different things to different people around the world and different things in different situations. The words leader and leadership are often used incorrectly to describe people who are actually managing. The individuals may be highly skilled, good at their jobs, and valuable to their organizations but that just makes them excellent managers, not leaders.

Leadership is about mapping out where you need to go to win as a team or as an organization; and it is dynamic, exciting, and inspiring. Leaders set direction, build an inspiring vision, and create something new. They use management skills to guide their people to the right destination, in a smooth and efficient way. They also manage delivery of the vision, either directly or indirectly, and build and coach their teams.