Week 1 – Assignment 2: Explain the Concept of Leading People and Changes and Week 2 – Assignment: Evaluate Public Management Theories

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Fesseha B. Mulugeta

PUB-7020 V1: Public Administration

Dr. Lorenzo Calxton

Northcentral University

June 27, 2021

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Public Sectors-Healthcare Organization

Introduction

A public organization is defined as a profit or non-profit organization that works for the

public's well-being and brings help for them in different ways. Public organizations owned by

the government aim to help the public by providing them their desired services and products.

Few examples of public organizations include healthcare organizations, the postal system,

defense, educational institutions, insurance companies, urban planning, etc. The public sector is

different from the private sector because it allows everyone to access these services without any

difference. Millions of people are unable to access private services, and for those, the option of

the public sector is available so that they can have access to services equally (Mir, Shaikh,

Rashida, & Mankani, 2015).

Healthcare is not a profit-maximizing industry, but the primary purpose is to enhance

healthcare, patient care, and job satisfaction. Healthcare organizations and workers in this

industry are not motivated by financial benefits, but they are encouraged to work with patients

and bring the best healthcare outcomes. Healthcare organizations work as a free market to help

patients assess health care services. Being a public sector, health care organizations provide

health care services to everyone regardless of any discrimination of cost and status. There are a

number of programs available that are subsidized by the poor and for lower individuals of the

society. The search says that most healthcare organizations are now converting to private sectors.

However, government-owned health care organizations are still striving to bring quality health

care services for everyone regardless of any difference (Cutler, 2018).

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The public sector of healthcare organizations dates back to 1883 when the first

compulsory health insurance was introduced in Germany. At that time, divisions in healthcare

organizations and service providers were introduced by establishing the first mandatory health

care insurance model in Europe. Since the 18th century, every industrialized country has had a

health care system and established providers of health care services through public and private

sector involvement (Mir, Shaikh, Rashida, & Mankani, 2015).

Over time the focus of economists of every country turned to increase the wealth of

nations; thus, they should show their consensus regarding the contribution of the public sector

towards the financing. The role of health care organizations as the public sector is not ordinary

because by providing health care services to community members, the public organization

contributes to society's benefit. Apart from this, the treatment of infectious diseases brings social

change at a significant level. Public sector delivery of healthcare services is also affordable,

which is another benefit for the community that considerably enables them to assess healthcare

services. The contribution of public and private sectors in the healthcare industry helps

redistribute funds from wealthy people to poor people who cannot afford healthcare services

(Rukh & Qadeer, 2018).

Healthcare Organization & Role

The healthcare organization I have selected is the U.S. Department of Health and Human

Services (HHS) that offers healthcare services and enhances the well-being of Americans by

providing human services and effective healthcare. The Health and Human service department of

the United States owns more than a hundred programs across the United States operating in

divisions. The Health and Human service program protects the health care of all Americans and

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delivers crucial health care services for those who are unable to assess private health care

services (HHS, 2020). Along with providing health care and human services to Americans, the

health care organization protects health care service provision across the country by enforcing

laws and policies. Programs such as temporary assistance for needy families, child care, family

support, and child communities ensure a broader distribution of health care services. The public

sector health care organization also offers education and training opportunities for staff members

to distribute healthcare services equally and professionally to everyone. There are specified

training programs and scholarships for nursing students to perform specific healthcare

organizations' rules (HHS, 2020).

Leadership Structure and Culture of Organization

The leadership structure of the public sector healthcare organization is based on a

traditional hierarchical system. Departmental leaders are the most qualified servants of the

federal government who aim to ensure the organization's management and guidance and intended

to support the well-being and health of the country. The primary purpose of the leaders of HHS

is to ensure that Americans have access to quality and affordable health care they need to thrive

and survive. As the health care organization offers a broad range of programs and health care

services to protect individuals and families, the organization highly invests in its research and

development department to ensure that they can report recent health care trends. The

organization would design its procedures according to the community health care standards

(HHS, 2020). The organization is associated with many pharmaceutical companies and other

healthcare market players to provide a collective experience to patients and ensure that they have

access to all types of physical, mental, psychological, and surgical health care services.

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The leadership department of the Health and Human Services organization focuses on

public needs from which leadership flows and creates a unified system to offer quality and

affordable health care services. The leadership is in the hands of professionals and experienced

individuals who can make well-grounded decisions and hold themselves accountable for

achieving its mission. Advisory committees are working within the organization to take care of

public affairs and to ensure that the public has access to health care services in every region of

America regardless of any difference among individuals based on their background from rural or

urban areas. The organization claims that truly effective leadership and management of public

affairs can satisfy the needs of the public and bring them their expected and required health care

services (Campbell, 2018).

The culture of the human and health services organization is highly competitive. It

motivates everyone to achieve the mission by offering quality healthcare services to all

Americans without any distinction. The organization’s culture is based on its strategic plan that

the organization updates after every four years to describe work structure, responsibilities,

current Health and Human services issues that the team of workers should address within stated

time limits (HHS, 2020). The organization aligns its practices and service provision models

according to the medical laws of the country. It ensures that all the practices follow passed

standards and other healthcare legislation proposed by the Congress or legislation system of the

United States. The focus of the human and health services is to provide health care services to

Americans and take steps towards the launch of sustainable operations and tools to achieve

sustainability within the organizational procedures.

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There are several strategic objectives of the public sector organization. Still, one of the

most important and prioritized strategies is to encourage self-sufficiency and personal

responsibility among community members by eliminating barriers to economic opportunities.

The organization aims to safeguard the public from violence and preventable injuries that lead to

complicated health care issues and negatively impact the country's population. By providing

affordable health care to America's community, the organization aims to support families and

promote healthy marriage by strengthening children and parents (Secretary, 2020).

The United States Census Bureau reveals that the poverty rate was 12.7% recorded in

2016, dropped by 0.8% from 2015. The decline in the rate of poverty is because of the

contribution of public sector organizations to assist at different levels, and human and health

services organizations also one of those (Secretary, 2020). Increasing poverty, family

disruptions, unemployment, and aging are issues that public sector healthcare organizations

address. The organization aims to support the country in its drastic segments. Providing

affordable health care services to unemployed and poor people in the organization is playing a

dual role. One is to serve the community and show corporate social responsibility, while the

other supports the country's economy and eliminates the stress of the uninsured population. The

organization implements several strategies to achieve a competitive advantage and foster change

in the American community.

Risks, Limitations & Challenges

The performance and contribution of the human and health services organization

comprise $2.4 trillion, and this is the reasonable efforts and contributions of the organization

impact the lives of all Americans. HESS's Medicaid program is America's largest insurer and

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covers America's majority of the population. The organization offers numerous other children’s

health insurance programs, Medicaid, and Medicare programs that all are intended to ensure

financial integrity and health care delivery for the population. Because of the focus on massive

platforms, the organization faces difficulties managing its operations and functions adequately in

the past few years. One of the major contributing factors to these challenges is the increasing

competition in the market, and the second one is rapidly changing healthcare preferences and

customer attitudes. The intervention of technology and innovation brings a lot of change but still,

the organization is facing management issues. Although HHS has effective strategies and

operational procedures to address these challenges, if these challenges are not addressed

immediately, the public sector organization might face difficulties. The emergence of private

healthcare sectors and the turning of various government healthcare sectors towards the private

sector also pose challenges for the organization by putting extra burden over it. When all the

public health care organizations turn to private, then the burden of all those citizens who cannot

afford private healthcare services will be on government healthcare sectors. Thus, all these

problems collectively contribute to the HHS's operations and service delivery (HHS, 2020).

Recently the organization faced fraud, abuse, and waste programs during the emergence

of COVID-19 and dealing with the crisis. Resources, both financial and non-financial, spent on

those programs also go waste, putting the organization into challenges. The organization has

fraud detection processes but still fails to assess these frauds during the crisis, and collection of

funds falls COVID-19. The organization is dealing with all these challenges efficiently and

posing a positive picture for the coming years – thus, the hope for the public is maintained

(Andrulis, 2018).

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References

Andrulis, D. P. (2018). The Public Sector In Health Care: Evolution Or Dissolution? HEALTH AFFAIRS VOL. 16, NO. 4, https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.16.4.131.

Campbell, J. W. (2018). Efficiency, Incentives, and Transformational Leadership: Understanding Collaboration Preferences in the Public Sector. PUBLIC PERFORMANCE & MANAGEMENT REVIEW VOL. 41, NO. 2,, 277-299.

Cutler, D. M. (2018). Health Care and the Public Sector. NBER, https://www.nber.org/papers/w8802.

HHS. (2020). Changes Facing HHS. HHS, https://oig.hhs.gov/.

HHS. (2020). Programs & Services. Human and Health Services, https://www.hhs.gov/programs/index.html.

Mir, A. M., Shaikh, M. S., Rashida, G., & Mankani, N. (2015). To serve or to leave: a question faced by public sector healthcare providers in Pakistan. Health Research Policy and Systems, https://health-policy-systems.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12961-015- 0045-4.

Rukh, H., & Qadeer, F. (2018). Diagnosing Culture of Public Organization Utilizing Competing Values Framework: A Mixed Methods Approach. Pakistan Journal of Commerce and Social Sciences Vol. 12 (1), 398-428.

Secretary, A. (2020). Strategic Goal 3: Strengthen the Economic and Social Well-Being of Americans Across the Lifespan. HHS, https://www.hhs.gov/about/strategic-plan/strategic-goal-3/index.html.