Week 5 – Assignment: Improve Limitations on Public Organizations

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Facilitate Interdisciplinary Coordination in Public Organizations

Fesseha B. Mulugeta

PUB-7020 V1: Public Administration

Dr. Lorenzo Claxton

Northcentral University

July11, 2021

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Facilitate Interdisciplinary Coordination in Public Organizations

A memorandum of agreement is a written document describing the

cooperative relationship between two parties that wish to work together on a project

or meet an agreed objective (LP & No, 2016). In this memorandum of agreement, the

joint initiative between the National Institute of Health and the Center for Disease

Control and Prevention will be documented. It will document how the two agencies

will work together to fight an imminent disease epidemic that has been identified in

Florida.

Details of Mission and Role each Agencies

The mission of the joint initiative is to fight the imminent disease epidemic in

Florida. During the joint initiative, the National Institute of Health and the Center for

Disease Control and Prevention will work together to stop the epidemic from

occurring. The two agencies will have different roles that will enable the mission to

occur efficiently and effectively. During the mission, the National Institute of Health

and the Center of Disease Control and Prevention working together will ensure that

the mission is a success as they will share the responsibilities.

During the mission, the joint team from the National Institute of Health and the

Center for Disease Control and Prevention will be sent to a treatment center that will

be located in Orlando, Florida. The city has the third-highest population in Florida

and it is the ton near the central point of the state. Thus, locating the treatment center

in the town will make it easier for the joint team to access a wider area thus

vaccinating a high number of local residents which will be effective in preventing the

occurrence of the imminent epidemic.

The two agencies will play different roles to enable the mission to be conducted

promptly. The role of the National Institute of Health will be to conduct research on

the imminent disease epidemic in Florida. Through the research, the National Institute

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of Health will identify the various areas that have a higher risk of having the epidemic

in Florida. That will enable the joint initiative to vaccinate the local people living in

areas that have high incidences of getting the disease epidemic. Additionally, the

National Institute of Health will identify the effective measures that may be used to

prevent the imminent disease epidemic thus promoting healthcare education in the

communities.

On the other hand, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention will investigate

the causes and patterns of the imminent disease epidemic in Florida. Thus, through

the investigation, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention will identify the

patterns of the epidermic (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018).

Together with the research from the National Institute of Health, they will identify the

populations that need to be vaccinated first. Additionally, the health workers from the

Center for Disease Control and Prevention will be in charge of vaccinating the people

in the local communities.

Length and Terms of Agreement Between NIH and CDC

The length of the agreement between the two agencies is 12 months. However,

the two agencies may extend the joint initiative if after the said period the threat of the

imminent disease epidemic will not be completely eliminated (Kent et al., 2019). The

extension will depend on the time of the neutralization of the threat of the imminent

disease epidemic.

Various terms will govern the joint initiative. One of the terms that will govern

the joint initiative is collaboration. The responsibilities of all the two agencies will be

listed in the memorandum of agreement. Each agency will be required to follow

through and ensure that it performs all its responsibilities adequately. The two

agencies will also be required to cooperate, Which will make it easier for the mission

to be achieved. The employees and healthcare practitioners from the two agencies will

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work together to achieve the objective of the mission (Kiel, 2014). Additionally, the

two agencies must promote teamwork. Since they will be working together, they will

be required to report their progress to the managing committee, Which will help

identify the progress of the mission. The healthcare practitioners and employees from

the two agencies will also be required to uphold ethics and integrity when working in

the mission.

Potential Challenges and Limitations Associated with Joint Initiatives

Although joint initiatives are essential in addressing public and social issues,

they have some challenges. The challenges may be detrimental as they may lead to the

failure of a joint initiative. One of the challenges in joint initiatives is not recognizing

the partners in the joint initiative as equal partners. If one partner portrays to have

more power, it may result in the feeling of inferiority of the other party and thus it

may lead to conflicts. The conflicts will result in the failure of the joint initiative.

Another challenge that may occur in a joint initiative is the management of

resources. In this case, the two agencies involved are the National Institute of Health

and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The two agencies are funded by

the federal government thus they do not contribute the resources by themselves. In

such a case, they should jointly come up with a team to manage the resources. Failure

to that may lead to mismanagement of resources which may lead to conflict and

failure of the mission.

Another challenge that may occur in a joint initiative is competition among the

partners in the joint initiative. In a joint initiative, the parties should collaborate and

cooperate to achieve the objectives and goals of the joint initiative. However, in a case

that the responsibilities of the partners overlap, it may lead to competition (Carey &

Friel, 2015). The competition may emerge as the two parties try to prove that they

have done most of the work. That can have very disastrous effects on the joint

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initiative. That indicates that competition is also a challenge that may be experienced

in a joint initiative.

Management Style for both Agencies

The management style is the method used by the leaders of an organization to

manage the organization. The National Institute of Health is led by National Institute

of Health (NIH) directors, deputy directors, associate directors, and US Department of

Health and Human Services (HHS) secretaries. The National Institute of Health

mainly follows the transformational leadership model. Transformative leadership is a

leadership approach in which the leaders encourage, motivate and inspire the

employees to innovate and create change that is integral in growing and shaping the

future success of a company. Thus, the leadership style used by the National Institute

of Health enables the agency to achieve its objectives and goals.

On the other hand, The Center for Disease Control and Prevention is organized

into centers, offices, and institutes. The three components of the Center for Disease

Control and Prevention are essential in decision-making in the agency. Center for

Disease Control and Prevention also has a director and a principal deputy director.

The leadership style that is mostly used by the Center for Disease Control and

Prevention is participative leadership. This is a leadership style in which all members

of the organization work together in making decisions. This type of leadership is also

known as democratic leadership as all people are encouraged to participate. The

leadership style is effective as it enabled the agency to achieve its objectives and goals

effectively.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, a memorandum of agreement is a written document that described

the cooperative relationship between two parties that wish to work together towards

the attainment of a common objective. In this case, the two parties that will work

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together are the National Institute of Health and the Center for Disease Control and

Prevention. They will work together to fight an imminent disease epidemic in Florida.

Although the two agencies have different leadership styles, they can effectively form

an effective joint initiative. The leaders from the two agencies will form a joint

leadership task force.

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References

Carey, G., & Friel, S. (2015). Understanding the role of public administration in

implementing action on the social determinants health.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2018). Natural disaster and severe

weather

[https://ncuone.ncu.edu/d2l/le/content/135194/viewContent/1365665/View

Complexity Governance and Network, 1(1), 71-78

Kent, M. L., Hurley, R. W., Oderda, G. M., Gordon, D. B., Sun, E., Mythen, M., ... &

POQI-4 Working Group. (2019). American Society for Enhanced Recovery and

Perioperative Quality Initiative (POQI-4) Joint Consensus Statement on

Persistent Postoperative Opioid Use: Definition, Incidence, Risk Factors, and

Health Care System Initiatives. Anesthesia and analgesia, 129(2), 543.

Kiel, L. D. (2014). Complexity theory and its evolution in public administration and

policy studies.

LP, K. T., & No, U. L. U. (2016). Memorandum of Agreement.