Management of a Health Care Team

Health care moved into the spotlight on March 23, 2010 with the Affordable Care Act becoming a law that plans to provide insurance to all Americans, reduce the high cost of health care, and continue to maintain the current standard of care. How will health care management organizations be able to accomplish this daunting task? One way for any organization to meet a new requirement is to review their mission, vision, goals, and objectives and readjust or realign as needed. As changes occur in the organization they are clearly delineated to the staff responsible for implementation and as the staff begins to focus on these new and shared goals, teams will form and develop to achieve the new goals. Appointed as the head of a local division of a health care management organization, my plan will be to use my leadership skills and build a strong, motivated, productive team.

Group or Team

When a colleague wants to assemble several employees to meet periodically, they are in effect asking for a group meeting. Merriam Webster (n.d.) defines a group as a number of individuals assembled together or having some unifying relationship and a team as a number of persons associated together in work or activity. Groups are formed around interests or social standards i.e. church groups, books clubs, or types of music that create a trend or style. People in a group can work in proximity to one another but each performs their own task to accomplish a goal. On the other hand, team members share the same goals and they depend on each other to attain those goals. Teams are organized to work together however they can be formed from a group. Prebble & Frederick (2007) suggest through their 10 key elements that groups are really individuals, who ...

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...utperform and group and they are not afraid to show the organization what they can do. However there are negative aspects that can develop in a team and need to be corrected or action taken to resolve them as quickly as possible. Conflicts between members can occur, individuals can feel their talents are not being used or their work is not recognized or the worst of all groupthink. Groupthink is when the team agrees on an issue without really analyzing it. To me the positives do outweigh the negatives.

In conclusion as the new leader and manager of the health care organization, I would work to build the most successful team to attain the goals of the organization. Motivation, communication, trust, empowerment, and recognition will be cornerstone in my team-building plan. I will lead by example, train, and mentor and in the end succeed with a team beside me.