The History About The Financial Motivations

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Introduction

Anersley Hospital is as many organisations, has problems created from the change in the organisational structure and patterns of work. This case study gives an idea about how changes in the organisation and the working practices without considering the factors and influences which has been accumulated through the years, has an effect on the people involved and the organisational goals as whole. The Medical Records Department has faced many changes in a short period and that reflected on the employees behaviour which in turn has it results on the department and the organisation as whole. Below is an explanation about the reasons behind what when wrong in the Medical Records Department as well as outlining the possibilities to bring back the reputation of the Department as it was before the change.

The case study showed clearly that the old department of medical record "Shack", had a positive teamwork atmosphere and the work was done efficiently and effectively to achieve the goals of the department without implementing any of the managerial theories. Although the working circumstances were below the average, Mrs. Price the in charge of the filling section, has created a very friendly relationship based on teamwork within the department which made the staff feel valuable. She also allowed them to put coloured posters to personalise the department to look more homeliness. This reduced the work stress and increased the willingness of work which increased corporation and communication flow in an organic system (Senior, 2002). Besser & Miller (2011), stated that the place of work becomes kind of leisure place when social links are strong.

The financial motivations are likely to be the main demand and the others are less important (CHRIST, EMETT, SUMMERS & WOOD, 2012). However, there are other motivations is considered as main demand especially in the long term in the hierarchy of any employee motivation such as job satisfaction, self actualization, Esteem, safety needs, and belonging and love. This kind of Motivations called the intrinsic theories (Handy, 1993).

There were many changes in a very short period. The management decided to centralise the section by compilation of three sections and created a new fourth one to be in the Medical Records Department, change the department location to a refurbished two wards, new equipment and new employees have been appointed. The rapid change in the established environment has a significant impact on the performance of staff, where it interferes with what they are accustomed as a culture built over years (Zabid, Sambasivan & Azmawani, 2004).

Furthermore, the Medical Records Officer of the new department Mr. Fraser, who was newly appointed, was very formal. He wanted to change the organic system, which was created through the accumulated years, to a bureaucratic system or mechanistic system. His intention is to implement a system works based on a hierarchical way through commands. That was clear in the communication between Mr. Fraser and the whole department. To manage change and for a successful performance there are many influences which may affect the organisational structure. It is stated that there is no a particular form or one way to design organisational structure which will assurance a successful performance. Whether it was bureaucratic, mechanistic lines or network forms the organisation could be in the success path and could respond to the need for change by depending on factors like size, expectations and predictability of the environment, strategy, technology used and the workforce lifestyle. (Senior, 2002). From Mr. Fraser treatment and by reducing the delegation in the process of decision making, the staff perceived that the new system will reduce the opportunity of self actualization and recognition of their importance. Such circumstances has probably decreased the staff morale and ultimately decreased the efficiency of work. Maurer (2001) stated that if there is no recognition and motivation, the organisation will not be able to achieve its goals (Manzoor, Q 2012).

Mr. Fraser was very proud of his master plan and did not realise what was the extent of the seriousness of the situation. He Just felt disappointed because the staff did not raise any question and lack of enthusiasm. He thinks that the reason was the supervisory limitations skills of Mrs. Price. The idea of focusing on aims or goals to achieve it and build in mind that all the thing is going accordingly by filling the gaps in the mind with previous experience and knowledge without facing the realty, that because of different perception, it is the reason behind failure in managing people. In addition, It is also about the employees and how they perceive the actions of managers. (Frenkel, Sanders & Bednall, 2013)

The department became like a Military barracks, due to the intensification of security by installing a screen and made one entrance to the Records Library guarded by Mrs. Price. Moreover, there was a strict instructions for the people who are authorised to enter the Records Library and strict leaving time. There was also a strict detailed instruction to follow for each one individually, and the instructions and tasks dealt with in a vertical communication. This strict and hierarchical control has the traits of a mechanistic system. (Senior, 2002). Moreover, Mrs. Price used to deal with her staff as she one of them as friends, but the hierarchical control system gave her the authority and control which she was not used to it and the staff neither. She was used to the previous informal system which was used for thirty years and the change was very difficult for her in a short time. She could not give orders or make decisions Thus created an atmosphere where they were not used to it (Senior, 2002).

Another reason, due to Mr. Fraser’s concept about overtime, that the staff were wasting their time in chatting and having tea breaks, there was accumulated workload and increased responsibility on Mrs. Price. She could not reconcile between her main work and the additional work, that resulted in growth of piles on her desk. The reason behind that is Mrs. Price Not been able to deal with the new position which is based on the commands and prohibitions on her employees, because in the past thirty years she used to work as one team with her employees to complete the work.

When Mr. Fraser has decided to make some changes in the Medical Records Department to meet the development in the hospital. He worked hard on his master plan without studying the culture of the department and how it was operating. Watson & Reissner (2011) stated it is very difficult to manage the change within the organisation which is not a surprise if it failed. He did not sit with the staff and consulted them if they are ready for the change. He even did not consulted them on how to implement the new system and if it is worth implementing it or it may affect the working process in the department, where to start the implementation and what are the issues they may face. If the communication between the management and its subordinates is not strong that will reflect on the their attitudes and behaviours. (Dasgupta, Suar & Singh, 2013)

The staff in the department used to file the patients records in a simple and smooth way. However, the new method of maintaining the records seems to have long procedure and complicated structure. These changes created more workload to the employees and made them feel stressed. The employees tried to solve the problem by not using the tracer cards which made the problem worsen. Workload and lack of recognition are major reasons for job stress which creates significant costs in terms of time lost, illness and less efficiency or even will make the person do bad practices or become resistance to the system implemented. In addition, it is not only what a person perceived from a negative response in an event but it also how the person evaluated that event (Kouloubandi, Jofreh & Mahdavi, 2012). There is an inverse relationship between job satisfaction and work commitments, the more work commitments, the less job satisfaction and therefore this increases the stress at work (Zehra Rizvi & Rana, 2012).

The friendly atmosphere which has been created over the years was an incorporeal motivation to the employees. They were ready to work through the breaks when there was busy periods. However, when the new system implemented there was a lack of friendly or comfort place to work which made the incorporeal motivation disappears. Therefore, they requested for a corporeal motivation which was half an hour overtime for just a week. Unfortunately, he did not meet their request in order to preserve the department budget. It is confirmed in a research done by CHRIST, EMETT, SUMMERS & WOOD (2012), that lower performance is a result of lower intrinsic motivation.

One of the reasons, Mr. Fraser came from different system and according to his knowledge and concepts, his way is the unique way to improve and to in line with the modern management and the centralisation. The disaster happens when the management want to change the organisational system without looking to the nature of that culture (Senior, 2002). He may has his own aims to make him successful manager and that might affected the way of treating his staff. For some people organisational change is something they put their name on it or to be different in doing things (Watson & Reissner, 2011). When there is a conflict between the managers personal aims and the organisation goals that probably will generate an effect on the employees behaviour (Isfahani, Aghdaie & Homaei, 2011).

From the above, if the management wants to make a recovery plan it is possible by knowing the following. When an organisation wants to make a change, there would be a complex interaction between business procedures that can be designed and implemented, and the attribute of those who are working within the organisation. The only way to understand and manage that change is through the experiences of those who are involved within it. (Watson & Reissner, 2011)

It is stated that the meaning of organisational change has a different understanding from person to another within the organisation. For some people it is something to put their name on it or to do something different. In the other side, change is the fear of pay cuts and a retirement or stability at work (Watson & Reissner, 2011).

Due to what has been illustrated above, it is very difficult to manage the change within the organisation which is not a surprise if it failed. However, to avoid failure the management has to take in consideration the culture and historical background. This process needs a high people skills, analysis of the pressures and self-awareness (Watson & Reissner, 2011).

Watson & Reissner (2011), proposed a five stage model the way of change and considering the background issues that may affect the organisation in the organisational change. The first stage is to do a detailed analysis of the organisation background (i.e. the external and internal environment) and the change challenge. The second stage is how to plan the change by a shared understanding of the change challenge, a sense of importance and the strategies which will increase the level of success. The third stage is communicating the aims of the change programme to the staff to develop a shared understanding of the future and to get their involvement in the change which will reflect their importance. The fourth stage is to implement the agenda of change in a clear steps and defined targets. The fifth stage is institutionalising the change and make it part of the organisation by removing the barriers such as the issues raises from culture and structure which will make it a sustainable change. (Watson & Reissner, 2011)

For an effective communication in an organisational change, it is recommended to use the following steps. At first, the stuff within the change has to be given the opportunity to raise their opinion and to answer their questions. The second step is to inform the staff within the change about all the positive and negative aspects of the change, especially the staff who may get in their working lives a negative effect this will help to reduce the resistance. The third step, is to express their feelings between the staff within the change which may clear the thoughts and feelings among them of the change. This is a very important thing to enhance the relationship and provide a strong connection among them. (Soctt and Jaffe, 1989)

The formal and the informal organisation has been expressed by French and Bell (1990) as ‘organisational iceberg’ as a metaphor. Which means that there is a visible part above the water and it is the formal part of the organisation. The hidden part of the iceberg is the informal aspects and it is the greater part of the iceberg, such as the attitudes, values and beliefs held by the people within the organisation, the leadership style and behaviour, it includes also the behaviour of organisational culture, power, politics and norms, all these are an influential driver of actions and decisions. As part of the organisational change process it is very important to know how to manage the culture of an organisation by studying it. It is very difficult to measure or to deal with organisational culture especially that it is one of the informal influences which is hidden within the organisation. It is also important to know if the culture is supportive or defence against change. Farther more, merging the concepts of structure and culture and assessing the cultural risk and its level are much more likely to help to respond to change. (Senior, 2002)

One of the issues faces organisational change is how the managers use power and conflict in affirmative ways to decrease unnecessary resistance and boost the change process. It is suggested to analyse power distribution and conflict, and to know the degree held by groups and individuals (Senior, 2002).

The word motivation is came from Latin "movere" and the word means to move. By using motivation the people will change from the state of dullness to the state of interest. The motivation has a great ability to guide behaviour, activate behaviour and helps to increase the loyalty of the employees. This means that individuals must be vital enough and should have a clear picture in their mind of what should be done and to have the ability to achieve the goals and the distribution of their period required in an effective way. (Iqbal, Yusaf, Munawar & Naheed, 2012)

There are two important active factors in the organisation processes which is leadership and motivation. The leadership is how you can get something done properly, and to be able to do so you must have people who follow you, and to follow you they must trust you, and if you want their trust and work for you and ultimately work for the organization, you must have them motivated. (Manzoor, Q 2012)

Maurer (2001) argues that two of the important factors in promoting job satisfaction among employees, which in turn will achieve what the organization is looking for, these factors are recognition and motivation (Manzoor, Q 2012).

It is stated that to know why a person behaved in a specific situation in that specific way, that is possible by knowing how he perceive that situation and what is his position in it. The possibility of understanding each other not possible without perceiving each other. Therefore, it is important at the beginning to know why the people are perceiving differently. When a person face a situation with imperfect or ambiguous information he will start to fill the gaps or the missing points with his own previous experience and knowledge, this operation called the "principle of closure". (Buchanan & Huczynski, 2010)

Stress at work can be reduced by reducing the workload in the workplace and step them out from the ambiguity condition by involving them in the decision-making process, which will help in increasing the sense of recognition, this will increase the employees morale and thereby increase their effectiveness at work. (Kouloubandi, Jofreh & Mahdavi, 2012)

Conclusion

In conclusion, This case study which has been reviewed and has clarified the factors that led to what it is now, is because of lack of management in organisational change and lack of proper planning in changing the system and structure of the Medical Records Department which caused into failure. The main reasons behind this failure is due to the rapid change in the organisation, lack of understanding the culture and the informal system which has been built over several years, lack of communication between the new manager and his staff, lack of perception from both sides, wrong way of taking decisions, lack of motivation and stress accumulated through time. In the author point of view, the informal organic systems is an excellent approach when the organisation is small and the number of employees are not high with low employment cycle. However, when an organisation grows with more complex transactions, customer service and with high number of employees, it is preferable to implement a system which can cope with complexity such as mechanistic system. In this case, it is important to implement the changes in phases to avoid repeating the problems faced in the Medical Records Department take in account the culture within the change. The head of the department has to have a high communication skills with ability of taking the right decisions and have the knowledge of how to motivate his staff.