Organizational Administration and Management Quiz

Management and Administration in Nursing

• Management is a process used to achieve objectives with human and other resources.
• Management encompasses all organizational activities related to goal setting, achievement, performance evaluation, and developing a working philosophy for survival in a social system.
• Management utilizes organizational resources to manage people and their work towards a common goal.
• Management professionals use their skills to manage the entire organizational system.
• Administration is the systematic process of governing a business, an educational institution (like a school), a government office, or a non-profit organization.
• Administration operates at the highest level of management in an organization's hierarchy.
• Administration establishes objectives, creates policies and procedures, and enforces regulations.

Key Differences Between Management and Administration

Management

• Key activities include planning, organizing, leading, motivating, controlling, coordinating, and decision-making.
• Management utilizes the 5Ms of an organization (Men, Materials, Machines, Methods, and Money) to achieve specific outcomes while guaranteeing all necessary steps are taken.

Features of Management

• Universal: Applicable across all institutions (social, religious, commercial, educational, political).
• Integrative: Harmonizes individual goals with organizational goals.
• Action-oriented: Organizes and employs resources to accomplish predefined objectives.
• People-centered: Occurs through people.
• Intangible force: Managerial competence as a social skill, evidenced in quality and level.
• Dynamic: Ongoing and subject to change based on business circumstances.
• Science and Art: Based on underlying knowledge and essential skills unique to individuals.

Basic Management Actions

• Identify necessary actions or tasks.
• Organize resources.
• Ensure efficient and effective task completion.
• Plan for future needs.
• Address arising problems.

Management Skills

• Technical Skills:
  • Ability to work with resources within a specific expertise.
  • Possessing technical knowledge and proficiency to achieve specialized tasks effectively.
• Human Skills:
  • Ability to interact efficiently with people.
  • Leading, motivating, managing conflicts, and working cooperatively with others.
• Conceptual Skills:
  • Understanding organization as a whole.
  • Recognizing interdependencies among organizational functions.
  • Formulating ideas, understanding relationships, and visualizing the relationships between businesses, industry, community, and national political, social, and economic forces.
• Diagnostic Skills
• Ability to investigate problems and choose solutions. (Requires technical, human, and conceptual skills).
• Political Skills
• Ability to acquire authority for achieving objectives.
• Establishing connections and impressing the right people.

Managerial Roles

• Interpersonal Roles:
• Figurehead: Symbolic head of the organization.
• Leader: Directing, staffing, motivating, and guiding employees.
• Liaison: Maintains network of outside contacts, gaining favors, and maintaining external relationships.
• Informational Roles:
• Monitor: Receives and communicates important information.
• Disseminator: Transmitting information from internal sources to other parts of the organization.
• Spokesperson: Provides information to internal/external groups.
• Decisional Roles:
• Entrepreneur: Initiates change within the organization.
• Disturbance Handler: Manages threats from politics, competition, unions, conflicts, etc.
• Resource Allocator: Decides on the allocation of resources (money, equipment, personnel).
• Negotiator: Negotiates internally and externally.

Functions/Principles of Management - Controlling

• Controlling: Giving instructions, ensuring adherence to instructions.
• Types of Management Control:
• Feedback Control: Gather information about completed tasks, evaluate, and use it for future improvement.
• Concurrent Control: Real-time control mechanism to detect and address issues immediately, preventing losses.
• Other Control Types:
• Predictive Control: Prevents problems by anticipating them.
• Steering Control: Directs the process onto the right path.
• Yes/No Control: Decides whether an activity should proceed.
• Budgetary Control: Manages organizational resources and budgets.
• Strategic Control: Ensures alignment with goals through strategic planning.

Check List for Effective Control

• Controls reflect the nature and needs of the activity.
• Reports deviations promptly.
• Takes a forward-looking/future outlook.
• Identifies exceptions at strategic points.
• Maintains objectivity.
• Is flexible, reflects organizational structure, and is economical and understandable.
• Indicates corrective action.

Two Basic Control Approaches

• Traditional Approach:
  • Sets standards, targets, or goals.
  • Measures actual performance against standards.
  • Takes corrective action.
• Commitment-Based Approach:
  • Gains employee commitment to quality.
  • Invests in the right people.
  • Fosters self-control.
  • Promotes a sense of community and shared fate.
  • Guarantees organizational justice.
  • Implements profit-sharing.
  • Encourages self-actualization.

Scope of Area of Control

• Policies and procedures
• Organization
• Staff
• Methods
• Expenditure/income
• Research and development

Processes of Controlling in Management

• Formation of standards
• Measurement of actual performance
• Comparison of actual and standard performance
• Corrective actions

Functions/Principles of Management - Directing

• Directing: Guiding, inspiring, overseeing, and instructing people towards organizational goals.
• Characteristics of Directing:
• Pervasive: Necessary at all organizational levels.
• Continuous: Ongoing throughout the organization's lifespan.
• Human Factor: Deals with the unpredictable nature of human behavior.
• Creative Activity: Transforms plans into performance.
• Executive Function: Carried out by all managers and executives.

Importance of Directing Function

• Initiates actions, providing direction for subordinates.
• Integrates efforts from all departments.
• Adapts to changes within and outside the organization.
• Allows for efficient use of resources.

Functions/Principles of Management - Planning

• Planning: Setting objectives and creating a plan to achieve them.
• Steps in Planning:
• Environmental scanning: Considering economic conditions, competitors, customers, and forecasting future conditions.
• Establishing objectives: Defining what needs to be achieved, when, and how.
• Identifying alternative courses of action: Assessing various strategies and approaches.
• Decision-making: Selecting the best course of action and formulating necessary steps for it implementation.
• Evaluation: Regularly assessing the effectiveness of plans and making adjustments.

Types of Planning

• Strategic Planning: Analyze competitive landscape, identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to position in the market.
• Tactical Planning: Develop specific means for implementing the strategic plan at the middle-management level.
• Operational Planning: Outlines short-term steps to support strategic and tactical plans, within a year's time-frame.
• Standing Plans: Repetitive routines or formulas to deal with recurring situations.
• Single-use Plans: Unique plans for one-time events or purposes (e.g., major changes, budget adjustments).
• Day-by-Day Planning: Priorities set by first-line supervisors (adjustments to long-term plans as needed).

Importance of Planning

• Aids decision-making
• Decreases risk
• Encourages innovative ideas
• Provides directions and framework for necessary actions
• Decreases overlapping/wasteful activities
• Sets standards for controlling performance
• Plans for change, carefully and thoroughly.
• Accounts for the impact of change and risk.

Planning for Change

• Change requires careful and thorough planning.
• Similarities to other types of planning, with unique considerations concerning forecasting, risk, and change impact.
• Understanding worker responses and dealing with resistance (open communication, emphasis on advantages, involvement).
• Includes worker input to enhance organizational acceptance and integration.

Organizing

• Organizing: Distributing employees and allocating resources to promote productivity and efficiency.
• Steps in Organizing:
  • Identifying activities, prioritizing what needs to be done.
  • Departmentally organizing activities.
  • Classifying authority (establishing a hierarchical ranking of positions and powers).
  • Coordinating between authority and responsibilities.

Importance of Organizing

• Specialization within different areas of concern.
• Well-defined jobs and roles for clear responsibilities.
• Clarity of authority to prevent misuse of power, improving efficiency.
• Coordination and relationships to ensure effective collaboration.
• Effective administration, growth, and sense of security.

Quality Assurance

• Process for establishing standards, guidelines, and procedures to prevent quality issues and maintain product/service integrity throughout development.
• Principles: "fit for purpose" and "right first time."
• Methods like Total Quality Management (TQM), Failure Testing, Process and Product QA, and Statistical Process Control (SPC).

Auditing

• Auditing: A systematic and disciplined approach to evaluating and improving processes and controls, performed by independent and certified individuals.
• Characteristics of Auditing:
• Completed by independent professionals.
• Formal, systematic, and structured.
• Involves planning, sampling, testing, and validation.
• Includes formal communication with recommendations and corrective action measures.
• Accountability typically to the Chief Audit Executive and Audit Committee.

Types of Audits

• Internal Audits: Performed by employees for use by management and internal stakeholders.
• External Audits: Performed by external organizations, giving an unbiased opinion.
• Government Audits: Ensures accurate financial statements for tax purposes.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Effective monitoring and evaluation are necessary for successful projects. Involves collecting and analyzing data to assess goal achievement.

Problem-Solving

• Problem-solving involves defining, identifying the cause, prioritizing, and implementing solutions.
• Defining the problem, identifying underlying causes, differentiating fact from opinion, and clearly defining the problem.
• Generating short- and long-term alternative solutions consistent with organizational goals.
• Evaluating and selecting the best alternative, considering proven and possible outcomes.
• Implementing the solution and following up with feedback to all affected parties.