Approaches to Managing Health Services Organizations

This course provides a learning laboratory experience for students who will explore a variety of settings in which to apply concepts learned in Managing Health Services Organizations. Students are assigned to groups of 5-6 students for the duration of the course to address the problems in groups. Through the use of case studies, videos and small group discussion, students will explore such topics as:

• Leadership
• Systems thinking
• Organizational design, stakeholders and governance
• Quality assurance tools
• Communication, cooperation and collaboration
• Budgeting and financial management
• Measuring and monitoring organizational performance
• Balanced scorecards

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course, students are able to:

1. Work in teams to tackle problems faced by managers of health services organizations
2. Apply an understanding of environmental and organizational factors in managerial decision-making
3. Use communication and collaboration skills in addressing problems of complex systems
4. Use quality assurance tools such as flow charts
5. Develop a budget based on information regarding business or service volume, staffing levels, salary rates, and supply usage and costs
6. Develop the metrics needed to populate a balanced scorecard to monitor the performance of health services organizations

Readings

Topic	Readings
Session 1Leadership & Management: Nominal Group Technique	Michael Brassard and Diane Ritter.  Nominal Group Technique.  The Memory Jogger II: A Pocket Guide of Tools for Continuous Improvement and Effective Planning.  (First Edition)  Methuen, MA: Goal/QPC, 1994.
Session 2Organizational Foundation & the Environment: SWOT Analysis of an Organization in Transition	Atkinson S, Haran D.  Back to basics: Does decentralization improve health system performance?  Evidence from Ceara in north-east Brazil.  Bull WHO 2004; 82: 822-827. Bossert T.  Analyzing the Decentralization of Health Systems in Developing Countries: Decision Space, Innovation and Performance.  Soc Sci Med 1998; 46(10): 1513-1527. Bossert TJ, Beauvais JC.  Decentralization of health systems in Ghana, Zambia, Uganda and the Philippines: a comparative analysis of decision space.  Health Policy Plan 2002; 17(1): 14-31.
Session 5Improving a Key Work Process	Michael Brassard and Diane Ritter.  Flow Charts.  The Memory Jogger II: A Pocket Guide of Tools for Continuous Improvement and Effective Planning.  (First Edition)  Methuen, MA: Goal/QPC, 1994.
Session 7Balanced Scorecard - Organizational Performance Results	Peters, D.H., Noor, A.A., Singh, L.P., Kakar, F.K., Hansen, P.M., Burnham G. A Balanced Scorecard for Health Services in Afghanistan. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2007, 85: 146-151.