Management Process

Management (Technical) Responsibilities

1. Laboratory managers have highly specialized skills,

and they often serve multiple overlapping roles within
the healthcare system.
2. Laboratory manager is the chief laboratorian,
providing specialized technical expertise within the
medical laboratory.
3. Managers are “extenders” of the physician and
clinical laboratory scientist directors.
4. They must remain abreast of and implement federal
and industry regulations, adhere to credentialing and
compliance requirements, understand and evaluate
new technologies, and remain continuously informed 1. Planning
about advancements in clinical testing capabilities.
5. Personnel supervision, staff recruitment and • Planning is the process of formulating objectives
retention, budgeting, purchasing, and compliance are and determining the steps which will be
all essential tasks of the laboratory manager. employed in obtaining them. No modern
healthcare organization can be effective without
an overall plan of action
Qualities of A Good Manager / High Performance • Process of looking forward
Manager: • Designing in the presence of future objectives
• It helps in determining the course of action to be
• A strategist – One who looks to the future, makes followed for achieving organizational goals
educated guesses about the major forces and trends he • Depends on the mental state of the manager
or she can see, and interprets them in terms of • Process of thinking before doing something
opportunities for growth and progress.
• A problem solver – One who clearly perceives the Steps Involve in Planning Are
differences between the anticipated future and the 1. Collecting information – listening to followers
unfolding present and who decides what must be done 2. Fixing the long- range objectives – objectives
with those factors under his or her control to influence are inspirations to pursue goals
the environment or to adapt to it most effectively. 3. Developing policies, procedures and rules for
the implementation of strategies
• A teacher – One who guides others and helps them to
4. Evaluate the action patterns
identify and solve problems, so that they can perform 5. Finding out the limitations
their tasks effectively and can develop themselves as
individuals as well as workers. (Continuous learner,
attending training and workshops). STRATEGIC PLANNING

Management Process Comprises These Functions • The process by which high level decisions are
1. Planning made
2. Organizing • Deciding on the objectives of the organization
3. Staffing and the need to modify existing objectives if
4. Directing appropriate
5. Coordinating • Allocating resources to attain objectives
6. Controlling
• Establishing policies that govern the acquisition,
use, and disposition of these resources
• Based on the long-term projection and a global
view that can have an impact on all levels of
laboratory operations
 • Good strategic planning is a structured process. 3. Reimbursement decreasing
“Structured” means that the plans of individual 4. Three local hospitals have consolidated their
laboratory sections must fit into an overall plan services, including laboratory
that covers the entire laboratory operation. It is a 5. Several new patient service centers
“process” because good plans are not produced in (phlebotomy stations) already opened
isolation according to some predefined formula. LIS, Laboratory Information System
• Swot Analysis: one of the techniques that can be
used to facilitate the strategic planning process
and to evaluate the risks associated with new
strategies STRATEGIC PLANNING: FACTORS
• Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats 1. Vision and Mission
- A vision statement should be written to
• Environmental factors internal to the lab:
articulate what the organization seeks to
strength, weaknesses become. A vision statement is an internal
• External to the lab: opportunities and threats document, by design. It is intended to inspire
those within the organization to
Strategic Planning: Steps
- A mission statement for the laboratory should
1. Select a knowledgeable planning group.
also be developed at the beginning of the
2. Perform an environmental analysis.
planning process. A mission statement
3. Identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
answers certain fundamental questions about
threats.
the organization, such as “What is our
4. Make a manageable and realistically achievable list
purpose?” “In what activities will we be
of goals.
engaged to accomplish that purpose?” and
5. Prioritize goals.
“What are our basic values and shared
6. Develop strategies to accomplish goals.
beliefs?” Having a clearly articulated mission
7. Assign accountabilities and timelines.
statement benefits the planning process by
defining the organization’s purpose, but it also
Swot Analysis: Analysis for a New Outreach Program benefits the organization by reminding
everyone, staff and clients alike, about the
SWOT Analysis for a New Hospital Outreach Program organization’s purpose.
Strengths 2. Goals and Strategies
1. Use current technology / instrumentation - A goal is an end or an outcome that one hopes
2. Have excess technical capacity to attain. Simply stated, a goal is something
3. Increased test volume will decrease cost per positive that the organization hopes to
test accomplish. Through discussion and
4. Strong leadership support negotiation, the planning group should
5. Financial resources available develop a list of goals for the laboratory. An
Opportunities example of a goal is “to enhance laboratory
1. Opening of a new physician health care facility revenue by increasing referral testing from
2. Department of Health mandates lead testing on external sources.
all children younger than 2 years old - A strategy is a means to a defined end or, more
3. Have excess to hospital marketing department simply stated, an action taken to reach a goal.
4. Hospital X is bankrupt; laboratory will close Every stated goal can have numerous
Weaknesses strategies. For this example, a strategy
1. Staffing shortage relevant to the above goal might be to “hire a
2. Morale issues marketing director to develop business and
3. Inadequate courier system increase referrals from community
4. Need to hire additional pathologists hospitals.”
5. Limited experience in providing multihospital 3. Prioritization
/ client LIS services - In planning, as in every other aspect of
6. Turnaround times are marginal effective management, it is necessary to
Threats assign priority by weighing the importance of
1. Competition from other local hospital the tasks at hand to determine which have the
laboratories highest level of immediate importance.
2. Competition from national reference Therefore, planning is often a struggle
laboratories between “must do” and “want to do” decisions
 4. Accountability • Understand the capacity to take on new
- The only way to ensure follow-through on assignments and when to say “no”
action items is to assign specific people to be • Plan each day’s work efficiently and
responsible for delivering results. An effective effectively
plan must have built-in accountability for all • Make certain that no project (large or
objectives and strategies. This means small) is neglected
attaching specific names to specific action 2. Policies & Procedures
items - Policies are the “laws” of the laboratory.
5. Measuring Success (Metrics) - Procedures are plans that establish a required
- Once a strategic plan is drawn, a process of method of handling future activities. They are
implementation must be followed to track guides to action, rather than to thinking, and
advancement toward completion of specific they detail the exact manner in which certain
aims. The actual strategic plan is articulated in activities must be accomplished.
a document that lists the goals, strategies,
accountabilities, and deadlines. The document
can be as simple as a multiple-column Word Organizing: Steps
table, an Excel spreadsheet, or an Access 1. Identifying the work to be performed
database 2. Classifying the work
3. Assigning the groups of individuals to work
4. Delegating authority and fixing responsibilities
2. Organizing

• Organizing is the process of structuring activities, 3. Staffing

materials, and personnel for accomplishing
predetermined objectives. • Staffing is the key to the efficient performance of
• The key to organization is in knowing the other functions of management
essential tasks that must be performed, • A successful laboratory is dependent on good
understanding what knowledge and expertise the leadership, and good leadership is dependent on
employees must possess to perform those tasks, the quality and loyalty of employees. The
and the physical and capital requirements that selection process is critical in matching people
must be assembled to achieve the desired results. and their skills with the appropriate jobs.
Organization should be approached as an ongoing • By definition, “to staff” is to provide a group of
process, since testing, technology, and staffing workers for the purpose of securing united and
are all dynamic. cohesive performance
• Organizing is associated with effective utilization Staffing: Activities
of the resources like manpower, machines, 1. Utilizes and promotes manpower
materials and money for achieving objectives of 2. Selecting and recruiting suitable personnel
the organization 3. Placement of manpower development
4. Training and development of employees
ORGANIZING: Contributing factors
1. Time Management
- The surest way to be well organized is to 4. Directing
develop a structured approach to time
management. Every hour of a manager’s day • Is a process on which management guide, instruct
is occupied with urgent concerns and pressing and oversea the performance of employees to
issues. Without a disciplined time achieve predetermined goals and objectives.
management system, a manager can quickly • It is the heart of the management process
become overwhelmed, consumed by the • Providing guidance to the workers to perform to
demands of small crises.
the best of their abilities and capacities
- A time management system allows a manager
to: Activities
• Minimize time wasted on nonproductive 1. LEADERSHIP
issues 2. MOTIVATION
• Be prepared for meetings 3. SUPERVISION
• Be aware of existing commitments 4. COMMUNICATION
 Directing: Activities Coordinating: Sub-Functions
1. Communicating 1. Clear explanation of authority- responsibility
- No matter how great the plan or how talented relations
the person, if managers cannot communicate 2. Unity of command
effectively with other members of the team, 3. Unity of direction
their ideas and inputs are doomed. 4. Effective communication
- Communication is among the most important
components of management. Clear written
and verbal communication—from manager to 6. Controlling
employee, from employee to manager,
• Final stage of management process
between managers, and between peers—
influences every action. • If planning is looking forward controlling on the
- Without it, there is no effective way of other hand is looking backward
articulating expectations, expressing • Primary target- oriented function of management
concerns, providing feedback, and ensuring • Basically, the comparison between actual
that policies are implemented. performance and standards of the company to
ensure that the taken action was correct
- In every healthcare organization, there are • Digging on the different management process
four basic communication flows through that have been strategized during the planning,
which messages can be passed:
organizing, etc., if those actions are capable or
will ensure that the objectives of the organization
- Downward: communications travel from the
superior to the immediate subordinate. will be a success
Downward communications are used to • Every manager should monitor the activities of
transmit information and instruct employees his subordinates
in the performance of their jobs
- Upward: communication travels from the
subordinate to the immediate supervisor, and
it is used to provide feedback on how things
are going.
- Lateral: communication takes place between
people on the same level of authority within
an organization, and it is used for promoting
coordination and teamwork.
- Diagonal: communication occurs between
people who are neither in the same department
nor on the same level of authority within the
organization. Diagonal communication is
used for cutting across organizational
boundaries in an effort to save time.

5. Coordination

• In every organization perform different activities

(harmonized) to reach organizational goals
• It ensures the unity of action among work group,
individuals and department
• All department must operate in an integrated
manner to prevent
• Conflict and overlapping and unity of action
remains unchanged