Expanded HM Function Paper

In today’s work environment, job morale can be slowly diminished due to repetitive working style and activities. However, with cross-training methods, this provides motivation and opportunities for employees to learn new skill sets. This paper is an analysis of the textbook “Principles of Management” and the article from Elizabeth Layman, as mentioned in the prompt.

Goal setting is an important component of every organizational structure. The HIS Department like many other health services department is facing complex issues around administrative tasks that are often burdensome and perplex. In the textbook “Principles of Management” goal setting is explained to be a motivational tool in increased staff productivity and morale. The method of

In conjunction with these changes are the complexity of healthcare regulations, and specifically the paper trail of data collection and archive in this field. The author later explained that a “sector change,” which is a transition from paper-based protocol to an electronic method, was implemented to manage the administrative work of the healthcare system. This required a level of expertise and accountability of staff overseeing this new database or system. Similarly, this process of transition is described in the textbook as “job enrichment,” or a “technique that allows workers more control over how they perform their task, giving them more responsibility” (Principles of Management). In the case of the health system, implementing a sector change for the health care department allowed the company to improve data efficiency and reporting, however, it also created another layer of complexity around system regulation and constant software updates, as “HIS departments need to assess the effects of these sector-wide events on the daily routine and workloads of their individual employees” (Layman,

According to the case study article, Layman explained that job structure around job enrichment was directly coordinated with job satisfaction and motivation. While implementing job enrichment, other compounds of job structures such as job enlargement and job rotation were also included as motivational factors. Although, in theory, these three motivational actions were intended to improve employee’s work environment moral, HIS Department may have discovered another type of challenges emerging from these practices. For instance, employees at HIS Department viewed “these actions as adding to their stress rather than reducing it” (Layman, 2011). The textbook, Principles of Management also point to this drawback by stating “there is some evidence that job enrichment may sometimes cause employees to be dissatisfied…employees given additional autonomy and responsibility may expect greater levels of pay” (Principles of Management, 2005). This indicates that although job enrichment may assist in work productivity in a monotony environment, depending on the implementation structure, job enrichment may or may not be a cost effective