Health Manpower Management

Mark Christopher Hackett

1996 Health Manpower Management

doi: 10.1108/09552069610129654pmid: 10161784

The reconfiguration of the supply side of the National Health Service (NHS) has stimulated an extensive debate about the need to merge NHS Trusts to maintain viable organizations. The result has been a number of mergers across the UK. Considers the underlying advantages of mergers and their drawbacks and argues that consideration must be made to addressing the long‐term strategic direction of an organization rather than regarding mergers as ends in themselves. Undertakes an appraisal of alliances and joint partnerships as alternatives to merger. Considers the conditions necessary to create effective alliances and joint partnerships and the factors which will sustain them. Appraises these requirements in the context of the NHS Trusts, in which little detailed work has been undertaken on classifying, understanding and developing what effective alliances mean for these organizations.

Mike Dent; Elizabeth Burtney

1996 Health Manpower Management

doi: 10.1108/09552069610129663pmid: 10161779

Considers the impact of recent government policy on the organization of primary care in England and Wales. Discusses the notion and practice of “teamworking” currently in vogue, and analyses implications for doctors, nurses and managers working in/attached to general practices. Draws on the findings of a study of primary care team building which took place in a UK health authority (here referred to as “Weston”), and focuses on the experiences of four general practices as they have attempted to develop as multidisciplinary partnerships. Gives consideration to the “new managerialism” evident in the NHS and its attempt to redefine professionalism and professional autonomy.

G. Coates

1996 Health Manpower Management

doi: 10.1108/09552069610129672pmid: 10161780

Reports that performance appraisal (PA) has become an important tool in “controlling” employees in modern public industries. Little work, however, has focused on its mediation or actual practice in relation to different groups, such as women and ethnic groups. Examines the changing nature of employee management under PA in relation to how it affects the role of women in organizations. Illustrates with research, gathered from a case study in the midlands. Moves analysis beyond the individual‐collectivist tradition towards assessing the subtle control strategies now employed in the contemporary form of 1990s management. More specifically, illustrates the requirement for women to make the correct self‐presentation as a means of “getting on” and, from a managerial stance, of subordinating them. The use of a hospital case study highlights some of these issues in relation to the changes taking place in the public service sector, which faces fundamental transformations to its concept of service. Concludes that PA has seriously affected the role of women in public health organizations and that PA has seriously failed to meet the needs of women.

John Lloyd

1996 Health Manpower Management

doi: 10.1108/09552069610129681pmid: 10161781

Outlines the author’s experiences and the lessons learnt from work in the field of management training for doctors and other medical personnel. Explains the policy of using a dual approach: economic concepts and ideas in practical situations. States that by adopting this participative, problem‐solving approach and involving the discipline of economics in tandem with other skills and subjects, it addresses some of the issues which medical personnel face in their places of work.

Geoffrey C. Lloyd

1996 Health Manpower Management

doi: 10.1108/09552069610129690pmid: 10161782

Contends that as techniques to motivate, empower and reward staff become ever more sophisticated and expensive, one of the most obvious, though overlooked, ways of tapping the creativity of employees is the suggestion scheme. A staff suggestion scheme may well be dismissed as a simplistic and outdated vehicle by proponents of modern management methods, but to its owners it can be like a classic model ‐ needing just a little care and attention in order for it to run smoothly and at a very low cost. Proposes that readers should spare some time to consider introducing a suggestion scheme as an entry level initiative and a precursor to more sophisticated, elaborate and costly change management mechanisms.

Tony Proctor

1996 Health Manpower Management

doi: 10.1108/09552069610129708pmid: 10161783

Health care costs continue to rise because increased demand for services and limited budgets put pressure on resources, however efficiently they may be used. Proposes discrete event simulation as an effective tool in the search for more efficient health care systems. Looks at the application of a desktop computer simulation package to model part of a hospital subsystem. The simulation package shows how efficiency might be improved by moderating available resources and times taken to complete tasks. Maintains that the principles expounded here are applicable to many different aspects of health care management.