An Operations Manager’s Role in a Hospital

Subject: Administration and Regulation
Pages: 4
Words: 937
Reading time:
4 min
Study level: Master

Introduction

An operation manager is one among the different managers in any organization who deals with the daily running of the organization through the planning of the organization’s activities to ensure they run effectively and efficiently and also to direct and coordinate the staff to ensure proper communication channel in the organization. They are the persons responsible for implementing the existing policies in the organization (Meyler et al., 2008)

The operations manager has various responsibilities in the organization, which includes ensuring top quality services, ensuring effectiveness and efficiency in the daily operations to minimize cost and maximize the benefits in the organization, ensuring that there is a harmonious relationship in all departments so as to improve the communication within the company, setting targets for the staff members and ensuring that the targets are met, developing a working schedule for the staff members, overseeing that the operations of the organization remain within the set financial budget and also to coordinating with other managers to formulate organizational policies which enable the company to achieve the vision of the organization. Operations in any business revolve around all departments such as manufacturing, purchasing, sales, among others (Price, Mueller, and Fenstermacher, 2007)

Operations Manager and Material Management

Material management is defined as the organizing, controlling, and planning of the activities that are basically concerned with the material flow in any company in connection to the communication flow or channel in the same organization. The objectives of the material management are to acquire goods and services that are of standard value by all means meaning they should be quality products, they should be in the stated volume or quantity, and they should be delivered when they are required, meaning that the timing should be perfect. Management material aims at obtaining the right product incurring the lowest cost possible, maintaining a good relationship with their suppliers so as to create an attitude to obtain products at low prices and receive better services, participate in sales and purchases decisions, and keep proper records for easier auditing (Meyler et al., 2008)

In a hospital setting, it is the role of the operations manager to ensure that staff scheduling is done, solving arising issues and conflicts between employees, ensuring that the formulated policies are executed, monitor the use of finances in the hospital, be able to organize the running of the hospital such that there is always enough technical staff and also the subordinating staff. In some hospitals, the operation managers are responsible for the hiring of new staff. They should also ensure general hospital maintenances in terms of provision of the right materials at the right time, cleanliness, repairs, and general hospital development. The operations manager in a hospital ensures that quality services are offered to patients and that there are excellent patient results. They also implement recovery modes by proper planning of concepts (Price, Mueller, and Fenstermacher, 2007)

The possible constraints the hospital may experience in its supply chains can best be understood through the comparison between the log marshaling process and the process of patients waiting. Marshaling is seen as the distribution chain turned down. Marshalling produces similar end results. Infrequency is a common trait in the process. The end-user of a product can not be supplied by one supply node on itself because the end-user uses the product at a higher rate than the supply of a single node. In hospitals, the doctor seems to be the producer of the stock for the patients, who are in this setting the system, picked randomly and also in single units (Meyler et al., 2008). Here we get a relationship of many to many. The constraints here are the fact that the process is expensive. There is a tendency to lose the output in the system whenever intervention for the patient is required because intervention can not be stored for use other than when it is required. We, therefore, need to use every available opportunity in carrying out an intervention when we want to fully exploit a system (Price, Mueller, and Fenstermacher, 2007).

Collaborative Planning

The collaborative planning process involves the management of all the activities, which includes the production, purchasing, and forecasting of the demands.

The implementation of the collaborative planning process ensures that there is the provision of quality healthcare and the safety of patients. It also enables them to plan for future funding in the accomplishment of the implemented activities such as the general development, infrastructure and investing in quality research that helps in the improved communication thus improved decisions (Meyler et al., 2008).

Disaster Management

The supply chain involves the management of transportation, the delivery of products to where they are required at the right time, storage, among others, and at the same time ensuring cost-effectiveness and also making sure that the human life at stake is taken care of. It is recommended that all the hospitals have big boxes for the medical supplies. Other basic necessities are also very important in the recovery process. Thus enough resources to be used in case of a disaster.

The management should ensure come up with improved methods that are cost-effective and that improve the level of security, and also the hospital management should learn strategies and techniques to manage the assets (Price, Mueller and Brad Price, Fenstermacher, 2007).

Conclusion

In conclusion, operation management plays a major role in hospital management. The inefficiency of it may lead to poor performance in the hospital, thus risking the human life involved. Human life also requires very basic needs for its survival; hence any hospital should be well equipped to cater for emergencies even in cases of disaster.

References

Meyler, K., Fuller, C., Joyner, J., & Dominey, A. (2008). System Center Operations Manager 2007 Unleashed. Australia: Sams.

Price, B., Mueller, J. P & Fenstermacher, S. (2007). Mastering System Center Operations Manager 2007. California, CA: Sybex.