Assignment 1
My aim for this assignment is to provide useful advice as to how the directors of Paramount healthcare can improve efficiency, productivity and quality in their organisation. The management syndicate which owns Paramount wish to establish them as an independent, quality healthcare service. Their first target is to achieve the ISO9003 standard within the next twelve months. Unfortunately Paramount suffers from a great number of problems, and in order to achieve their stated goal they will have to address these issues immediately or they will fail to accomplish their aim.
The majority of Paramount's problems stem from the treatment of their workforce. While this is not entirely Paramount's fault (having inherited a legacy of bad employee / employer relations from Polaris), it is my belief that if the management can effectively address this issue then they will have a good chance of achieving their goal.
The main problems facing Paramount are:
A high staff turnover
Staff unrest
A high rate of post operation complaints
Flexibility confusion
Bureaucratic Dysfunction
Over tasking
Loss of Performance / Controls
Background work not being done
High ratio of patient to complaints
Increase in staff workload
Judicious use of non standard contracts
Paramount's high staff turnover is one of its biggest problems, and many of its other troubles occur as a direct consequence of this.
Robert K. Merton
Paramount Pictures Studio Tours
front facade of the paramount theater, an Art Deco...High turnover rates mean that the hospital may end up replacing practically its entire direct service workforce each year. It may also adversely affect the quality of care provided to individuals served by the hospital. When one takes into account the cost of recruiting, screening, and training replacement workers, it becomes clear that this is almost certainly one of the reasons why hospital wages haven't been increased in the last four years. I believe that a major source of...