A management action plan (MAP) is a document used in project management as a tool that outlines the steps and procedures needed to be taken to achieve a certain project’s goal. Therefore, the desired outcomes should not fall short of whatever objective was envisioned in the MAP. A well-designed action plan should make it easier for the organization or an individual to track and realize their goals. The clear path to success should take into account the capabilities of the organization, the resources available the infrastructure in place in terms of management, and policies lined out by the organization (MacDonald, 2003). Without taken context out of the listed aspects, then the action plan would be wishful, unrealistic and unattainable. For instance, an action plan that has laid out the process for an organization to achieve globalization in six months.
Healthcare organizations have regulations and policies that govern and guide them. They are easy to manipulate when trying to formulate and implement action plans despite some of the regulations and policies being longstanding organizational traditions. The political elements and legislative procedures stipulated by the government, on the other hand, have to be abided by and cannot be subjected to change by healthcare. The organization has to appropriate for any changes that the legislature or political players may make when the action plan is in play. The architects of the MAP need to work with stakeholders on the side of the government to avoid surprises to their plans that can either set back the plan or render it useless.
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The action plan is set on three levels through which the goal is to be achieved. The first level is strategic and encompasses the entire institution. The second level is administrative, which specifies allocations of resources to internal institutional units and addresses how the resources will trickle down to the operational level. The third and final level is the operational level, which accounts for the technical core that handles the day to day operations of the organization (Shah et al., 2019). Through the levels in which the Achieve the set-out goals set out in the MAP that has to be in line with organizational growth, employee and customer satisfaction. At the strategic level, the organization plans to achieve growth of the institution in terms of its financial performance. Administratively, the sector seeks to improve employee retention as well as promote customer experience. Finally, at the last operational level, the sector plans to improve the quality and safety of both staff and clients.
Setting goals is an easy task. It entails creating a plan detailing the process through which the institution can achieve its goals is challenging, and implementing the plan is even more daunting. Setting an action plan involves several steps like setting SMART goals, creating a list of actions that will get the institution to its goals, set a timeline and then designate resources (Kadandale et al., 2016). Monitoring and evaluations come once the plan is in play. During the running of the plan, the organization must propagate different benchmark and checks exercise to gauge whether the hospital is moving in the right direction in achieving its goals.
Total Quality Management standards must be set initially to guide the institution on whether the right quality procedures are being practiced. Quality will help with standardization. Regular periodic checks followed up by brainstorming meetings should assist the management to closely monitor the progress of the action plan before it strays too far. Feedback from all relevant employee departments should also be frequently adopted, coupled with those from the customer. The feedback is a great dipstick to ascertain whether the business is heading in the right direction. If not, then the phenomenon allows it to make changes and forge the right way.
The action plan is a long agenda that might last for years, but more importantly, it is a quest to change what most workers would have considered normal. Change is not an attribute that is welcomed by the majority of staff. With the initial planning of the action plan, a leader must think that change must be resisted in its initial stage. Therefore, they have to account for the work that will go into swaying staff and customers to accept the changes. Another constraint is cultural diversity may play a role in introducing friction to the plan. It is something that also has to be put into consideration. Resources for facilitating the plan can become limited before the plan, even commence or management may no like the aspects about it and shut down the person developing the plan.
References
Kadandale, S., Rajan, D., & Schmets, G. (2016). Strategizing national health in the 21st century: a handbook . World Health Organization.
Shah, A., Terjesen, S., Reece, M., White, M. A., Leduc, L. M., Parboteeah, K. P., … Cortes, A. H. (2019, March 20). Types of Plans . Principles of Management. https://opentextbc.ca/principlesofmanagementopenstax/chapter/types-of-plans/.
MacDonald Théodore. (2003). The social significance of health promotion . Routledge.