O Staff Individual Map The Staff example essay topic

... mrs contracted 20 hrs per week who are mostly student giving a total of 455 hours whereas the expected care hours are (72 hrs 7 days) 504 hrs. The company has a pool of relief staff who can work in any home. Two seniors are on long term sickness due to injury at work hence a shortage of 70 hrs a week. Until recently the home was allowed to use agency up to a maximum of 50 hrs per week and this has been scrapped from Dec 04 (kite Update 2004) and staff are encouraged to do overtime as the clients need regular staff that understand them and know their routines.

More work loads leads to stressed staff whose morale will be affected and this in turn affects their performance and absenteeism will increase leading to inefficient Quality of Care provided. Every shift needs at least a staff who can give medication, a driver and both male and female staff due to cross -gender policy (Care Practice Manual 2004). When a key staff phones sick without notice this will disrupt activities of the day. For one, if it was the only female staff on duty a female cover must be sort and this disrupts the day's schedule. If it's the driver then client's outdoor activities have either to be rearranged or a taxi used depending on how important it is and if there is enough money. For a medication giver this is crucial and staff off duty especially the manager has to come in or a senior from another Milbury home has to come in.

In the home only seniors are allowed to administer medication hence the regular staffs don't feel empowered and this affects morale and their commitment to the job. The company used to pay sick-pay but since April 2003 this was replaced by the Government Statutory Sick pay to discourage people phoning sick but this has not stopped people calling in sick. This shows that absenteeism may just be a symptom of an underlying problem. The researcher will need to interview staff and management so as to find out the root problem as this affects the delivery of Quality Care. 3.0 SOFT SYSTEM METHODOLOGY (SSM) The behaviour of human activity is soft since different people construe a problem in quite different ways hence Absenteeism is viewed as a pluralist problem.

SSM Methodology is concerned with the question why? before moving on to how? Brainstorming would be a good start where the researcher will act as consultant working within a system to try and find out the root problem. SSM compares what happens in the 'real world' that is, day-to-day human interactions &business with abstracts derived from the real world to see how the variance can be minimise d. SSM uses Rich Pictures to capture information relating to the problem including communication flows, documentation maintained and by using cartoon pictures one can express emotions, conflict / harmony between co-workers. It gives a holistic view of the problem which will be useful in expressing the problem. Using the rich pictures one can develop Root definition which are interpretation of view-points of different people (Pidd 2003).

Lack of empowerment may be the main reason give by a support worker whereas increased work load is the main reason from senior point of view. SSM is a good approach as it helps analyse the situation and is action oriented through root definition but it represents how the researcher / consultant understands what is happening and this may lack validity as it may not be what the participants meant. The open ended nature makes it impossible to manage and it's not easy to tell whether a SSM project is a success or a failure. 3.1 COGNITIVE MAPPING & STRATEGIC OPTION DEVELOPMENT AND ANALYSIS (SODA) Cognitive Mapping is an interviewing technique that captures the individual's perception about an issue and is present it in a diagrammatical method, which uses the person's words to describe an experience (Eden 1988, Wright 2004). SODA I involves merging of the individual cognitive maps to one strategic map which is action oriented. The group aims to come up with concrete suggestions on how to generate commitment from individuals.

This is the aim of SODA I, which seeks ways to make the team commit to the joint actions despite any differences in perceptions. Through merging the maps the staff are able to see others' point of view which may be similar or different and the group can decide together how to go about prioritizing issues and solving the problem. Hence mapping must precede discussion and decisions. A picture can say more than a thousand words (Doumont 2002) hence it's easy to understand how different concepts are linked together and to establish the causal link. By involving the participants when drawing the maps, dilemmas, feedback loops and conflicts can be distinguished. With the chaining of arrows and linkages it may help one understand better how the chains of argument fit in.

Also any misconceptions can be clarified and any missed out ideas included. Maps allow the reader to move back and fourth between an understanding of the whole and the analysis of parts thus encourages holistic synthesis. The interviewees can validate that you are reporting what they actually said and any misconceptions are clarified. Interviews using cognitive maps help facilitate data collection especially in those problems which involve messy and internal issues like poor management style, personality clash between staff, difficult clients or rota system. The group would have to agree on issues so as to develop causes of actions to tackle absenteeism as this is one of the assumptions of cognitive maps (Pidd 2003). Cognitive mapping thus tries to solve problems rather than seeking the right answer.

This can help the organisation identify factors that can give them a competitive edge. A problem shared is a problem half solved hence people sharing their views will help them bring out issues that maybe affecting their job performance so language will be used as the basic currency of organisational problem solving (Eden and Ackermann 1998). 4.0 BUILDING A MODEL 4.1 Power-Interest Grid The Power -Interest Grid categories stakeholders in terms of power to influence the Strategic Intent and Interest in the strategic activity of the organization as shown below; POWER -INTEREST GRID Table 1 Support Workers Coalition (Observers) Line Manager Senior Support Workers Operations Manager HR Manager Players) Relief Staff Agency Staff (Indifferent) Care Standards Commission (Independent) LOW POWER HIGH Power Players (High power: High Interest) The line manager according to (Sickness Policy Manual 2004) has to ensure high level of attendance of employees and has the power to exercise action where an employee does not improve on attendance. Where a disciplinary action is needed the Operations manager and HR manager must be involved. The senior Support Workers are involved in decision making on issues that affect the running of the home. Some of their roles can de delegated to support workers hence the seniors powers can be reduced making them Observers. o Observers (High Interest: Low Power) The support workers would have a high interest in ensuring that the clients get proper care but they lack the power to change issues that affect their working conditions.

By empowering the staffs they can form a coalition and move towards being players thus have a say in decision making. Through cognitive mapping their individual perceptions will be taken into consideration. o Indifferent (Low Interest: Low Power) The relief staff and agency staff are not employed directly by the home hence not involved in any strategic issues. o Independent (Low Interest: High Power) The care Standards Commission set out regulations to guide the running of Care Homes and have the power to close homes if they fall below the standards but have no stake in the individual Homes. From the grid we see that it's the players and the Observers that are important stakeholders who can make strategic decisions to improve the Home and tackle the problem of Absenteeism. 4.2 COGNITIVE MAPPING & SODA The researcher will act as a facilitator and adopt SODA I methodology where a group map will be derived from individual maps. The facilitator interviewed the manager, senior support workers and a support worker about the issue of absenteeism and how to tackle the problem and how it impacted on the Quality of care provided. o Staff Individual Map (see appendix i) The staff gave sickness, family commitments, transport, and Job dissatisfaction as the main reasons for absenteeism and these had an effect on the services they provided. Job dissatisfaction is a strategic issue and is caused by different factors ranging from low pay, lack of empowerment, no specific job roles and poor management practice which seemed to be the root problem.

Sickness also leads to absenteeism whether it's genuine or not is not easy to establish. Proper training and demonstrating how to use the equipments would aid reduce injury at work. o Manager's Cognitive Map (see appendix ii) The manager said that providing High Quality Care is the main objective of the Company hence staff shortage due to difficulty in recruitment given the nature of the job is a strategic issue that needs addressing. To attract new recruits the company needs to offer competitive pay and offer training and development so as to retain staff. Absenteeism was also a strategic issue.

Lack of job commitment from staff who are students, lack of team work due to seniors taking advantage of others and no specified job role leads to low morale and eventually absenteeism. The Manager needs to keep statistics of absenteeism and take appropriate action where. o Senior's Cognitive Map (see appendix ) The senior said that genuine sickness and 'sickies', injury at work due to lack of appropriate equipment and training contribute to Absenteeism. Shortage of seniors, lack of teamwork and lack of control on the Rota which is's altered by anybody encourages shifts cancellation. The manager needs to take charge of the Rota and any changes should be approved by him. o Strategic / Group Map (see appendix iv) The facilitator held a group meeting on the day there was a staff meeting so as to capture many of the staff and management and they discussed the issue of absenteeism. The group agreed that the management style needed to be addressed as it was the bottom line of absenteeism. The senior's roles needed to be re-evaluated to give the other staff a chance.

Team work will boost morale and encourage commitment from all. Work load will be equally distributed hence minimise job stress. An absence monitoring system will help manager see trends of individual staff which might help bring out the root cause. Good attendance should be rewarded regularly every 6 months with cash or gift vouchers. To reduce injury at work Risk assessments should be done on all clients and procedures written and accessible to all staff.

Correct equipment and training should also be implemented. There should be a 'No Lifting Policy 'so as to minimise injury. 5.0 LIMITATIONS OF THE MODELo Time Consuming It takes a lot of time to create the maps and is labour consuming o Aggregating the individual Maps Some points were not easy to be brought out as they touched individuals hence the facilitator needs to be skilled and sensitive. o How large or how detailed the maps need to be o Diversity among maps and inconsistency within a single map indicates complicated interpretation (Lincoln 1985 cited in Huff 1990) o Reducing all the data collected was a problem. It could have been easier to use the e SODA II approach but the Home does not have a computer and the software was not available. o Deciding what aspects of the individual maps to include and which ones to depict e.g. lack of transport was not brought out in the group discussion and may be excluded but its an important factor. o Lack of experience as a facilitator Interviewing the individuals, writing their answers and drawing the maps using their words was a difficult task. Also maintaining Validity was not easy. o The problem writing the interviewees exact words may lead to verbatim especially where they keep repeating themselves. As a facilitator one need to pick this out and this requires skill and expertise. o In the group discussion some staff felt uncomfortable to mention issues especially those that mentioned the management and seniors hence the information given is biased. o In the group it's not easy to maintain the hierarchical of links that were present in the individual maps. o If minutes are needed the non-linear representation makes it hard to write up conventionally textual minutes.

6.0 PAPER- BASED MONITORING SYSTEM Co. aims to provide high standard Quality Care to the client group in the market, Develop a high Quality Team and to promote a culture that supports good communication. From the group discussion certain action were recommended and the question is how to ensure they are implemented. Factors influencing Absenteeism Change management practices This is the root problem where the senior staff have been treated as superior to other staff. Most of them have been in the house for over 10 years hence used to routine. They should be transferred to other houses as they will be resistant to change. This would create vacant roles which can be filled in by promoting the existing support workers who will be empowered, given responsibilities and targets to achieve.

Monthly reviews should be done to check progress done by individuals and the team as a whole. o Absence Monitoring System The Manager should have a monitoring system which records the Name, date, day, reason for absence notice given for absence (see appendix v) as a sample. Here staff A has a tendency of cancelling Saturdays though they give various reasons. This should be done on a monthly basis and summaries done to give a trend. The manager should hold informal interviews with the staff after he / she resumes work especially those with patterns like A to try end establish the reasons for their maybe they don't like working Saturdays.

They could be offered other days or every other Saturday if it is compulsory. Frequent short term absences which include 15 working days absence in a rolling 12 month period or 4 separate periods of absence in a rolling 12 month period (Milbury Sickness Procedure 2004) will lead to a Formal interview and eventually Disciplinary Action if no improvement. Where the staff is on long term sick worst case scenario is to retire them on medical grounds and seek to recruit new staff to fill in the vacancies. o Injury at work To ensure correct equipments are used especially the hoist a risk assessment should be done on how to handle the hoist and all staff should read and sigh after being showed how to use it. A 'No Lifting Policy's should be adopted and anybody seen Manual Handling should be summoned. Mandatory training should be adopted and reviewed yearly. o Absenteeism and its effect on Care The clients require 24-7 care hence its important to have a regular staff team.

There are Autistic clients who like routine and if disrupted it makes then anxious and challenging. When a staff cancels a shift, cover might not be readily available making the staff on duty work more and they will not have enough time to give each client attention. This is not fair on the client who might not understand why. The over worked staff will also feel demoralized and this affects their performance. We can therefore conclude that Absenteeism is directly related to Quality of Care.

7.0 CONCLUSION From the findings we can conclude that Absenteeism affects the Quality of care given to the clients and is directly related to poor management practises. By involving staff in decision making this empowers them and they will be committed. REFERENCESo BBC News (2002) 'More Workers taking "Sickies" ' [online] (cited 2 December 2004) Available from web news/3741275. st mo Doumont JD (2002) 'Verbal Versus Visual: A Word is worth a Thousand Pictures too', Technical Communications, 49: 2,219-224 o Eden C L and Ackermann F (1992) Strategy Development and Implementation: The Role of a Group Decision Support System'. In Bostrom, R P, Kinney, S T and Watson, R (Eds), Computer Augmented Teamwork: A Guided Tour.

Van Nostrand Reinhold, New Yorko Haswell, M (2003) 'Absenteeism' Management Services. Enfield, 47: 12, 16 o Hendry J, Johnson G and Newton J (1993) Strategic Thinking: Leadership and the Management of Change, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester o Huxham C (1996) Creating Collaborative Advantage, Sage Publication Ltd, Londono McHugh M (2002) 'The Absence Bug: A treatable Infection?' Journal of Managerial Psychology, Bradford, 17: 7/8,722 o Pidd M (2003) Tools for Thinking: Modelling in Management Science (2nd Ed), John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichestero Poirier W (2003) Canadian HR Reporter. Toronto, 16: 20, 18 o Sue S (2003) 'Beyond Performance Indicators' Australian Bulletin of Labour. Adelaide, 29: 2,143 o Wright R (2004) 'Top Managers Strategic Cognitions of the Strategy Making Process: differences between High and Low performing Firms, Journal of General Management, 30: 1, 61-78

Bibliography

o BBC News (2002) 'More Workers taking "Sickies" ' [online] (cited 2 December 2004) Available from web news/3741275.
st mo Doumont JD (2002) 'Verbal Versus Visual: A Word is worth a Thousand Pictures too', Technical Communications, 49: 2,219-224 o Eden C L and Ackermann F (1992) Strategy Development and Implementation: The Role of a Group Decision Support System'.
Adelaide, 29: 2,143 o Wright R (2004) 'Top Managers Strategic Cognitions of the Strategy Making Process: differences between High and Low performing Firms, Journal of General Management, 30: 1, 61-78.