Introduction
The organisational structure refers the way of activities, like task coordination, task allocation, as well as supervision, are directed towards achieving the aims of the organisation. The structure of the organisation requires making it innovative, efficient as well as flexible towards achieving a sustainable competitive advantage in the industry. In this essay, the organisational structure of Happy Places is informed to identify the way their operation is coordinated and supervised. The impact of structure followed by Happy Places on their organisational culture is also discussed. Lastly, the role and responsibilities performed by each of the centre managers of Happy Places are discussed.
1. Describing the type of organisational structure used in Happy Places
Happy Places is day centre where service users, suffering from cerebral palsy, are offered social activities to help them become socially active and lead life normally without feeling isolated. The organisation is seen to follow the Divisional Organisation Structure for operating, coordinating and supervising their internal working activities. As asserted by Steiger et al. (2014), divisional organisational structure is seen to organise business activities around various geographical market with the help of service groups and organisational teams. This structure perfectly suits Happy Places as they are seen to have 4 centres of the organisation which are operated separately in 4 division of UK council which are Southwark, Lewisham, Newham and Tower Hamlets. Thus, adopting this structure helps them to develop complete set of functions for each division to operate smoothly. As mentioned by Tyler et al. (2016), division organisational structure is useful in case where the decision-making is required to be clustered at the division level to let the organisation react quickly towards managing any local condition. Thus, adopting this structure has helped Happy Places to take immediate decisions regarding any hindrances faced by individuals with cerebral palsy in executing their social activities while receiving care at their day care centres. As per Kron et al. (2016), the companies which require many regions to be operated are seen to use divisional organisational structure which adds to their advantage. Since Happy Places is also seen to have various regions to operate, thus this structure appropriately suits them. As criticised by Cummings and Worley (2014), divisional organisational culture is seen to involve high operation cost for the companies as the firms require maintaining more employees for each division who do not work for another division. Thus, using this structure may cause financial hindrances to Happy Places.
2. Explaining the way organisational structure at Happy Places is going to effect on its culture
The organisational culture is the system of shared values, assumptions and beliefs that govern the way people are going to behave within the organisation. As commented by Harper (2015), divisional organisational structure affects organisational culture to be created at a divisional level which fulfils the needs of the local market. This means that by adopting the divisional structure the organisational culture at Happy Places has the efficiency to create an impact to set separate principles of organisational operation according to the division. This is going to let Happy Places meet the needs of the service users in a specific manner according to each division of their operation. As per Islam et al. (2015), an effective organisational culture initiates with a proper vision or mission statement. The divisional organisation structure is often seen to create separate mission statement or vision for different division which may not always be related to the common vision of the organisation as a whole. Thus, in such a case confusion in Happy Places may rise as a common organisational operation is hard to be maintained since they follow divisional organisational structure.
The divisional organisational structure also sets different leadership principles according to the division of their operation. This, in turn, impacts the organisational culture where the procedures, policies as well as rules set for the employees to execute their tasks in each division of the organisation are different. Thus, in Happy Places, the rules set for the employees for a specific division may not be the same for another employee working in another division. In Lewisham, 30% individuals living in the place belong from ethnic groups whereas in Tower Hamlets it is 49.5%, in Southwark 33% and 4.9% in Newham (www.npi.org.uk 2016, www.southwarkstats.com 2018, www.newham.info 2018, www.lewishamjsna.org.uk 2018). Therefore, in Lewisham, Southwark and Tower Hamlets, since they are more ethnically diverse than its other division like Newham, the organisational culture in here require keeping a special focus on preventing creation of any discrimination on the basis of ethnicity. As a result, it may create confusion among employees when one is shifted from one division to another to work in case they are not informed of the change in policies and working procedures they require performing.
The divisional organisational structure impacts on to create difference in the rules regarding the way employees are to be rewarded in each division (Král and Králová, 2016). This means that when a certain performance measure is regarded as a reward in one centre of Happy Places it may not be the same in another centre of the organisation. Thus, this may create rivalries in different divisions of the organisation creating a competitive culture. As mentioned by Tarakci et al. (2018), internal competitive culture is effective to create better outcomes. This is because employees try to work more efficiently to out pass others for receiving rewards. As argued by Thomas (2015), rivalry as a part of organisation culture that may rise as result of competition creates hindrances in collaborative operation of tasks. Thus, as result of maintaining divisional organisational structure that creates rivalry within divisions, Happy Places may not be able to create a collaborative working culture by including all division. As per Dhillon and Gupta (2015), collaborative working culture helps to share valuable information in executing tasks in a more innovative and efficient manner. Thus, due to lack of collaboration as a result of rivalry within different divisions of Happy Places a unified development in the organisation is hard to be made. However, Happy Places is seen to identify the issues and are seen to organise collaborative meetings each week to get informed what each division is involved into.
The divisional organisational structure does have an impact on creating different symbols such as dress, office layout, artefacts and other which are the observable elements of organisational culture (Fairfield, 2016). However, in Happy Places, no such impact on observable elements of organisational culture are seen even though they abide by maintaining a divisional organisational structure. As per Flanigan (2016), language used for communication is an element of the organisational culture as it the way information is conveyed within an organisation. In divisional organisational structure, according to the geographic location of the organisation’s division, languages used for conveying information within the organisation are selected. This may in cases leads to create language barriers within organisation developing hindrances in communication among employees. However, all the division of Happy Places are located in and around the UK, thus language barriers may not be experienced in their organisational culture.
3. Discussing the role and responsibilities of each centre manager of Happy Places
The role and responsibilities of each centre manager of Happy Places are similar to most extent. The major role performed by each centre manager at Happy Places is to ensure effective management of health services by observing and supervising daily functioning of service delivery at the centre to the service users. As per Rokstad et al. (2015), effective daily supervision of the services provided to the service users are required to be maintained by the centre manager to avoid duplication or malfunctioning of the services. This is because malfunctioned services provide unsatisfactory service satisfaction to the service users that result them to show no progress in health. Since Happy Places helps to socialise people with cerebral palsy which is a mental disorder therefore inefficient services may lead to further deteriorate the health of the service users leading them to remain isolated in the society. As criticised by Laschinger and Fida (2015), centre manager, who is incapable to identify future logistic needs of the healthcare centre, cannot retain its stability. This is because effective strategic planning to resolve the hindrances to be faced are not formed and thus losses its stability due to confusion in acting to resolve encountered barriers. Therefore, each of the centre managers in Happy Places is allocated the role to develop an effective strategic planning for the future operation of the centre.
The other role to be performed by each of the centre managers at Happy Places is to have effective proficiency in technology use. As mentioned by Mort et al. (2015), proficiency in technology use is an important part of the health and social care as it assists to provide improved services to service uses as well as benefits in sharing and developing vital information related to executing improvements and innovation in healthcare. The role of each of the centre manager is to ensure service user's safety by implementing effective legislation and policies. This is because proper implementation of policies helps to maintain effective rules in coordinating services to the service users that benefits in improving their health. The other role is to execute effective data analysis by obtaining proper data regarding daily service operation in the care centre through monitoring and reviewing the working efficiency of the staffs. The fulfilment of executing the role helps a healthcare centre manager to develop effective future plans for the organisation to bring in recognition (Carayon et al. 2014). Therefore, successfully executing the role is going to let each of the centre managers of Happy Places to bring in recognition and create a better image of them in the society. This would make individuals suffering from cerebral palsy to prefer to avail services for them for their socialisation, in turn, making Happy Places to execute services in developing a better society.
Another role performed by each manager of different centre at Happy Places is to be liaison. As mentioned by Dijkstra (2017), liaison refers to the person who cooperates and communicates information that facilitates to develop an effective working relationship between people and the organisation. In Happy Places, the centre managers are provided with the role to maintain links between information both outside and inside the organisation through mail, meetings and phone calls. The centre managers are also required to perform the role of a negotiator in case of any dispute between employees. This is required so that rivalry within the employees in a single centre or between other centres do not occur as it may lead to lower the efficiency of the organisation to execute the services in an effective manner. As per Font et al. (2016), manager has to perform the role of a spokesperson that would transmit information to outsiders through memos, speeches and reports when queries are asked against the authenticated operation of the organisation. In Happy Places, this role is effectively performed by each of the centre managers to avoid rise of negative image of the company in the health and social care industry.
Various responsibilities are performed by each centre manager of Happy Places for coordinating proper execution of their services. As stated by Fossey et al. (2014), staffs working within an organisation are to be supervised effectively by the manager to let them understand the way they require to interact with the customers. Thus, in case of Happy Places, it is the responsibility of the manager to supervise their staffs regarding the way they require to interact with the cerebral palsy service users while helping to socialise them. This is required so that service users do not feel that they are neglected or taken for granted. Moreover, it the responsibility of each of the manager at Happy Places to monitor and review the working efficiency of other staffs in the healthcare centres to ensure they provide effective service quality as demanded by the service users without abusing or harming them. The other responsibility of each of the centre manager at Happy Places is to ensure safety to the service users by keeping their records confidential. As criticised by Gard and Larsson (2017), lack of confidential maintenance of data regarding mental patients makes them vulnerable to abuse or harm in the society. This is because people in the society feel that the mentally-ill patients are unable to protect themselves. Thus, it is the responsibility of the centre manager at Happy Places to use software and other protective measures to avoid leakage of any data regarding the cerebral palsy patients they are working with to socialise them.
The centre managers also had the responsibility to maintain financial stability of the centre for which they are working. This is because it is the managers who coordinate the day-to-day operations of the facility and therefore they require playing a key role in securing the finances of the establishment to avoid its downfall. As mentioned by Tracey (2016), managers at the care centres are to create reports which convey information about the daily logistics as well as long-term effect of the daily logistics on the healthcare facility. This responsibility is also performed by each of the centre managers at Happy Places so that a smooth operation of services is continued for the service users at the centre. As argued by Verleye et al. (2014), lack of proper presence of logistics often seen to hinder the service efficiency of service provider at healthcare centre. This is because equipment required for effective service delivery to service users are not available. Another responsibility of the centre manager is to preserve the integrity of the facility by creating patient’s satisfaction through services. This is done by cultivating a safe and efficient environment for the organisation.
The centre mangers are also responsible for purchasing equipment by replacing the outdated and failed ones at Happy Places. This is done by them to ensure adequate availability of healthcare supplies required to educate service users to socialise without hindrance. As per Kern et al. (2014), managers are responsible to communicate with all forms of personnel. In Happy Places, each of the centre managers play this responsibility to create a proper and efficient working environment where each of the medical and non-medical staffs has knowledge what they require to perform and what duties lie with the others. Therefore, it leads the service providers to avoid confusion in executing services. The centre manager at Happy Places is entrusted to assess problems which have raised or which may be arising in future for each centre. As mentioned by Ashurst (2015), manager requires having the efficiency in making quick decision in solving problems by using their problem-solving skills. The other responsibility of each of the centre managers at Happy Places is to enforce policies and legislation that makes the staffs work legally as well as ethically. This is because healthcare organisations in the UK are bound to follow specific rules, policies and guidelines provided by the government and NHS for avoiding malpractices and closure of the organisation.
Conclusion
The above discussion shows that Happy Places follows a divisional organisational structure so that they can effectively operate each of their centres located at various geographic locations in the UK. The impact of the organisational structure of its culture is that Happy Places is able to form service and employee operation separately for each of their centres based on the local demands and needs of the service users. However, it has led the issue to be lack of coordination in services between each of their centres which is resolved by organising weekly meetings. The key responsibilities performed by each of the centre managers at Happy Places include management of staffs, ensuring patient safety, maintaining financial stability, purchasing equipment, maintaining logistics and others.
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