MILTON MARGAI TECHNIC AL UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Public Health Administration, Practice and

Management
(BSPH413)

BSC (HONS) - FINAL YEAR FIRST SEMESTER

PART 1
 Lesson One.
Introduction.
Many professionals in various disciplines do keep on wondering why bother
ourselves about management. The reason for this feeling is that, it is often assumed
that anybody can perform the role of a manager. In other words, they see no need
for taking courses in management as a discipline. Perhaps this is often because
many senior- administrative officers got to such managerial Positions through the
length of period at work and through promotion. Although these assumptions may
have some basis, yet the perception is totally wrong. Nowadays, it is realized that
prudent management of resources, is the key to successful organizations and so the
knowledge of management is very fundamental as part of the training of every
professional (H.A. Akinsola; Principles of Health Administration and
Management, 2007).

In fact, one most important and vital activity of man is managing. No doubt, man
is a social being and therefore the desire to form groups to accomplish those aims
they could not achieve as individuals. In the process of achieving their aims as a
group, they saw management as being essential to ensure the coordination of their
efforts.

Nowadays, society has come to rely increasingly on group efforts, which has made
the task of managers become large, complex and of course important. Everyone,
including students and other professionals who want to improve their
understanding of the organization in which they work, will benefit from this small
management handout.
It is for people in all kinds of organizations. This is because all Managers undertake
the same basic functions irrespective of the organization to obtain results by
establishing an environment for effective and efficient performance of individuals
working together in groups to achieve the organizational goals.
By the end of this course, you will gain:

o Knowledge and skills to contribute to the services of the populations,

communities and disadvantaged groups. o the ability to apply the core
disciplines of management to the real-world problems. o a deeper understanding
of issues and an academic qualification that will enhance your career
development in management and related fields.
 Lesson Two.
Definition of Management.
According to Collins English Dictionary (1981), management is defined as the
technique, practice or science of managing or controlling an organization; the
resourceful use of materials, time or the human resources of an organization. In
management, the focus is on how to efficiently utilize the inputs ie. The resources
including the materials, time, infrastructures and personnel to carry out the process
that will result into an output ie. The end result or products and services.
The following definitions of management can help us understand the nature of
the term and the its significance.

l. Management is a process of designing and maintaining an environment

in which people, working together in groups, accomplish selected aims
(Adeleke, 2004).
2. Management is the process of getting things done through people (Fallot,
1941).
3. Management is concerned with the process of planning; organizing,
controlling, leading and coordinating the efforts of organizational
members and the use of other resource to achieve given organizational
goals. Management in an organization means to coordinate the efforts of
people to accomplish goals and objectives using available resources
efficiently and effectively. Management comprises planning, organizing,
staffing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization or initiative
to accomplish a goal.
Management as a discipline is not as easy as one may imagine. A very good
Surgeon Specialist for instance, who is promoted to a managerial level of being
Medical Superintendent of a hospital, will only rely on luck and providence if
he has no basic managerial background. His surgical skills and knowledge in
anatomy or physiology will be absolutely useless to him in his new assignment.
Similarly, a very good Geography Teacher, who is promoted to the post of a
Head Teacher or Principal of a School but has no managerial background, will
equally only rely on luck and providence, as his knowledge in Geography will
not help manage the school well.

In effect, management could be considered as both an art and a science in its

right. To be an effective Manager, one need skills as distinct as those of any,
other profession. In other words, management, like all other disciplines,
medicine, law, engineering and others, is about doing things that reflect the
 realities of the situation, which makes it as a practice, an art. And in order to do
things that reflect the realities of the situation, one needs some organized skills and
knowledge and it is these organized skills and knowledge underlying the practice
that are referred to as a science. In the context of management, science and art are
not mutually exclusive but complementary.
A manager, without the formal fundamentals of management as a discipline,
thus relying on luck and providence, is like a doctor without the advantage of
sciences, who is only a little more than a witch doctor.

In effect, the main responsibility of a manager is to facilitate the attainment of

organizational objectives. A Manager gives guidance and effective leadership to staff and
controls their efforts towards achieving a common goal. An efficient Manager is the one
that delegates authority and follows it up with effective supervision and monitoring. In
other words, a Manager does not try to do all the work himself. In management, time is
considered an important resource that needs to be managed well like all other resources.

The Three Golden Rules of Management.

As soon as you ask someone else to do something, rather than undertaking it
yourself, you become a Manager. We rely on people to perform the task in the way
we would do ourselves if we have the time, knowledge, skill and patience. At its
simplest, there are three fundamental rules, otherwise known as the golden rules of
Management to be followed when working through people.

The three golden rules for managing people are:

I. Agree expectations.
2. Ensure skills and resources.
3. Feedback.
Rule 1: Agree Expectations.
Unless people know what is expected of them, they are unlikely to achieve it.
We need to agree with people just what it is we expect them to achieve and
how. If for instance you intend to engage the services of a Cleaner either in your
Office or Home, you probably must tell him/her what exactly you would want
him/her to do. However very often, we employ people and without telling them
exactly what is expected of them, we rely on the professional tag they wear And
when our notions of what is ever professional tag may mean does not coincide
with our expectations, we blame them.

In recent time, job descriptions have greatly improved and as a result, they
have become a useful basis for a discussion of this kind. Reaching agreement
requires both parties to express their views. Often at work, talking together and
meeting lace-to-face is really the only way to observe rule l. What is more, it
will be necessary to have regular discussions to check that both parties are in
agreement.

Rule 2: Ensure Skills and Resources.

Once people know what we expect of them, we must ensure that both parties
are confident that they can achieve it, that they have the knowledge, skills and
resources required. Mind you, in observing rule 2, some people may give an
overconfident assertion that they have the required skills, while some may feel
unsure of' their abilities. To be able to diagnose properly if any of such
situations apply, you will need to spend time with your staff, observing the
skills they use, the reasoning they employ and the way they deploy their
resources including their time. If for any reason you are unable to assess their
skills because they are technical and outside your own area of expertise, then
you will need to seek Specialist advice. But this of course must be discussed
the Staff Member involved. Although Management is about trust, yet
Managers failing to assess their staff, often do not have trust but hope.

Rule 3: Feedback
Once people know what is expected of them and have the skills and resources
to achieve it, then there is need for them to receive regular feedback on
whether they are on the right track. This will enable them to increase their
effort in one or more areas if necessary. The importance of giving a feedback
cannot be over emphasized, it is receiving feedback, either expressed or
observed, that people improve their skills, develop and grow. We therefore
owe a feedback to the people we are working with, especially those we are
managerially responsible for. A Feedback must be given to them to enable
them to progress.

However, it must be borne in mind that the way a feedback is given, makes
the difference. Criticism may be so wounding that instead of enabling the
recipient to change and grow, it robs him/her off the confidence to attempt any
change and this situation can often exacerbate the problem.

Organizational Management.
Organizational Management is based on the concept of how organizations
function with reference to:
 a) Organizational Structure.
b) The process of Leadership.
c) Change Management.
d) Teamwork.
The structure of any organization consists of units and functions. These units
and functions contain positions in which job holders are accountable for
achieving results. In between these positions, relationships exist which require
the exercise of an authority and an exchange of information. There is what is
generally referred to as a “chain of command” which starts from the top defining
a hierarchy of positions, indicating who is accountable to whom and for what.

Is Management a simple Thing?

Management is not, by any stretch of imagination as simple as it may be imagined.
Imagine for instance, that you are not a Medical Doctor but that you are put in
charge of a critically skilled based health facility. How likely is it that you could
manage that facility effectively? Keeping in mind the fact that you are managing
highly skilled professionals you are not part of. Mind you, effective management
practices can transform an inefficient organization into a more productive one and
similarly, bad management practices can transform a productive organization into
an inefficient one. A bad Manager, who lacks the fundamental of management as
a discipline, Will be going the wrong direction and doing so efficiently.

Good management is vital if an organization is to be successful and effective.

Management is one big advantage any organization can have. It is not just a matter
of seniority but a matter of acquiring skills and "practicalizing" those skills.

Today, views are different. Many Technical Schools and Universities now provide
Courses for Planners and Managers. As a result, there are increasing numbers of
Planning Professionals, many of whom are Doctors, Nurses, economist and even
Public Health Specialists. However, although these courses help to develop skills in
the technical aspects, such as Cost Benefit analysis, yet they do not always help
Planners to understand how Professionals and Beneficiaries think and relate to each
other.
The Theory of Management.
It is quite appropriate to know what a theory is, before you can confidently discuss its
processes and other important issues about it. In this respect therefore, I will suggest we
know what a theory is before we go to look at the actual processes involved.
Homans an outstanding scholar of management, defined theory as a systematic
grouping of interdependent concepts and principles that give a framework to or
tie-together a significant area of knowledge. A theory according to Homans is, "A
set of pigeonholes or a filing cabinet, in which facts are accumulated and nothing
is more lost, than a loose fact."
You must realize however, that naturally, theories reflect the thinking and attitudes
of their time but at any rate, they still tend to have a lot of influence on today’s
organizational methods and ideas.

Management theories can be classified into three distinct categories, as follows:

1. Scientific or Classical Management Theory.

2. human Relations Management.
3. Open Systems Approach.

Scientific Approach.
According to Frederick Winslow Taylor, it was proposed that Scientific Approach or
classical management Theory focuses on fundamental principles, which he thought
were the underlying facts that could be appropriately applied to any organization.
The main principle of Taylor's Classical or Scientific Theory was the replacement
of custom and the rule of thumb by the application of scientific methods, which
could yield productivity without the expenditure of more human energy and effort.
Taylor believed that with division of labor, that is dividing a piece of work into its
actual constituent parts, productivity can be increased and there will be a rise in
the pay of the workers as well.

Taylor's aim was to increase the efficiency of production methods, not just to lower
organizational cost and increase production but also to enable the workers to
increase their earning wages, it can conclusively be said that the scientific
approach to management focused more on organizational structure.

Human Relations Approach.

According to Emile Durkheim, a French Sociologist (1825-1917), further propounded
by Elton Mayo (1880-1949), the Human Relations Approach

focused more on the people doing the work in the organization. Human Relations
was about the social needs of the people, their motivation and behavior, The point
made in this approach was that workers could become highly motivated by being
part of a social working group and by being consulted by management about
changes in work practices.

Open Systems Approach.

This approach does not focus only on one aspect of an organization, like the
scientific or human relations approaches. The systems approach is focused on the
organization as one complete entity, that is the people, structure, environment
and technology, The organization is seen as a collection of interrelated and
interacting part, which is viewed as a whole.

The Open Systems theory dictates that all organizational elements, people,
structure, environment and technology have to be considered as a cohesive whole
and not as separate items. It can either be opened or closed. Open system interacts
with its external environments, while a closed system is regarded as a self-
supporting from within.

This introductory has dealt with the definition of management as organizing

groups in order to work together towards common goals. Various management
theories and how they have developed over the years, from the one-dimensional
scientific approach, through to the multi-dimensional systems approach are
thinly discussed. Now we are to look at crucial management processes, which together
constitute management as a discipline.