Management and Leadership: Structure, Staffing, and Change
Leadership versus management
Managers plan, organize, staff, direct, and control; leaders set vision and influence change. Span of control is the number of direct reports; wide spans flatten the organization. Structures include functional, divisional, matrix (dual reporting), and service line. Delegation transfers authority but not accountability.
Staffing and budgeting
FTE = total paid hours / 2,080. Productivity = units of work / paid or worked hours. Know the difference between operating and capital budgets. Variance = actual minus budget; for expenses, actual above budget is unfavorable; for revenue, actual below budget is unfavorable. Break-even analysis and cost-benefit analysis support resource decisions.
Change and quality improvement
Lewin's model is unfreeze-change-refreeze. Kotter emphasizes urgency, coalition, vision, and short-term wins. PDSA is rapid-cycle improvement; Lean targets waste; Six Sigma/DMAIC targets variation. SWOT informs strategy; SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Benchmarking compares performance with internal or external standards.
HR and traps
Know job descriptions, competencies, performance appraisals, just-cause discipline, and conflict resolution; collaborating/confronting is generally best for important issues, avoiding is worst. Traps include confusing FTEs with headcount (two part-time employees can equal one FTE), mislabeling variance direction, and assuming a matrix structure has a single reporting line.
Worked example: a unit needs 12,480 paid hours per year. FTE = 12,480 / 2,080 = 6.0.