Organizational Characteristics and Types of Power
For some years now, I have been working in a facility that takes care of the elderly. The organization provides assisted living programs for the elderly population. This is an alternative to nursing homing for the elderly who need assistance with their daily activities, but not 24-hour care. The facility has a strong organizational culture that helps to deliver high-quality services to the elderly population. First, the facility values flexible management which has shaped the care practice and enabled the staff members to work independently. The facility also values teamwork whereby everyone working the organization is needed to make some contribution. The organization has also developed a culture of resolving conflicts among the staff members. At the top level, there is the board of directors who also happens to be the founders of the facility. Additionally, the organization has executives who oversee the day-to-day operations of the organization. The organization is also broken into various subgroups consisting of nurses, social workers, physicians, bereavement specialists, chaplains, dieticians, and volunteers.
The formal goal of the organization is to help elderly people to live comfortably and safely as possible. This goal depends on the needs of the individual. The informal goal is to help the elderly access social and recreational activities available to the residents.
Types of Power
The power to make changes comes from various sources. There are three types of power including legitimate, coercive, and expert. Legitimate power is a conventional type of power that is obtained by the virtue of the position that a person holds. In a mathematic formula it appears like COO>VP> director> manager> analysts. The expert power is obtained through experience, knowledge, or expert a person possesses over the other people (Gabel, 2012). The expertise power helps a person to shine over the others. Finally, coercive power is considered as negative power. The power is used to persuade people to act in a certain manner.
Power can adversely affect relations between health care professionals in different disciplines. The use of power to safeguard professional independence among various disciplines has led to declined collaborations due to the reduction of interdependency among different professionals (Gabel, 2012). Additionally, the various types of power can lead to conflicts and disagreements over role boundaries hence reducing the quality of care delivered to patients. Additionally, power results in mistrust and poor communication between team members leading to accountability issues at the workplace.
References
Gabel, S. (2012). Power, leadership, and transformation: the doctor’s potential for influence. Medical Education, 1152-1160.