Non-hospital organizations mainly differ from hospital organizations in the sense that most of the former are non-profit making organizations and their services cover larger population than hospital organizations do. In addition, non-hospital organizations mainly offer the following services: education, research, and advocacy. Owing to these attributes, means of improving productivity for non-hospital organizations differ slightly from those applied in hospital settings.
The first step in improving productivity in non-hospital organization is to establish a small span of control (Kudyba, 2010). This implies that supervisors at different positions in the organization’s hierarchy should be able to effectively be in charge of departments they head. In most hospital organizations supervisors are managers in charge of departments within one premise. On the other hand, supervisors in non-hospital organizations are usually in charge of larger geographical region. Therefore, while the size of a department should be manageable for the department manager in a hospital, a given geographical area should not be too large to be managed by one supervisor in the case of non-hospital organizations.
Faster information flow is also important in improving productivity. Non-hospital organizations usually target population rather than individuals. One way of measuring their level of productivity is by determining the size of population that efforts of employees change. This can effectively achieved through application of technology. Information intended to for many people should be passed through an effective channel accessible by many people at any given time. This is done in a different manner from how it is done in a hospital setting. For instance, communication in hospital setting is more effective through the use of phones. On the other hand, information intended for a population is best passed through websites, television programs, or radio programs.
Productivity can also be improved by recognizing the efforts made by employees whenever improved output is realized. Everybody would like to be appreciated for their efforts. Therefore, an organization should constantly offer performance rewards to employees based on the level of effort they put towards increasing output.
References
Kudyba, S. (2010). Healthcare informatics: Improving efficiency and productivity. Boca Raton: CRC Press.
