© 2006 Thomson-Wadsworth Chapter 19 Managing Community Nutrition Programs

© 2006 Thomson-Wadsworth

Chapter 19

Managing Community Nutrition Programs


Learning Objectives

• Differentiate between strategic and operational planning.

• Describe the four functions of management.

• Describe methods to coordinate an organization’s activities.

• Outline methods for obtaining peak performance from employees.


Introduction

• Community nutritionists must be good planners and managers.

• Management - the process of achieving organizational goals through planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.


The Four Functions of Management

• Planning - the forward-looking aspect of a manager’s job and it involves setting goals and objectives, and deciding how best to achieve the goals and objectives.

• Organizing - focuses on distributing and arranging human and nonhuman resources so that plans can be carried out successfully.


The Four Functions of Management

• Leading - influencing others to carry out the work required to reach the organization’s goals.

• Controlling - the function that regulates certain organizational activities to ensure that they meet established standards and goals.


Planning

• Involves deciding what to do and when, where, and how to do it.

• Focuses on future events and finding solutions to problems.

• Planning is ongoing.


Planning

• Types of Planning– Strategic planning - long-term

planning that addresses an organization’s overall goals.


Planning – Types

• Strategic planning (continued)– Occurs over a period of several years,

and includes:• Formulating objectives• Assessing past, current, and future

conditions and events• Evaluating the organization’s strengths

and weaknesses• Making decisions about the appropriate

course of action


Planning – Types

• Strategic planning (continued)– Typically done by senior managers.– Guides development of the

operational plans.


American Dietetic Association Strategic Plan,

2004–2008• Mission• Vision• Values• Strategic Goals


Planning – Types

• Operational planning - short-term planning that focuses on the activities and actions required to meet the organization’s goals.– Deals with specific actions,

expenditures, and controls and with the timing of these activities in a formal, structured process.

– Typically done by midlevel managers.


Planning – Types

• Project management - coordinates a set of limited-scope activities around a single program or intervention.– Requires setting goals and objectives and

outlining the project’s critical path•Critical path - the series of tasks and

activities that will take the longest time to complete.


Organizing

• The process by which carefully formulated plans are carried out.

• Managers arrange and group human and nonhuman resources into workable units to achieve organizational goals.

• Organizing function includes:– Organization structures– Job design and analysis– Human resource management


Organization Structures

• The formal pattern of interactions and activities designed by management to link the tasks of employees to achieve the organization’s goals.



• In developing structure, managers consider the following:– How to assign tasks and

responsibilities.– How to define jobs.– How to group individual employees to

carry out certain tasks.– How to institute mechanisms for

reporting on progress.



• Organization charts– Give employees information about the

major functions of departments, relationships among departments, channels of supervision, lines of authority, and certain position titles within units.

– Help establish lines of communication and procedures.

– Do not depict rigid systems.


Nontraditional Organization Chart



• Departmentalization - the manner in which employees are clustered into units, units into departments, and departments into divisions or other larger categories.



• Departmentalization (continued)– Span of control - the number of

subordinates who report directly to a specific manager.

– Although the ideal span of control has not been identified, some researchers argue that the range is about 5 to 25 employees, depending on the level of organization.

– Another method of coordinating an organization’s activities is through delegation or the assignment of part of a manager’s work to others.




• Line and staff relationships also help clarify an organization’s structure.– A person in a line position has direct

responsibility for achieving the organization’s goals and objectives.

– Staff - commonly used to refer to the group of employees who work in a particular unit or department.

– An employee in a staff position assists those in line positions.


Job Design and Analysis

• Determining the various duties associated with each job in their area.



• Job analysis - used to determine the purpose of a job, the skill set and educational background required to carry it out, and the manner in which the employee holding that job interacts with others.– The formal outcome of a job analysis is the

preparation of a job description.



• Job description - a basis for rating and classifying jobs, setting wages and salaries, and conducting a performance appraisal.



Sample job description


Human Resource Management

• Staffing - the set of human resource activities designed to recruit individuals to help meet the organization’s goals and objectives.

• Recruitment - attracting applicants and hiring candidates.



• Both direct methods...– media-based advertisements in

newspapers, mailing personalized letters to potential applicants

• and indirect methods...– holding training sessions for professionals

• can be used as recruitment strategies.



• Affirmative action - all activities designed to ensure and increase equal employment opportunities for groups protected by federal laws and regulations.



• Evaluating Job Performance– Evaluating job performance and

providing feedback to employees about their performance is essential to maintaining good working relationships and can occur informally at any time.


Human Resource Management – Evaluating Performance

• Performance appraisal - a formal method of providing feedback to an employee that involves:– Defining the organization’s expectations for

employee performance.– Measuring, evaluating, and recording the

performance compared with those expectations.


Human Resource Management – Evaluating Performance

• Keys to conducting a good performance appraisal interview:– Start with clear objectives.– Focus on observable behavior.– Avoid vague, subjective statements of

a personal nature.


Leading

• The management function that involves influencing others to achieve the organization’s goals and objectives.


Leading

• Motivating Employees– Set high standards and stick to them.– Put the right person in the right job.– Keep employees informed about their

performance.– Allow employees to be a part of the

process.


Leading

• Communicating with Employees– A critical managerial activity.– Can take the form of both verbal

communication and written communication.– Being a good communicator means paying

attention to people and events, observing the nuances of nonverbal and verbal communication, and becoming a good listener.

– Open communication results from the daily use of certain techniques and skills that promote communication.



Controlling

• The management function concerned with regulating organizational activities so that actual performance meets accepted organizational standards and goals.


Controlling

• The control function involves:– Determining which activities need

control– Establishing standards– Measuring performance– Correcting deviations


Controlling

• Financial and Budgetary Control– Balance sheet - lists the organization’s

assets and liabilities.– Income statement - summarizes the

organization’s operations over a specific time period and lists revenues and expenses.

– The difference between revenues and expenses is the organization’s profit or loss.

• a.k.a. the “bottom line”


Controlling – Financial and Budgetary Control

• Financial control is typically managed through an operating budget.– Budgeting - the process of stating, in

quantitative terms, the planned organizational activities for a given period of time.

– Closely linked to planning.


Controlling – Financial and Budgetary Control

• Managers who can justify their budget requests are more likely to be successful in appropriating funds for their program’s projects and activities.


The Better Health Restaurant Challenge

• Better Health Restaurant Challenge – Demonstrates how health professionals,

HMOs, restaurants, consumers, and health organizations can benefit from partnership

– Month-long, annual contest to determine the best-tasting low-fat restaurant menu items in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area

– Sponsored by HealthPartners, a large Minnesota-based managed-care organization



• Goals:– Increase the availability of tasty, low-

fat menu items in restaurants – Increase restaurant patrons’ selection

of low-fat menu items



• Objectives: – Promoting participating restaurants, menu

items, HealthPartners, and low-fat eating to the community

– Encouraging the long-term availability of low-fat items

– Providing low-fat dining options in a variety of eating establishments

– Increasing consumer/restaurant participation in the BHRC



• Methodology– Restaurants in the Minneapolis area were

contacted– Participating restaurants worked with

HealthPartners’ registered dietitians to: • Create at least 2 low-fat menu items• Train restaurant staff to promote the healthful

items• Keep at least 1 low-fat item on the menu for one

month• Extend a 20% discount on low-fat food items to

members of HealthPartners



• Methodology– Created ballots so that diners could

rate the low-fat items based on taste– Restaurants with the highest overall

taste ratings were declared winners



• Results– The number of participating

restaurants/locations has more than tripled– Number of different menu items has

increased from 60 to 280– 14,000 diners completed ballots– > ½ reported that items tasted better than

expected– Average taste rating = 4.13 out of 5



• Results (continued)– Majority said that they would order

the low-fat item again and that the BHRC program increased the likelihood of their ordering low-fat items in the future

– > 90% of restaurants kept their low-fat menu items on the menu after the program ended



• Lessons Learned– Treating diners as food critics

increased participation... – as did the challenge’s focus on foods

that taste good. – Big advertising budgets are not

necessary.


Controlling

• Information Control– The community nutritionist manager needs

to collect, organize, retrieve, and analyze many types of data and information.

– Data - unanalyzed facts and figures.– Information - data that has been analyzed

and processed into a form that is meaningful for decision makers.


Controlling – Information Control

• To be useful, information must be:– Relevant– Accurate– Timely– Complete– Concise


Management Issues for “Heartworks for Women”: Case Study 1

• There are 3 management issues related to the “Heartworks for Women” program: – The critical path– The budget– Grantsmanship



• The Critical Path– The nutritionist develops a timeline early in

the planning stages, when the program plan is outlined.

– One example of a timetable shows key marketing activities for the program.

– A team leader lays out the paths that must be completed to ensure that all program elements have been finalized before the launch date.


Time Line for Determining the Critical Path



• The Operating Budget– Operating budget - a statement of

the financial plan for the program that outlines the revenues and expenses related to its operation.




• Extramural Funding– Early in the planning stages, one of

the team leaders identifies several activities for which extramural funding might be obtained.


The Business of Community Nutrition

• Individuals need strong management skills, whether they work in the public or the private sector, and must be able to:– Set a direction for the business or program.– Define goals and objectives.– Organize the delivery of the product or

service.– Motivate people to help the organization

reach its goals.



• Community nutritionists must be able to (continued):– Allocate materials, equipment,

personnel, and funds to operations.– Control data systems.– Provide leadership.



• Management and leadership skills are needed to gain a competitive edge in an increasingly competitive health care environment.



• Four strategies for success should be kept in mind:– Continually assess the competitive

environment.– Continually assess your strengths.– Build organizational skills.– Build managerial (people and

process) skills.


Time Management

• Control Is Essential– Control - recognizing that it is easy

to become overwhelmed by the number of decisions we face about how we spend our time

– Taking control of your time means planning how you will spend it

– Planning starts with deciding what your priorities are


Time Management

• Quadrant II Is Where the Action Should Be– Quadrant I = activities that are both

urgent and important• Focusing constantly on these tends to lead to

stress, burnout, and a sense that we are always putting out brushfires.

– Quadrant II = not urgent, but important• Highly effective people spend their time in

Quadrant II activities


Time Management

• Quadrant II (continued)– Quadrant III = urgent, but not

important• Some people spend time in Quadrant III,

thinking that they are in Quadrant I. • Likely to feel out of control

– Quadrant IV = neither urgent nor important


Time Management

• It’s as Easy as ABC– The first step in taking control of your

time is setting priorities– Write down all of the things you

should accomplish– Assign each item a priority of A, B, or

C (A = top priority)– Rank each activity within each

category: A-1, A-2, etc.


Time Management

• The Top-10 Time Wasters– Telephone interruptions– Drop-in visitors– Meetings (scheduled and

unscheduled)– Crises– Lack of objectives, priorities, and

deadlines


Time Management

• The Top-10 Time Wasters (continued)– Cluttered desk and personal disorganization– Ineffective delegation– Attempting too much at once– Indecision and procrastination– Lack of self-discipline

• Learn to Say No• Work Smarter, Not Harder

Documents

© 2006 Thomson-Wadsworth Chapter 19 Managing Community Nutrition Programs