ORGANIZING AND

STAFFING THE
LABORATORY

Eloisa Q. Singian
 Once the objectives of an organization
have been specified, a structure of roles
and relationships capable of carrying out
the objectives must develop.

 The objective of the managerial function

of organizing is to develop a framework
that relates all people and things to one
another and to the laboratory’s objectives.

ORGANIZING
 Clinical laboratories are organized so
that personnel can work together to
carry out institutional objectives
effectively and efficiently.
 Structure of the organization can be
depicted on a chart, which shows
who supervises whom and how the
work units within the organization
are interrelated.

CLINICAL LABORATORY
ORGANIZATION
 By clarifying lines of authority and
communication, organizational
charts:
◦ Planning,
◦ Preparing job descriptions, and
◦ helping employees visualize how
they fit into the operation of an
organization.

CLINICAL LABORATORY
ORGANIZATION
 The organizing function deals with all
those activities that result in the formal
assignment of tasks and authority and a
coordination of effort.

 The supervisor staffs the work unit, trains

employees, secures resources, and
empowers the work group into a
productive team.

Organizing Functon
 The steps in the organizing process include:
 (1) review plans,
 (2) list all tasks to be accomplished,
 (3) divide tasks into groups one person can
accomplish - a job,
 (4) group related jobs together in a logical and
efficient manner,
 (5) assign work to individuals,
 (6) delegate authority to establish relationships
between jobs and groups of jobs.

Organizing Function
 An organizational chart consists of blocks
connected by lines.
 A block can represent either a single position or
a type of position, such as department or
division, which could have many workers.
 The blocks are connected by lines, of which
vertical solid lines indicate authority, and
horizontal solid lines indicate span of control for
supervisory positions.
 Dotted lines indicate channels of communication.

ORGANIZATIONAL CHARTS
Typical clinical laboratory
organizational structure
 In 1980 the American Society for medical technology
(ASMT) proposed a clinical laboratory organizational
structure designed to “promote maximally efficient
utilization of laboratory personnel within the appropriate
scope of their competence”
 The unique feature of the ASMT – proposed
structure is the complementary relationship between the
director of administrative and technical services (Chief
administrative technologists) and the director of
physician – patient services (pathologists).
 This structure more accurately describes the actual
workings of most laboratories, in which the
administrative technologists manage the overall
functions of the laboratory while the physician – director
relates to other physicians in consultative duties.

PROPOSED CLINICAL LABORATORY

ORGANIZATIONAL STUCTURE
 Authority in government generally refers to
the ability to make laws or rules
 democratic authority
◦ Democracy is a system of government by
which political sovereignty is retained by
the people and exercised directly by
citizens
 monarchic authority
◦ monarchy is a form of government in which
supreme power is actually or nominally
lodged in an individual (the monarch), who
rules as head of state, often for life or until
abdication, and "is wholly set apart from all
other members of the state

CONCEPTS OF AUTHORITY
 Delegation
◦ Delegation of authority is a person-to-person
relationship requiring trust, commitment, and
contracting between the supervisor and the
employee.

CONCEPTS OF AUTHORITY
 The Delegation Process
◦Five phases:
 (1) preparing,
 (2) planning,
 (3) discussing,
 (4) auditing, and
 (5) appreciating.

CONCEPTS OF AUTHORITY
 Preparing includes establishing the objectives
of the delegation, specifying the task that needs
to be accomplished, and deciding who should
accomplish it.

 Planning is meeting with the chosen
subordinate to describe the task and to ask the
subordinate to devise a plan of action. As Andrew
Carnegie once said,
"The secret of success is not in doing your own work but in
recognizing the right man to do it."

Trust between the supervisor and employee - that both

will fulfill the commitment - is most important.

CONCEPTS OF AUTHORITY
 · Discussing includes reviewing the objectives of
the task as well as the subordinate's plan of
action, any potential obstacles, and ways to
avoid or deal with these obstacles.
◦ The supervisor should clarify and solicit feedback as to
the employee's understanding.
◦ Clarifications needed for delegation include the desired
results (what not how), guidelines, resources available,
and consequences (good and bad).
◦ Delegation is similar to contracting between the
supervisor and employee regarding how and when the
work will be completed.
◦ The standards and time frames are discussed and agreed
upon.
◦ The employee should know exactly what is expected and
how the task will be evaluated.

CONCEPTS OF AUTHORITY
 · Auditing is monitoring the progress of
the delegation and making adjustments in
response to unforeseen problems.

 · Appreciating is accepting the

completed task and acknowledging the
subordinate's efforts.

CONCEPTS OF AUTHORITY
 The need for structure in a modern clinical
laboratory exists largely because division
of work is essential for efficiency; the
work performed is so complex that no
single person can master it all. Division of
work leads to separate work units that
engage in different activities. It follows
that methods must be developed whereby
these activities can be coordinated.

THE PRINCIPLES OF
ORGANIZING
 Coordination is the act of assembling and
synchronizing different activities so that
they are carried on harmoniously in the
attainment of organizational objectives.
The more clearly the activities of a unit of
the clinical laboratory are delineated and
the more specifically the expected results
are defines, the more likely that unit will
meet its objectives.

THE PRINCIPLES OF
ORGANIZING
 Departmentalization
◦ After reviewing the plans, usually the first step
in the organizing process is
departmentalization. Once jobs have been
classified through work specialization, they are
grouped so those common tasks can be
coordinated. Departmentalization is the
basis on which work or individuals are grouped
into manageable units.

THE PRINCIPLES OF
ORGANIZING
 Decentralization
◦ Decentralization - is the process of dispersing
decision-making governance closer to the
people or citizen.

◦ Decentralization is also possible in the dispersal

of population and employment.

◦ Law , science and technological advancements

lead to highly decentralized human
endeavours.

THE PRINCIPLES OF
ORGANIZING
 Unity of command
◦ The principle of unity of command, from both the joint
and air and space perspectives, calls for unified efforts
that are directed and coordinated toward pursuing
common objectives.

 Scalar Principle
◦ It refers to the chain of direct authority relationships
from superior to subordinate in an organization. Every
employee throughout the laboratory should know who
delegates authority to him and to whom matters beyond
his own authority must be referred. The clearer the line
of authority from the laboratory manager to every
subordinate position, the more effective the laboratory
will be.

THE PRINCIPLES OF
ORGANIZING
 Span of Control
◦ Span-of-control is a term originating in
military organization theory, but now used
more commonly in business management,
particularly human resource management.
Span of control refers to the number of
subordinates a supervisor has.

 Exception Principle
◦ The principle that only activities that deviate
from standards are reported to a supervisor.

THE PRINCIPLES OF
ORGANIZING
 Objectives.
◦ Every job must have objectives that are
congruent with unit, departmental and
institutional objectives.

 Authority.
◦ The parameters and scope of authority for
each position must be clearly defined.

 Responsibility.
◦ Each supervisor has responsibility for the
actions of his subordinates, thus,
responsibility and authority go hand in
hand.

Principles of organizing
 Scalar principle.
◦ Each person should know his position within a
hierarchy and who is superior and subordinate
to him.

 Unity of command.
◦ A person should have only one superior.

 Coordination.
◦ Different activities are organized so that they
work together.

Principles of organizing
 To enhance its effectiveness, an
organization must employ competent
people. The activity of supporting the
organization with competent people –
through selection and development of
personnel to fill the roles designed into
the structure – is called staffing.

STAFFING ASPECTS OF THE

ORGANIZING
 Job descriptions and specifications for
each position
 Recruitment of personnel
 Placement of personnel
 Induction of personnel
 Orientation of personnel
 Instruction of personnel

Staffing the organization involves

 Staffing activities result in the appointment of
individuals to vacant or newly created
organization positions, either by attracting them
from employment from outside the laboratory, by
transferring them from within the organization,
or by moving them into new positions by
promotion.

STAFFING ASPECTS OF THE

ORGANIZING
 Job descriptions arise from job analysis,
which is a method of obtaining detailed
information about the tasks and duties
involved in each job, as well as the
qualifications an employee must have to
perform them. Information obtained from
job analysis is written up in the job
description, from which job specifications
can be abstracted.

STAFFING ASPECTS OF THE

ORGANIZING
 Recruitment is the search for prospective
employees. The amount of attention this
step receives determines how well other
steps can be carried out. It should be
stressed that recruitment from within,
whenever feasible, helps build morale.

STAFFING ASPECTS OF THE

ORGANIZING
 Placement is the assignment of an
employee to a specific job.

 Induction, in turn, consists of the formal

procedures an employee goes through
immediately after being employed.

STAFFING ASPECTS OF THE

ORGANIZING
 Orientation is the process of informing the new
employee about the organization and his place in
it. Successful orientation instills in the new
employee an awareness of his part in meeting
the objectives of the laboratory, gives him a
sense of identification with the laboratory, helps
him gain acceptance by his fellow employees,
and supplies him with a clear and
understandable picture of the many things he
needs to know as he assumes his role in the
laboratory.

STAFFING ASPECTS OF THE

ORGANIZING
 The final step in staffing is instruction,
which is teaching employees the skills,
abilities, and attitudes needed to perform
their work optimally.

STAFFING ASPECTS OF THE

ORGANIZING
 The scheduling of the laboratory staff for work
coverage is usually a responsibility of the
administrative technologist.
 Designing a work schedule for each work period
(month or quarter) can r time – consuming and
occassionaly frustrating since there are no absolute
rules to follow.
 There is no “ideal” schedule because each health care
facility and each laboratory has unique needs and
staff capabilities.
 Along with these internal constraints, institutional
policies and procedures, as well as regulations from
governmental and labor organizations, influence
schedule making. Therefore, a schedule must be
tailored to fit an individual laboratory.

THE SCHEDULING PROCESS

The scheduling process for a health care
organization is dependent on
[1] size and kind of institution,
[2] types of patient served,
[3] services offered,
[4] volume and kind of work performed,

Scheduling process
[5] demands for work output (e.g.,
emergency, as soon as possible, routine)
and policies regarding tests performed at
night, on weekends, during holidays,
[6] institutional personnel policies,
[7] institutional budget,
[8] external constraints of governmental
regulations and labor agreements, and
[9] availability of personnel.

Scheduling process
 Describe the type of organization we have
at AUFMC- Laboratory Department.

Assignment: