After reading the case study: County Department of Public Health: Organizing for Emergency Preparedness and Response that there were various structural dilemmas facing the Public Health Department at Penville County. The previous efforts made to address the challenge of preparing for bioterrorism and other large-scale health emergencies did not effectively handle these issues. After the federal government passed the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 there was an additional income of $3 million provided to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and a portion of that amount went to Penville County. However, even with this revenue, four key areas of the organization faced critical issues. These four issues,
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Lack of clarity stems from unclear roles and poorly defined job responsibilities. This can create employees to "tailor their roles to fit personal preferences instead of shaping them to meet system wide goals (Bolman & Deal, 2013, pg. 72). "Delegation of responsibilities, information flows both within the division and with external entities, data analysis and decisions making were all conducted informally," (Applegate, L., Ipe, M., & Vinze, A., 2005, pg. 5). The lack of clarity did not effect their department as much since they were comfortable with roles due to years of working together. However, it did affect the area of miscommunication between the EPI/BDPR department and other departments within the county public health system. An example of this was the outbreak of the West Nile Virus and no communication from various parties to the Epidemiology unit. Epidemiologists did not receive word from the Department of Environmental Services, the director of the County Department of Public Health, Dr. Brown, or the public health director and public information officers of both departments. This miscommunication resulted in a delay of the outbreak response …show more content…
The Epidemiology department functioned as a separate component. This led to the communication between the EPI and BDPR department on a “case-by-base or ad-hoc basis,” (et. al, 2005, pg. 6). Both units needed more rules and policies in place and help “limit individual discretion and help ensure that behavior was predictable and consistent.” (Bolman & Deal, 2013, pg. 52). The implementation of standard policies provides a way to differentiate the allocation of work between employees and create a check and balance system for
Lack of clarity stems from unclear roles and poorly defined job responsibilities. This can create employees to "tailor their roles to fit personal preferences instead of shaping them to meet system wide goals (Bolman & Deal, 2013, pg. 72). "Delegation of responsibilities, information flows both within the division and with external entities, data analysis and decisions making were all conducted informally," (Applegate, L., Ipe, M., & Vinze, A., 2005, pg. 5). The lack of clarity did not effect their department as much since they were comfortable with roles due to years of working together. However, it did affect the area of miscommunication between the EPI/BDPR department and other departments within the county public health system. An example of this was the outbreak of the West Nile Virus and no communication from various parties to the Epidemiology unit. Epidemiologists did not receive word from the Department of Environmental Services, the director of the County Department of Public Health, Dr. Brown, or the public health director and public information officers of both departments. This miscommunication resulted in a delay of the outbreak response …show more content…
The Epidemiology department functioned as a separate component. This led to the communication between the EPI and BDPR department on a “case-by-base or ad-hoc basis,” (et. al, 2005, pg. 6). Both units needed more rules and policies in place and help “limit individual discretion and help ensure that behavior was predictable and consistent.” (Bolman & Deal, 2013, pg. 52). The implementation of standard policies provides a way to differentiate the allocation of work between employees and create a check and balance system for