Featherbedding
I love reading business books. I am convinced that there are great answers out there and that the healthcare system is ignoring them. My recent experience has been the classic book by Tom Peters entitled In Search of Excellence. Here is an incredible concept that I want to share with you. Peters was convinced that bad companies exhibit Parkinson’s law of management where “extra levels of management mainly create distracting work for others to justify their own existence. Everyone appears busy but in reality it is simple management featherbedding.”
Has anyone seen this going on in their hospital? My tongue is firmly implanted in my cheek.
Most of the hospital featherbedding I see is a direct response to a) threat of lawsuits and now b) government interference with multiple volumes of regulations that no one completely understands.
Unfortunately not only is Parkinson’s Law in effect,but the Peter Princple is in full swing in the hospital bureaucracy. Administrators now outnumber the physicians at the medical staff meetings.