Helpful or Harmful? The Impact of Strategic Change, Coursework Example

Strategic planning is a vital part of any organization, it is a useful tool and completely valid for guiding all organizations, particularly healthcare organizations such as hospitals. Strategic planning is defined as, “the strategic and organized process whereby an organization creates a document indicating the way it plans to progress from its current situation to the desired future situation” (Perera, Piero, 2012). In implementing a strategic plan with a hospital helps in the allocation of resources properly, and encourages forward thinking, innovation, and imagination. After implementation there is several factors in which measure either its success or failure. When strategic planning is well-conceived, it helps to “establish metrics for success that can be used to plot and evaluate the progress and performance of the organization and its people” (Moseley, 2009, pg. 19). In four or five years, during assessing the results phase, after the hospital has implemented their strategic plan, they will likely see informed patients about their rights, treatments, and other informational aspects. Hospital staff, will have created an efficient system for hospital staff to continuously train, and keep their knowledge up date, the resources should have been properly allocated to allow for efficient and effective inventory in supplies, and medicine. More importantly a clear sustainable and manageable framework will be in place that helps in making unaligned personal value judgements or choices, identifying fragmentary, and day to day decisions. This should help an organization in which simplifies and facilitates the managerial decision-making process, that is applied continuously to provide a credible corporate reputation.

According to Moseley, “resources and competencies are the tools that strategists have to use in carrying out their plans” (Moseley, 2009, pg. 43). Competencies are seen as the result of resources that are important to an organization. For the hospital this can be considered human resources. Within a hospital this can seen as numerous factors including nurse and doctors collaborating on a single task, bedside reports and others sent through management control systems, and several other factors. In order to strategically develop this significant competence there are steps that must be taken. These steps include the first step in evaluating organizational structure in order to integrate the processes of HRM across the entire organization. This includes developing better recruitment, training, and retention programs for the hospital. The next is to develop leadership training programs that help to provide managers throughout the organization with leadership skills. The next step to the process is to develop and improve the compensation and benefits by properly allocating resources within the organization. This also ties into the net step which would be develop and promote employee policies on training, compensation, and other aspects that managers will encourage that employees follow. These steps help in improving the human resources department, and helps in shifting the organizational focus towards enhancing HR and HRM practices within the hospital.

According to Moseley, “the external world is a complex place with an infinity of factors that could affect a business’s strategic management efforts” (Moseley, 2009, pg. 72) When an organization such as a hospital is aware of the external environment, they are able to compensate or develop a strategic plan that will help with competitive advantage, and guiding the management. According to research, the way in which hospitals are applies these learned factors to make changes strategically includes, improving overall coordination for better performance, reduce external dependence, prepare for the future, and helps organizations adjust to environmental conditions. (Trinh, O’Connor, 2002) If hospital interprets or under estimate the impact of thee affects could mean that they will be unable to reposition themselves in the environment, or have to close down. Guidelines that could be implemented to help organizations identify risks or threats includes, data collection systems that are aided by statistical modeling, sorting and classification, extrapolation and trend identification, and alternative future scenario projections. (Moseley, 2009, pg. 71) These tools and techniques are useful for both analyzing and monitoring the factors within the external environment. This activity is ongoing process in which should monitor the industry, the customers/patients, the market, and the overall external environment that is constantly changing.

Organizations can take numerous steps which includes gathering commercial data (public or private) from databases such as Hoover’s, PAIR, LexisNexis, Market research firms, consulting firms, and numerous other sources that can be taken from competitors’ websites, statements, and information that is available to the public. Other sources include original field research that includes: contracted research and surveys on competitors; surveys of the firm’s frequent customers; surveys of the competition’s suppliers; and interviews with employees that have knowledge or contact of the competition. (Moseley, 2009, pg. 127) For the hospitals the information that would be wanted includes customer clientele, demographics of customers, the profits or sales, funding, and internal information that extends to the operations and overall functioning. There are numerous ways in which the organization and ethically and legally information on their competition as there is a vast amount available to the public. “The availability of strategy-relevant information on competitors is due to grow dramatically as the concept of “consumer-driven health care” spreads throughout the industry” (Moseley, 2009, pg. 127). Competitive Intelligence (CI) is important to assess the strategic and capabilities of the competition. The program must be legal and ethical, and consists of only a part-time effort, so that it won’t be the sole focus of the organization.

Corporate executives within any organization want the organization to expand, for healthcare organizations the capabilities to grow are essential to the health care system. Along with strategic planning, plans must be assessed to review organizational reputation, patient satisfaction, comparisons with competition, forecasts of outpatients and other activities, and operating margins. Executives want to continue to grow their organizations because they are able to serve more, while in turn raising their profits, and their reputation. For hospital increased volumes can be good and a bad thing, in which can attract more doctors, donors, patients, and other valuable benefits, but also can increase costs, decrease supplies, and can cause problems with delivering quality care. If executives want their business to grow organically, there are number of avenues that can be taken. One of the primary tasks is to refocus their attention on their core competencies which aids in improving their operations towards, people, products, functions, and their business. When focus is paid to these attributes it is helpful in increasing financial performance, and also implementing the right changes to help a business grow on their own.

In reviewing the quality practices that started in the manufacturing industry will change from the quality practices that are traditionally found in healthcare organizations. This is due to the fact that quality practices traditionally are more organized and systematic. This guarantees that quality standards that are high are sustained by using the systematic quality practices, compared to engaging in methods that were adequate. Within the manufacturing industry, statistical models were used for measuring the variations in their processes, product quality was improved, and waste was reduced by controlling the unwanted process variation. Within the industry they set out standards and methods that were fundamental and proven effective in quality improvements. There have been several programs implemented to establish criteria, in their Baldrige Health Care Criteria, it includes the core concepts and values that measure performance. In order to improve performance and applying the BHC Criteria would mean that leaders would improve their skills. This also means that the hospital will shift towards more focus on patients, partners and staff that help in valuing their importance and worth. This also means that continuous improvements will be made to existing processes and approaches, helping to adapt to the changes within the organization, which will lead to new goals and approaches.

Performance measurements are essential for every organization, and pertinent for healthcare organizations, especially when they are available for the pubic to view. Based on the information found on CMS Hospital Compare, the performance measures that are most important to healthcare consumers concludes, Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Survey (HCAHPS) that includes numerous identifiers to assess the patient experience. These types of composite measures includes: communication with nurses, communication with doctors, responsiveness of hospital staff, pain management, communication about medicines, cleanliness of hospital environment, discharge information, care transition, and several more. (Medicare, 2015) Additionally, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), Health Failure (HF), Pneumonia (PN), Preventative Care, Stroke Care, and Pregnancy and Delivery Care. The least important are the structural measures that many consumers will not be concerned with, and medical imaging if it does not apply to them. Patients are able to use this information to compare hospitals that provide the best care, accept their insurance, or have the ability to care for their illnesses and needs. Other factors include organization reputation, referrals, and research found through internet databases.

PDSA: Primary Care Partnership developed by the General Practice Victoria (State of Victoria Department of Health 2010). Rapid cycle improvement: Mercy Health-Anderson Hospital in Cincinnati. FOCUS-PDCA: Annex A. West Central Georgia Regional Hospital.  FADE: Duke University Health System in Durham, N.C.  Lean and Six Sigma: Nursing Shift Directors (NSD) project at Purdue University Calumet. Each of these projects is implemented in order to improve functions within the healthcare organization. Each project is focused on improving either in treatment, staff operations, and attention paid to delivering quality care to patients. Overall each project is focused on quality improvement within an organization as it helps in developing and implementing strategies that can help facilitate change.  Each project is different however as it chooses to facilitate quality improvement through targeting different competencies which includes Diabetes treatment, the participation of staff and physicians, reducing waste, and improving efficiency of the workload of Nursing Shift Directors. The projects also focus on improving care to patients with complex and chronic conditions, creating and implementing guidelines for treating patients with severe traumatic brain injuries, and other differences that while they are similar overall have targeted meanings to the organizations.

References

CMS Hospital Compare. (2015). Medicare.Gov. Retrieved from www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov

Moseley, George. (2009). Managing Health Care Business Strategy. Jones & Bartlett Learning. Perera, Francisco de Paula, Peiro, Manel. (2012). Strategic Planning in Healthcare Organizations. Rev Esp Cardiol. Vol. 65 (8). Pg. 749-54. DOI: 10.1016/j.rec.2012.04.004.

Trinh, H. Q., & O’Connor, S. J. (2002). Helpful or Harmful? The Impact of Strategic Change on the Performance of U.S. Urban Hospitals. Health Services Research, 37(1), 143–169. doi:10.1111/1475-6773.99208