Discuss about the Case Study of Whitlam Memorial Hospital.
This case study based on the restructuring and the functioning of the Whitlam Memorial Hospital (WMH) brings to light the services and the objectives of the hospital in the upcoming financial year. The case study asserts the location and how the various structures of the hospital are aligned to both reach the objectives and goals as well as cater to the changing needs of the patients of the country. In this essay, the research question is to address the loopholes in the current inner working or functioning structure of the hospital and suggesting efficient changes in order for the hospital to live up to the demands of the target market and also to channelize resources in such a way that there is an improvement in the quality and the options of care provided to the customers.
As is observed in and inferred from the case study provided about the Whitlam Memorial Hospital, the hospital only has accommodation for a very small section of the population as it only has availability of 130 beds and as is mentioned in the case study, the population in the area where the organization is situated the population has substantially increased and hence the hospital needs to expand its resources to cater to the needs of the growing population else this will always add to the limitations of the hospital and cause friction in the smooth functioning or reaching of objectives in an effective and efficient manner. Further, the case study also mentions that the hospital has a traditional way od structuring the operations going on and this is obsolete in the sense that the structuring of the hospital is not at par with the current patterns of structuring. It is noteworthy to mention here that if the organization structure of the operations team of the hospital is no revised and made equivalent to the structures of its competitors, it will fall behind the competitors and there will be numerous hindrances to the smooth functioning and this is will sum up to become one of the major limitations for the hospital (Harper, 2015). The major limitation or setback for the hospital in terms of the organization structure is the lack of communication both internally as well as externally which causes lack of full capacity utilization, resource use and also reduces the quality of care received by the patients. As in this case of this organization structure, the firm decides goals and long term objectives and the service lines determines the methods and processes used to achieve these goals, there is an inevitable discrepancy in the desired and the actual outcomes in terms of customer base development as well as revenue generation.
However, the strengths of the traditional bureaucratic structure of the hospital lies in the fact that the hospital is strictly operated and there are strict methods of dealing with any breach of codes of conduct and this is very important as the hospital deals with consumers that require immediate and effective care (Scott & Davis, 2015). There is also the benefit of a strong cultural construct that helps in reassuring the trust of the patients and centralizing the entire process of decision making. Besides, the power of command is best exercised under this kind of a hierarchical structure of organization. Collaboration being non-existent causes greater exercising of power of the higher authority and hence is more reliable in terms of achieving higher amounts of productivity coupled with quality.
As is mentioned in the case study provided, the vision of the firm is to provide healthcare facilities that cater to the changing needs and demands of the customers and patients. The importance of the vision of the firm lies in the fact that the firm will be using disruptive business models and smart devices to process, gather and analyze data relevant to the demands and needs of the patients and also the methods implied by other firms to cater to the changing trends in the market especially the needs of the patients. This will not only ensure smooth functioning of the firm but will also help it to secure a safe rank in the market position and help build strong long run stakeholder relations.
Again the mission statement of the firm which is “to provide highest quality, specialist health care in partnership with patients, carers, the community at large and other health care providers”, shows that the hospital is increasingly aiming to provide the best and top notch quality of services to its customers which also includes other health care providers and the community in which it is operating and functioning. This means that the hospital is increasingly trying to collaborate with its competitors in the same business and industry so that the profit and revenue generation is maximized along with maintenance of corporate social responsibilities in the community.
The goals of the firm mentioned in the case study are all to increase the level of care and services provided by the hospital. This is being addressed by the hospital by the use of improved measures and means of technology, increasing the capacity utilization of the employees and thus increasing the variety of services provided and finally replacing the traditional hierarchy related organizational structure with a more advanced organizational structure so that the operations of the firm can happen in a smooth and efficient manner and there is a stability and cohesion in the process of change management. The goals of the firm as well as the vision and mission statements of the firm are aligned to the traditional organizational structure in the sense that the higher authority compels and commands the adherence of the productivity of all employees strictly towards increasing the standard of quality of care provided and reach out to greater sections of the community through their individual efforts as well as in collaboration with the other hospitals and institutions in the healthcare sector.
The other organization structure that can be used by the hospital in order to cater to the changing needs and demands of people and also reach out to grater means of resources in terms of accommodation is the Holacratic organizational structure (Savage, Franz & Wasek, 2016). This organizational structure is a stark opposite of the traditional bureaucratic structure that is as mentioned in the case study, being followed by the hospital currently. This form of organization structure is very important in smooth functioning of change because it does away with the biggest loophole and shortcoming of the hierarchical organization structure in the sense that it completely eliminates and in some cases reduces the communication gap. This is so because there is a free flow of information across all levels of the organization structure and all the decisions taken are informed and in regards to the views of employees at all stages of hierarchy or experience. The process of decision making is spread and distributed over all the employees of the firm as well as based on the feedbacks of the customers directly or indirectly (Eremina & Puhakka, 2017). In this type of an organization structure, the processes and methods employed to reach the goals or objectives are aligned and directly related to the vision and mission of the firm. This helps in increasing the transparency of the functioning of the operations and helps the employees to better utilize their capacities as they are now exposed to the goals and are aware of the importance of their job roles or their contribution towards the company reaching its desired set of goals and objectives. This will also allow the firm’s higher authorities to be exposed to the immediate and common problems faced by the employees on an everyday basis. Further the rules, regulations and policies in place are aimed at bettering the performance and lifestyle of the employees and keeping them more engaged so that they feel engaged.
The organization chosen for the smooth and efficient functioning of Whitlam Memorial Hospital (WMH)as mentioned before is the Holacratic organizational structure. The benefits of implementing this organization structure include greater means and measures of solving existing crisis both in terms of higher resource generation and channelizing of the same resources in such a way so that the quality of services provided is of optimum quality. This organization structure takes into account the views and opinions of the employees at all levels and hence provides a more robust method of reaching strategies and well informed decisions that will help in reaching the objectives and goals easily and take care of the interests of the customers as a whole. Although this organization structure is exposed to the risks of anomaly of decision making it has been found to be effective in most cases such that in this case it also help the management in using disruptive business models so that the changing patterns of demands in the market are addressed.
References:
Eremina, A., & Puhakka, V. (2017). Comparison of organizational structures–case Zappos. International Business Management.
Harper, C. (2015). Organizations: Structures, processes and outcomes. Routledge.
Savage, G., Franz, A., & Wasek, J. S. (2016, October). A holacratic socio-technical system architecture. In Systems Engineering (ISSE), 2016 IEEE International Symposium on(pp. 1-6). IEEE.
Scott, W. R., & Davis, G. F. (2015). Organizations and organizing: Rational, natural and open systems perspectives. Routledge.
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