Description of the Organization
A not-for-profit health care organization was critical for this analysis, an organization with seven hospitals and 23 outpatient and urgent care centers in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. The largest hospital of this organization was selected, which is a 680-bed facility founded in 1960, located in the area of South Miami-Dade County in Florida. The hospital provides medical, surgical, and technological services, as well as a broad range of services such as emergency center and pediatric emergency center, a cardiac and vascular center, a cancer program, a diabetes care center, and a family birthplace. The most fundamental mission of this hospital is to provide high-quality care.
The hospital received the Florida Governor’s Sterling Award for Quality in 1996. In 1998, Baptist became the eleventh hospital nationwide to receive the magnet status for excellence in nursing care from the American Nurses Association. Baptist Hospital was re-awarded the magnet status for the third time in 2006. It is the leading hospital in the area with a good reputation, and patients trust this organization.
Cardiac and Vascular Institute
The Cardiac and Vascular Institute offer a multidisciplinary team approach to preventing, diagnosing, and treating cardiovascular disease. The philosophy of this institute is to treat the entire cardiovascular system as a single entity, which sets it apart from other medical centers that treat the heart and circulatory system separately. The healthcare professionals are highly qualified with many years of experience, and the medical staff is actively involved in clinical research to find better and less invasive ways of diagnosing and treating cardiovascular disease.
Interventional Services Department
The Interventional services department is a large office, with 90 employees, including technologists, nurses, secretaries, cardiovascular assistants, and transporters.
The Interventional services department has 11 state-of-the-art cardiovascular and interventional suites. There are four Interventional Radiology (IVR) suites, four Cardiovascular Lab (CVL) suites, one suite to perform Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA) procedures. There is also one room to perform diagnostic Cat Scans (CT) and one neuro-interventional radiology suite. It is where neurological procedures such as cerebral angiograms, cerebral arteries stent placement, and carotid arteries stent placement happen.
Leadership Practices of Primary Leader
There are two managers in the interventional services department, Mr. V. and Mrs. D. The unit counts with two Resource Coordinators who help in the coordination of the procedure’s schedule and the doctor and nurse’s needs for the better performance of the methods and the well functioning of this department.
Mr. V., the leader, analyzed, envisions a better future for the organization and inspires the employees of the department to share his vision and work to reach the same goal. He encourages the staff to do their best each day and challenges them to take risks for the improvement of the department. Mr. V. fosters collaboration and motivates employees to help each other and work together for the benefit of the patients.
Organizational Culture
The mission of this organization is to improve the health of individuals and to promote well-being and preservation of life. The group has the urgency of providing high quality, cost-effective, and compassionate healthcare services to its patients without discrimination.
Problems in this organization are resolved collaboratively with the support of the employees. Leaders make decisions based on the needs and opinions of their employees and patients, and avoid taking personal decisions.
There is a common internal language used in the hospital, and several color codes are used to alert employees of any threat or emergency. There is a good work/life balance in the organization. Employees are usually not required to work overtime and so can plan their days off and vacations to relax and spend it with their families. For this reason, the vast majority of the employees in the organization is highly satisfied and stays for several years and chooses not to go to another team.
Organizational culture unawareness is one of the most common deficiencies in leadership. According to Weberg(2012), by understanding the impact of leadership behaviors within the corporate culture, the leader can better work with the complex intricacies of personality, people, and other agents in the system to aid in the development of appropriate solutions for the organization.
SWOT Analysis
Table 1. SWOT Analysis of the Organization.
Strengths of the Organization
The Importance of Professional Development
Healthcare professionals of this department are highly qualified, and they are encouraged to attend cardiovascular and interventional radiology symposiums and conferences. The unit manager justifies this need to the Administrative Director, and employees get compensated for attending discussions, conferences, and seminars. It is paramount to motivate and encourage employees to participate in these types of training for their personal benefit and the benefit of the department.
In the health care field where rapid changes happen not only in the technique of practice but also in information content, it is critical to have employees well informed and trained in the new and improved methods, drugs, and procedures to treat patients. By facilitating the education of employees, they will gain new skills and knowledge and will not become obsolete, which in turn will help the department to improve the quality of service.
An organization that invests in its employees’ reap the rewards with high-quality care. The organization will have a much happier, loyal, and committed workforce, and a much lower employee turnover. Leaders must understand that professional development is for the organization’s benefit and not only for the employees benefit.
Relationship with Companies and Outside Vendors
The significant association between this group with other businesses and outside vendors allows the department to be the first to try new equipment when they come to the market. They also need the company’s support in the case of material, personal, or sponsoring needs. In fact, Phillips has an employee who provides technical assistance working in the department full-time in the event of any technical problem.
Organization’s Reputation. The organization’s reputation is very positive for the department. Thanks to the good reputation and the employees’ hard and dedicated work the hospital receives a significant number of patients each year. The organization receives many patients from Key West. The patients travel for two to three hours to get treatment in this hospital. It shows patient’s trust.
Weaknesses of the Organization
Recruiting Qualified Staff
Recruitment of qualified staff is a constant concern due to the high number of applicants. There are many cardiovascular technologists and nurses, but not all of them are registered or not all have the experience and certifications required by the hospital. The department hires nurses and technicians with at least three years of experience in their field. When these employees enter the organization, they get the proper training in their first two to three months of employment to ensure they are prepared to perform their job. Additionally, there is the considerable amount of time to invest in checking the background of each applicant.
More Space
The Interventional Services Department has a Procedure Care Unit (PCU) with 13 slots, where they take patients before and after the surgical procedures. Because the interventional services department has 11 suites, in a busy day at least 20 slots are needed in PCU. Ideally, 22 slots should be available, because when patients are getting prepared to have the procedure others are getting out of the procedure suites, and at the same time the next patients should start getting ready to get into the procedure suite. This problem brings some delays in the proceedings. In some cases, doctors, nurses, and technologists have to wait extended periods to start their next case; but most importantly, patients get their procedures delayed due to the lack of space in the PCU.
If this issue could get a resolution, health care professionals would not need to wait extended periods in between patients and would be able to perform more procedures; the department could be more productive, get more revenue, and patients would not have their systems delayed. The organization can have patients and employees satisfied.
Opportunities of the Organization
Shared Leadership
Despite the size or complexity of a department, shared leadership can be beneficial in an organization as leaders can utilize their personal strengths and experiences to focus on a common goal. Having two leaders managing one department may be useful if they work collaboratively with a unified goal. Kocolowski(2010) found that shared leadership between two leaders, one task-oriented and the other behavior-oriented, would result in greater success than leadership by one person alone. Additionally, according to Gopee and Galloway (2013), leadership can and should be demonstrated by staff at all levels in health and social care. It should not be considered the domain of those in supervisory and management roles exclusively.
Provide Quality Care
The organization counts with qualified and compassionate healthcare professionals as well as state of the art equipment, which facilitate the provision of high-quality care. This hospital has been providing high-quality care to its patients, which has led the organization to have a good reputation.
Threats of the Organization
Competition
There are small diagnostic centers and doctor’s offices opening around the hospital, which perform the same diagnostic procedures and take patients away from this department. Even when these diagnostic centers and doctor’s offices only perform diagnostic procedures as MRA, CTA, and diagnostic angiograms, it means the potential loss of a good number of patients.
There is also internal competition within the same organization as there are two hospitals in the same group three miles away from each other and they both compete to attract more patients and provide the best service to increase productivity.
Insurance Coverage
The insurance policy is variable for the different procedures this department performs. For many of the procedures performed, insurance companies reimburse only a small percentage of the total cost. For example, in 2006 Cigna only paid 35% of the total cost of a coronary bypass surgery, which was only $ 47,500 of $135,573 (Dorschner, para27).
Additionally, not all insurance companies reimburse the same amount of money for a particular procedure; some have a lower reimbursement than others. On the other hand, Medicare and Medicaid coverage are different; they only reimburse 30% of the total price of the procedures, and this also relies on patient satisfaction.
Increasing Prices of Health Care Services
The constant increasing prices of health care procedures can negatively affect the department. When health care costs keep rising, the healthcare organization needs to raise its prices as well. It also needs to have access to the most advanced equipment and the most skilled health professionals.
High Cost of Equipment
In the medical field, where there is constant technology improvement, it is imperative to have the latest technology as well as methods and procedures. As technology improves, prices increase. In most cases, it is beneficial for the department to acquire the latest equipment or devices needed to perform the procedures. However, in some cases, in the intent of purchasing the latest equipment and try the latest techniques the organization can waste resources. For this reason, it is always recommended to evaluate the new materials and devices before purchasing them and take the decision based on the best interests of the department.
Leadership Evaluation
Strengths of the Primary Leader
The primary strengths of Christopher Joseph as the department’s manager are discipline, vision, and creativity. He is a very respectful and responsible leader who is not only committed to the organization but his employees as well (Bryman, 2011). He is constantly thinking about the future of the department. Christopher shares his vision with all employees. He started by laying down the vision for the department. In one of the consultative meetings with the surgeons, doctors, and nurses, he put together a team of experienced specialists to work on the best practices. The document was to guide the functions of the unit (Grossmann, 2011).
The nurses’ teams were to improve the requirements of the guidelines for patient care. In a month’s time, they had produced a working document for the operation unit. He had a vision that the department would later become the best in dealing with patients and finding solutions to impending problems (Luzinski, 2011).
He is a disciplined worker. He is never late for any meetings. He arrives at work one hour before the standard time. Christopher also ensures that all doctors and nurses in his unit take the least time possible to finalize their activities. He led them to develop a personal timetable for performance. He discusses with each one how they could meet their objectives and how to improve their performance (Grossmann, 2011).
The leader of this department consistently focuses on the benefit of the organization and employees. He understands the importance of having happy employees for the success of the department, the organization, and ultimately the patients. In the health care field, where care is critical for patients, it is crucial to have happy employees because they will transmit their feelings to their patients (Kise, 2013).
Dissatisfied employees will cause patient dissatisfaction (Fiabane et al., 2012). Employee dissatisfaction could lead to employee resignation. It would cost more money to the organization. The organization will need to set a budget for new hiring process and new training.
Weaknesses of the Primary Leader
Autocratic Principles
Most of the activities in the department arise because of pressure on the employees. Some workers feel that he does not care what one is going through. When he wants work done, he does not listen to any excuses even when the workers have personal and genuine concerns. He does not allow them to go on leave. He makes them work even beyond their schedules. It has demoralized their performance. He should enhance effective communication in the workplace. It is a busy department. Many employees are involved in lucrative procedures (Kolker & Story, 2012).
Conflict Resolution
Some employees just choose to avoid discussing the problems and do not do anything to resolve them. The manager of this organization has spent a lot of time trying to resolve issues between employees. Vision is very essential. The leader should focus on it until the team achieves it. When there are many arguments, then there is no enough time for working. It may lead to failure.
He is a workaholic
He does not have a chance to rest. He is always thinking about work. When things go wrong, he gets stressed up to the point of getting admitted for treatment. He has collapsed almost every month while at the workplace just because he has no time for meals, pleasure, and rest. He cannot concentrate on one thing. He does many activities at once and ends up mixing things. It disrupts the performance.
Theory-Based Recommendations for the Primary Leader
Situational Theory
Christopher managed to grasp the concept and filled the leadership gap. His actions are in tune with the environment. The department leader shows characteristics of adaptability, as he can adjust his style to the different circumstances he faces in the workplace (Wong & Laschinger, 2013). When employees feel recognized and respected, they are satisfied and committed to the leader and the department. The challenges at the workplace required an active leader. The employees could not achieve much because they worked as individuals. When the manager introduced team work, everyone joined to make their effort. The team provided solutions to the organization’s needs.
Path-Goal Theory
Christopher managed to create room for networking. He then worked with the assistants to make operational goals (Kouzes & Posner, 2011). The leader focused on removing obstacles for the employees so that they become more motivated to perform their job. He motivated his employees and recognized their job, which in turn made employees carry out their jobs in a more productive and efficient way. In the end they will become satisfied with work. It seems the workers only needed someone to point them in the right direction. They believed in his efforts and allowed him to lead them. The obstacles included lack of cooperation, individualistic decisions, and the management’s lack of support for the employees’ concerns. The team’s success managed to affect the other departmental workers and they started learning from the manager’s skills.
Transformational Theory
Christopher Joseph was a leader transformed his followers to achieve not only goals but also purpose and significance in their work (Smith, 2011). The leader of this department shows the characteristics of a transformational leader as he has excellent communication and connection with his employees.
He demonstrates trustworthiness and the promotion of teamwork principles. As stated by Smith (2011), a transformational leader serves as an inspiration to others, possessing an optimistic, positive, and encouraging attitude. The characteristics of Joseph as a transformational leader are charisma, inspiration, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration (Smith, 2011). Christopher used this method to develop a trusted cohort to understand and carry out leadership directives. It was the best method to apply in the health care center to build the doctor-nurse responsible relationship. He believed that there was no reason to blame any individual whenever there was a problem. He assigned each one a partner to work with and consult for any work-related activities.
Organizations need effective leadership to set and achieve goals. The leader influences the culture of the organization. Therefore, leadership sets the pace for growth. The followers need to adapt and share their ideas on the best practices for the future of the team. The manager relies on his junior members to help him make the department succeed. As a leader, he should learn more organizational skills. Though he is a trusted leader, most of his junior members had a chance for promotion because of their job experience and qualifications.
References
Bryman, A. (2011). The SAGE handbook of leadership (1st ed.). London, UK: SAGE.
Daft, R. L. (2014). Management, ed. USA: Cengage Learning.
Dorschner, J. (2006). Lifting the veil on healthcare costs. Miami Herald. Web.
Fiabane, E., Giorgi, I., Musian, D., Sguazzin, C., &Argentero, P. (2012). Occupational stress and job satisfaction of healthcare staff rehabilitation units. Medicina delLavoro, 103(6), 482-492.
Gopee, N., & Galloway, J. (2013). Leadership and management in healthcare.(2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Grossmann, C. (2011). Engineering a learning healthcare system (1st ed.). Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Kise, J. (2013). Intentional Leadership (1st ed.). New York, NY: Allworth Press.
Kocolowski, M. D. (2010). Shared leadership: Is it time for a change? Emerging Leadership Journeys, 3(1), 22-32
Kolker, A. & Story, P. (2012). Management engineering for effective healthcare delivery (1st ed.). Hershey, PA: Medical Information Science Reference.
Kouzes, J. & Posner, B. (2011). The five practices of exemplary leadership (1st ed.). San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.
Luzinski, C. (2011). Transformational leadership. Journal of Nursing Administration, 41 (12), 501-502.
Smith, M. A. (2011). Are you a transformational leader?.Nursing Management, 42(9), 44-50.
Weberg, D. (2012). Complexity leadership: A healthcare imperative. Nursing Forum, 47(4), 268-277
Wong, C. A., &Laschinger, H. K. (2013). Authentic leadership, performance, and satisfaction: The mediating role of empowerment. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 69(4), 947-959. Web.