Gateway Hospital is heading towards a human resource crisis if the administration fails to solve arising challenges. The difficulties the company faces include lower staff morale, minimal turnover rates, and poor financial performance. As such, organizational development (OD) interventions will be highly effective in solving these problems. Organizational interventions entail a process which includes planned and sequential actions focused on helping a firm increase its effectiveness while also making specific changes in sub-units to more effective states. A review of the case reveals several interventions targeting a leadership culture shift and employee interactions that the hospital can implement, including specific actions and timeline for the consultant, and skill sets for the practitioner.
Discussion/Proposed OD Interventions
Various intervention techniques can be used to alleviate Gateway Hospital’s woes. Proposed implementation ranges from the team group level to total organizational system level. Moreover, the techniques are problem-specific. Research indicates that in order to implement new practices, one must understand what caused the current undesirable behaviors (Atkins et.al., 2017). In this case, the main problems at Gateway Hospital stem from a financial breakdown that has led to it being understaffed, poor morale among workers, and bad customer reviews. A majority of the problems with the staff, nonetheless, are a ripple effect from the overall troubling performance in the company. Suggestions seek to improve worker morale and staffing and enhance customer reviews. Moreover, the proposals would ensure better financial management at the firm.
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Total Organizational System Level OD Interventions
The top-level management should derive a strategic plan to improve establishment of long-term organizational goals, objectives, and directions. From the case study, it is evident that certain elements have not been clearly defined. Some of the factors that need to be specifically addressed and outlined in the strategic plan are employee appraisal and reward systems and communication procedures at work. The management should design a way to collect information from the members of the organization, and report the results as a beginning point for the actions and plans for improvement. In this case, specific strategies are linked to specific barriers. Tailoring implementation strategies in this way could involve several approaches. For instance, the company could use concept mapping, generating ideas, and creating a visual map ranked on certain dimensions such as importance (Powell et.al, 2017). The firm could also use group-model building that engages stakeholders; or co-joint analysis, that entails selecting product characteristics from various options (Powell et.al 2017). Each of these alternatives ensures participative engagement from all stakeholders and, therefore, should be merged appropriately.
The company should further create a customer service development system to change how society has been negatively viewing Gateway Hospital. The system should sensitize employees on the importance of efficient, courteous, customer service. Research shows that a customer-focused approach at work is essential to workplace improvement (Kobayashi, 2018). In this case, however, care should be taken to ensure that customers’ experience with the company at each level is treated uniquely ( Rosenbaum, Otalora, & Ramírez, 2017). As such, feedback from clients should be detailed to ensure to create a unique customer experience for all. Moreover, training on customer management for employees should focus on unique touchpoints for the customer. Nonetheless, a customer-based strategy will only be essential considering clear directions by the consultant and motivational strategies and solutions for the team members.
Team Group Level OD Intervention
The staff should be guided on how work together so as to bring out the best in each team member. The consultant can proceed by building common values, visions, and activities that encourage team-building. He or she can further ensure new opportunities for the team by identifying ways to capture customers. Opportunities for collaboration and to work on new ideas significantly improve not only teamwork, but also patient safety (Fernandez & Grand, 2015). Thus, he or she could, additionally, develop value added services and products that will excite customers as well as workers. The team could carry out sessions where they could brainstorm and come out with new opportunities or interventions. They could also come up with ways to maximize on their strengths. These interventions will aid greatly in improving team-work, a factor that is greatly lacking at the hospital currently. Ensuring the practitioners are all engaged in the change process while interacting with each other will further help cultivate a culture of team-work.
How to Proceed as the Consultant, Skill Set for Practitioners, and Time-Frame
If I were the consultant in this case, I would need to ensure that the top organization provides clear direction. This approach involves setting a clear vision, mission, and competitive advantage. Goals play an essential role in motivating staff and improving eventual outcomes (Waychal, 2018). These tools have to be passed down to the whole institution on every level with clear roles and responsibilities. A high sense of accountability should be further cultivated so that no employee lags behind in his or her roles. In this case, practitioners need certain skills, such as creativity and the ability to work under stressful conditions. Emotional detachment would inhibit practitioners from connecting with patients ( Kerasidou, & Horn, 2016). Nonetheless, clarity in goal and responsibility setting ensures that all members of the company know their respective contributions to the firm, avoiding confusion. The approach would further ensure that each individual understands the consequences of failing to adhere to certain measures that would invariably reflect on the performance of the entire firm and teammates. Thus, clarity would contribute towards a culture of responsibility, where practitioners care for their roles as well as for that of their teammates and the hospital as a whole.
Other than the above, it will be important to motivate individual staff so as to make them to actively contribute to the improvement of the hospital crisis; and set a reasonable time frame. This could be done through face to face communication, videos, newsletters, emails, and social network. The members could be made to understand more about the positive changes that could come out of them working together for the betterment of the hospital. In this case, the low morale and employee issues would be tackled appropriately. I would first recognize what the team was able to achieve during the time they were under stress and otherwise non- performing. I would also acknowledge the various challenges the team was able to overcome. Using this information, I would then encourage each employee to re-inspire him or herself by reconnecting personal values and goals. Finally, I would focus on rewarding desired behaviors and work outcomes, thus powerfully shaping their work behavior. Employees who are recognized are further more willing to accept change in spite of challenges (Dikshit & Madan, 2018). Eventually, the specialized doctors could feel appreciated and thus curb the problem of low turnover Time factor in this case is a highly sensitive matter. The hospital needs solutions in the short term. However, the solutions should be able to project in the long run. Given that these changes would contribute to improving the current financial downslide, an urgent time frame of one to two months would be appropriate.
Conclusion
Organizational Development Interventions are effective mechanisms to identify and address the issues at hand. A vigilant and matured organization should be able to address the issues following the suggestions at team, individual, and organizational level. The cost of negligence, otherwise, can have adverse impact in terms of cost and widespread agitation, resulting to image, reputation, and delivery and branding loss.
References
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Dikshit, M. S. K., & Madan, M. V. (2018). HR Rewards system and Employees motivation: An Analysis. NOLEGEIN-Journal of Human Resource Management & Development , 43-49.
Fernandez, R., & Grand, J. A. (2015). Leveraging social science-healthcare collaborations to improve teamwork and patient safety. Current problems in pediatric and adolescent health care , 45 (12), 370-377.
Kerasidou, A., & Horn, R. (2016). Making space for empathy: supporting doctors in the emotional labour of clinical care. BMC medical ethics , 17 (1), 8.
Kobayashi, I. (2018). 20 Keys to workplace improvement . Routledge.
Powell, B. J., Beidas, R. S., Lewis, C. C., Aarons, G. A., McMillen, J. C., Proctor, E. K., & Mandell, D. S. (2017). Methods to improve the selection and tailoring of implementation strategies. The journal of behavioral health services & research , 44 (2), 177-194.
Rosenbaum, M. S., Otalora, M. L., & Ramírez, G. C. (2017). How to create a realistic customer journey map. Business Horizons , 60 (1), 143-150.
Waychal, P. (2018). Examining the effect of goal clarity on faculty performance. European Journal of Engineering Education , 43 (4), 597-605.
