City Center Hospital Case Study

Introduction

Organizational Development (OD) is a common practice in the corporate world to initiate changes and make the entities more effective. It is a planned process of systemic changes in the employees’ beliefs, attitudes, and values (Koller & Loup, 2005). City Center Hospital Case Study shows that the facility was a giant outpatient surgery center situated in Kansas. However, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Director of Nursing (DON), and the Human Resource Manager (HRM) were all concerned with a moral issue that affected the nursing staff working in the facility. Therefore, each of the top leaders was concerned with the problem (Case Study, n.d). The CEO feared that some physicians might be forced due to the unit managers’ lack of administrative and leadership skills. Human resources are critical aspects of organizational development since they help organizations in achieving their underlying goals. As a result, OD is necessary to enable the City Center Hospital to respond to the changes to create an enabling environment for all the physicians to feel embraced. This is critical for the facility to tap its full potential. However, change requires appropriate planning and functional strategies for it to be a success. Organizational development interventions are necessary in this case to address different issues that lowered the morale of nurses and ruined relationships among the physicians, unit managers, and nurses. Therefore, this essay addresses the City Center Hospital case study by outlining the organizational development interventions required to boost the facility’s performance.

Section 1

Summary of the case study

City Center hospital is a significant outpatient surgery facility located in a mid-sized urban part of Kansas. However, the top leadership, such as the CEO, DON, and HRM, had pertinent concerns regarding morale among the nursing staff working in the facility (Case Study, n.d). They also believed that the relationship among the employees working at the City Center hospital was also coarse; thus, it could adversely affect the facility’s mission. The doctors, unit managers, and nurses were not on good terms. Such adversarial relationships could negatively affect the organization in actualizing its mission. City Center Hospital’s chief executive officer was worried about losing the physicians due to poor leadership skills depicted by the unit managers. The facility also had the director of nursing, who the facility mandated to champion better care services and routine activities in the nursing homes. The unit managers are also concerned about the issue; however, they point fingers at the arrogant behavior depicted by physicians as the underlying cause of the misunderstanding witnessed in the organization. Thus, they seek an organizational development consultant for intervention for all the internal managers, restoring unity in the facility and working as a team. Organizational development intervention can assist the facility in solving the challenges that ruined the relationship among its workforce. It will also foster a sense of purpose by making them work together for a common goal.

The problem and its justification

The underlying problem experienced at the City Center Hospital is the lack of morale by the staff. The senior administration in various leadership positions such as the CEO, DON, and HRM are worried that most nurses working in the facility depicted lower morale that inhibited their performance. Again, the hospital’s employees were not on good terms; hence, it was difficult for the facility to achieve its goals without addressing the underlying differences (Case Study, n.d). This was a significant challenge since organizational members are expected to work to facilitate accomplishing the underlying tasks. The CEO was also worried about losing some physicians, insinuating that underlying problems needed to be addressed to retain the physicians.

Employees are valuable assets in any corporate entity since they contribute to the growth and development of any organization. The success of any organization is anchored on its ability to create a team working towards a common goal (Arimie, 2020). The employees also need synergy and a conducive environment where they freely interact to achieve the set goals. However, this was not the case in City Center Hospital since relationships between physicians, unit managers, and nurses were fragmented (Case Study, n.d). As a result, there is an urgent need for the CEO, DON, and HRM to remedy the situation and unite the disagreeing groups to work as a team for a common purpose since organizational success relies on their input. In addition, the management was keen on implementing changes to make the hospital more profitable and action-oriented. This scenario also confirms some underlying challenges that the entity was trying to resolve to be more productive.

Action Research Process

Different scenarios call for different intervention approaches since organizations face various issues demanding unique solutions. In my view, the City Center Hospital case scenario requires using the three phases of the action research model. Action research is vital for Organizational development (OD) since it is a critical ingredient of success in the organizations we work with to improve their performance. It entails self-reflective inquiry by social situation participants to enhance the fairness of their initiatives, an in-depth understanding of the scenarios and the practices that require interventions. In resonance with Manfra (2019), action research is crucial since it focuses on inquiry to help the OD consultants and teachers understand the issues. The success of the intervention requires strategic planning, workable implementation strategy, and post-intervention assessment to ascertain if the intervention is productive or not.

Organizational Development Interventions

Organizational Development (OD) interventions are planned strategies used to solve underlying challenges faced by an organization. The core objective of the OD intervention strategies is to improve performance and goal achievement. The goal of OD is to make organizations adapt to changes by enhancing competence. Organizational development is also regarded as a corrective measure to eradicate the challenges an organization faces to attain its goals (Chandrasekar & Velusamy, 2017). Different interventions exist that health facilities such as the City Center Hospital can utilize to resolve the underlying problems that have lowered the nurses’ morale. The interventions can also mend the broken relationships between the physicians, unit managers, and nurses. Solving the issues can make the organization achieve its underlying goals since human resources are critical in attaining organizational goals by aligning with its mission and vision (Case Study, n.d). Thus, OD consultants play a pivotal role in helping organizations respond to the market and technological advances. Some of the interventions that can be used are described below.

Human Resource Interventions

Human resources are critical resources of every organization since they help the facilities in attaining their underlying goals. As a result, facilities, such as City Center hospital, should always aspire to provide an enabling environment for the employees to coexist. In most cases, human resource interventions entail activities aimed at enhancing the functioning of the organizational workforce. In resonance with Gast et al. (2017), human resource interventions are critical in boosting productivity. The case study shows that City Center Hospital was trying to change the culture to become more profitable and patient-oriented in several scenarios. However, it is integral to acknowledge that every change effort requires a multifaceted engagement from the management, employees, and stakeholders to ensure that change is effectively communicated. This is critical to guarantee the acceptability of the proposed changes by the stakeholders.

City Center Hospital can utilize human resource interventions to boost the nurses’ morale and appreciate them for their significant contribution. The facility has organized a one-day workshop; hence, it can use this opportunity to appreciate top-performing staff with different packages. It can also acknowledge their efforts through performance certificates to make them feel recognized and appreciated (Gast et al., 2017). Career development is a progressive process; hence, the hospital’s leadership can outline robust career development strategies to empower their employees with the emerging changes and plans. City Center Hospital staff conflicted with nurses, unit managers, and doctors that were not on good terms (Case Study, n.d). However, organizations must understand that different departments in organizations contribute to their overall growth. Therefore, it cannot be assumed that each department is independent since they all need and support each other.

As a result, human resource intervention strategies can boost staff morale and teamwork in care delivery since they all work towards a common purpose. Functional and effective human resource interventions make employees own the hospital’s vision. Thus, they can purpose through their inner drive to offer patient-centered care services and increasing the facility’s profit margins.

Strategic Interventions

Strategic interventions are critical in the organizational development (OD) process. They imply a set of planned measures or approaches aimed at helping an organization in boosting productivity, efficiency, and quality of its output (Israel, 2019). These interventions entail the activities undertaken to promote organizational attributes. The City Center Hospital outsources nurses as conditional permanent staff. On the other hand, doctors are employed as autonomous contractors for annual contracts. The employment strategies used by the City Center Hospital could be contributing to the lower morale exhibited by the nurses working at the center. The CEO also lamented the lack of effective leadership skills at the unit level attributed to the absence of employment security in the facility. Employees are valuable resources; hence, their demand is competitive based on better pay and their qualifications and allowances to make their lives more comfortable. As a result, City Center Hospital should focus on providing better income to motivate and boost the morale of its workforce.

In addition, the HRM department can initiate measures such as the provision of pensionable and permanent contracts to the physicians, nurses, and unit managers. This strategy has the potential of reinvigorating morale since it guarantees job security (Khewsomboom, 2017). It will also help the facility develop a pool of human resources to facilitate its mission. As a result, the strategic interventions will align the staff to the facility’s goals, mission, and objective. Thus, their dedication and service would provide patient-centered care services and broaden the facility’s profit margins.

Human Process Interventions

Human process interventions refer to change strategies that focus on interpersonal associations, group relations, and organizational changes. Human process interventions are significant in organizational development (Gast et al., 2017). One of the problems faced by City Center Hospital is the lack of morale by the nursing staff employed in the facility. The CEO of the facility is lamenting the dysfunctional leadership approaches at the unit level leadership (Case Study, n.d). The final underlying problem faced by the facility is the adversarial relationship between the nursing teams, doctors, and unit managers. Therefore, it is integral to utilize human interventions to restore the broken relationships among the nurse to create a favorable environment where they can work in unity.

The institution has planned a one-day workshop that provides a lucrative opportunity for the top leaders, such as the CEO, DON, and HRM, to communicate the multiple changes in culture. City Center Hospital was trying to implement to attain more profit by offering patient-centered care services. The hospital’s administration could also use the opportunity to build relationships among its staff to ensure that they both cooperate in delivering care services. During the workshop, the organizers can create team-building sessions where teams are designed with an equal number of physicians, nurses, and unit leaders. The groups can be subjected to open discussions where they talk freely. The team leaders acting as moderators should note the visible differences among the team members to be presented in an open forum where all the departments, senior leadership, employees, and unit leadership are present. This will provide an avenue for the leaders to understand the primary causes of the adversarial relationships witnessed in the organization. The strategy offers an avenue for OD consultants to learn the simmering issues that need to be addressed to restore relationships in the facility.

Human process interventions should make the different groups in City Center Hospital understand the significance of cooperation and teamwork. In resonance with Arimie (2020), relationships and collaboration are essential in forming functional teams to help organizations record higher performance. Organizational success is anchored on members’ cooperation, respect of diversities, and acknowledging a common purpose that they are all aiming at. This is because services provided by physicians and nurses in the care setting are complementary; hence, they must all cooperate in care delivery. Thus, the workshop should also be used as an avenue to sensitize City Center Hospital employees to support each other. They should also be encouraged to be responsible by ensuring that they execute their responsibilities with utmost consideration of quality and prioritizing patient’s health. The unit leaders should also use the workshop as an avenue to ascertain their employees’ capabilities and limitations. Thus, it can help the unit leadership allocate roles in areas where they have proven capabilities to ensure that every patient receives quality care.

Section 2

The role of a consultant during interventions

Organizational Development consultant exercises numerous roles during an organizational change process. During interventions, the OD consultant plays an integral role in evaluating the likely loopholes that have affected relationships and lowered employees’ morale at City Center Hospital (Chandrasekar & Velusamy, 2017). The OD Consultant should use the assessment to define the appropriate measures that the hospital’s management can use to improve performance, care quality, and profit margins. The OD consultant should also guide the leadership during the workshop to understand some of the raised concerns by the employees and the most appropriate means of addressing them.

Competencies and ethical behaviors needed for the intervention

Competencies required include individuals with a detailed understanding of change and its pre-requisite. Thus, individuals preferably with a post-graduate degree in OD with proven work experience should be hired if the change is complex; however, for small organizational changes, those with OD degrees and relevant experience should be contacted. The ethical behavior required entails tolerance by listening to each other without interruption to avoid conflictual issues, ruining the relationships, and lowering nurses’ morale working at the City Center Hospital.

Research methods, data collection, and evaluation methods

The research method that is recommended for this OD intervention is qualitative research methodology. It is the recommended method since qualitative data can be obtained easily through interviews, focus-group discussions, and observations. The qualitative approaches could be used during the single-day workshop planned by the facility to ascertain the problems that need to be addressed. The City Center Hospital case scenario requires a formative evaluation framework to make the OD process more productive (Bierema, 2020). As the OD consultant, I am hired by the hospital to disclose the facility’s challenges and define workable measures to remedy the situation. The intervention will take place during the one-day workshop. People can resist change when they are not part and parcel of the change process. As a result, my team will work with all the people by incorporating their views presented during the workshop period to ensure they all accept the recommended changes.

Section 3

Projected outcomes for the OD change project and validation of my reasoning

There are several projected outcomes for the OD change project. The first projected outcome is change-facilitation since the organization has been ready to make the hospital more profitable and patient-centered (Case Study, n.d). The CEO has been aspiring for change to boosts the nurses’ morale to prevent losing them. Secondly, the OD change project will restore cordial relationships among the nurses and the physicians. The workshop will allow them to understand the root cause of their differences, and practical strategies for resolving them will be identified. The workshop will also provide an avenue for the management to train and teach their staff on the essence of teamwork and how it could transform their operations. Finally, the projected outcome for the OD project is for members to share the hospital’s mission; hence, they will work harder by offering patient-oriented care services.

Conclusion

City Center Hospital is a giant outpatient surgery center situated in Kansas. The top leadership, including the CEO, DON, and HRM, are worried about the nursing staff’s diminishing morale at the facility. The low morale was a matter of concern since it was hindering the hospital from accomplishing its mission. Thus, OD interventions were required to address the underlying challenges faced by the facility to create an effective environment to better its performance and services. Various interventions can be used since organizations face different case scenarios. These OD interventions include human resource interventions, human process interventions, and strategic interventions. If the facility effectively employs the intervention strategies, there is a higher likelihood of offering patient-oriented services; thus, boosting the hospital’s profit margins.

References

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Chandrasekar, J. & Velusamy, M. (2017). The impact of OD interventions

Bierema, L. (2020). Organization development: An action research proposal (2^nd Ed.)

Gast, I., Schildkamp, K. & Van, T. (2017). Team-based professional development interventions in higher education. Review of research education 87(4), 736-767. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.3102/0034654317704306

Israel, A. (2019). Strategic interventions and performance of small and medium enterprises in Nigeria. International journal of development and community studies. Vol. (3), 1-6

Koller, R. & Loup, R. (2005). Organization development journal. Journal of organizational development 23(3), 73-81.

Khewsomboom, W. (2017). Utilizing organization development interventions (ODI) on organizational culture of collectivism to enhance employee engagement. Organization Development Journal, 35(4), 61-80.

Manfra, M. (2019). Action research and systematic, intentional change in teaching practice