Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
Instructions
Organizational culture has a vital role in guiding how individuals are successful in their roles in healthcare and the helping professions, including the value of self-awareness regarding role expectations and management strategies. Therefore, it is important for employees to be aware of key attributes that may be stepping stones to their success.Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
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For this assignment, define these five key attributes:
Communication (i.e. listening, staying calm, be empathetic, compassion),
Flexibility
Integrity
Ethical behavior
Critical thinking skills
Provide an example of each examining how each attribute brings value to the organizational culture and may propel one’s career and contribute to the workplace culture. Support your example(s) with a minimum of 2 scholarly resource.
Writing Requirements (APA format)
Length: 2-3 pages (not including title page or references page)
1-inch margins
Double spaced
12-point Times New Roman font
Title page
References page (minimum of 2 scholarly sources)
A learner has variety of modes available to understand a concept. However, nothing can beat the richness of learning encompassed in the learner observing its application oneself. With this objective, this course offered us a field visit to Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Center (JPMC) in order to analyse organization structure and culture of a health care organization. The purpose of this paper is to analyse application of different leadership and management concepts in that organization along with recommendations to improve the same, with special emphasis on various dimensions of their organizational culture.Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
“Organizational culture is defined as the values, beliefs, and norms of an organization that shape its behaviour” (Davies, Nutley, & Mannion, 2000). The organization we visited was JPMC which is located in at Rafique Shaheed Road in Karachi, Pakistan. JPMC is the biggest public sector hospital in the country, established in 1959. It is a federal government hospital running under the rules of Governmental policies funded by government and NGOs. JPMC is the tertiary care hospital which is accessible for public free of cost and charging only 5 Rs. / for OPD patients. At present, it comprises of 1185 beds with the diversity of inpatient and outpatient care services, school of nursing, college of nursing, school of physiotherapy, medical college etc.
In 1949 the first School of Nursing in Pakistan was established in JPMC. It started with the 3 years of diploma programme with 7 nurses. However, at that time the idea was not primarily to impart nursing education but to develop staff who can take care of wounded refuges and sick population. From the very initial stage, nursing profession faced challenges. It was difficult to cater the young girls and encourage them to join nursing. This was due to a variety of reasons. Sending females of the family to earn livelihood was not that common in our culture back in those days. Convincing parents for female employment and that too with duties in morning, evening and night shift must have been a daunting task for nursing leaders of that time. Such reluctance was mainly due to our cultures norms prevailing at that time. Several strategies were used to inspire people for this profession such as through political campaigns and by the attraction of influential people like Mrs Rana Liaqat Ali. She played a pioneering role for nursing profession. Nevertheless, the nursing profession is still struggling to make its respectable place in that particular organization.Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
Being a nurse leader, I identified a number leadership and management issues during visit that require senior management deliberation and thought process. There was no formal Human Recourse Department in the organization, nursing staff motivation was not visible, there were no proper policies for conflict management, and quality assurance etc. Though there are a host of human resource related issues that may be discussed but I have chosen to reflect upon that should not only be a starting point to solve all these issues but also holds pivotal importance in development of nursing profession and leading the healthcare setup in that organization. I feel that having a transformational and empowered leadership in place may enable the organization to deal rest of those issues in more pragmatic manner.Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
Empowerment among Nursing Leaders
In this paper I will ponder on need for a transformation and empowerment of nursing leadership at JPMC. However, before exploring the application of these concepts, it is important to understand its theoretical background. Empowerment refers to entrusting someone else with the authority to execute given powers. Empowerment enables nurse leaders to act creatively and effectively. According to Sullivan and Decker (2004) “An organization in which nursing leaders are innovative, creative, and energetic will tend to operate in a fast moving, goal oriented fashion.” Empowerment also enables nurse leaders to think and act strategically. Nurses are the biggest health force in JPMC and having a principal role as health care providers. Nursing leadership in JPMC has their well-organized organogram yet unfortunately many of the positions are vacant because very few nursing personnel meeting the eligibility criteria for those positions. Complexity in health care system is increasing day by day which imposes many challenges on nursing profession in JPMC. Therefore, it demands nurses to be highly competent, innovative, have leadership potential, and demonstrate flexibility in adapting to changes, throughout their functional and professional relationship (Porter O’grady, 2003). According to Sullivan and Decker 2004, there are in general three levels of management in nursing: first level which includes nurses’ managers, middle level which consists of directors and upper level entails the executives. JPMC is a great example of following this criterion as they have well defined organogram. However, upper level management has the responsibility for establishing and sustaining a safe, caring environment for nursing practice and patient care. I felt that nursing leadership in JPMC is struggling hard so far for the empowerment. At many occasions, nursing leadership at JPMC does not seem to be empowered and has subsequently not empowered their own subordinates. This has created an organization culture where everyone feels very little autonomy and looks at others to make important decisions. This hinders delivery of effective healthcare.Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
One of the examples which show lack of empowerment among nursing leadership includes the selection criteria for staff and nursing leader positions. For JPMC, staff nurses are hired by the Ministry of Health after giving the public service commission exam. According to Sullivan and Decker (2004) in order to prevent negligent hiring organizations is liable for the character and actions of the employees they hire, for this they must make sure about applicants’ backgrounds in regard to licensure, credentials, and references. However, examination is not enough in hiring the best suitable nurses for an organisation. Moreover, whenever there is a vacant position, chief nursing executive write to the director and then they hire nurses based on quota system. As mentioned by the chief executive nurse, many times leaders are hired on top positions based on references and association with various people at top level, instead of merit. This is one of the reasons that educated, well deserved, experienced and empowered leaders are not hired which result in hindrance of recognition of nursing profession. Hemani (2003) highlighted “India where independence was gained at the same time, and the level of nursing education in India has had far more recognition internationally than Pakistan” (p. 122). This lack of meritocracy eventually impacts overall organizational culture generating feelings like demotivation, favouritism etc. This is just one example where lack of empowerment to nursing leadership subsequently affects entire healthcare cycle which eventually makes nursing as less preferred profession and JPMC as less preferred employer among young girls who may become nurses.Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
According to Huber (2006) “leader use their power to bring teams together, spark innovation, create positive communication and drive forward toward group goals” (p.4). Empowerment also fosters a sense of responsibility and motivation among leadership. In the light of the preceding quote, nursing leadership in JPMC is not well recognized. The leaders do not have autonomy to take decisions or impact policy making. Nurses’ participation in hospital concerns is one of the trademarks of a magnet hospital environment (McClure & Hinshaw, 2002). During conversation with one of the nursing leader in JPMC, she mentioned that in student’s hostel they had very old furniture and they wanted to get it changed. They wrote a request to director multiple times but nursing division and its requests were not given importance for long. But somehow they managed to get money by negotiations with director. For such a small work they had to struggle so hard; this small scenario is depicting that nursing division in JPMC has a long run to prove their right position in an organization.
One of the key aspects to leader’s empowerment includes strengthening nursing education system. This is well appreciated that JPMC has the deputation system; in which nurses are sent for higher education and they also get their salaries during that term. However, the pitfall of this system is that only those nurses who have significant years of experience can avail this. Whereas, it is the requirement of today’s nursing world to educate nurses across all levels in order to provide higher standards of care and meet patient’s expectations. Moreover, another aspect to empower nurses is through continuing education, this is not practiced in JPMC. At maximum they are sent on basic technical courses like infection control, cannulation, etc. According to Ladhani (2002) “issues in nursing are very complex and are like web of causes interlinked and interconnected. It is therefore very crucial to link up policies, trainings and commitment of all concerned parties together (p.9)”.Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay Therefore, inclusion of courses in nursing education like ethics, empowerment, politics, and gender will help nurses to empower themselves (Gulzar, 2011). Nevertheless, one aspect that is worth appreciation is that JPMC is educating and hiring male nursing students and staff nurses respectively. Hence, this proves to be a positive impact on the empowerment of nursing profession as a gender mix and promoting gender diversity in this profession.
Another aspect that deserves empowerment and transformation from nursing leadership is the quality of nursing education that is subsequently affecting health care delivery quality. JPMC has very limited faculties (around eight in number) who teach all the subjects. Even they are not sufficiently equipped with the requisite knowledge and skills due to the lack of opportunities they get there for higher education. Other reasons for compromised health quality in JPMC are shortage of staff due to absenteeism and lack of resources. I am confident that if nursing leaders at JPMC are given enough empowerment and resources, with time, they will be able to expand their faculty base, develop them so as to make it a vibrant nursing education institute. Having well educated nurses and empowerment in staff selection should subsequently affect healthcare quality. When the staff would know that their leadership is empowered and has mission and vision that it is pursuing, the organizational culture would be the one that fosters the sense of motivation and meritocracy. It also helps in controlling absenteeism and promoting performance based reward culture.Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
Upon exploration, it was also found that nursing leaders need to be empowered in certain other ways as well to ensure quality care and effective organizational culture. We found that nursing leaders face lot of political pressure, boycotts and strikes in which the hospital services are shut down and in such circumstances the purpose of the institution is not served. Nevertheless, JPMC has ethics committee which sort out the solutions of such matters. Nurse leaders are also the part of that committee which shows involvement and empowerment of nurse leaders. Likewise, nurse leaders are also responsible for the safe environment for patients. However, they denied any kind of medication errors and sentinel events which is near to impossible or may be underreported. This is because there is no control over mal practices and due to below average education level. According to Joint Commission Accreditation Hospital (2007) in response to sentinel event “Appropriate response includes conducting a timely, thorough, and credible root cause analysis; developing an action plan designed to implement improvements to reduce risk; implementing the improvements; and monitoring the effectiveness of those improvements”. Nurse leaders and nursing staff should encourage to be empowered in identifying, reporting and managing such events in order to improve productivity.Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
Taking everything into account, it is responsibility of nurse leaders to establish organizational goals and do proper strategic planning in achieving the vision of their institute. Empowerment will help nurse leaders to move from being a passive observer to an active player. Besides, nursing leaders are accountable in buffering the effects of the peripheral surroundings on nurses within the organization.
Need for transformational leadership
Nurses should seek out opportunities for change to be empowered. They should not stop at the bedside, they need to raise their voices to show the difference they make in the health care. Moreover, they ought to move beyond to the larger community and professional organizations. Transformational leadership will help nurses to gain empowerment; this demand empowering others to act towards a common purpose. The organisation should allow staff to develop professional autonomy, involve nursing staff in all decision; establishing collaborative procedures between staff and management and making available work environment structure and leaders should put great emphasis on mission, vision and health policies of an organization and to implement it for the benefits of patients and staff.Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
Recommendations
As JPMC is the largest public sector hospital in Pakistan; but it is far behind to meet the forthcoming health care burdens of the society. Empowerment in nursing leadership in that organization will influence the society at large and will help in bringing positive change. Therefore, I would recommend that to become empowered; leaders should be self-motivated, visionary, educated and dedicated so that they could guard community health rights through fruitful contribution in national health policy. Furthermore, nursing leaders should maintain and sustain the co-operative, innovative and evidence based work environment that enables nurses to feel valued and respected in their profession. Finally, nursing leaders should ensure the quality of nursing education and safe clinical practices. Through overcoming educational, cultural and political hindrances we can achieve the nursing development in over country.
Conclusion
To conclude, I learnt that organization culture depicts the traditions and norms of an organization. According to Tharp, (n.d) An Evaluation of organization culture is important for a health care agency, to reduce uncertainty by creating common way for all employees, clarifies the expectation of an organization, gives sense of continuity, provides common identity, unity of commitment, and provides vision of the future around which the organization can rely. To bring about an effective change in an organization and adapt them in order to develop and meet the demands of the organization, which has been working on the same principles for a long time is difficult. It requires sheer efforts, multi-dimensional approach, good communication skills and leadership qualities.Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
The purpose of this paper is to identify if aspects of organizational culture may indicate a new terrain in the cultural influences-quality healthcare relationship. This research stems from the author’s belief that viewing the role of head of department or directorate as pivotal to health care management is critical to health care planning and quality healthcare delivery. Interviews were undertaken among 50 professional clinician and non-clinician managers working in the role of head of department, in acute care hospitals in Ireland. The sample was drawn from the total population of 850 managers, utilized in a previous survey study. Organizational culture is more complex than was previously thought. Several cultural influences such as excellence in care delivery, ethical values, involvement, professionalism, value-for-money, cost of care, commitment to quality and strategic thinking were found to be key cultural determinants in quality care delivery. Health care managers perceive that in order to deliver quality focused care they need to act in a professional, committed manner and to place excellence at the forefront of care delivery, whilst at the same time being capable of managing the tensions that exist between cost effectiveness and quality of care. These tensions require further research in order to determine if quality of care is affected in a negative manner by those tensions. Originality relates to the new cultural terrain presented in this paper that recognizes the potential of health service managers to influence the organizations’ culture and through this influence to take a greater part in ensuring that quality health care is delivered to their patients. It also seems to be important that value-for-money is viewed as an ethical means of delivering healthcare, and not as a conflict between quality and cost.Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
A culture of engagement and accountability is essential for health systems to succeed in an era of population health management and accountable care. Strong organizational cultures enable and nurture the new behaviors, actions and investments required to navigate the many changes affecting the healthcare industry, particularly the transition to value-based care. But driving cultural improvement is not easy, and it does not happen overnight.
To the contrary, efforts to change culture must take into account the history, heritage and attitudes of an organization’s past. And they must be carefully and continually assessed, developed and nurtured at all levels of the organization.
This roundtable, sponsored by Gallagher Integrated, includes responses from three recognized leaders from renowned health systems across the U.S.Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
Participants include:
John Chessare, MD, President and CEO, GBMC HealthCare System, Greater Baltimore Medical Center
Howard Grant, JD, MD, President and CEO, Lahey Health (Burlington, Mass.)
William Pryor, Chief Human Resources Officer, Cape Fear Valley Health System (Fayetteville, N.C.)
Note: Gallagher Integrated did not influence the responses provided in this roundtable in any way.
Question: How do organizational cultures need to evolve in the new era of healthcare?
Dr. Grant: Organizations must create a safe environment for evolutionary behavior, thereby encouraging staff to embrace change while recognizing that it is not always easy. As reimbursement diminishes while costs of care delivery rise, the most successful organizations will be the ones that are the most nimble. Healthcare organizations must be quicker to adapt than they have been historically, and celebrate innovation to create an environment that welcomes reengineering and value-based reimbursement.
Dr. Chessare: The new era of healthcare is about change. Most of us agree that this change is moving us toward the national triple aim of improving the patient experience, improving the health of populations and lowering the cost of healthcare. At GBMC we’ve added a fourth aim: To increase joy among those providing the care.Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
Historically, many physicians — even though they didn’t realize or believe they were doing this — acted as if they were trying to maintain the status quo. But now we really need to be more introspective and focus on what it is that our communities, patients and country needs us to do. To get from where we are today to realizing the triple aim, an organization must have a culture of change.
Mr. Pryor: As chief of HR, I’ve had a tremendous amount of discussion about this over the last several years. As a leader, you have to explain to employees what needs to change and why. You make the case for those changes at every level you can — town hall meetings, staff meetings, videos, emails, etc… At this point, the Affordable Care Act isn’t new, but it is still effecting change. You can sit back and wait for things to happen, or you can be proactive. We’ve decided to be proactive.Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
Q: How can organizational culture guide individual behavior?
HG: A healthy organizational culture should define expectations for individual caregivers’ performance in critical areas like quality of care, patient safety, patient experience and operational efficiency. When an organization’s culture expects leaders to embrace defined goals, and gives individuals the tools and guidance they need to realize that performance, the results tend to fall in line with the desired outcomes. The strongest cultures thrive, even during periods of the greatest stress, because their caregivers have the confidence to navigate whatever challenges are placed in front of them.
JC: Leaders must have two-way conversations with employees and clearly define the organization’s vision so they understand and buy-in to it. We tell new folks the expectation is they will do every time what they would want done to their own loved ones. And underlining that vision is the idea that we are always striving for continuous improvement. The best way to influence behavior is to thank and celebrate people who exhibit this culture, and for those who don’t, we have direct, discrete conversations with them. The literature suggests you get more out of celebrating successes than highlighting failure, but you’re not a great manager if you don’t have a conversation with someone whose behaviors are at odds with the vision.Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
WP: We have to get our folks to understand where we are going and how they can contribute to our goals. If employees do not see the connection to the larger mission, they will wonder why they are there.
Under the ACA, each organization has to figure out where they need to be and develop actions that everyone can take to drive change. Take the patient experience. Everyone in the health system plays a role in that. No matter what role someone has, they need to take a positive approach and have a smile on their face.
Q: What are the ways that engagement can impact organizational success?
HG: Engagement is the most critical ingredient of an organization’s success because a committed workforce is far more likely to deliver the highest quality, most compassionate and most efficient care. And clear communication is a key driver to realize a high level of engagement initially and then to sustain it. Consistent expression of goals, expectations and aspirations to both internal and external audiences solidifies engagement, which in turn increases the likelihood of enhanced performance in all facets of the organization. It takes a concerted and protracted effort to establish a high level of engagement and persistent focus to sustain it.Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
JC: Engagement is essential because without an engaged workforce, there isn’t a way to improve and meet the goals of the triple aim. As CEO, I often say I’m the No. 1 cheerleader of the organization. I make sure people have what they need to get the job done. But if people only rely on senior leaders to change the organization, that’s silly. The engagement of people who are doing the work is what will generate continuous improvement.
WP: Employees do better in terms of providing quality healthcare and a great patient experience when they are engaged. Engagement really drives every facet of a health system. And it is contagious. If there are employees who are resistant and disengaged, those negative headwinds will pull you away from where you’re trying to go. We want peer pressure to be positive.
At the same time, we clearly define our culture at new employee orientation. If an employee doesn’t want to buy into our culture, then they should not come here. We want everyone to want to be here.Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
Q: How are healthcare organization cultures impacted by the shifts toward population health management?
HG: We are in the midst of profound changes in cultural perspectives on our priorities for healthcare delivery systems. The hospital-centric healthcare world is rapidly morphing into a systemic approach to enhancing the health of a population. The organizations that will thrive in this new arena will demonstrate flexibility in all aspects of their operations as they migrate away from the way we have managed our business for decades. The critical balancing act is figuring out how to preserve the most cherished components of your culture — like the commitment to deliver compassionate patient care or colleagues’ respect for each other — while radically changing care models and how caregivers are rewarded for their performance. It will take a delicate touch.
JC: It’s not really that organizations’ cultures are impacted by population health management, but that in order to make such efforts successful, you really need to have a culture of action and improvement. If employees have the mindset that they will just come into work, do what they’re told and go home, there is no way you can transform your organization. Population health management requires a massive redesign and a culture of performance improvement.Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
WP: The approach has to be more patient-centered and effective. Organizationally, you have to be able to look at your patients not only episodically, but as a whole. For some patients, it is necessary to ask, what keeps this patient coming back to the emergency room? We have a paramedic program where we return to patients’ homes to make sure they have the right medications, they are making their doctor appointments and have the care they need so that they can get well sooner. The organizational culture has to continue to evolve to meet the patient’s need on their turf.
Q: How can organizations leverage culture to not only embrace but encourage transformation?
HG: It starts with trust and respect. If a healthcare organization’s mission is clear, and it enjoys a commitment from its staff and other community stakeholders to that mission, it is much more likely to adopt transformation more smoothly. The strongest healthcare organizations have an engaged workforce that will recognize that the transformation will be in the best interest of everyone — their patients, their organization, their workforce and the communities they serve. Celebrate that the innovative successes are achieved in large part because of the strong culture and trust; and subsequent transformations will reinforce the notion that creative innovation is the norm as opposed to the exception.Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
JC: If you get your people to adopt the mindset that it’s their right and duty to suggest ways to improve, they will have a greater sense of ownership over the change. Once in that mindset, they will start running with the ball and they will want to transform.
Our opportunity to do the right thing in healthcare is here. In Maryland, we have global hospital budgets that allow us to experiment and create more value for our patients and communities. Shame on any leader who doesn’t take steps to transform the organization to get us to the triple aim.
WP: At the end of the day, you have to make the case to every employee, physician, nurse, environmental services worker — whomever — that they play a part in achieving the organization’s goals. You must be able to break it down and explain the case at every level so each employee sees how they contribute to the big picture.
Successful organizations are always highly focused and have profound understanding of their customers’ needs, the competitive environment, and economic realities. This can be attained through implementation of high performance work practices and effective management of the workforce (Pfeffer, 1998).Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
According to Schein, one important aspect of successful organization is organizational culture, which is defined as a set of unique values or beliefs shared by members in an organization (Schein, 2004, p.12).
Alternatively, organizational culture is also defined as a system of shared meaning in an organization (Dwevedi, 1995, p.9). Organizational culture has some key components including shared values, norms, expectations and assumptions (Fong & Kwok, 2009).Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
Managers have much influence on creation, maintaining and transmission of organizational culture; role modeling, teaching and coaching are some mechanisms through which leaders can embed culture (Holbeche, 2005, p.46). Generally, there are several types of culture that can be exhibited in an organizations i.e. power culture, role culture, achievement culture and support culture (Fong & Kwok, 2009).
This paper gives an assessment of degree of significance of understanding culture in order to create successful organizations, while at the same time exploring how managers can address culture.
Thesis statement: Organizational culture is a fundamental aspect that influences a company’s communication, decision-making, behaviors, attitudes, and productivity, and cohesiveness of work-teams.Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
Role of culture in an organization
Culture is an important concept in organizations, as it influences process, strategic governance, training, roles, and responsibilities (Sanchez, 2004). McNeal (2010) states that culture provides mobilization, direction and unifies employees thus increasing their productivity. Primarily, culture facilitates both internal integration and adaptation with external environment.
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According to Pfannerstill (2006), “a good organizational culture has the ability to maximize employees’ creative ideas and strategies.” The key components of an organization are individuals and the relationship between the employees and the organization’s goals and objectives.Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
For example, three basic principles of IBM’s culture are: respect towards an individual, strive for excellence and providing the services of the highest quality (Shah, 2007, p.5).
Values in an organization play an integral part in organizational culture, more so in enhancing cohesion among employees. Pfannerstill (2006) also emphasizes the importance of promoting a culture that is compatible with organization’s goals by arguing that success of an organization is influenced by the existing culture.
The research conducted by Jahanzeb Shah (2007) demonstrated that there is strong connection between organizational culture and employees’ job satisfaction.
Based on a survey carried out in the R&D organization Integrated Services with sample total size of 50, Shah argues that such components of a company’s organizational culture as respect towards an individual, appreciation of initiatives and innovations, everyday rules, high or low rate of bureaucracy form employees’ perception of their working environment and define the level of their job satisfaction.
The idea of Edward Jernigan’s study is to some extent consonant with the abovementioned statement. In his (2010), Jernigan demonstrates the connection between the so-called “substitutes for leadership”, the concept defined by Kerr & Jermier in 1978, and job satisfaction.Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
The notion of substitutes for leadership concerns the “specific factors or forces, which when present at high levels, act to interrupt the link between the behaviors of a leader and subordinate expectancies regarding desired outcomes” (ibid.); according to Jernigan, they influence employees’ opinion about organizational culture and their job satisfaction.
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Management need to get culture right in order to have successful organization
Culture influences the decisions and actions of individuals, thus it has a potent effect on the success of an organization. Managers need to understand that there are aspects of culture that manifest in employees’ behavior and attitudes (Vandenberghe, 1999).Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
Moreover, the unique culture of an organization helps to distinguish it from others, hence creating competitive advantage (Barney, 1986). This statement has corroborated by managers in their practical activity.
Kevin Eikenberry who is the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group, a consultuig company, supports this statement based on his practical experience in the company, and argues that not only is organizational culture a competitive advantage itself, but it is able to create other competitive advantages: for example, attract and retain talents (Eikenberry, a).
This emphasizes the important role of organizational culture in a company’s activity and demonstrates its connection with other components of the whole system.
Free and Macintosh studied the case of Enron and described in (2006) how the company lost its competitive advantage in the form of well-functioning organizational culture. According to the authors, the changes that took place in the course of the transition from the “Lay-Kinder era” (1986-1996) to the “Lay-Skilling era” (1997-2001) and affected Enron’s management controls and practice of ethics played the key role in the company’s bankruptcy.Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
By getting culture right, management identifies appropriate kind of culture that supports the mission, vision, and strategic intent of the organization (Sims, 2002, p.376). Management’s understanding of the organization culture enhances its ability to maintain a motivated workforce (Chegini, 2010) and hire employees with values that match the organization’s values (Khan, 2005).
In addition, the existing culture influences cohesiveness and effectiveness of work teams, as well as defining behavior, attitudes, and motivation level of the employees (Wallace & Weese, 1995). Thus, it is important to ensure that the management understands and respects the diverse cultural backgrounds of employees and then incorporating them in the core goals of the organization.
This idea is corroborated by the empirical studies conducted in 1960s-1970s by the famous sociologist Geert Hofstede who developed the framework for classification of cultures based on several criteria.Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
Outlining such dimensions of cultural differences as masculinity/femininity, individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance and other, he demonstrated that culture influences an employee’s individual values, which finds its reflection at the working place should be taken into account in the process of organizational culture management (Singh, 2010, p.413).
For instance, based on Hofstede’s ideas, it is reasonable to state that the values and motivation of representative of an individualist culture such as Germany, USA, Canada substantially differs from those of an employee who represents collectivist cultures such as China, Philippines or Colombia.
Singh provides an example: while in Germany long working hours are considered to be the indicator of an employee’s incompetence, representatives of Chinese and Indian cultures are willing to adjust their schedules (p.415).Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
Correct understanding of culture is usually important during strategy implementation and change management. In this case, Pfannerstil (2006, 60) notes that any change initiatives in the organization must be compatible with the organizational culture. Understanding of dynamics of culture helps leaders to transform culture in direction that leads to success (Khan, 2005).
There are various external factors compelling organizations to review their culture, in order to remain competitive (Steve, 2008). Schein (2009, p.118) describes the case of DEC who were not able to compete to IBM due to its organizational culture. Particularly, the company’s culture was not oriented on paying attention to the market changes, as well as did not encourage innovations.
As a result, the products were over-designed and did not meet customer’s growing requirements. Not only did not the company’s management have the effective change plan for creating a flexible, innovation-driven organizational culture, but it did not have the means to assess the current state and notice the fact that the changes were needed for a company to successfully compete in the market.Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
Besides, cultural values and beliefs in an organization influence the type of decisions made, which are normally geared towards improving the organization (Keyton 2005, p. 96). Therefore, it is particularly important that, according to Pfannerstil (2006, 59), understanding of culture allows one to formulate the best management system.
Success in an organization must be accompanied by proper and effective communication, which is in turn influenced by the existing organizational culture (Lauer, 1997). It is also important to understand that all employees have distinct personalities and experiences, which are likely to affect the patterns of communication (Rizes, 2011).
Managers’ full understanding of the organizational culture will help them to identify communication flaws brought by the existing culture and make necessary changes (Salanki, 2010). Particularly, these changes may allow an organization to have a higher competitive edge (Barney, 1986).Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
On the other hand, managers need to understand organizational culture in order to guide the fusion of employees and organizational culture (Khan 2005).
Managing culture in organizations
There have been diverse opinions pertaining to manageability of organizational culture (Witte & Muijen, 2000, p.497). According to Griffins and Mooerhead, culture in organizations can be managed through ‘taking advantage of the existing culture, teaching organizational culture, and changing organizational culture’ (2009, p.484).
Managers may conduct teaching or training devoted to organizational culture values (Giberson, et al. 2009). Besides, they can change organization by addressing difficulties that may arise from cultural change. Indeed, according to Witte and Muijen (2000), implementation of radical change in corporate culture requires change in leadership while incremental changes do not require change in leadership (Carter, 2000).Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
Google can be considered a good example of a company that perpetually adjusts its organizational culture to its aims and needs, as well as to its external environment. Serious changes were conducted when the company overgrew the position of a strong startup with its office located in a garage, and turned into a corporation.
At first, Google’s culture was quite informal, but gradually it became clear that Google would not be able to grow intensively in case the informality of its culture was not revised.
Other problems that took shape at that stage were the ineffective recruitment system and disunity of the top level command (Google’s Organizational Culture, 2004). Thus, the company conducted a serious organizational culture reform having adapted it to the level of a large organization.
Managing of culture is essential since some cultures leads to greater productivity than others (Willcoxson & Millett, 2000, p.5).
Particularly, the management should select and hire staff that strengthens the organization’s culture or support a shift depending on the needs of the management (Clegg, Kornberger, and Pitsis, 2005). At the same time, they should model the behavior and values desired in the organization (Wilkins and Ouchi, 1983).Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
The ideas offered above have been corroborated by the empirical study conducted by Alvesson and Sveningsson (2007). The researchers observed a subsidiary of the company Technocom during 2 years from the moment of its establishment: they analyzed the company’s activities, studied the documents, organized surveys and interviews involving the employees.
The authors noticed that even in the course of the company’s first steps, the organizational culture had been changing during the 2 years of observation being influenced by the individuals working in it, and by its external environment. The employees proved to be very responsive towards culture changes.
Conclusion
Culture in organization is important as it promotes commitment, guides employees’ behavior, guides decision-making, and provides identity for members and justification for actions. In most contemporary organizations, It harmonizes all employees regardless of their culture, while at the same time developing and enhancing their individual attitudes and behaviors (McAlearney et al. 2005).Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
A strong organizational culture (common consensus on the importance of values) is an essential ingredient for attainment of organization success, as it gives employees a sense of identity and the common goals, which are essential in order to attain organization success (Daft, 2009).
Managers who understand the existing culture are able to select and hire employees who are compatible with the organizational culture, as well as maintain the optimal balance between an individual and the whole company.
In an environment that deals with a vast amount of the diverse population, culture is very important. In fact, many healthcare organizations benefit immensely from the impact of culture in a diverse setting. One benefit of this setting is that culture provides guidelines for employees, patients, doctors, visitors, and others that utilize these facilities. Healthcare organizations set the foundation of their companies using cultural beliefs, values, and a code of conduct to create a diverse and accepting workplace. Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay
The healthcare’s culture, usually, is similar to the culture of the community it is located in. This is due to fact that healthcare organizations rely on the external factors around them while depending on the market sector in order…show more content…
In the healthcare system, it is needed even more. Many healthcare facilities need to have their workforce diverse in order to reap benefits. In the 2000 U.S. Census, African Americans accounted for nearly 12.7 percent of the workforce, that number hasn’t increased exponentially today. Many minorities are underrepresented in the healthcare workforce, which can affect delivery of healthcare. Some benefits that many organizations see from a diverse work environment are: varied ideas, a larger talent pool, reduced discrimination, and more productivity. These benefits can impact the healthcare delivery system by improving quality of care and quality in the…show more content…
Many organizations receive benefits, from the government, for being culturally diverse. For example, organizations that follow the government guidelines are given new technology and more resources to better the community health. If a healthcare organization isn’t culturally diverse, it can harm the organization’s incentives and raise concerns on diversity and inequality from the community. Organizational Culture Roles in Healthcare Essay