Lakeside Care Center Case Study
Lakeside Care Center has always prided itself on the high quality of care given to Its patients. However, Broadloom Hospital has a reputation of giving poor quality of care to patients. In August 2010, a merger took place between Lakeside Care Center and Broadloom Hospital. The newly named corporation, Lakeside Community Hospital, will combine the modern technology of Broadloom Hospital and the high quality care of Lakeside Care Center. The middle manager, who has been a part of Lakeside Care Center, must create an organization culture that will meet staff needs and quality patient care.
The manager of Lakeside Community Hospital must lead the combination of employees In a way that creates a positive work environment.
The objectives must emphasize the mission and goals of the newly merged facility while quality patient care being its core purpose. Mergers impacts new organizational culture so the manager must discover ways to create organizational harmony. The manager explores these issues in this paper while discussing organization design of the Lakeside Community Hospital. New Organizational Culture Mergers can have an effect on employees. This Is especially true when health care organizations merge.
Before a merge happens, employees can have an assortment of fears.
Employees can fear change. There may be concerns of layoffs, change in Job titles, pay and benefit decreases, and Job responsibility modifications. When two organization cultures amalgamate, employees may feel that one culture is dominant above the other culture. Other changes that can occur after a merger Include changes In management styles. Employees, who are accustomed to an Informal manager, may be managed by a strict manager. The manner in which evaluations and appraisals are performed may change.
This can create concerns about raises in pay and the subjectivity of the manager who is performing the evaluations. Sometimes the manner and timeline in which evaluations and pay raises are given can change after a merger (McConnell, 2000). Mergers, Like the one In this case study, can encounter Issues with training and development. For Instance, ten employees Trot Lakeside care center wall need training on the technology they are not familiar and skilled. Furthermore, the employees from Broadloom Hospital may need training on providing quality care to patients.
Both policy and procedure manuals need to be reviewed and adjusted as necessary.
Training workshops should be available to evaluate employees and train them as necessary. Proper training can facilitate confidence in employees who are unfamiliar with specific skills. McConnell (2000) states, “… A strong need emerges for a culture of continuous clinical quality improvement.
Without such, as organizations grow and activities expand, quality problems also expand as a function of size. ” Creating organizational harmony The manager must create a blended culture. The two organizational cultures must undergo the assimilation process.
The assimilation process may not be an easy task. However, if managers sincerely think that employees are an organization’s greatest asset, they should treat them in that respect.
A survey of employee morale and their feelings about the merger can be helpful. The information gathered may help to build a sturdy connection between the two organization cultures (Dolan ; Well, 1998). Visibility and availability are two aspects of management that should not change in the midst of a merger. Managers need to provide a substantial level of visibility to he staff because it creates a level of reassurance for the employees.
Employees may also view the manager as a reliable resource when assistance is needed.
After a merger, employees may feel that the manager is too distant, too busy, and too cold. These feelings can lead to less productivity of the employee (McConnell, 2000). Communication is another important factor when managers deal with transition employees into a merger. All employees involved want management to provide accurate and honest information. It does not matter if the news is good or bad.
Employees want direct and truthfulness from their managers.
Another trait that employees want from managers is reassurance about the organizational changes. Stockades (2006) states, “If there’s been perceived untruthfulness, management then has to establish a long history of standing by what they say they’re going to do. Even if you have a smooth acquisition, you’ll have to pay particular attention to assuring employees, since change always brings apprehension. ” Communication and reassurance can help create and maintain the management-employee relationship.
Organization Design Mergers can affect the design of the organization. Some changes may happen tit administration.
Executive positions may have to be simplified and redundant management positions may have to be reduced. Some of the functions of administration and support staff may be merged or adjusted. Due to politics and economics, service line assimilation may also be necessary during a merger. In addition, optimizing medical and operational procedures may be necessary.
Standardization of clinical, business, information technology, and clinical programs can help increase the quality of patient care and safety while improving staff and physician satisfaction (Beta, R. Amp; Messengers, 2009).
Lakeside community Hospital will utilize Don structures Tanat were merged I building that housed Lakeside Care Center before the merger is located in the northern part of the city and the building that housed Broadloom Hospital is located in the southern part of the city. The northern facility will focus its services to outpatient services and minor procedures such as laser surgery, leopardesses, cryosurgery’s, oscilloscopes, and biopsies. The southern facility will be inpatient facility for patients who including those needing major surgery, intravenous antibiotic treatment, long-term acute care, and short-term treatment.
Both facilities will offer state-of-the-art technology while providing services such as laboratory testing and radiology testing.
In addition, both facilities will offer physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy. There will be merging of the financial services, information technology, quality assurance, marketing, human resource, and education departments. In order to improve cost effectiveness, outside contracted services will be combined. For example, one company will be used to order supplies rather than two different companies.
The organizational structure of Lakeside Community Hospital will be in traditional hierarchical manner.
The Board of Directors will be at the top of the chart with Administration directly below. There will be departmental groupings such as Information Services, Therapeutic Services, Diagnostic Services, and Support Services. Information Services will include admissions, billing, medical records, IT, and human resource departments. Therapeutic Services will include physical therapy, pharmacy, nursing, and dietary services. Diagnostic Services will include the laboratory, radiology, and specialty departments.
Support Services will include central supply, biomedical, housekeeping, maintenance, dietary, and transportation departments. There will be a department supervisor for each category and department. This organizational structure, which groups departments according to similarities of responsibilities, will help ensure chain of command and will help promote efficiency of the facility. Conclusion Organizational culture is one of the most important aspects of a facility. When organizations merge, this culture must be blended in a way to create a positive environment for employees.
The merging of Lakeside Care Center and Broadloom
Hospital strives to make this happen. The manager at the new Lakeside Community Hospital helps this process by applying visibility, availability, and communication. In addition, the organizational structure uses both facilities’ resources and strengths to create an organization that will provide quality patient care to the members of the community. Changes can be frightening but management can lessen the impact of mergers with proper planning and follow up. References Beta, R.
D. ; Messengers, M. (2009). After the merger: a strategic framework for integration. Focus on Mergers.
