Challenge facing Mammoth Health System
Barb Northrop realizes that Mammoth Health System (MHS) experiences challenges relating to patient satisfaction just six months after assuming the CEO role. It was clear that Mammoth Health System was struggling with patient satisfaction instead of other competing healthcare facilities. On the one hand, Aurora Health System has succeeded in increasing its market share and attracting talented employees from Mammoth Health System by utilizing its reputation as an academic specialty referral center (McAlearney, 2021). On the other hand, MHS continued recording 90 percent patient satisfaction which was considered low, while other health facilities recorded more than 90 percent.
Northrop’s Current Options, Pros, and Cons
As the CEO, Northrop may consider various options to overcome this challenge that threatens the existence of the Mammoth Health System. The first option that Barb Northrop would consider is hiring a national firm to conduct patient satisfaction surveys. This option would benefit MHS because it would provide critical information to enhance comparison with other health facilities such as Aurora (Irwin, 2019). Furthermore, it will enable Mammoth Health System to answer specific questions, such as whether nurses responded timely to patient’s requests or effectively explained all procedures performed on the patient and whether they undertook applicable processes to improve services offered to patients (Irwin, 2019). Nonetheless, the disadvantage of this option is that it may result in unintended consequences where physicians end up administering antibiotics as a measure to satisfy requirements. However, they could hardly treat the current signs and symptoms.
The other option for resolving patient satisfaction issues was embracing organizational change, which is challenging to execute. Comparing patient satisfaction percentages among similar hospitals and health systems within the country revealed that only 11 percent of patients were satisfied with the services offered at MHS (McAlearney, 2021). The exceedingly low patient satisfaction scores fueled a sense of urgency to turn things around at Mammoth Health System. The first benefit of organizational change is that it will cause the Mammoth Health System to become more efficient in its service delivery. Additionally, organizational change will also help the firm’s bottom line by covering a considerable fraction of the uninsured costs. This will provide healthcare providers with more financial resources, hence necessitating a healthier population (McAlearney, 2021). The disadvantages of this option are that it is costly and fosters a decline in the supply of healthcare providers due to the high demand for patients’ needs.
The last option would be to examine employee satisfaction levels as they may play a critical role in patient satisfaction outcomes. The poor employee attitude developed by employees at MHS may have enhanced problems that have just manifested in poor patient satisfaction levels. For instance, the employees working at MHS have only viewed their organization as a “good” place to work due to a few factors such as appropriate location, benefits packages, and job security presented by the lower turnover rate. Therefore, this option reveals the unsatisfactory nature of employees within MHS over the last five years she has worked with the company.
Criteria for Developing Recommendations
It will be viable for Northrop to consider implementing the second option of embracing organizational change. Nevertheless, several criteria would be adapted by Northrop in the implementation of this strategy. The first criteria that will inform Northrop’s decision are cost which is usually linked with any change management process undertaken by the organization. The economic uncertainty related to developing new healthcare activities models may expose the organization to financial risks on a short-term basis (Gordon and Pollack, 2018). Therefore, implementing Medicare and Medicaid services to patients will require an enormous amount of financial capital. However, this criterion will succeed in increasing patient satisfaction within the healthcare setting. The other criterion that the CEO will consider is collaboration and teamwork within the organizational environment. Strong ties and bonds among employees will make it easy for employees to support each other through the change process (Gordon and Pollack, 2018).
Communication Plan for Sharing the Selected Strategy
The strategy of embracing organizational change can be communicated to the MHS through communication that prioritizes empathy. During the implementation of organizational change, employees try to comprehend new things that range from learning unfamiliar computer systems to adhering to a new chain of command (Sanchez, 2018). Therefore, in this regard, it would be appropriate for the CEO to ensure that her communication occurs with patience and understanding. Furthermore, the organizational change strategy should be communicated to employees through clear and consistent messages (Sanchez, 2018). Moreover, the management should explain why the organization considers the change initiatives and how the change will affect the employees (Sanchez, 2018). Finally, the CEO of MHS should identify the parties that require to be informed in chronological order. Effective delivery of the organizational change information to employees will reduce the chances of inaccurate information spreading in the form of rumors.
Theory to Support the Selection and Plan
The Nudge model of organizational change supports the selected option of executing organizational change. Nudge theory contains suggestions backed up by evidence to positively influence employees in the direction of the desired change (Smith, Skinner & Read, 2020). In regard, nudging change within an organization is more effective than enforcing change. The actions of the CEO depict her adherence to nudge theory because she assembled the executive team that aided her in defining the extent of the challenge and potential changes for consideration. Besides these, employees’ point of view was also considered by evaluating their satisfaction levels. Finally, although there were various options to select, each option had its pros and cons, and the managerial team settled on the most efficient option.
References
Gordon, A., & Pollack, J. (2018). Managing healthcare integration: Adapting project management to the needs of organizational change. Web.
Irwin, A. J. (2019). Improving patient satisfaction at a rural urgent care center. Nursing2021, 49(3), 18-20.
McAlearney, A. (2021). Case M Challenges for Mammoth Health System: Becoming the Best Around [EBook] (p. 332). Web.
Sanchez, P. (2018). The Secret to Leading Organizational Change is Empathy. Ywboston.org.
Smith, A. C., Skinner, J., & Read, D. (2020). Philosophies of Organizational Change: Perspectives, Models and Theories for Managing Change. Edward Elgar Publishing.