Every organization, whether public or private, is required to review its own organizational performance. This is especially true for the public administrative sector, where poor performance and delay affects not only the effectiveness of the organization but also the quality of life of the surrounding community. A hospital is an example of a public sector organization. Hospitals directly affect the life of the community around them, have an established hierarchical structure, and are financed by the government and various social funds. The purpose of this project is to provide an organizational analysis for the New York – Presbyterian Hospital based on the following criteria: motivation, productivity, diversity, group development, team building, collaboration and coordination with outside contractors, decision-making, communication processes, power and politics, organizational culture. Each section of the analysis seeks to answer the following questions:
- How is the concept defined?
- How is it related to the field of public service and administration?
- How can it be applied to hospital management?
- How can it be enforced and improved, in the case of New York – Presbyterian Hospital?
Motivation
The majority of management and leadership theories identify motivation as a process of stimulating people to accomplish work-related goals (Hill, Jones, & Shilling, 2014). Motivation is paramount to all organizations, public or private, as it defines the desire and willingness of the employees to go above and beyond the call of duty (Hill et al., 2014). High levels of motivation are associated with quality and productivity improvements, whereas low levels of motivation are associated with high turnover rates and decreased efficiency. New York – Presbyterian Hospital has high turnover rates, especially among nursing staff, which indicates a decreased motivational level (“New York,” 2017). This is explained by the highly stressful nature of medical work and 12-hour working shifts. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the primary needs of a human are food, sleep, and shelter. If the basic needs are not met or are interrupted, motivation levels will be low (Maslow, 2013). In order to improve the situation, New York – Presbyterian Hospital should consider switching to 8 – hour shifts.
Productivity
Employee productivity is associated with the amount and quality of output of an employee in a specified period of time (Hill et al., 2014). It defines the efficiency of labor. In both public and private organizations employee productivity is a very important criterion, as both types of organizations are concerned with achieving the highest quality and output possible. Private for-profit organizations put an emphasis on this evaluation criteria due to the very competitive business environment. New York – Presbyterian Hospital is remarked for its efficiency, as it is considered the third – best public hospital in the USA (“New York,” 2017). Its efficiency is attributed to high standards of quality of care practiced within the hospital. However, it can be further improved by raising employee motivation.
Diversity
Diversity in the workplace can have several meanings, ranging from racial and gender diversity to diversity of approaches, opinions, and management techniques. Diversity in the workplace is important because it provides a plethora of experiences and potential solutions to any given problem (Shafritz, Ott, & Jang, 2015). Diversity is treated differently, depending on the organization. Although both public and private sector state they promote and encourage diversity, the realities vary from one organization to another. In New York – Presbyterian Hospital, diversity is a subject largely affected by the criteria of competence and available employee pool (“New York,” 2017). However, they have numerous African-American and Hispanic employees, which enables efficient communication with various populations that arrive at the hospital.
Group Development
Modern management theories define group development as the growth of employees as a community, through training and shared working experiences. Group development strategies are used to ensure individual growth and improve team cohesion (Dyer & Dyer, 2013). Depending on the nature of the organization, the importance of group development can vary between public and private organizations. As a rule, public organizations value group development more due to long-standing engagements between the employees. As it stands, group development in New York – Presbyterian Hospital is sporadic, depending on the department. The departments that work in groups are the Intensive Care Units, surgery teams, and nursing teams. Surgery teams have a high level of group development whereas nursing teams and ICU have lower levels of group development due to high rotation rates (“New York,” 2017). Improving self-actualization, providing respect and group cohesion would reduce the rotation rates.
Teambuilding
Similar to group development in some regards, teambuilding relates to the capabilities of organizations to form teams on a professional basis, depending on the situation (Dyer & Dyer, 2013). There are different types of teams – official teams, project teams, ad-hoc teams, expert boards, etc. Public organizations tend to implement official teams as their day-to-day activities are similar and well-established. Police squads, firefighters, and medical teams all require rosters (Dyer & Dyer, 2013). Temporary types of teams, such as project teams, are formed depending on the employee skills that could be useful for a particular task or project. Private companies are more likely to use ad-hoc teams for these purposes, but official rosters are also widely used. In New York – Presbyterian Hospital teambuilding is an important part of the medical routine, as modern nursing concepts suggest team-based practices (“New York,” 2017). All roster members are trained to work as a team, so the hospital does not have an issue with teambuilding.
Collaboration and Coordination with Outside Contractors
Modern supply chain theories put a great emphasis on outside contractors. Outside contractors are organizations that undertake specific skill-related tasks. The main organization can delegate some of the work to outside contractors (Shafritz et al., 2015). Outside contractors also include suppliers and various other supporting organizations. Large-scale organizations, both public and private, tend to employ outside contractors instead of expanding their own roster. Collaboration and coordination with these contractors is paramount for operational efficiency. For public hospitals, outside contractors include drug and medical equipment suppliers, as well as maintenance companies. New York – Presbyterian Hospital has a long-standing relationship with its major outside contractors. Levels of collaboration and coordination are high (“New York,” 2017).
Decision-Making
Decision-making skills are considered to be vital for proper organizational functioning. No organization ever survived without someone at the helm to decide the direction and strategy, while intermediary managers are making day-to-day decisions. While decision-making skills are important for all organizations, they are considered paramount for private businesses and companies due to the competitive nature of the free market (Ashkanasi, Wilderom, & Peterson, 2016). Public service organizations under a manager with poor decision-making skills would not collapse but would perform poorly until that manager is replaced. In New York – Presbyterian Hospital, however, the situation is different. Decision-making skills on all levels are equally important because hospitals deal with health and lives of their patients. As it stands, the hospital has a confident skeleton of senior employees who have good decision-making skills and experience (“New York,” 2017). However, the hospital should improve decision-making skills of all of its employees and encourage independence instead of busying the healthcare managers with micromanagement.
Communication Processes
Modern management defines communication processes as mechanisms of relaying information between the employees, managers, customers, and outside contractors (Hill et al., 2014). There are many different ways of communication – verbal, nonverbal, paper, electronic, etc. Modern-day organizations employ all ways of communication in day-to-day operations. There are no particular differences between how public and private organizations value communication, though public organizations tend to be susceptible to higher levels of bureaucracy. New York – Presbyterian Hospital implements electronic communication and patient protocols, as well as paper-back temporary files (“New York,” 2017). Verbal communication between individual team members is conducted using specialized communications patterns, which are brief and very efficient. It is recommended for the hospital to revise and optimize its electronic protocols and eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy.
Power and Politics
The notion of power and politics considers the internal politics of the organization as well as the outside power that it projects. Internal politics within the organization is a blanket term that covers everything from company policies to power struggles between individual employees (Hill et al., 2014). External power is the power and respect that a company commends in the outside world. Different companies have different levels of external power. Large corporations can be considered political entities, whereas small-time shops have very little political power on their own. Public services tend to fall in line with the government but have more direct channels through the hierarchy chain. Private corporations need to engage in public politics in order to do the same. New York – Presbyterian Hospital has a rigid hierarchical pyramid to deal with internal affairs and can influence the outside world through various medical associations (“New York,” 2017). It is recommended to provide more opportunities for promotion and career growth, as the current rate of growth in the hospital is too slow, which negatively influences the turnover rate.
Organizational Culture
Organizational culture is defined by a set of overarching themes and goals of an organization, corporate ethics, and unspoken rules of conduct and behavior. Every organization has these rules, and they determine the relationships between individual members, the clients, and the managers (Ashkanasi et al., 2016). Organizational culture is what keeps a business together and gives it cohesion. It is equally important to both public and private businesses, as it has an influence on many other factors that make up the criteria for this analysis, including decision-making, teamwork, organizational growth, motivation, productivity, etc (Ashkanasi et al., 2016). As a healthcare facility, New York – Presbyterian Hospital has a noble overarching theme to it – it exists to promote quality healthcare and improve the quality of life. However, the established topic of quality healthcare and quality of life is offset by sight of overworked nurses and rows of patients who are forced to wait in queues for long periods of time (“New York,” 2017). The organizational culture is dedicated to quality care at the expense of its low-tier employees. It is recommended to improve the organizational culture in the hospital, as at its current state it results in burnout among nurses and decreased levels of commitment.
Conclusions
Based on the results of the analysis, New York – Presbyterian Hospital scores highly on productivity, communication processes, diversity, collaboration with contractors, power, and teambuilding. The hospital requires improvements in employee motivation, organizational culture, and decision-making. One of the largest problems that the hospital has to face is low employee motivation and high turnover rates.
References
Ashkanasi, N. M., Wilderom, C. P. M., & Peterson M. F. (2016). The handbook of organizational culture and climate (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Sage Publishing.
Dyer, W. G., & Dyer, J. H. (2013). Teambuilding: Proven strategies for improving team performance (5th ed.). New York, NY: Jossey-Bass.
Hill, C. W. L., Jones, G. R., & Shilling, M. A. (2014). Strategic management theory (11th ed.). New York, NY: Cengage Learning.
Maslow, A. H. (2013). A theory of human motivation. New York, NY: Start Publishing.
New York – Presbyterian Hospital. (2017). Web.
Shafritz, J. M., Ott, S. J., & Jang, S. Y. (2015). Classics of organization theory (8th ed.). New York, NY: Cengage Learning.