Introduction
In the city center hospital case, the CEO is concerned about the risk of losing the team of qualified physicians due to the lack of leadership expertise of the unit managers. The latter, in turn, emphasizes the arrogant behavior of the doctors that causes an increased level of stress among nurse practitioners. Successful health outcomes in the medical organization can be best achieved by the coherent collaborative work of each member of the team, including healthcare providers and administration representatives. The CEO, Director of Nursing (DON), and the HR manager believe that there is a need to improve the morale of the nursing staff at the hospital. Therefore, they aim to change the entire organizational culture based on profitable and patient-centered imperatives. Organizational development (OD) intervention is the next step required for hospital employees to develop robust leadership qualities within the unit manager staffing to drive tangible improvement over the next twelve months.
OD Intervention Strategy
Establishing an Organization’s Identity
Given that OD intervention is a well-planned system of organizational change, it is essential to set the step-by-step tactics that start with the identity of the organization and its mission. Nursing philosophy is based on mutual collaboration with patients and their families and other health team colleagues to achieve the most positive health outcomes for the patients (Hurst, 2017). Through the long-term approach, physicians are responsible for the life and safety of their patients in the same way nurses are. However, their mission is amplified by the in-depth medical science research, continuous education, and diagnosis and treatment of the patient. The leading root cause, in this case, is the question of nursing morale and moral distress among nurses, which must be addressed with the 4A’s tool designed by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (Hurst, 2017):
- Ask: Are you and your colleagues feeling the signs of moral distress?
- Affirm: Confirm the issue and prepare to address it responsibly; decipher the scope of moral integrity.
- Assess: Define the source and severity of moral distress, its relation to physicians in the team, and be ready to act.
- Act: Design a plan for appropriate action and implement it into the nursing practice.
Operational Procedures
After confirming the need for OD intervention, it is crucial to conduct diagnostic activities of the organization. As a rule, the diagnostic process encompasses group and individual interviews, questionnaires and surveys, analysis of the current documentation, and observations of the existing work settings (Imroz, 2021). Such a process will allow the unit managers to gather all the relevant data that will help better understand the problem and develop the most efficient improvement strategy. The most critical task is to examine the relationships between nurses and physicians and develop new policies that regulate them. Tan, Zhou, and Kelly (2017) suggest the following interventions for improving the nurse-physician relationship at the workplace (p. 3983):
- “nurses and doctors’ meetings
- communication tools or checklists
- localizing physicians to particular units
- structured communication training
- alternative nursing care models
- team-building through projects.”
By implementing such interventions at the hospital, both nurses and physicians will build beneficial face-to-face communication, information exchange and enhance their professional experiences at work during the subsequent twelve months.
Communication Strategy
Unit managers are primarily responsible for promoting and maintaining a positive atmosphere and effective communication at the workplace. Today, communication between nurses and doctors remains a challenge because of the discipline-specific or corporate culture. Hence, with the help of OD intervention, it will be easier to develop the strong leadership and commitment needed to impact organizational, cultural, and structural transformation, address communication barriers, and ensure patient safety (Moseley, 2017). Unit management must provide sufficient structures for team communication and leadership skills development. The main communication strategies include:
- communicating the organizational vision and mission;
- listening and embracing accessible communication tools;
- providing regular training and workshops;
- technical training and interpersonal skills development;
- explaining the verbal and non-verbal aspects during interactions;
- cultivating clarity and objectiveness;
- optimizing written and verbal communication.
Growth Tactics
Concerning the challenging healthcare environment and increased stress shaped by the pandemic, it might be particularly complicated to lead the organizational change and growth fast and consistently. The unit management might implement the SWOT analysis of their organization, including strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The obtained data will help focus on the missing gaps that impede the successful growth of the hospital, as well as healthcare professionals. More specifically, such internal growth tactics will enhance the external growth of the organization (Moseley, 2017):
- strategic evaluation based on SWOT analysis;
- unique strategic planning for each department;
- specialty growth programs;
- professional network upgrading;
- patient care consolidation;
- business development and physician liaison.
Leadership Structure
In the healthcare environment, leadership plays a fundamental role in nurturing the right moral values and ethical considerations in delivering patient care and coherent teamwork. Transformational leadership is considered the most effective leadership approach in health-related situations (Jambawo, 2018). Leadership practices for the organizational shift encompass:
- Establishing motivating vision of the future.
- Managing such vision.
- Providing support and empowerment for the medical personnel.
- Building robust, trust-based relationships with the team.
- Leading by example.
Conclusion
The healthcare workers regularly experience an immense amount of stress daily during the practice. As a result, this might affect their interrelationships within a team, which directly undermines their communication and healthcare delivery for the patients. The developed OD intervention plan is the key to successful organizational and staff change based on cultivating leadership competencies. As such, the personnel of the city center hospital will develop a profound understanding of the quality of intergroup relationships and their correlation with the quality of patient care.
References
Hurst, D. J. (2017). Mitigating moral distress in nursing. Nursing Made Incredibly Easy!, 15(6), 11–12. Web.
Imroz, S. M. (2021). Steps for implementing the OD intervention model: From entry to separation. In Rothwell, W. J., Imroz, S. M., & Bakhshandeh, B. (Eds.), Organization development interventions: Executing effective organizational change. Taylor & Francis Group.
Jambawo, S. (2018). Transformational leadership and ethical leadership: their significance in the mental healthcare system. British Journal of Nursing, 27(17), 998–1001. Web.
Moseley, G. B. (2017). Managing health care business strategy. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Tan, T.-C., Zhou, H., & Kelly, M. (2017). Nurse-physician communication – An integrated review. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 26(23-24), 3974–3989. Web.