Critical analysis is a crucial skill for evidence-based leaders
Critical analysis is a crucial skill for evidence-based leaders. Through organizational analysis, leaders gain the insight, data, and context needed to address organizational performance problems. This assignment challenges your investigatory abilities and provides an opportunity for you to analyze the performance of your chosen organization and the specific management or leadership issue or crisis you are addressing.
By successfully completing this assignment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assignment criteria:
Competency 1: Analyze contemporary healthcare issues from an evidence-based leadership perspective.
Analyze the historical background of a current organizational leadership issue or crisis.
Competency 2: Apply evidence-based leadership principles to problem-solving in real-world healthcare organizations.
Identify metrics to evaluate current and future organizational performance.
Compare the organizational leadership structure and approach in place at the onset of an issue or crisis to the current leadership structure and approach.
Competency 3: Propose evidence-based leadership actions and strategic planning options that promote positive behavioral change, collaboration, workforce performance, and outcomes in contemporary healthcare organizations.
Assess the organizational impact of a specific management or leadership issue or crisis.
Propose an evidence-based strategy for resolving a leadership issue or crisis.
Competency 4: Communicate effectively with diverse audiences, in an appropriate form and style consistent with applicable organizational, professional, and scholarly standards.
Write clearly and concisely in a logically coherent and appropriate form and style.
Scenario
Congratulations! Your consulting company was awarded the contract, and you will be leading the effort to resolve the organization's management or leadership problem. Your introductory memo helped convince leadership to decide in your favor, based on your style, assessment of the problem, and proposed plan of action.
Your next step is to complete an organizational analysis. Some of the information you need to gather may be well-known by the organization. However, it is your job to assemble all of the relevant data and information for a concise written analysis of the situation, as well as the former and current organizational leadership structure and approach. Your analysis will provide the basis of an evidence-based strategy for resolving the current leadership issue or crisis.
Instructions
Write a 5–7 page analysis of the organization and the specific management or leadership issue or crisis that you are addressing. Refer to the article by Lafferty (linked in Resources), for an example of a simplified consultant report.
Your analysis should include:
An introduction to the issue or crisis and its impact on the organization.
A historical summary or background of the issue or crisis.
Three metrics is applicable to the organizational issue or crisis.
An analysis of the leadership structure and approach in place when the issue or crisis arose and the leadership currently in place.
Application of the Studer EBL framework to your strategy for resolving the situation.
Summary of the topics discussed in this analysis.
Sample Solution
Organizational Analysis
Organization: Virtual City Hospital
Management or Leadership Issue or Crisis: High turnover rate among nurses
Historical Background
The Virtual City Hospital has experienced a high turnover rate among nurses for several years. In 2023, the turnover rate was 25%, which is significantly higher than the national average of 18%.
There are a number of factors that have contributed to the high turnover rate at the Virtual City Hospital. One factor is the high workload that nurses are expected to handle. Nurses at the Virtual City Hospital often work 12-hour shifts and are responsible for a large number of patients. This can lead to stress and burnout.
Full Answer Section
Another factor that has contributed to the high turnover rate is the lack of support that nurses receive from management. Nurses often feel that they are not valued by management and that their concerns are not being heard. This can lead to feelings of frustration and dissatisfaction. Organizational Leadership Structure and Approach The Virtual City Hospital has a traditional leadership structure. The hospital is run by a CEO, who reports to a board of directors. The CEO is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the hospital, including the nursing department. The nursing department at the Virtual City Hospital is led by a chief nursing officer (CNO). The CNO is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the nursing department, including recruitment, retention, and performance management. The Virtual City Hospital has a top-down leadership approach. This means that decisions are made by the CEO and other senior leaders and then communicated to lower-level employees. Nurses have little say in decision-making that affects their work. Metrics to Evaluate Current and Future Organizational Performance There are a number of metrics that can be used to evaluate the current and future organizational performance of the Virtual City Hospital. Some of these metrics include:- Nurse turnover rate
- Nurse satisfaction scores
- Patient satisfaction scores
- Hospital quality scores
- Reduce the workload on nurses. This can be done by hiring more nurses, increasing the use of nurse assistants, and delegating more tasks to other healthcare professionals.
- Provide more support from management. This includes creating a more supportive work environment, providing regular feedback, and recognizing and rewarding nurses for their hard work.
- Create a more inclusive leadership approach. This can be done by giving nurses more say in decision-making that affects their work and by creating more opportunities for nurses to develop their skills and careers.
- Conduct a survey of nurses to identify their concerns and suggestions. This will help the hospital to identify the specific areas where it needs to improve.
- Develop a plan to address the concerns and suggestions of the nurses. This plan should include specific steps that the hospital will take to reduce the workload on nurses, provide more support from management, and create a more inclusive leadership approach.
- Implement the plan and monitor the results. The hospital should track nurse turnover rates and other metrics to see if the plan is having a positive impact.