the management of business

Shift as a Vital Component for Organizational Growth

Shift, according to Hayes (2014), is a vital component in the growth of every organization. It allows a company to respond to the changing climate. This part, on the other hand, can be difficult. It necessitates a systematic plan as well as staff with sufficient skill and personnel. Its absence creates many obstacles when attempting to incorporate reform, which can easily lead to the demise of a great organization. In this sense, the paper provides a concise exposition analyzing the Mountain State Healthcare case scenario.

Defining the Situation

Mountain States Healthcare has grown and expanded its activities over the years. In line with this, it has engaged in the acquisition of various health organizations as part of its expansion plan. This is one of the organization’s major strengths. Within these branches, it has qualified and skilled personnel who ensure a smooth running of the organization. However, this has brought about some challenges with the main one being an increase in its operation cost. The organization has been spending a lot to keep the operations running. Another weakness is its poor leadership. The top-level management is not competent in performing its roles. Its decision-making process is biased, and it does not perform its role of control after implementing a plan. However, these weaknesses provide the organization with various opportunities. The first opportunity pertains to its implementation of a cost reduction strategy. After analyzing the situation, the top-level management decided to integrate the medical billing systems for all its units using the latest technology in a bid to save on time and cost hence bringing about efficiency. The executive management developed a new department to handle this task and appointed Kyle to head it. This aspect has however brought about numerous threats that the organization is currently dealing with. The organization has been facing a hard time in implementing the planned changes due to various setbacks. There has been poor coordination between the leaders of various departments. As a result, the employees in this department are not satisfied and appear disoriented by the new changes being imposed on them without their opinions being put into consideration. Many employees have resigned, and others intend to do the same. As such, some departments especially the medical billing unit lack sufficient skills and knowledge to handle their role and hence the organization is slowly sinking.

Analysis of the Situation

From the analysis of the case scenario, it is evident that Mountain State Healthcare is going through a number of challenges. The organization was able to evaluate itself and come up with a plan on how to improve its performance. It is, however, facing a lot of difficulty in implementing the proposed changes. Various factors have caused this. To start with, the organization lacks an effective top management. The organization’s management is not efficient when conducting its roles of planning and decision-making. An effective top-level management should not be biased in its decision-making process (Hayes, 2014). Upon making a decision to develop a new unit in the organization to integrate new technology systems into the billing system, the executive management embarks on evaluating and appointing qualified personnel to head this unit. As illustrated in the case scenario, the two main contenders for this post are Colleen and Kyle. Following a critical evaluation, it was evident that Colleen was the most suitable candidate for this task. Kyle’s former boss, Aaron Nelson, who was part of the executive committee, was not happy with this development. He was biased and did not have an open mind when conducting the analysis. His preferred candidate was Kyle. In line with these, he convinced the committee that it was not wise to appoint a female for this position. This shows that he is incompetent and gender biased. The committee is also incompetent as it did not differ with him but obliged. This is among the first mistakes made by the organization.

The organization lacks efficient personnel to implement the change. Kyle is not qualified enough to handle the task of heading this change. This is because he portrays a lack of vital skills required to handle this task such as flexibility. Kyle is not flexible as he is not ready and willing to adapt to any unexpected changes that may arise. As pointed out by Rothaermel (2015), a competent leader should always be ready to deal with unexpected incidents that may occur. At times this calls for changes in the initial plan (Rothaermel, 2015). However, Kyle believes that the only way to implement change is to firmly stick to the initial plan without any deviations or additions to it. He makes use of a transactional leadership approach. He fails to understand that the planning stage is only theoretical and is conducted based on forecasts. Forecasts are subject to error as they are just an estimate of how events are likely to transpire (Rothaermel, 2015). On the other hand, an implementation is a practical act, and some things are likely to emerge which had not been catered for in the forecast. This is why making changes in the plan is essential so as to cater for this disparity.

Kyle is also not a team player. He lacks the leadership skills of working together with other employees to attain the desired results. A competent leader is always keen on the opinions of other employees within the company (Hayes, 2014). However, this is not the case with Kyle. He feels that he is right and that only his opinions should be considered. He does not value others’ opinions. His type of leadership is autocratic leadership. He feels that he should make decisions without consulting other personnel and that they should adhere to the same without any queries. This is evident through the various times he snobs Colleen and her suggestions on how to improve the situation and handle the matter. His autocratic leadership is further portrayed when he exerts authority over an employee who gave her opinion during a meeting. He tells them that his plans always work, and as such, they should stick to his plan.

Mountain State Healthcare has a poor organizational structure. It lacks proper coordination among the various functions within the organization. As explained by Rothaermel (2015), organizational structure is a key player towards the success of any organization. All functions within an organization work towards a common major objective and as such, they should be well integrated to ensure efficiency and maximum output in every department (Rothaermel, 2015). The top-level management is responsible for ensuring this aspect is achieved. In Mountain State Healthcare, the top-level management does not pay close attention to the integration of its various functions. It is for this reason that there is poor coordination for some months yet the top-level management is not aware of it or does not act. They only get concerned when things get out of hand and various functions, especially the billing function, are sinking. The top-level management is responsible for planning and controlling. Controlling entails overseeing to ensure the plan is meeting the desired objectives (Rothaermel, 2015). The organization’s top-level management fails in performing this role.

Recommendations

There are various approaches the Mountain State Healthcare can take to assist it in improving its situation. First, the top-level management should be effective in performing its role. Its decision making should not be biased but based on facts. It should also pay keen attention to its role of controlling to ensure the plans being implemented are meeting the desired objectives. If not, it should then go back to the drawing board. It should also focus on ensuring there is proper coordination among the various functions within the organization.

Both Kyle and Colleen should have a critical discussion on how they will work together to improve the current situation. Kyle should give others a chance to air their views, and he should put them into consideration. He should accept that others can always be right and that it does not always have to be his way. Moreover, he should refrain from using autocratic leadership and embrace democratic leadership. In addition, he should make use of transformational leadership and not transactional leadership. This is because, in the implementation of change, there are many unforeseen variables involved. As such, one should be flexible enough to cater for any unplanned for occurrence.

The organization should pay attention to their employees’ opinions. Employees enable a continuous smooth flow of operations. The organization should consider the impact a change it makes will have on the employees. Any changes made should be for the better and should not impact the employees negatively. Democratic leadership should also be embraced when dealing with the employees. This will build a close relationship and the employees. As such, the employees will be motivated, and it will be easier for the management to know the challenges they are facing (Hayes, 2014).

Reference

Hayes, J., (2014). The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave Macmillan.Hornstein,

Rothaermel, F. T. (2015). Strategic management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.