The Strategic Management of Healthcare Organizations

Introduction

In the following assignment, we will get the information about the ‘Newcross Healthcare’ different strategies and how they implement those strategies in the organisation to achieve certain competitive objectives. The following narrative discusses the various strategies that should be employed by an external consultant in order to obtain the objectives that are set by the organisation. Newcross Healthcare is a UK based health care company. The assignment will provide information about different types of strategies which the company can use to develop its mission, vision and values. It will also elaborate on the challenges which may be faced by the organisation while performing their tasks, to overcome those challenges the recommendations are also discussed. In this assignment, the techniques and the theories which are required by the organisation to achieve certain objectives are also described. Newcross Healthcare is known as one of the largest companies in the United Kingdom, in the narrative below the information on different concepts that the organisation uses are also described. The following assignment will take a broad approach to strategy by observing both the internal and external environment of the organisation. It will also discuss what strategy is needed at what time and how to align those to maintain a continuous process in the organisation (Ginter, Duncan and Swayne, 2018). The following information will also provide information on what problems are faced by Newcross Healthcare and how they overcome it by developing strategic plans. The organisation is mainly affected by external factors. The implementation of several strategies is the most important part of every organisation.

Implementing the strategy

Implementation of a strategic plan is the process of putting the actions and strategy to achieve specific organisational goals. The three types of strategies which supports the organisation are enumerated below:

Directional strategies

A directional strategy is used by the organisation to contribute a structure for regulating operational decisions and activities (Ferlie, et al. 2016). In the context of a healthcare organisation, the directional strategy might be used to concentrate on efforts of business and resources for achieving certain competitive objectives.

Tools and techniques: There are several tools and techniques in association with healthcare organisations. In the context of Newcross Healthcare, the directional strategy focuses on the vision of the organisation. The tools and techniques which are used by this organisation are to implement a directional strategy. The organisation may develop several processes through which they can easily overcome the weaknesses which are faced by the organisation. In the case of Newcross Healthcare, the organisation may take proper action on the threats which they face in the working environment. The fundamental form of directional strategy is the organisation’s vision and mission (Dimitropoulos, 2017). Newcross Healthcare mainly provides specific healthcare to the patients for profits as they are a private based organisation. The organisation may also implement the directional strategy while expanding the productivity of the organisation, as it mainly focuses on stability. The retrenchment is also a technique which is used by the faltering organisation to improve its performance.

Theories: The theories which implement the directional strategy is positivism. Newcross Healthcare must hold a positive image so that it can attract more patients through this theory the organisation can earn more profits and can extend their business. The organisation may use the theory of social cognitive as it discusses the influence of environmental factors on individual health behaviours. In the context of Newcross Healthcare, this organisation may use the theory of social cognitive to overcome the difficulties which they face in the process of their work. Attainment of organisational goals can be possible if the organisation systematically uses the theories. The theory of positivism is also important as the goals are always declared specifically, so to attain those specific goals the organisation may utilise these theories.

Concept: The concept of implementing the directional strategy may be possible through planning and management. This organisation plans its working procedure according to the present condition of the environment. In the case of Newcross Healthcare, this organisation may use the concept of planning and management to attain certain organisational objectives (Hussein, Maelah and Amir, 2016. The development of the organisational structure may support the organisation for sustainable growth. The planning in a healthcare organisation is the process of defining community health problems. It also identifies the unmet needs and fulfils those by surveying.

Challenges that may be faced: In the context of Newcross Healthcare there are several challenges which are faced such as information and service integration, to overcome this challenge the organisation may implement the strategy of direction in the working procedures. The community of medicine easily embraces big data advancement, but the implementation is not as fluid. The organisation may attract more patients by using the theory of positivism and the concept of management as this could satisfy the needs of the consumers.

Service or product strategies

Service or product strategies are defined as offering the right consumer goods to the right customer. It includes the quality, brand name, research and development of a particular product. The implementation of product strategy is most important because it is a particular element which satisfies the wants of the consumer and supports the organisation in achieving certain objectives.

Tools and techniques: The implementation of product strategies can be possible as it determines the target market in market penetration. The techniques to develop the product strategy in Newcross Healthcare is a social construction. The organisation may use these techniques to develop the services which are provided to the patients in the organisation (Wang, Kung, and Byrd, 2018). This could result in increasing demand. The attainment of organisation goals can be possible if the organisation uses equipment of superior quality, the services of the nurses in the organisation must be better so that it can easily attract the attention of the patients. These techniques may support the organisation in increasing productivity. High-performance levels of the employees may result in providing proper satisfaction to the consumers.

Theories: The theory of functionalism is important to implement the strategy of products or services. Through this theory, the company may develop the skills and knowledge of the workers in the organisation. According to Newcross Healthcare, this organisation holds a high-performance level among the employees. This results in the proper achievement of organisational goals. The functionalism theory maintains the organisational structure. This theory develops the physical attributes of the products so that they can meet the needs of the customers easily and efficiently.

Concept: Every organisation is more specific about their goals, so in the case of product strategy the concept of market needs is very vital. The implementation of products strategy is possible in an organisation when the organisation provides quality products or services to the final consumer. This increases profits as well as expands the business (Sousa, et al. 2019). The implementation of product strategy is vital for every organisation because it develops the competencies which occur through various competitors in the business environment. The development of product strategy is done through marketing mix, brand element, differentiation, design of the product. The actions may be taken into consideration by this organisation when they provide quality services and better equipment while performing any operations.

Challenges that may be faced: Healthcare organisations face a big problem in attracting and retaining patients who demand an experience which they gather from other consumer brands. At this point in time the implementation of product strategy helps the organisation overcome these problems. The organisation may maintain a centralised system to attain specific objectives.

Support strategies

It describes how the goals need to be achieved by utilising the support of the consumers, employees. The implementation of support strategy is important as without support nothing can be possible (Ingram and Glod, 2016). The employees support the organisation to develop their productivity. Similarly, the consumers support by increasing the demands of the products and by increasing the margin of profits.

Tools and techniques:  The tools which are useful to attract more customers and can make the implementation of support strategy is customer first communication. Here, customers expect interaction with real people where they can show empathy and understanding. According to Newcross Healthcare, the organisation may use this technique while providing services to the customers, because better communication skills can easily help the organisation to achieve certain objectives. Similarly, the organisation may also track activity across multiple channels to implement support strategy, as this action reduces the time of services and can easily provide service to a huge number of consumers at a time.

Theories: According to support strategy the theory which can be recommended is Michael Porter five forces model. Here, in this theory, Porter provides proper attention to both the product and the customer. Therefore the customers provide full support to the organisation when they get satisfaction from the organisation. Newcross Healthcare may use porter’s five forces to increase the quality of the products and to satisfy the needs of the customers. This theory also maintains a proper combination with the competitors, it helps the organisation in the production unit. It also provides full attention to both the power of customers and suppliers.

Concept: The concept of coordination is more important to implement the support strategy. Coordinating around the workplace supports the organisation in performing its tasks more efficiently. It includes coordinating care around the needs and preferences of people at every level of care. It also maintains a relationship between healthcare and other different sectors. Newcross Healthcare may use this concept while providing services to patients. It may focus on delivering the services rather than managing the structure or the workflows. The customer always demands proper service. So, this concept could help the organisation in obtaining specific objectives. It is not necessarily required to manage the structures.

Challenges that may be faced: The problem of patient experience are faced by the organisation in the implementation of support strategy. Sometimes the organisation is unable to provide proper services to the patients and their attendants at that time the support strategy or action taken by the organisation to satisfy the consumers. Every health care organisation must have a proper structure so that they can reach the consumer criteria and can retain more customers. This could help in the attainment of specific goals.

Measuring the success of the strategies

How to measure success

According to Newcross Healthcare, the support strategy supports the organisation to achieve certain success in the business environment. The implementation of support strategy helps the organisation by providing proper support from both the customers and the employees. In healthcare organisations, success is measured through benchmarking as it is the simplest definition to examine and measure the processes with an organisation. Every organisation mainly identifies the problems and improves it in such a manner that it helps in achieving proper success. In healthcare it mainly requires better quality, lower costs and healthier patients. Sometimes it becomes difficult to achieve success in healthcare because it depends on human nature and to achieve success a strong relationship and trust is required and in case of healthcare, success is much more difficult to quantify. In the case of directional strategy, the organisation may change the NHS to improve quality and efficiency at the scale needed and move towards new health care. The implementation of various strategies is more important because it provides different plans for the organisation to become successful and attain certain specific objectives.

Possible challenges

The challenges which mainly faced by the healthcare organizations are enumerated below:

  • Increment in health care costs.
  • Exploiting progressive health technology.
  • Burdens on pharmaceutical prices.
  • Regular changes in healthcare.
  • Unified health services.
  • Problems in the processing of payments.

These are the problems which are faced by the healthcare organisation, to overcome these problems the strategies which are discussed above come into consideration and support the organisation in achieving the organisational goals. In the context of Newcross Healthcare, these problems may arise and they need to comprise these strategies to overcome the problems.

Recommendation

The recommended changes for Newcross Healthcare to achieve the goals are the organisation may develop the customer services to attract and retain more customers. The equipment which is required for care must be of better quality. The organisation may also develop a section where they will provide quality services to the attendants of the patients. The organisation may structure in such a manner so that they could maintain quietness and cleanliness in the hospital environment. Regular changes in healthcare also make for difficult situations for the organisation, so the organisation must have educated employees who can cope up with every situation easily and efficiently. It is also recommended to develop the communication skills in the organisation so as to receive proper feedback from the consumer and this could help in producing the products according to the demands of the consumer.

Reflecting and revisiting the strategy

Every organisation maintains a regular reflection and revisiting of their strategic plans frequently when the organisation has important ongoing changes or when there is an acquisition. The revaluation of strategic plans regularly helps the organisation to perform their tasks more effectively and efficiently.

When and how to reflect the strategies

As the organisations impacted changes externally and mainly it changes internally to develop the structure and working environment. The leaders of the organisation revisit the strategy when new ideas and  new competitors enter the markets (Pirozzi and Ferulano, 2016). Revisiting is also known as a continuous process because it ensures that the right projects need to be completed at the right time. In the context of Newcross Healthcare, the organisation revisit the strategic plans when they face difficult situations in the business environment. When a competitor enters the organisation must provide better quality products to the consumers.

How to continue to align the strategy with the external environment

Every organisation to grow and prosper, the managers anticipate, identify and deal with the changes occurring in internal and external environments. It enumerates the relationship between the external environment and strategy implementation. When changes occur in an external environment the organisation faces a huge difficulty because it takes much labour to change the structure according to the environment. Alignment of strategy according to the external environment is much more important. The Newcross healthcare faces problems inpatient experience processes and at that moment they adjust the strategy in such a manner that the problems get solved. It defines the impact of environmental characteristics on the implementation process. It evaluates the level of uncertainty in everyday business through the level of change complexity and turbulence.

When a new strategy needs to be developed and how

The healthcare organisation faces various problems in the customer satisfaction process, as the customers demand better services than competitors. At that time the new strategy developed to maintain the business. Whenever the organisation develops the missions and vision, they are required to develop a new strategy. The performance level of the employees in the organisation also helps to develop productivity. Increment in the performance of the employee can also be done through the implementation of new strategies. The increment of operational efficiency, market share and profitability can be done through new strategies. The action of new strategies also sets a better direction for Newcross Healthcare.

 

References

Dimitropoulos, P.E., 2017. Performance management in healthcare organizations: concept and practicum. In GeNeDis 2016 (pp. 11-19). Springer, Cham.

Ferlie, E., Crilly, T., Jashapara, A., Trenholm, S., Peckham, A. and Currie, G., 2016. Strategic management in the healthcare sector: the debate about the resource-based view flourishes in response to recent commentaries. International journal of health policy and management, 5(2), p.145.

Ginter, P.M., Duncan, W.J. and Swayne, L.E., 2018. The strategic management of health care organizations. John Wiley & Sons.

Hussein, B.A., Maelah, R. and Amir, A.M., 2016. Strategic Management Accounting Information, Cost Management Knowledge and Performance? of Healthcare Organizations: A Research Framework. In International Management and Accounting Conference.

Ingram, T. and Glod, W., 2016. Talent management in healthcare organizations-qualitative research results. Procedia Economics and Finance, 39, pp.339-346.

Pirozzi, M.G. and Ferulano, G.P., 2016. Intellectual capital and performance measurement in healthcare organizations. Journal of Intellectual Capital.

Sousa, M.J., Pesqueira, A.M., Lemos, C., Sousa, M. and Rocha, Á., 2019. Decision-Making based on Big Data Analytics for People Management in Healthcare Organizations. Journal of medical systems, 43(9), p.290.

Wang, Y., Kung, L. and Byrd, T.A., 2018. Big data analytics: Understanding its capabilities and potential benefits for healthcare organizations. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 126, pp.3-13.

No Need To Pay Extra
  • Turnitin Report

    $10.00
  • Proofreading and Editing

    $9.00
    Per Page
  • Consultation with Expert

    $35.00
    Per Hour
  • Live Session 1-on-1

    $40.00
    Per 30 min.
  • Quality Check

    $25.00
  • Total

    Free

New Special Offer

Get 25% Off

best-assignment-experts-review

Call Back