Topic:Organizational Culture
Subject:Nursing
Volume: 3 pages
Type: Term paper
Format: APA
Description
Leaders have several strategies that they can use to create a culture of change in an organization. Leaders can utilize the mechanisms identified by Schein to educate current and prospective staff on the organization’s culture and how to maintain that awareness. Review “Understanding cultural and linguistic barriers to health literacy” from this week’s Electronic Reserve Readings. Evaluate the primary embedding mechanisms and the secondary articulation and reinforcement mechanisms discussed in Ch. 9, Challenges of Change on p. 229 of your textbook. Write a 700-word paper in which you will address the following: •Which of the five primary mechanisms can be used within your organization to refine, maintain, or change the organizations culture? •Which of the five secondary mechanisms can be used to reinforce the primary embedding mechanisms? •What impact does an organization’s culture have on the ability of a leader to drive change? Provide in-text citations and references for all sources cited; format according to APA guidelines. I have attached the page the assignment is requesting for reference and at the bottom is the reference to include on paper.
Secondary Articulation and Reinforcement Mechanisms74
The secondary articulation and reinforcement mechanisms reinforce the primary embedding mechanisms. The following are of the greatest importance:
• • The organization’s design and structure
• • Organizational systems and procedures
• • Design of physical space, facades, and buildings
• • Stories, legends, myths, and parables about important events and people
• • Formal statements of organizational philosophy, creeds, and charters
Schein calls these mechanisms “secondary” because they work only if they are consistent with the primary mechanisms. They are less powerful, more ambiguous, and more difficult to control than the primary mechanisms—yet can be powerful reinforcements of the primary messages if the leader is able to control them. The important point is that all of these mechanisms communicate culture content to newcomers and current staff.
Health leaders do not have a choice about whether to communicate, only about how much to manage what they communicate through words, actions, or neglect: Leaders cannot not communicate. Organizations differ in the degree to which the cultural messages are consistent and clear, and this variation in cultural clarity is a reflection of the clarity and consistency of the assumptions of the leaders.75
CHALLENGES OF CHANGE
As Morrison points out, there are significant challenges to health reform in the United States. Health leaders should be cognizant of these challenges as they work to positively change the culture of their health organizations, the culture of the health industry, and the expectations of the nation as a whole:76
• • Recognizing the political, structural, and resource distribution tension between health and health care; understanding that medical care is not the only factor behind health status
• • Developing health policies beyond managed competition
• • Finding ways to make community-based healthcare systems work
• • Clarifying the fuzzy boundaries between for-profit and nonprofit health care
• • Dealing with regional diversity in such a large and diverse country
STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIPS AS A SYSTEM FOR LEADERSHIP CONCERN
This section of the chapter was co-authored with Dr. Karl Manrodt. Dr. Manrodt (see Figure 9-4) serves as a professor in the Department of Marketing and Logistics at Georgia Southern University, located in States-boro, Georgia. He is also the director of the Southern Center for Logistics and Intermodal Transportation, and he has co-authored 5 books and over 100 academic articles and reports. Dr. Manrodt is the architect and primary force behind the International Supply Chain Metric Project, a multi-decade effort for the Warehouse Education and Research Cooperative (WERC).
FIGURE 9-4 Karl Manrodt, PhD.
All organizations, especially health organizations, require strategies to survive in the competitive health industry. Leaders must evaluate, build, and maintain strategic relationships with other organizations, such as suppliers, personnel companies, and federal and state agencies, as well as other organizations. In one significant area of leadership—where situational assessment, environmental analyses, organizational culture, planning and strategy, and goal achievement interact—evaluation, selection, and relationship building with strategic partners (other organizations such as suppliers of equipment, medical/surgical supplies, or pharmaceuticals) are a critical set of competencies.
Important research by the International Association for Contract and Commercial Management shows that most companies operate under conventional transaction-based models that are constrained by a formal, legally oriented, risk-averse, and liability-based culture.77 There is growing awareness that transactional-based approaches do not always give each party the intended results. Alternative sourcing business models are a viable alternative to the conventional transactional methods. Outcome-based approaches are gathering momentum as senior leaders see positive results from carefully crafted collaborative agreements. The CAAVE Model (Competitive, Avoiding, Adaptive, Vested, and Empathetic styles of strategic partnership positioning) offers one method to evaluate and develop strategic partners; in addition, the Compatibility and Trust (CaT) Assessment evaluates relationship dynamics, market dynamics, and compatibility (organizational culture is a major aspect of compatibility) of those strategic relationships. These partnerships take multiple forms, ranging from conventional transaction-based models to equity partnerships. A continuum of these relationships can be found in Vitasek, Crawford, Nyden, and Kawamoto’s book, The Vested Outsourcing Manual.78
In order to better understand the environment firms operate within, this section of the chapter outlines seven sourcing business models that fall into three categories (Table 9-5). Each model differs from a risk/reward perspective and should be evaluated in the context of what is being procured. The characteristics and attributes for each of these approaches are reviewed in detail. This is followed by a discussion of the CAAVE Model and the CaT Assessment.
Transaction-Based Models
Many companies use transaction-based business models for their commercial agreements when they make a “buy” decision. Conventional approaches to transaction-based models keep service providers at arm’s length. Three types of transaction-based sourcing relationships have changed over time as businesses struggle with how to create service provider relationships that are better suited for more complex business requirements.
Table 9-5 Sourcing Models*
Sourcing Business Models Sourcing Business Model Categories
Transaction Based Outcome Based Investment Based
Simple transaction provider X
Approved provider X
Preferred provider X
Performance-based relationship X
Vested relationship X X
Shared services (internal) X
Equitable partner (external) X
Source: Reproduced from Vitasek, K., Keith, B., Eckler, J., and Evans, D. (n.d.). Unpacking sourcing business models: 21st century solutions for sourcing services. Retrieved from http://www.vestedway.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Unpacking-Sourcing.pdf.
* This section is based on “Unpacking Sourcing Business Models: 21st Century Solutions for Sourcing Services” by Kate Vitasek, Bonnie Keith, Jim Eckler, Dawn Evans, in collaboration with Jacqui Crawford, Karl Manrodt, Katherine Kawamoto, and Srinivas Krishna.
The economics for each of these types of supplier relationships are similar in that the supplier gets paid per the transaction. There is typically a predefined rate for each transaction, or unit of service. For instance, a third-party logistics service provider would get paid each month for the number of pallets stored, the number of units picked, and the number of orders shipped. Or a call center service provider would get paid a price per call or a price per minute.
Transaction-based business models are best suited when a supplier is supplying a standardized service with stable specifications that are easily measured through a commonly agreed to set of metrics. Payment can be triggered based on successful transactions completed.
The three types of transaction-based providers can be described as simple transaction provider, approved provider, and preferred provider.
Simple Transaction Provider
A simple transaction provider is a supplier who is one of many available in the marketplace, typically providing a low-cost, repetitive service. The services provided by this type of provider are often competitively bid, frequently with no interruption of service or impact to the buyer’s business. A purchase order often triggers these transactions, which signals that the buying company agrees to buy a set quantity of goods or tasks (or hours) outlined in the purchase order. The supplier relationship is based solely on a review of the supplier’s performance against standard metrics (did the supplier work that many hours or provide the good or service in the quantities purchased?).
Approved Provider
An approved provider is one who has been identified as offering a unique differentiation from other transactional suppliers and provides an efficiency or cost advantage for the client company. The differentiation could come in the form of a geographical location advantage, a cost or quality advantage, or being a small disadvantaged business that is ultimately approved to assist with meeting the client company’s minority and women business enterprise (MWBE) goals. An approved provider is identified as a prequalified option in the pool of transactional suppliers and has fulfilled preconditions for specified service. Procurement professionals routinely turn to approved suppliers as regularly solicited sources of supply when bidding is conducted. An approved supplier may or may not operate under a master services agreement (MSA)—an overarching contract with the buying company. Approved suppliers may or may not also have volume thresholds to receive an approved status. Finally, approved suppliers may or may not participate in supplier management reviews.
Reference
Ledlow, G.R. & Coppola, M.N. (2014). Leadership for health professionals: Theory, skill, and applications. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
