Facilitation and Negotiation Skills
Examine the overall strategy and implementation your group devised to address the different aspects of the company merger.
My group, after the discussion, devised open and effective communication as the overall strategy that was to be implemented to address all aspects of the hospital merger and resolve any challenges experienced after the hospitals merged. Effective communication involves a timely exchange of that information while creating an understanding of the intentions of the information shared. This means ensuring clarity of the message conveyed. On the other hand, open communication is transparent, consistent, and without judgment (Chakraborty & Ganguly, 2019). Therefore, through effective and open communication, we will focus on sharing information in a timely and more understandable manner and allowing the giving and receiving of feedback from the stakeholders. Through effective and open collaboration, we expected to overcome these challenges and easily integrate the two workplace cultures, improve collaboration, and have the entire workforce on the same page. Effective communication in hospital mergers and acquisitions is essential for creating effective synergies supporting inter-organizational collaborations (Aunger et al., 2021). Open communication is a collaborative communication activity that supports the development of full employee engagement in the organization’s operations(Chakraborty & Ganguly, 2019).
To implement effective and open communication, we will first divide the stakeholders into various groups based on their roles and how the merger will impact them. The shared information will be tailored to the needs of each stakeholder group. The next step will involve setting a timeline of how each piece of information will be shared with each group and when it will be shared. The next will ensure that the information shared will answer the questions of each group. Finally, more details will be shared as the merger grows and develops.
What were the major factors and considerations led your group to make the strategic decisions for the merger?
The decisions for the hospital merger were much driven by the existing and projected forces, which are expected to impact the healthcare industry with a market disruption. Our overall goal was to be able to provide less costly healthcare services of the highest quality by reducing our cost of operations while improving our operational capacity. Therefore, our first reason for making the strategic decision to merge the hospitals was the growing competition from the larger health systems, which were commanding a larger portion of the market due to their operational capacity. The merger was also projected to improve the capital capacity of the hospital after pooling the capital from both hospitals. This would allow the facility to expand and have the capacity to invest in modern equipment and research, employ quality staff, and support current professional development. We aimed to improve the capacity of the hospital to be able to compete fairly with other providers. The merger was a guarantee to improve the volume of current services, including complex surgeries and treatments. The long-held belief is that hospital mergers improve hospital efficiency, care accessibility, quality, and costs (Beaulieu et al., 2020). Additionally, a higher volume of services offered creates the picture of quality outcomes, making it a competitive advantage.
Discuss the health sector best practices you drew from your research to help determine the decision-making and negotiation approaches defined in your group presentation.
The major best practice that guides decision-making and negotiation approaches is involving all stakeholders or their representatives throughout the decision-making. The hospital merger was found to affect all stakeholders and shareholders. Although each was affected in unique ways, I learned that the involvement of all stakeholders improves the merger process and is a factor for positive stakeholder experiences during and after the merger. Shareholder involvement and engagement in major organizational decisions support the development of positive and trustful relations as the organization transitions through change (PENG et al., 2020).
Another best practice was to understand the differences in the culture of the two merging organizations and the individuals across the merging hospitals. The differences in workplace cultures determine how each culture views the merger, how it will impact the individuals within the organization, and how they will react to it. Finally, as a best practice in the healthcare sector, communicating effectively by providing the necessary information to the stakeholders can support effective and informed shared decision-making, leading to fast buy-ins from all stakeholders.
Describe any facilitation and negotiation strategies employed in your group collaboration to reach a consensus on project decisions that will also be useful in your professional life.
I have learned a number of useful facilitation and negotiation strategies for achieving group consensus during my group collaboration that are very useful throughout my professional and personal life. The first strategy is being open-minded and welcoming disagreements in opinions on the task at hand. This strategy goes hand in hand with active listening as it allows for identifying similarities and differences in expressed opinions, where the differences in opinion arise from, and the renegotiating of a common solution. Other strategies involve brainstorming and tapping into the power of task delegation. Brainstorming allows for each member of the group to provide their views in a way that creates a wider perspective of the issue at hand and supports the development of unconventional solutions while delegating roles ensures that each member is actively involved and that they feel accountable for project decisions. A most important strategy is having a clearly set project agenda. People are more likely to buy into a project if they understand where it will lead them.
References
Aunger, J. A., Millar, R., Greenhalgh, J., Mannion, R., Rafferty, A. M., & McLeod, H. (2021). Why do some inter-organizational collaborations in healthcare work when others do not? A realist review. Systematic Reviews, 10(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1186/S13643-021-01630-8/FIGURES/4
Beaulieu, N. D., Dafny, L. S., Landon, B. E., Dalton, J. B., Kuye, I., & McWilliams, J. M. (2020). Changes in Quality of Care after Hospital Mergers and Acquisitions. New England Journal of Medicine, 382(1), 51–59. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMSA1901383/SUPPL_FILE/NEJMSA1901383_DISCLOSURES.PDF
Chakraborty, T., & Ganguly, M. (2019). Crafting Engaged Employees Through Positive Work Environment: Perspectives of Employee Engagement. In Management Techniques for Employee Engagement in Contemporary Organizations (pp. 180–198). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-7799-7.CH011
PENG, Y., Dong, Y., Skowronski, K., & Song, S. (2020). Social Responsibility and Operational Risks in Merger and Acquisition Decisions. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2020(1). https://doi.org/10.5465/ambpp.2020.17214abstract
ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE
We’ll write everything from scratch
Question 
Facilitation and Negotiation Skills
Facilitation and negotiation are skills you will use regularly as a leader in health care. Last week, you worked with your group to research best practices and apply them to a merger of two workforce cultures. Consider what you gained from the collaborative nature of the assignment.
Reflect on the discussions you and your group had while working on the Hospital Merger and Cultural Considerations assignment this week. Write 700 to 875 words on the following:
Examine the overall strategy and implementation your group devised to address the different aspects of the company merger.
What were the major factors and considerations led your group to make the strategic decisions for the merger?
Discuss the health sector best practices you drew from your research to help determine the decision-making and negotiation approaches defined in your group presentation.
Describe any facilitation and negotiation strategies employed in your group collaboration to reach a consensus on project decisions that will also be useful in your professional life.