Risk Management and Organizational Structure in Healthcare Settings

Risk Management and Organizational Structure in Healthcare Settings

Healthcare organizations have a complex environment consisting of various departments with different functions. Therefore, the most effective organizational structure for a healthcare organization would be the functional organizational structure. According to Kortmann (2012), a functional organizational structure includes dividing an organization into departments based on their functions. The structure would be effective in a healthcare setting because patient care requires specific knowledge and skills. Therefore, staff with similar skills can be grouped together to complete assigned tasks effectively. For instance, functional departments may be categorized into nursing, oncology, and surgery. The functional organizational structure is also most effective in healthcare organizations because it encourages specialization, which is required in the effective running of hospital operations. It also increases operational speed because the staff in every department have the expertise required to complete assigned tasks.

The departments should not be combined because they all handle different tasks. Therefore, combining them would make it hard to access performance and improve patient care. According to Barsade & O’Neill (2014), the overall performance of a healthcare organization is dictated by patient satisfaction based on the quality of care they receive. Therefore, it is important to review the feedback given by patients based on the services they are satisfied or dissatisfied with, thus the need for the departments to work independently. Separating departments also minimizes conflict because each department has its own targets, resources, and assigned tasks. Each department should have a manager to monitor its performance and provide the resources required to complete assigned tasks. However, all the department managers should report to the same director. The role of the director is to ensure that every department completes assigned tasks as expected. The director should also ensure that the departments get the resources needed to complete assigned tasks to enhance the organization’s overall performance and prevent patient complaints.

References

Barsade, S. G., & O’Neill, O. A. (2014). Overall patient satisfaction measure. PsycTESTS Dataset. https://doi.org/10.1037/t37754-000

Kortmann, S. (2012). Organizational structure. The Relationship between Organizational Structure and Organizational Ambidexterity, 12-17. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-8349-3630-1_2

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Organizations have tried several different approaches for creating an organizational structure that supports collaboration between the risk management and quality management departments. Which structure do you think would be most effective? Should the departments be combined? Should each department have a manager who reports to the same director? Is there a better alternative? Be sure to explain your answer.

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