Whitlam Memorial Hospital (WMH) - Short Critical Discussion Paper

Running head: WHITLAM MEMORIAL HOSPITAL (WMH)
Assessment 1: Short Critical Discussion Paper
[Whitlam Memorial Hospital (WMH)]
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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WHITLAM MEMORIAL HOSPITAL (WMH)
Introduction:
The essay is focused on the case study organization Whitlam Memorial Hospital (WMH)
and the latest decision to consider a restructuring of organizational structure. There is a reason
behind the restructuring decision. They are now considering enhancing their existing bed
capacity from 130 to 250 and also they are expanding with the list of medical services such as
cardiovascular, renal services, cancer, paediatric, aged care, trauma services and community
services. The management has felt that the existing organizational structure may not be effective
enough to handle the enhanced operation. They have come up with a new vision and mission
statement. There are also some changes in the overall strategic goals. Hence, the study looks for
a more feasible organizational structure that could effectively help the management in managing
the enhanced service related responsibilities.
Thesis statement: “Divisional Organizational Structure is more effective to support the
management of elevated services”
Strengths and limitations of the current functional (traditional bureaucratic) structure:
Strengths: The entire team is dedicated or aligned with a manager who is well versed in
the product knowledge. Hence, the manager is skilled enough to judge and reviews the work of
others in the team. This is quite effective in the healthcare centers because experts can easily be
reached and consulted in a very less span of time. It is a good utilization of expert’s skills and
abilities (Islam, Jasimuddin & Hasan, 2015). Since they work in a team or with the seniors;
juniors are more likely to gain the knowledge. This is indeed a good resource for knowledge
management. Promotions are also a likely fact as juniors working in a team with the seniors can
then be able to prove their skills. Seniors will be able to closely follow the development of skills

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WHITLAM MEMORIAL HOSPITAL (WMH)
and abilities in juniors. In the health care sector, many junior doctors work with the seniors when
needed. Hence, the cases will be resolved faster. The effectiveness will also be high.
Nevertheless, employees will also feel motivated. They will not be under pressure as they are not
just connected to seniors but, the connectivity is also very faster. This structure is ideal for those
firms that focus on one or very fewer products range (Zaridis & Mousiolis, 2014).
Weaknesses: In functional structure, there can be unhealthy competition. In such
structure, works are performed based on urgency level. This means that one department is given
the preference over other if that department is in some kind of urgency. Hence, an internal
competition may arise with such structure. In such structure, teams are grouped based on their
expertise. Hence, any change at the organizational level may not get a wide reception (Carley &
Prietula, 2014). Another disadvantage of such structure is that it does not facilitate
communication on a frequent basis. Communication happens only when juniors are not able to
tackle the case on their own. This may slow down the process of innovation and flexibility.
Management issues may also arise. Actually, departments are not accountable to each other if
there is an issue in one department. The high level of professionalism which is part of the
organizational structure may hamper the faster decision making. A cooperative work is
compromised because a functional distribution of different departments may produce a feeling of
unwillingness which may decelerate a frequent coordination between the different departments
(Deng, Hu & Srinivasan, 2017).
Importance of organizational mission, vision & goals and also its link with the
organizational structure: