Case Study: Improving Hospital Design and Effectiveness Post-Merger

This case study analyzes the organizational design and effectiveness of a hospital post-merger. It addresses issues related to the hospital's new strategic intent, goals, and structural dimensions, including formalization, specialization, hierarchy of authority, complexity, and centralization. The analysis recommends a system resources approach for effectiveness and a matrix structure for the organization. It discusses the positives and negatives of these selections, emphasizing the importance of technological innovation and resource management strategies. The memo concludes with recommendations for addressing the challenges and streamlining operations within the hospital, including hiring experienced consultants to plan and execute the changes.

Sender and recipient name
MEMO
Company name
To: CEO of the hospital
From: Student name
Date: 23rd September 2019
Re: Issues to be addressed in the case study related to hospital
Introduction
As discussed in the case study, this memo provides answers to the questions asked about
hospital and its structural changes (Blake, 2015).
Based on our analysis, the recommendation for the hospital would be to integrate
technological innovation and resource allocation & management strategies. The new
strategic intent of the hospital has been given.
1. What is the new strategic intent and what are the goals for the hospital? For each,
explain
Why you have selected this strategic intent or goal
 The strategic intent will outline the key intentions of the hospital considering the
external and internal environmental factors.
 The first intent is to provide direction to our staff for having common goal. It is
observed that employees are not being cooperative as there is a merger of two
different hospital. They might have different goals and working culture. Hence, it is
important to direct them towards one goal.
 The next intent is to create a team of people who would look after allocating
resources to both A and B (Resource management department). They would also be
expected to assess the current and future challenges of the hospital. Accordingly, they
could take improvised actions.
 The strategic intent is bringing more technology innovation within the hospital. It
enables us to install new software which would give common ground for all patients’
information and appointment.
2. What are the structural dimensions of organizational design for this hospital?
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Explain the structural dimensions of the hospital: formalization, specialization,
hierarchy of authority, complexity, and centralization.
For each structural dimension, explain why you have made this selection.
Formalization: All the activities within the hospital would be formally documented in
form of policies and procedures. For example, policy for patient admission, policies of
payment, anti-discrimination policies, etc. The process of admission of a patient to the
discharge of patient will be governed by formal rules (Malhotra, 2009).
WHY? Formalization of the process helps to reduce operational cost, increase
coordination between activities, reduces conflict or judgements by people as the decisions
would be taken based on standard rules and procedures.
Specialization: The tasks at the hospital would be divided into small parts and those
tasks would be coordinated by competent teams.
WHY? Every employee would have expertise in some job at the hospital such as
operations, nursing, finance, etc. and assigning specific tasks helps to gain higher
productivity
Hierarchy of Authority: The hospital will have lower management of staff reporting to
middle level managers and doctors who will in turn report to higher management
responsible for taking critical decisions.
WHY? It helps in assigning responsibilities in a structured manner
Complexity: The hospital would have a simple horizontal differentiation and complexity
WHY? It helps to create a specialized team for every task and also helps in
departmentalization
Centralization: The hospital would have a centralized decision-making process.
Important decisions are taken by management and operations level decisions by
managers.
WHY? This helps in synchronizing the overall operations of the hospital and avoids
conflict of interest (Gupta, 2009).
3. Based on your answers to the questions above, which effectiveness approaches do
you think the hospital should use?
Explain why you have made this selection.
I think the hospital should use system resources approach. The system resources
approach is focused on inputs which organization requires after the merger takes place
and the management of the company has completely taken over. Hence, it is important to
acquire the resources in needs, and assessing the effectiveness of the inputs. The
attributes which are not productive can be identified and taken care of by the team
(sharma, 2018).
Explain the positives and negatives associated with this selection.
The implementation of system resource approach will increase the adaptability of the
hospital to environment changes. It considers both an individual and overall
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organizational goal. It is important for the new operations as it considers several aspects
of the organization while taking any decision. On the other side, it is interdependent, the
results are not calculative. It does not have any plan for contingencies.
4. Based on your answers to the questions above, which organization structure should
the hospital adopt?
Explain why you have made this selection.
Based on the study, it can be recommended that hospital should adopt matrix structure to
relocate all 10 different departments (pdfs.semanticscholar.org, n.d.).
Explain the positives and negatives associated with this selection.
Matrix organizational structure allows individual to share and communicate within and
across the departments. The resources and experts can be used properly as the resources
can be shared across the organization. This structure allows employee to take decision
independently wherever required. but this structure is complex to understand. It is
difficult to decide on accountability in case of failure (strategyex.co.uk, 2016).
Hence, it is important to take appropriate actions which can streamline the operations. It
is recommended to hire a team of experienced consultants who can plan and execute the
changes in the hospital.
Student name XXX
Contact details
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References
Blake, I.A., 2015. How to Answer Questions in Memorandum Style. [Online] Available
at: https://work.chron.com/answer-questions-memorandum-style-4927.html [Accessed 23
September 2019].
Gupta, A., 2009. Organisation design. [Online] Available at: http://www.practical-
management.com/Organization-Development/Organization-Design.html [Accessed 23
September 2019].
Malhotra, J., 2009. Dimensions of organisational structure. [Online] Available
at: https://www.indiastudychannel.com/resources/70026-Dimensions-organisational-
structure.aspx [Accessed 23 September 2019].
pdfs.semanticscholar.org, n.d. Organizational Structure and Change. [Online] Available
at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/96f8/021400af9f70359a9d2e470d82b0a0033d98.pdf
[Accessed 22 September 2019].
sharma, M., 2018. Organizational Effectiveness: Top 4 Approaches | Management.
[Online] Available
at: https://www.businessmanagementideas.com/management/organizational-
effectiveness-top-4-approaches-management/8009 [Accessed 23 September 2019].
strategyex.co.uk, 2016. Matrix Structures: The Pros and Cons. [Online] Available
at: https://www.strategyex.co.uk/blog/pmoperspectives/matrix-structures-pros-cons/ [Acc
essed 22 September 2019].
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