The Most Appropriate Way to Evaluate the Five Year Strategic Plan that has been in place for the Last One Year
Implementing a five-year strategic plan to ensure that it is executed in the stipulated period of time requires an elaborate evaluation method. The most appropriate method of evaluating the plan is an outcome based and a process based method. The proposed methods are effective for firms, which intend to show the effectiveness of their program (Pantoja et al. 2014). The outcome measurement method will help the hospital measure the quantitative and qualitative differences between the programs (Lamont et al. 2017). As such, this could be measured in terms of an improvement in the form of the quality of services offered to patients and the number of patients that can be treated within a stipulated period of time. Targets will be set to determine this outcome and to identify the best methods that can be applied in achieving the desired results.
A process-based evaluation works well if it is used together with an outcome based evaluation since it will enable the organization to fix any shortcomings in the program through feedback as the implementation process progresses. Feedback will be gathered through interaction with clients, questionnaires were given to volunteers and feedback given by the staff (Pantoja et al. 2014). A combination of the two processes will ensure that the organization is bale to fix any problems in real time. The time frame that will be necessary for this evaluation would be on an annual basis since it will allow for enough time to observe the process and implement any desired changes.
The evaluation and control process is appropriate for an organization that deals with healthcare and creativity since it pushes medical staff and other healthcare personnel to incorporate creative methods of solving problems. Control and creativity are compatible if the control is placed on processes of spending and not on people’s talents (Pantoja et al. 2014). A typical acute care hospital can employ creativity by creating an exquisite environment for treating their patients. Instead of relying on normal monotonic colored hospital rooms, a healthcare facility would incorporate art in its rooms that are tailor-made to fit the taste of the clients.
The Relationship between SWOT Analysis and Strategic Assessment
A SWOT analysis analyses the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and the threats that are present in the cardiology practice. The strength of the service is that it is lucrative in the patients who come to consult with craniological specialists are likely to pay higher fees as these are more specialized services (Bacci, et al. 2016). Additionally, craniological services contribute to an increase in the number of clients who attend the hospital since clients would be more comfortable attending a facility that has different kinds of specialists who can diagnose any potential condition that they may be having,
The downside of this profession is that the numbers of specialists who are available to offer cardiovascular services are few and are paid higher fees leading to an increment in the operation costs. It is also a high-risk venture, especially where surgeries are involved since negligence could result in legal suits that are mostly expensive (Kahveci et al. 2015). The opportunity that is present in the market for a health care facility that offers cardiovascular services is the potential to attract a higher number of clients since few facilities offer these services.
The category of craniological practice is lucrative since it has the potential of increasing the revenue of the hospital. In analyzing the results of the A SWOT analysis, it is critical that the management weighs the threats and the weaknesses against the strengths and opportunities to come up with a more comprehensive and integrative solution (Berenson et al. 2013). The SWOT analysis relates to the strategic assessment since it equips the management with the relevant information on the internal conditions of the organization and the external market conditions that are necessary for decision making.
The Importance of Performing a Needs/ Capacity Assessment
A needs/capacity assessment is important especially if it is performed together with another strategic assessment. A needs/capacity deals with the assessment of strategies put in place by healthcare facilities, Assessment is crucial since it assists strategic managers to ascertain whether the set goals and objectives are achievable within the set period of time. In an assessment, the organization also looks at the capacity of the workforce to see whether they can deliver as per the required standards (Bacci, et al. 2016). Preparation and implementation are also important if it is incorporated with other types of analysis such as the SPACE analysis since preparation is one of the failsafe ways to ensure that the management has adequate capacity to implement the strategic plan.
Implementation has to do with the execution of the ideas to achieve the desired results. The needs/capacity assessment also incorporates the findings into the strategic plan. An example would be where the potential risks of the cardiovascular services such as the risk of negligence and the threats that are in the market for competing for health care facilities exceed the benefits of having the service (Kahveci et al. 2015). It would be prudent for the health care facility to consider other specialized services that have a lower competition and a lower risk of negligence.
A needs/capacity assessment in the case where a health care facility is considering department which offers cardiovascular services will first want to find out whether the facility has sufficient capacity to treat incoming patients. One of the facets that will be looked at will be whether the hospital has enough specialists top provide the capacity (Berenson et al. 2013). The needs side will focus on whether there is an immediate need in the community for cardiovascular services.
The Importance of Formulating Strategies
Strategies are formulated in five categories which include directional strategies, adaptive strategies, market entry strategies, competitive strategies and implementation strategies. This specific order of formulating strategies is followed carefully by many executors of strategy since it enables individuals and organizations to implement strategies in a logical and a consistent manner that allows a plan to flow smoothly from one stage of implementation to another (Kahveci et al. 2015). Directional strategies are used by organizations to determine the direction that a company would like to take especially when it is launching a new product or when it is expanding its services.
Adaptive strategies are developed by an organization which has launched a new product line or is planning to enter a market and is looking for new ways to service and thrive in a new environment. Market entry strategies create a pathway that will be used by an organization in entering a new market or in launching a product. (Bacci, et al. 2016). Competitive strategies help an organization to increase its market share and gain an upper hand over their competitors to attract more clients and increase the profitability of the organization. Implementation strategies enable an organization to implement the plan that has been formulated by the strategy planning committee.
In an acute care hospital, all strategies are effective but the implementation strategy is the most important since it ensures that all theoretical plans are actually implemented (Berenson et al. 2013). It is only through implementation that a company can make profits and not by simply designing strategies (Demarzo et al. 2015). Implementation is also the most important strategy and the hallmark of successful companies since it enables a strategic assessment team to know the weaknesses of the designed strategy and to come up with solutions that will fix any problem in the strategy to ensure that the long-term plan is fusible and achievable.
Implementation of the strategic plan
The implementation approach that the acute care hospital has decided to approach of including only senior level management in implementing its strategic plan is bound to be challenging. The source of this challenge is that only authoritarian leadership is effective in assisting where senior management are the only ones who are aware of the strategic plan(Kahveci et al. 2015). This assumes that the hospital staff is either incompetent to execute the plan or lack the required mental capacity to comprehend, execute and give proper feedback on the plan. It is likely that this strategy will be ineffective in an assisted living facility where the staff majorly comprises of trained professionals who regularly have to make decisions without consultation since they are specialists in their own field (Berenson et al. 2013). By ordering them to implement a strategy that they did not participate in formulating and which they are not aware of, a situation of conflict could arise as some members of staff could be reluctant to implement the plan (Kash et al. 2014). What needs to be done differently to ensure that the strategic plan in the assisted living facility is implemented is the incorporation of different departments and different members of staff in strategy formulation.
This department should be allowed to give their feedback on what is achievable and the potential challenges that they foresee in implementing the plan. An assisted living facility has clients who have different medical conditions and require different kinds of medical assistance depending on their needs(Bacci, et al. 2016). Those with dementia could be having different needs from those with an orthopedic need. This implies that the different departments in this facility cannot implement a uniform solution to their situation regardless of their challenges. It is, therefore, necessary for all staff and particularly departmental heads to be involved in strategy formulation and implementation to ensure optimal benefits.
References
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Demarzo, M. M. P., Cebolla, A., & Garcia-Campayo, J. (2015). The implementation of mindfulness in healthcare systems: a theoretical analysis. General hospital psychiatry, 37(2), 166-171.
Berenson, R. A., Pronovost, P. J., & Krumholz, H. M. (2013). Achieving the potential of health care performance measures. Princeton (NJ): Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Kahveci, R., Seyidov, N., Cela, M., Novo, A., Stevic, S., Temirkhan, T., & Zisovska, E. (2015). Joining Forces to Enhance Evidence-Informed Decision-Making in Eurasian Countries: a SWOT analysis.
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Pantoja, T., Opiyo, N., Marti, S. G., Ciapponi, A., Oxman, A. D., & Dudley, L. (2014). Implementation strategies for health systems in low-income countries: an overview of systematic reviews [Protocol]. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews in progress.
