Team development interventions evidence based approaches for improving teamwork

City Center Hospital Case Study

Student’s Name

Ashford University

Course

Instructor’s Name

Date

City Center Hospital Case Study

Introduction

Organizational development (OD) interventions can be described as structured programs that have been created to assist organizations in solving problems that hinder them from achieving their goals. The interventional activities are formulated to help improve the functioning of an organization and to ensure the leaders have better management of their teams and the organizational culture (You, Kim & Lim, 2021). The OD interventions are created to help in addressing issues that an organization faces ranging from performance, knowledge, process, will, career development, attrition, technology, or talent retention among many others. There are different types of interventions that can be considered for different organizations. There are individual interventions that target specific individuals in key positions that are important for organizational success. Furthermore, there are group interventions that mainly target departments in the organization that is affected by a problem. The final type is an organizational intervention that relates to the overall policy and strategy of an organization. It is important for an organization to identify the specific type of OD intervention that suits their needs and implement different strategies to eliminate issues in their efficiency in an effective manner. The paper addresses the case study of City Center Hospital and provides the organizational development interventions required to improve performance in the facility.

Case

The organization under consideration is City Center hospital that is located in a mid-sized urban area of Kansas. The main concern expressed by the management team consisting of the chief executive officer, the human resource manager and the director of nursing is poor team morale among the members of the nursing department. This has affected the quality of care and the efficiency in the delivery of services in the organization despite the efforts by the management to make the organization more profitable and patient-centered. The organization has a few members of staff working on a full-time basis. However, a majority of the nursing staff are outsourced and hired as conditional permanent staff. The physicians are hired as independent contractors for a period of one year before their contracts are renewed. One of the other issues of concern to the management is the loss of physicians to other organizations due to poor leadership skills displayed by the unit managers. The other concern is the high levels of stress among the nurses and the poor relationship between members of the nursing teams and physicians.

Interventions

Human Process Interventions

There are several aspects that can be addressed in a one-day workshop with visible changes over the next 12 months. The first intervention involves activities that are related to human processes in the organization. There are several activities that can be carried out in this area. In the one day workshop, the hospital staff can be subjected to minor team building activities. This is crucial for enhancing interprofessional collaboration between the nurses and physicians (Lacerenza et al., 2018). The main aim of the process should be to ensure that nurses and doctors learn of their need to cooperate in enhancing patient care. Nurses and physicians should be educated on the need to play their roles and supporting each other in ensuring patient outcomes improve in the facility. Another intervention would be to carry out a minor job analysis for all employees. This is to enable the employees to know their strengths and weaknesses in their area of work. The main goal is to ensure the nurses and physicians can capitalize on their strengths while working on improving their weaknesses. The end result will be an improvement in the leadership skills and cohesion of patient management teams.

Strategic Interventions

Strategic interventions can be defined as the activities that are undertaken to improve the policies and strategies of the organizations. Currently, the organization has a policy of hiring nurses on conditional permanent contracts while the doctors are hired as independent contractors on yearly contracts. This may be one of the contributing factors to the poor morale of the nurses and the lack of leadership skills in various departments. This is because of the lack of job security for the employees based on the terms of hiring implemented by the organization. In the one-day workshop, the organization should make plans with its employees and consider the option of offering permanent and pensionable contracts to the employees. It will help in ensuring the organization can develop its own pool of talent as well as ensuring the leaders develop the rights skills to lead their teams. Furthermore, it may be crucial in ensuring the employees are committed to the improvement of the organization and achievement of its goals.

Human Resource Interventions

Human resource interventions can be described as the activities aimed at improving the workforce of an organization. There are several strategies that can be used for the improvement of human resources. One of the interventions that can be used is implementing rewards and recognition. In the one-day workshop, the best performing employees can be rewarded by the organizations. There are different types of rewards that can be used such as office parks, money, trips, and awards. The employees can also be recognized through performance certificates. This may help in the improvement of morale among the nurses and also improve performance for future rewards (Langove & Isha, 2017). Furthermore, it may be crucial to outline career development plans for the members of staff. This can be defined as the process by which people align their long-term learning with their personal needs for career development opportunities. This may be crucial in improving morale and cooperation among the members of staff in the delivery of care. The end result is an improvement in patient care, outcomes, and levels of satisfaction, and this will guarantee an improvement in profit levels.

Technostructural Interventions

Technostructural interventions can be defined as the activities aimed at improving technology in the organization. The workshop can be used as a session for educating the members of staff on available hospital technology that assists in interprofessional collaboration. The hospital has numerous tools that assist the communication between nurses and physicians. This workshop can be crucial in ensuring the nurses and physicians know how to use the tools effectively for the improvement of patient care (World Health Organization, 2019). The workshop can also be used by the organization to make a commitment to its staff on the continual improvement of technology. This can help in boosting the morale of nurses and doctors leading to an improvement in cooperation among them as well as in the quality of care delivered to patients.

Conclusion

Overall, OD interventions are the structured programs that have been created to assist organizations in solving problems that hinder them from achieving their goals. The organization is a city hospital that is faced with issues of poor leadership skills among its managers leading to the loss of talented physicians to other organizations. There is also a low level of morale among the members of nursing teams. There are several OD interventions that can be used in managing the situation. Human process activities such as job analysis and team building can help in improving morale and cooperation. Strategic policies such as change of hiring culture as well as the technological improvements may also be vital in improving the morale of the workforce.

References

Lacerenza, C. N., Marlow, S. L., Tannenbaum, S. I., & Salas, E. (2018). Team development interventions: Evidence-based approaches for improving teamwork. American Psychologist, 73(4), 517.

Langove, N., & Isha, A. S. N. (2017). Impact of Rewards and Recognition on Malaysian IT Executives Well-being and Turnover Intention: A Conceptual Framework. Global Business & Management Research, 9.

World Health Organization. (2019). WHO guideline: recommendations on digital interventions for health system strengthening. World Health Organization.

You, J., Kim, J., & Lim, D. H. (2021). Organizational learning and change: Strategic interventions to deal with resistance. In Research Anthology on Digital Transformation, Organizational Change, and the Impact of Remote Work (pp. 723-741). IGI Global.