NR534 Healthcare Systems Management
Week 2 Assignment
Advanced Communication in Systems Leadership
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this assignment is to apply leadership self- knowledge, skills, and strategies necessary for effective communication in advanced communication situations. (CO 4)
DUE DATE:Sunday 11:59 PM MT at the end of Week 2
TOTAL POINTS POSSIBLE:150
REQUIREMENTS
Description of the Assignment
The assignment provides an opportunity for the student to:
• Develop and leadership profile based on leadership style and personality profile
• Apply their leadership profile to advanced communication situations
• Develop strategies that will improve and/enhance advanced communication skills
• Engage in reflective practice through writing
PREPARING THE ASSIGNMENT
1. Address all components of the Advanced Communication in Systems Leadership paper as outlined under “Assignment Directions and Criteria”.
2. The paper is graded on quality and completeness of information, depth of thought, organization following outline provided, substantive narrative, use of citations, use of standard English, and writing conventions.
3. Format:
a. American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author. Is the source used for this paper
i. Required elements
1. Title page, reference page
2. Use Microsoft Word
3. Page numbers, doubles-spaced, times new roman, 12pt font, 1” margins, level 1 headings
4. Paper length: 6 maximum, excluding reference page, title page, and assessment tool
b. Scholarly sources
i. Minimum of four (4) scholarly resources no older than 5 years
c. Proof-reading
i. Use spell check and grammar check and correct all errors
ii. Compare final draft to detailed outline directions to ensure all required elements included
iii. Submitting the paper
1. Submit to Week 2 Assignment portal by Sunday, 11:59 p.m. MT
2. Must achieve TII score < 24% to be graded
3. Final submission only will be graded
DIRECTIONS AND ASSIGNMENT CRITERIA
This paper is a reflective practice experience that requires you to describe selected communication experiences, analyze them through the lens of your newly developed leadership profile, and describe implications for future experiences. You will need to draw on knowledge of advanced communication skills as well as past experiences and knowledge in certain communication situations. Scholarly inquiry into the specified communication types will be needed from at least one(1) peer reviewed journal per situation.Use the following detailed outline to organize your paper. The following headings should be used for your paper and represent what is included in a completed paper.
I. Introduction
a. Approach to paper
b. Statement of purpose
c. Overview of paper components
II. Leadership Profile
a. Identify Leadership Style (per questionnaire)
i. The Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid: Leadership Self-Assessment Questionnaire
https://www.bumc.bu.edu/facdev-medicine/files/2010/10/Leadership-Matrix-Self-Assessment-Questionnaire.pdf
b. Identify Personality Profile (per questionnaire)
i. Personality Typology Explained
http://www.humanmetrics.com/personality/type
c. Create the synthesized Personal Leadership Profile
III. Reflective Practice # 1: Negotiation
a. Experience
b. Reflection
c. Implications
IV. Reflective Practice # 2: Conflict
a. Experience
b. Reflection
c. Implications
V. Reflective Practice # 3: Student Selection
a. Experience
b. Reflection
c. Implications
VI. Summary
Directions
I. Provide an introduction that describes to the reader the purpose of the paper and what will be included. Refer to general components described under “Directions and Assignment Criteria”.
II. Create a Personal Leadership Profile using the information you’ve obtained from completing your Leadership Style questionnaire and Personality Profile Inventory,The profile should include inherent/dominant preference at each stage of the communication cycle; correlation of leadership style to personality profile with inconsistencies identified; potential conflicts in communication (within self and others) during advanced communication situations
III. Reflective Practice: Use the reflective practice guidelinesto address the required three experiences. These guidelines must be used as grading for this portion of the paper will follow them. The following are the general scenarios for the “experiences” you are to relate for reflection and implications. The experiences should be those in which you were personally involved, not an observer. Notice that the first two are required for all students. The third is your choice among three options. Be sure to indicate clearly which you choose as your third scenario
a. Experiences
i. Reflective Practice # 1: Negotiation
Describe an experience in whichyouhad to negotiate for an important issue that did not end up in your favor.
ii. Reflective Practice # 2: Conflict
Describe an experience in which you were engaged in a conflict situation which was not resolved or ended in a lose-lose resolution
iii. Reflective Practice # 3: Choose among one of the three topics: Persuasive conversation; leading a team; or interdepartmental collaboration
a. Persuasive conversation: Describe an experience in which you were unable to persuade a colleague to “buy in” to a project, a change is procedure, etc.
b. Leading a team: Describe an experience in which you were asked to lead a team project and you were unable to get the team to the work together
c. Interdepartmental collaboration: Describe an experience in which you had to collaborate with an interdepartmental team on a decision related to reducing costs within the healthcare system and consensus could not be reached
b. Reflections
To guide your reflection on the each of the three experiences include the following:
1. What went well in the exchange?
2. Based on your study of personality profiles, what might you guess was the profile of your receiver(s)?
3. What was the potential impact of those styles on the success or failure of communication?
4. Where did the communication exchange break down?
a. Address each component of the communication cycle(send, receive, process information, and through the lens of your leadership profile) for you and the other party. Based on these observations:
i. Were there any strategies you might could have used to improve any part of the cycle?
ii. Were there any profile characteristics of the other person might have alerted you to use another tact?
c. Implications
To guide your thoughts in describing future implications derived from your reflections include the following. If you have other thoughts, feel free to include these as well.
1. Through awareness of your own profile and the way you best communicate and what you’ve learned through the reflection:
a. What strategies can you use to ensure you send the message in a way to be best received and understood by the receiver?
b. How will you know the message has been received in the intended way?
2. How can you use your self-awareness of your own personal leadership profile to anticipate how communication is received by others?
IV. Summary: Provide a summary of what has been addressed in the paper, at least two (2) major points of self-discovery for continuous improvement in advanced communication skills, and the how your Personal Leadership Profile will inform your leadership practice role.
NR534 Healthcare Systems Management
Week 5 Assignment
Organizational Culture and Climate: Assessment and Analysis
I. PURPOSE:
The purpose of this assignment is to explore the culture and climate of the healthcare organization and its impact on providing a healthy, safe, and person-centered care and work environment. (CO 1,3,6)
DUE DATE:Sunday 11:59 PM MT at the end of Week 5
II. TOTAL POINTS POSSIBLE:150
III. REQUIREMENTS
Description of the Assignment
This assignment provides an opportunity for the student to
• Assess organizational culture and climate within a healthcare organization known to the student
• Analyze the organizational culture and climate for its strengths and opportunities for improvement
• Determine the organization’s capacity to provide a healthy, safe, person-centered environment for staff and patients based on it culture and climate
• Reflect on the “fit” of personal leadership profile with the organization’s culture and climate
IV. PREPARING THE ASSIGNMENT
Requirements:
1. Address all components of the Organizational Culture and Climate Assessment and Analysis Paper as outlined under “Assignment Directions and Criteria”.
2. The paper is graded on quality and completeness of information, depth of thought, organization following outline provided, substantive narrative, use of citations, use of standard English, and writing conventions.
3. Format:
a. American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author. Is the source used for this paper
i. Required elements
1. Title page, reference page
2. Page numbers, doubles-spaced, times new roman, 12pt font, 1” margins, level 1 headings
3. Paper length: 6 maximum, excluding reference page, title page, and assessment tool
ii. Scholarly sources: Minimum of four (4) scholarly resources no older than 5 years
iii. Proof-reading
1. Use spell check and grammar check and correct all errors
2. Compare final draft to detailed outline directions to ensure all required elements included
iv. Submitting the paper
1. Submit to Week 5 Assignment portal by Sunday, 11:59 p.m. MT
2. Must achieve TII score < 24% to be graded
3. Final submission only will be graded
DIRECTIONS AND ASSIGNMENT CRITERIA
This assignment has two steps and requires that you do an actual assessment and analysis of the healthcare organization within which you work.
Step 1: The Assessment Tool
Complete the Organizational Culture and Climate Assessment Tool. The tool is your data collection tool, or “notes-taking” pages you will need to complete before doing the analysis. You may already know some of the information, but some may require communication with key people in the organization, for example, human resources, financial officers, or nurse executives. Submitting the completed tool with your final paper submission is required. It is not included in your page count. You receive credit for completing and submitting it the items in the following outline.
Step 2: The Analysis
Analyze the findings from your assessment following the outline below. (See the rubric for specific criteria within each section)Support your analysis and conclusions with specific evidence from your assessment and scholarly sources. The paper will contain the following components with headings as required. (Remember, no heading is used for the introduction section)
I. Introduction
a. Stated purpose
b. Definition of organizational culture vs climate
c. Broad overview of components of the paper
II. Organizational culture and climate analysis
a. Summary of assessment findings
b. Mission, vision, and goals reflected in culture and climate
c. Strengths and Opportunities for improvement
d. Climate reflective of culture
III. Healthy, safe, person-centered care environment capacity
a. Describe the organizational culture’s capacity to support
b. What would a visiting potential staff recruit experience about the institution’s culture that would attract them to work there?
c. Nurse leader’s role in setting the organizational culture and climate to promote a healthy work environment?
IV. Implications
a. Two strategies to address the opportunities for improvement
b. Alignment of Personal Leadership Profile and Organizational Culture and Climate
V. Conclusion
a. Broadly address the what has been accomplished in the paper
b. Benefits of the completing the assignment
NR534 Healthcare Systems Management
Week 6 Assignment
Planned Change: Leadership of Reduction in Workforce
PURPOSE
The purpose of this experiential learning activity is to apply nursing leadership knowledge and skills to plan for organizational change with system-wide impact. (CO 2, 3, 5)
DUE DATE:Sunday 11:59 PM MT at the end of Week 6
TOTAL POINTS POSSIBLE:250
REQUIREMENTS
Description of the Assignment
This assignment provides the opportunity for the student to:
• Create an evidence-based plan for system-wide change guided by a selected organizational change model
• Engage in high-level decision-making processes common in the nurse executive role
• Use reflective practice knowledge and skills in making high level decision making and change management
PREPARING THE ASSIGNMENT
1. Address all components of the Advanced Communication in Systems Leadership paper as outlined under “Assignment Directions and Criteria”.
2. The paper is graded on quality and completeness of information, depth of thought, organization following outline provided, substantive narrative, use of citations, use of Standard English, and writing conventions.
3. Format:
a. American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author. Is the source used for this paper
i. Required elements
1. Title page, reference page
2. Use Microsoft Word
3. Page numbers, doubles-spaced, times new roman, 12pt font, 1” margins, level 1 headings
4. Paper length: 7 maximum, excluding reference page and title page
b. Scholarly sources
i. Minimum of four (4) scholarly resources no older than 5 years (See: What is a Scholarly Source under APA resources)
c. Proof-reading
i. Use spell check and grammar check and correct all errors
ii. Compare final draft to detailed outline directions to ensure all required elements included
iii. Submitting the paper
1. Submit to Week 2 Assignment portal by Sunday, 11:59 p.m. MT
2. Must achieve TII score < 24% to be graded
3. Final submission only will be graded
DIRECTIONS AND ASSIGNMENT CRITERIA
You will use the following headings for your paper:
I. Approach to the organizational mandate
a. Purpose of the paper
b. Overview of the tasks, potential challenges, and implications of a reduction in workforce
II. Part II: Reduction in Workforce-Deciding
a. Using Human Resources (HR) metrics Table 1
i. Approach, choices, rationale
ii. Challenges presented (including role of ethics)
b. Using HR metrics with Relative Information Table 2
i. Approach, choices, rational
ii. Challenges presented
iii. Conflicts raised
iv. Negotiation used
III. Part III: Reduction in Workforce-Planning the Change
a. Overview of reorganization plan including timeline
b. Plan for change and application of Kotter’s or Rogers’ change model
c. Anticipated conflict (three areas) and the benefits of using a change model
IV. Healthy work environment
a. Describe department and system-wide implications, impact, and conflict
b. Strategies for addressing morale and motivation of remaining workforce
V. Summary/Conclusions
a. Restatement of purpose
b. Overview of tasks
c. What was learned
Part I: Approach to the Organizational Mandate
In this section, provide a statement of purpose for the paper and overview of what will be covered in the paper, including the overview of tasks, potential challenges, and implications of a reduction in workforce in general.
Part II: Reduction in Workforce-Deciding
This section deals with the initial task of determining which employees that will be let go during the reduction in workforce. In Section A, you are to select the 10 positions based solely on the information in Table 1. The questions following the table address the content that should be included in your paper. Once completed, move to Section B, Table 2 and again address the content being asked in your paper.
Scenario
Roxboro Medical Center is a 200 bed inpatient facility located in a sprawling suburban area in the rural south. Until two years ago, it was the only medical facility within a 75 mile radius when The Jonas Center, a 100 bed day hospital and ambulatory care center, opened 25 miles away. Over the past two years, Roxboro has lost approximately 25% of its market share. The 10% drop last year was adjusted for through re-organization of the workforce, reduction in hours, attrition of employees through early retirement and changing jobs to the new facility. However, this year there has been an additional 15% decline in market share resulting in a dire need to reduce the workforce. Since Roxboro is restricted by mandatory staffing ratios, and last year they lost the maximum number of staff possible and still remain within regulatory compliance. The board of directors, CEO, and CFO have determined a 30% reduction in the management workforce across the hospital will be needed. The timeline for this to occur is over the next six(6) months. It will be up to the department heads to determine how they will reduce the positions and re-organize job duties.
Section A: Table 1: Human Resource Manager Work Metrics
You are the Chief Nursing Officer and have the largest number of management positions because yours is the largest department in the hospital. With a total of 33 positions that include house supervisors, unit managers, and charge nurses, you are being asked to reduce the total number by 30%, or ten (10) positions. Further attrition through job changes or retirement is not anticipated. Human Resources has established two criteria for the reduction in workforce (RIF). These are last hired and low performance. Each department is sent a chart that includes this information on employees who have been with the hospital 15 years or less and the performance rating for each.
Your table has no identifiers and while you might have an idea of who the people are, you have only positions information available. Your table looks like this:
|
Roxboro Medical Center
Human Resources Manager Work Metrics
|
|
Position
|
Years since Hire
|
Time in Management
|
Performance Rating
Ave/Recent
|
Unit Size/ number of beds
|
RIF or Stay
Rationale
|
|
HS.1
|
10
|
3 years
|
High/High
|
|
|
|
HS.2
|
12
|
8 years
|
High/High
|
|
|
|
HS.3
|
15
|
12 years
|
High/Low
|
|
|
|
UM.1
|
6
|
2 years
|
High/High
|
|
|
|
UM.2
|
5
|
18 months
|
High/High
|
|
|
|
UM.3
|
4
|
2 years
|
High/Low
|
|
|
|
UM.4
|
7
|
5 years
|
High/Low
|
|
|
|
UM.5
|
10
|
9 mths
|
High/High
|
|
|
|
UM.6
|
15
|
5 years
|
High/Low
|
|
|
|
CN.1
|
5
|
1 year
|
High/High
|
|
|
|
CN.2
|
8
|
4 years
|
High/High
|
|
|
|
CN.3
|
3
|
2 years
|
High/High
|
|
|
|
CN.4
|
2
|
6 mths
|
Too soon to evaluate
|
|
|
|
CN.5
|
12
|
4 years
|
High/Low
|
|
|
|
CN.6
|
6
|
2 years
|
High/Low
|
|
|
|
CN.7
|
8
|
3 years
|
High/Low
|
|
|
|
*Performance evaluations are expressed as A/R = average for years in position/most recent year
HS=House Supervisor: UM=Unit Manager; CN=Charge Nurse;
|
Based only on the Human Resources given you in this table include the following information in your paper:
Who will you choose? Rationale?
What was your approach to making the selection?
How easy or difficult was it to make your decisions with only this information?
What challenges were presented in making these choices?
Section B: Table 2: Human Resource Manager Work Metrics with Related Information
The word is out that the RIF is going to occur though no details of the process have been shared with the employees. You’re getting calls frequently from some of the staff who want to know if they are in danger of being dismissed or sharing reasons why they can’t be.
Since making your preliminary decision of who to let go, and before you’ve made any announcements, you record the information you receivedfrom some of the staff and placed it in your table. Now the table includes the size of the units where each of these positions is located which will be important in the reorganization, and some of the personal information gleaned from telephone calls you’ve received. Having these pieces of information causes you to question your original decisions. The shaded area contains the information now known to you and is not part of the table that came from HR.
|
Roxboro Medical Center
Manager Work Metrics with Relative Information
|
|
Position
|
Years since Hire
|
Time in Management
|
Performance Rating
Ave/Recent
|
Unit Size/number of beds
|
Relative information
|
|
|
|
|
HS.1
|
10
|
3 years
|
High/High
|
200
|
|
|
|
HS.2
|
12
|
8 years
|
High/High
|
200
|
|
|
|
HS.3
|
15
|
12 years
|
High/Low
|
200
|
Finished nursing school together
|
Single grandparent; has custody of two grandchildren; 34 yo
|
|
UM.1
|
6
|
2 years
|
High/High
|
20
|
Daughter of nurse in another unit
|
|
|
UM.2
|
5
|
18 months
|
High/High
|
30
|
Transferred from another unit after RIF last year
|
|
|
UM.3
|
4
|
2 years
|
High/Low
|
20
|
|
On FMLA for past 4 months; pre-eclampsia for one month prior to leave
|
|
UM.4
|
7
|
5 years
|
High/Low
|
30
|
Father is major contributor to dialysis center
|
|
|
UM.5
|
10
|
9 mths
|
High/High
|
15
|
|
Husband is second shift informatics supervisor for last 18 mths; potential for RIF
|
|
UM.6
|
15
|
5 years
|
High/Low
|
30
|
Negative attitude; slow to comply with changes
|
Single parent; one middles school child
|
|
CN.1
|
5
|
1 year
|
High/High
|
30
|
|
AONE Certified Nurse Manager
|
|
CN.2
|
8
|
4 years
|
High/High
|
20
|
|
|
|
CN.3
|
3
|
2 years
|
High/High
|
30
|
Mentors new graduate nurses
|
|
|
CN.4
|
2
|
6 mths
|
Too soon to evaluate
|
20
|
|
|
|
CN.5
|
12
|
4 years
|
High/Low
|
20
|
has moved up leadership ladder from LPN to CN with Roxboro
|
|
|
CN.6
|
6
|
2 years
|
High/Low
|
30
|
|
Best friend was RIF last year
|
|
CN.7
|
8
|
3 years
|
High/Low
|
20
|
Serves on Shared Governance Committee
|
|
|
*Performance evaluations are expressed as A/R = average for years in position/most recent year
HS=House Supervisor: UM=Unit Manager; CN=Charge Nurse;
|
With the new information that is now in the table, how are you preliminary decisions changed?
Who will you choose? Rationale? What changes did you make to your original decision?
What was your approach to making the selection?
How easy or difficult was it to make your decisions with the additional information?
What challenges were presented in making these choices?
What role did ethics play in your choices?
Describe your internal conflict that occurred having this additional information.
How and with whom will you negotiate for your choices?
Part III: Reduction in Workforce-Planning the Change
The next part of your task is to reorganize/restructure the remaining workforce using the remaining employees. You were give a 6 month window of time to complete the RIF. This section deals with planning for the change.
Provide an overview of what the restructuring will look like, i.e. assuming you have 6 units and your workforce now consists of 23 management positions, how will you cover the units with the leadership and management needed.
Detail your plan for change using Kotter’s or Rogers’ change model that includes a timeline for implementation and a description of how decisions will be disseminated
Address three areas of anticipated conflict and how they can be mitigated through use of the change model
Part IV: Healthy work environment
This section addresses how a healthy work environment is maintained during a reduction in workforce. Describe the department and system-wide implications, impact, and potential conflicts that can occur with your RIF in general. Provide at two concrete strategies for addressing morale and motivation of remaining workforce.
Part V: Summary
The final section, summary should contain a restatement of purpose, and overview of what was accomplished, and what you learned from the process.
