Write a 4–6-page directional strategies report that examines the alignment of a health care organization’s current directional strategies with its strategic goals. Include improvement recommendations that address gaps between where the organization currently is and where it wants to go.
Note: Each assessment in this course builds upon the work you have completed in previous assessments. Therefore, you must complete the assessments in the order in which they are presented.
In your previous assessments, you examined how today’s health care organizations prepare themselves for the present and the future through strategic management. Specifically, you analyzed how a health care organization’s external and internal environments affect its operations. You also performed a TOWS analysis to help a health care organization identify strategic objectives to drive and improve all aspects of the company.
The next step is to consider the directional pathways health care organizations take to achieve their strategic objectives. Creating a strategic vision for a health care organization involves developing or revising the organization’s mission, vision, and value statements. Here is a summary of these three directional strategies:
- A mission statement captures the organization’s distinctive purpose or reason for being.
- A vision statement creates a mental picture of what leaders want the organization to achieve when accomplishing its purpose or mission.
- Value statements clarify how the organization will conduct its activities to achieve its mission and vision. They frequently reflect common morality and emphasize respect, integrity, trust, caring, and the pursuit of excellence.
In a first-in-class health care organization, these three directional strategies align with the company’s overarching goals. Once strategic leaders are confident the mission, vision, and values are well formulated, understood, and communicated, they then focus on the activities that will make the most progress toward accomplishing the organization’s mission and move it toward realizing its vision. These activities are called strategic goals.
This assessment provides an opportunity for you to create a directional strategies report. In this report, you will analyze the alignment of your health care organization’s current directional strategies (mission, vision, and value statements) with its strategic goals. You will make recommendations for improvement if you identify gaps between where your health care organization currently is and where it wants to go.
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:
- Competency 1: Analyze organizational structure, design, culture, and climate in relation to environmental forces.
- Analyze the effectiveness of a health care organization’s directional strategies.
- Identify gaps between effective directional strategies and an organization’s existing directional strategies.
- Competency 3: Recommend an organizational structure and design to optimize a strategic plan.
- Analyze the alignment between an organization’s directional strategies and its strategic goals.
- Propose changes to an organization’s directional strategies that improve alignment between its organizational structure and its strategic goals.
- Competency 4: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly professional, and consistent with expectations for professionals in health care administration.
- Write a clear, concise, well-organized, and professional directional strategies report that includes conclusions that are supported by relevant evidence.
- Follow APA formatting and style guidelines for citations and references.
Expert Solution Preview
Introduction:
This report aims to examine the alignment of a health care organization’s current directional strategies with its strategic goals. The report includes improvement recommendations that address gaps between where the organization currently is and where it wants to go. The analysis of the effectiveness of a health care organization’s directional strategies is presented, and the report also proposes changes to the organizational structure and design to optimize a strategic plan.
Answer:
The alignment between an organization’s directional strategies and its strategic goals is critical for ensuring success. In the case of health care organizations, the alignment of missions and visions with strategic goals plays a vital role in the organization’s ability to achieve its objectives. It is essential to analyze the effectiveness of a health care organization’s directional strategies to identify any gaps between existing strategies and those needed to realize the company’s goals.
The mission statement of a health care organization captures its distinctive purpose or reason for being. It must be closely aligned with the organization’s strategic goals. If there is a gap between the mission statement and strategic goals, the organization’s ability to achieve its objectives will be compromised. Therefore, the mission statement must be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. The mission statement should also incorporate the values that are central to the company’s operations.
A vision statement creates a mental picture of what leaders want the organization to achieve when accomplishing its purpose or mission. The vision statement must align with the strategic goals of the company. A clear and well-defined vision provides a roadmap for the organization to achieve its goals. It must be ambitious and inspiring and must motivate individuals within the organization to work towards realizing the vision.
Value statements clarify how the organization will conduct its activities to achieve its mission and vision. They should reflect common morality and emphasize respect, integrity, trust, caring, and the pursuit of excellence. The alignment of value statements with strategic goals contributes to the development of a positive organizational culture and allows employees to identify with the organization’s values.
To ensure effective alignment between directional strategies and strategic goals, it is important to conduct a gap analysis. This analysis will identify the gaps between current strategies and those required to realize the organization’s goals. The gap analysis can be achieved through the use of performance metrics, such as an assessment of the company’s financial performance and its ability to meet customer needs.
Once gaps have been identified, changes to the organizational structure and design may be required to optimize the strategic plan. Proposals such as changes to communication channels or team structures may be required to ensure effective implementation of the strategic plan. Additionally, employee training programs may be introduced to ensure the broader understanding of the company’s goals and enhance the alignment of organizational values with strategic goals.
In conclusion, the alignment of a health care organization’s directional strategies with its strategic goals is critical for ensuring success. The effectiveness of the organization’s mission, vision, and value statements must be analyzed to identify any gaps between existing strategies and those required to realize the organization’s goals. Recommendations such as organizational restructuring may be required to optimize the strategic plan and ensure the full realization of the organization’s goals.
