Healthcare organizations use patient satisfaction as an indicator to measure the quality of health care they offer. Through patient satisfaction, an organization can determine the clinical outcome, medical malpractice claim, and patient retention (Porter-O’Grady & Malloch, 2010). On the same note, work redesign is a workplace flexibility initiative that Coney Island Hospital uses to reduce employee turnover. With reduced employee turnover, the effectiveness of the organization improves and this will result in satisfied patients (Porter-O’Grady & Malloch, 2010). The paper will examine specific ways in which the new work redesign at Coney Island Hospital improves patients’ satisfaction, how new procedures increase autonomy and ways to implement effective work redesign. Lastly, the paper will explain the type of human resource strategy that the hospital might be using and whether the redesign supports the strategy being used.
Some of the specific ways the new work design improves the satisfaction of patients include the following. First, the steering committee focuses on improving staff satisfaction by providing them with attractive and satisfying roles. Employees get motivated to perform well when an organization provides them with non-monetary rewards such as satisfaction for their personal achievements (Stewart, 2008). When employees are satisfied with their roles, they develop a healthy relationship with patients. Therefore, improved doctor-patient interaction increases patient’s satisfaction. Second, the new work design offers task identity. With work design, employees have defined tasks that they should handle. Employees’ defined tasks are to ensure that patients get quality healthcare services (Stewart, 2008). Third, the new work design increases organizational commitment. Increased employee commitment means that the health care organization is willing to provide patients with quality and access to care thus satisfying their needs.
Autonomy in an organization helps in building a true employee engagement. Regarding this study, the new procedures increase autonomy in the following ways. First, the new procedures increase autonomy by allowing employees to have control and ownership of the activities they do. With effective autonomy, employees get motivated to tap into the meaning that underlies their tasks (Stewart, 2008). Second, the new procedures allow employees to make decisions and approach anyone for help. Employees will be able to take actions that are necessary to increase the performance of the organization and ensure patients satisfaction. It is significant that they should have access to areas of discretion and decision making. Lastly, the new procedures allows employees to make a suggestion and speak about their work to make it meaningful. Moreover, with the new procedures, employees get encouragement to take responsibilities and champion their ideas to completion.
From the case study, various lessons can be learned regarding ways to implement effective work redesign. Employees feel bored when they do the same task day in day out (Stewart, 2008). With work redesign, the management can determine required tasks for employees, develop an efficient process follow and minimize inefficiency that might exist in the current process. Some of the lessons include the following. The first lesson entails creating a committee to gather data and create the design. Gathering information is critical since it allows the committee to know areas that might need change. In addition, the committee needs to have objectives that they should accomplish. It is impossible for the committee to make up something, implement and hope that it would work. They need to have details so that they define roles more specifically. Second, when implementing the new work design, it is important to allow for an adjustment period. Employees should get enough time to gain experience with the new work design (Porter-O’Grady & Malloch, 2010). With the experience, employees can understand tasks they should perform. Lastly, it is important to start the new work design on a small scale. With a pilot project, the management can conduct a small scale preliminary study to evaluate the feasibility, cost and time of the new procedure.
The HR strategy that might be in place at Coney Island Hospital is the committed expert strategy. The strategy is more effective since it develops an environment of trust and cooperation that helps employees within the organization to share knowledge and skills, and engage in innovative ideas. The redesign process employed by the organization supports this strategy. The healthcare organization appears to have the need to retain their employees for a long time. The redesign used by the organization allows employees to have lots of freedom to innovate ideas and approaches of completing the required tasks. Moreover, the organization wants patients to experience different healthcare services compared to the ones they have experience at other hospitals.
In conclusion, the new work design improves the satisfaction of patients by focusing on improving staff satisfaction, task identity, and increasing organizational commitment. The new procedures increase autonomy by allowing employees to have control and ownership of the activities they do, make decisions and suggest and speak about their work to make it meaningful. Lessons that can be learned regarding ways to implement effective work redesign include gathering data and creating the design. In addition, when implementing the new work design, it is important to start it on a small scale and allow for an adjustment period. Lastly, the HR strategy that might be in place at Coney Island Hospital is the committed expert strategy.
References
Porter-O’Grady, T., & Malloch, K. (2010). Innovation leadership: Creating the landscape of health care. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
Stewart, G. L. (2008). Human resource management. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.
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