The McKinsey 7S Model was developed by Waterman, peter and Philips in the 1980. The model is used in constructive thinking about any complexity, fragmentation, and interdependence of a change program. The model is based on the concept that, there are seven areas of an organization, which are interconnected and should work in harmony with each other. These areas affect each other and when a change occurs in one of the areas, it causes an impact in all the other areas (Hayes, 2014). The areas are presented in the diagram below.

These seven characters are categorized in hard and soft elements. Hard elements are easier to identify and define and the management can easily influence them. They include strategy statements, reporting lines, processes, organizational charts, and IT systems (Singh, 2013). The soft elements on the other hand are those that are difficult to describe and less tangible. They are more influenced by culture rather than management. For an organization to be successful, both the soft and hard elements are significant.

Strategy is the plan developed by an organization to achieve its goals. The strategy should be sound and aligned with the objectives of an organization. In align with The McKinsey 7S Model. A sound strategy is a strategy that clearly articulated, long term, and is reinforced by a powerful mission and vision statement. However, when analyzed alone, one cannot tell whether it is well aligned with other elements in the organization. The strategy must be well defined in relation to the achieving of the objectives. In addition, the strategy must define how changes must be dealt with.

Structure represents how the organization is organized. This includes the business division and units. The structure includes the hierarchy process in the organization. In general, it is the organizational chart and it is easy to change and very visible (Singh, 2013). For change management, the hierarchy should be well defined to be able to manage the interdependency of the different elements.

Systems are the procedures and the processes of the organization. The procedures and processes reveal the daily activities in an organization including how decisions are made. They determine how business is done in the organization and it should be the focus for management during organizational change.

Skills include the talents in the organization. Talented employees have different capabilities and competitencies, which should be aligned with their tasks. During an organizational change, an organization has to consider the skills really needed to reinforce the new strategy being developed (Singh, 2013). This is also an important element when an organization is making changes.

The staff element is concerned with the kind and number of employees in the organization. When an organization is making changes, it may require to restructure the roles and this may call for new skills or restructure of the existing skills. By skills, this means the employees’ who have the skills. An organization has to consider how the employees will be recruited, motivated, trained, rewarded, and maintained.

The element of style represents the style of leadership applied by the top management. It represents how the top management acts, interacts with pothers especially employees and how to take their symbolic value (Hayes, 2014). In general, this represents the management style of the organization.

Shared values represent the culture of the organization. These include the values and norms that guide the behavior of employees and company actions and decisions. This element represents the foundation of the organization. Every organization is founded on a certain culture.

When applying the McKinsey 7S Model, several steps are followed. The first step is to identify the elements that are not effectively aligned. These include looking for gaps, weaknesses, and inconsistencies between the relationships of the elements. The next step is to determine the optimal organizational design (Singh, 2013). This is the design that the organization is looking to achieve. This helps to align the goals making the action plan easier.

After determining the optimal design, and then the next step is to determine the changes to be made. The action plan will detail the areas to be aligned and how this is to be done. Then the necessary changes are made and later a review is done. The review should be continuous and should review all the seven elements.

Over the last decade, Medicaid in New Yolk has undergone major changes. These changes have been prompted by two sources. One of the sources is that the government has been pursuing dramatic policy changes and reforms. The other source is that the federal affordable care act has been expanded with an aim to promote efficiency and patient centered care.

The strategy applied in the making of these changes was that a Medicaid redesign team was set up to draft a proposal and developed a multiyear reform plan. Major stakeholders in Medicaid were invited to the table to by the Governor to stipulate on how to collaborate in achieving collective change in Medicaid spending and quality. The redesign was premised on the idea that the way to control costs was to improve program participants (Isett et al., 2013). Thus, the major strategy was to increase the number of people eligible for the Medicaid.

Under the new ACCA, New yolk is receiving enhanced federal funding for childless adults who are in Medicaid. This varies depending on whether the adults were previously covered in before the introduction of ACCA. In addition, the Medicaid waiver agreements provide additional funding that support the New Yolk Medicaid program.

The model office style of service delivery was introduced. This streamlined the process of serving customers. Before the style, clients entered the office and were served sequentially based on the basis of first served. However, after the introduction of the new service style, clients are assigned a number based on the purpose of the visit.

This new process allows the deployment of staff more efficiently. The employee handling any queue handles a specific task, which increases efficiency. In addition, employees are cross trained and rotated through all the workstations. Rotation occurs every two weeks through the triage, interviews, process desk, and back office.

As part of the structural changes, there were renovations in the physical plant. This was needed to facilitate the new customer service triage and queue process. It also created more inviting atmosphere (Isett et al., 2013). The new offices have a customer service station set near the door for an employee to serve the needs of all incoming clients. Clients are then directed to waiting bay with chairs.

Changes in the system include technological changes. There were technological improvements in the new offices to complement the customer service. Front line employees who previously had no access to personal computers now have a computer where they can readily access needed information. Clients who had to come with physical documents no longer need to do so (Isett et al., 2013). All supporting documents are electronically imaged and the staff can view it on the computer. The technology increases efficiency and reduced redundancies. Across the entire NYC Medicaid system, the information system is networked. This makes it possible to different offices to share workloads and the access to a client’s information is available in any office.

The improvement in technology has also improved the quality of monitoring. There is a tracking system which can show who came in at what time for what purpose. This can be tracked across all offices. In addition, the system also generates different reports automatically without much effort.

Using the McKinsey 7S Model, it is clear that changes in different elements in New Yolk Medicaid program affected other elements meaning the elements are interrelated. However, there are limitations when using this model to analyze the change in the New Yolk Medicaid offices. One of the limitations is that the model misses some areas in which gaps in strategy conception or its execution can arise. In the execution of the model office, the models there are gaps that can arise in the execution, which the model does not cover. In addition, the model is difficult in assessing the degree of fit. It is difficult to sasses whether the model is fit to analyze the model change.

Reference

Hayes, J. (2014). The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave Macmillan.

Isett, K. R., Glied, S. A., Sparer, M. S., & Brown, L. D. (2013). When Change Becomes Transformation. Public Management Review, 15(1), 1-17. doi:10.1080/14719037.2012.686230

Singh, A. (2013). A study of role of McKinsey’s 7S framework in achieving organizational excellence. Organization Development Journal, 31(3), 39.

 
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