Organizational Culture

Organizational Culture

Introduction

Good leadership promotes a culture of excellence that improves the quality of services offered. Such a culture also builds a good relationship between shareholders. For instance, competent leadership in health care improve the quality of care that is given to patients and ensure respect and dignity of patients is maintained. One of the methods of ensuring a culture of excellence in health care is by onboarding all health practitioners and support teams to the mission and vision of the facility. Every employee should be conscious of the values of the organization for them to work towards excellence.

Characteristics of Culture of Excellence

Culture of excellence in health is defined as an approach that encourages everyone working in health care to pursue improvement in the quality of service delivery. The strategy focuses on maintaining the values of the organization as well as working towards a shared vision. Any organization that wants to achieve a culture of excellence has distinct characteristics that differentiate it from any other ordinary organization.

The first characteristic is shared values, mission, and vision by the workers of the organization. Values and beliefs that are shared by the employees act as a social glue that binds the organization together. An organization with positive ideas and values is likely to achieve a culture that promotes excellence and improvement in the quality of services. Good leadership approaches and practices are needed to ensure that employees work towards the mission and vision.

The second characteristic is teamwork among employees. Employees in health care are likely to support each other when they realize that the main goal is to improve the health of people. A culture of teamwork will improve patient outcomes. Teamwork is likely to reduce medical errors while improving the outcome for patients (Mannion, & Davies, 2018). An organization that has a culture of excellence will use the right channel of communication to improve the outcome for patients. Therefore, such an organization avoid disagreement among employees

The vision of the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health is to become the preferred health system that offers integrated care to the Maryland community (University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health, 2019). The vision and the mission of any organization are derived from one another. While vision highlights the future image that the organization is working to achieve, the mission gives the objectives of the organization. The values reflect critical aspects that the organization strives to achieve as organizational culture. For instance, the values of UM UCH include excellence, teamwork, integrity, and trust.

Onboarding employees in the hospital mean that all work towards the same objectives that are based on the mission and vision. The values of the hospital will foster respect and a good relationship between employees and patients. The common belief and values of the organization will promote the respect and dignity of patients. Values of the organization, such as teamwork, ensure that nurses, doctors, and staff work together to achieve an organizational culture that provides excellence. The staff of the hospital is adequately trained to ensure they pursue a culture of excellence. This will promote defined and open channels of communication that encourage every employee to voice any issue. As a result, any item that management overlooked is highlighted and addressed. Such an environment ensures that there is proper communication between patients and health practitioners. Therefore, the patient will trust nurses and doctors of the organization. Ultimately, management will focus on establishing and maintaining a culture of excellence that will promote innovation and mutual support.
Leadership Strategies

Fostering respect is the first leadership strategy that can promote a culture of excellence (Sfantou, Laliotis, Patelarou, Sifaki-Pistolla, Matalliotakis, & Patelarou, 2017). Respect should not be restricted for superiors only. Everyone, including doctors, nurses, and subordinate staff, should be respected. Similarly, respect of patients will promote trust between them and caregivers.  The second leadership strategy that promotes a culture of excellence in enhancing teamwork and among employees. The collaboration will reduce the chance of medical error while improving patient outcomes. Leadership has a responsibility to promote a culture that health professionals work jointly to provide patient care (Whitehead, Dittman, & McNulty, 2017). All the leadership strategies we discussed align with Chamberlain Care Model. The model advocate for respect among all stakeholders. In addition to respect, the model also promotes a team-based approach to improve care and reduce medical errors.  The model encourages teamwork among the caregivers, patients and other staffs in a health facility

Conclusion

In conclusion, the culture of excellence promotes quality health care. An organization with a culture of excellence have characteristics such as shared goals and believes among staffs, teamwork, and mutual support. Various leadership strategies promote a culture of excellence. They include onboarding all employees on the values, mission, and vision of the organization. Another leadership strategy is fostering teamwork and mutual support among the staff to improve patient outcomes and reduce errors.

References

Mannion, R., & Davies, H. (2018). Understanding organisational culture for healthcare quality improvement. BMJ, 363.

Sfantou, D. F., Laliotis, A., Patelarou, A. E., Sifaki-Pistolla, D., Matalliotakis, M., & Patelarou, E. (2017, December). Importance of leadership style towards quality of care measures in healthcare settings: a systematic review. In Healthcare (Vol. 5, No. 4, p. 73). Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute.

University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health. (2019). Mission, Vision and Values. Retrieved from https://www.umms.org/uch/about/mission-vision-values

Whitehead, D., Dittman, P. W., & McNulty, D. (2017). Leadership and the advanced practice nurse: the future of a changing health-care environment. FA Davis.