NU420M3 Organizational Structure Essay
NU420M3 Organizational Structure Essay
Explore parts of the organizational structure and how the structure impacts nurse leaders/managers. Analyze how the evolution of healthcare organizations impacts nursing leadership roles. Discuss how nurse leaders can influence organizational structures today.
In nursing, an organizational structure is defined as the way in which the tasks are allocated, supervised, coordinated, and directed to meet the set goals (Benzer et al., 2017). It improves the efficiency of workflow and productivity as well as sets the procedures and rules to govern the activities. These organizations are guided by mission, vision, philosophy, and values of healthcare settings that impact nursing.  The mission describes the purpose of the existence of the organization and reflects on the values held, target customers and the products and services provided NU420M3 Organizational Structure Essay. The vision gives a comprehensive and clear image of the organizations future while the values present the core ethics and principles that the organization abides to. This paper seeks to explore the organizational parts, impacts of the structure, evolution of healthcare organizations and the effects on leadership as well as the influence of the nurse leaders on the structure of the organization in the contemporary society.
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Parts of the organizational structure
Nursing organizations employ particular elements namely degree of formalization, work specialization, centralization or decentralization, span of control, chain of command, and departmentalization to engage workers and management interactions (Brunsson & Olsen, 2018). Their structures are decentralized which allows fast operation, adaptability, and agility with high level of personal urgency. Most of the healthcare institutions employ a hierarchical organizational structure with the high, middle, low and direct level parts. This is characterized by the high-level part held by the top corporate, followed by the middle managerial level, the supervisor level marking the lowest level of administration as well as the direct level with providers that interact directly with the patients.
How the structure impacts nurse leaders/managers?
The structure has increased the flexibility of the leaders which allows them to easily adapt to the changes in healthcare. On the other hand, it has increased the quality of their leadership through informed decision making, effective communication and engagement of teams at different levels of the organizational structure. It has also improved their working environments with clearly described roles and tasks for their positions being spelt clearly to avoid overload and confusion. Furthermore, the working relationships for the leaders have improved due to smooth interaction with the workers and the other leaders. Senior nurse also report increased job satisfaction and influence in senior management team decisions (Lambert et al., 2017).
Evolution of healthcare organizations impacts on nursing leadership roles
The organizational structure supports nurse managers in the assignment of tasks and communication. This is possible through the chain of commands that ensures a hierarchical flow of information within the hospital. Employees are also able to give feedback to the managers which help them in informed decision-making. Moreover, the decentralized organizational structure gives different leadership levels to give their input towards the achievement of the objectives, goals, and vision. The leaders are also able to specialize in their areas of interest since the structure provides a description of the duties and responsibilities of each administration level.
How nurse leaders can influence organizational structures today?
Nurse leaders support flexibility which allows the advocacy of policies that strengthen the organizational structure. They can also create interdisciplinary teams in the organization to promote informed decision-making and collaborative efforts that influence the adoption of new structures that support the changes in the healthcare sector. Moreover, they empower the workers through the creation of awareness to prevent resistance and encourage commitment to better the organization structure (Neubert, Hunter & Tolentino, 2016). This allows the organization to work together towards achieving the set goals.
References
Benzer, J. K., Charns, M. P., Hamdan, S., & Afable, M. (2017). The role of organizational structure in readiness for change: A conceptual integration. Health services management research, 30(1), 34-46.
Brunsson, N., & Olsen, J. P. (2018). The Reforming organization: making sense of administrative change. Routledge.
Lambert, E. G., Qureshi, H., Klahm, C., Smith, B., & Frank, J. (2017). The effects of perceptions of organizational structure on job involvement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment among Indian police officers. International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology, 61(16), 1892-1911.
Neubert, M. J., Hunter, E. M., & Tolentino, R. C. (2016). A servant leader and their stakeholders: When does organizational structure enhance a leader’s influence?. The Leadership Quarterly, 27(6), 896-910.
 
Organizational Structure
Organizations, like pyramids, begin with a solid foundation.  This foundation is usually started by the development of mission or vision statements.  It is not unusual for a mission and vision statement to be combined into one broad statement (Darbi, 2012).  A vision statement draws a mental picture of what the organization wants to achieve.  A mission statement is more of an action statement.  These statements are written in a way that captures the organization’s values.  The vision and mission statements define the purpose for the organization.  They also guide all stakeholders to portray themselves with the desired attributes implied in the statements. NU420M3 Organizational Structure Essay  One hospital’s mission statement may be “to continuously improve the health and well-being of the community we serve”, or “to be the partner of choice as we transform healthcare for the people”.
Strategies are the methods that the organization uses to achieve its vision.  The organization’s values will be incorporated into each strategy.  The goals are the intended outcomes from the strategies attempted.  While strategies can be fluid, goals should be consistently focused on the important aspects (Hofstrand, 2016).  The process of developing goals and strategies evolves into the development of a policy and procedure of the organization.
Most organizational designs focus on chains of command with a hierarchy of authority (Hancock & Hanley, 2013).  Organizational designs will also separate staff based on their areas of knowledge (Carroll & Rudolph, 2006).  This is especially demonstrated in any hospital setting as it is divided by medical-surgical units, emergency departments, intensive care units, and so on.  Although they are divided, the groups work interdependently by sharing resources, information systems, and social practices.  Each area of specialty is often led by a shift supervisor who reports to a unit manager, who reports to an area manager, who reports to a nursing director, who reports to a facility administrator, who, finally, reports to an owner or board of directors.
“The ability of nurses to practice in a professional manner may be influenced by the organizational culture of their work environment” (Manojlovich & Ketefian, 2002, p15).  When staffing is low, resources are scarce, and census is high, stress is also elevated which is a fast road to burn out.  Nurse leaders who do not feel supported, respected, or empowered by their organization will fail to provide quality of care and patients will suffer the consequences.  Nursing leaders need opportunities to practice and develop their professionalism.  Nurse leaders should be experienced in their field of expertise and nurtured to be leaders.  They need role models to learn from. NU420M3 Organizational Structure Essay.
On the other hand, nurse leaders also need to be aware of their own values and beliefs and recognize when they are in conflict with those of the organization.  The nurse leader needs to be able to interpret the organization’s strategy and direct it to the front line staff in a way that they will understand (Hancock & Hanley, 2013).  Nurse leaders can be effective and efficient and directly impact patient outcomes (Kavanagh, Cimiotti, Abusalem, & Coty, 2012).  An effective nurse leader could transform a unit from one of poor outcomes to positive.  An effective leader can create a working environment that satisfactorily supports the staff members so they can productively perform in their assignments.
Health and healthcare have evolved through the centuries in attempts to provide higher quality of care and better patient outcomes.  From the earliest days of medicine, thought to be witchcraft, to the days of modern technology, healthcare has evolved.  However, today there is a strain between healthcare organizations and bureaucratic controls (Carroll & Rudolph, 2006).  As the cost of healthcare rises, access to healthcare decreases, and disparities are created.  To address this problem, the United States has developed a value-based healthcare system that is centered on providing high quality of care at the lowest possible cost (Badash, et.al., 2017).  Many legal reforms have been made to transform to effective healthcare systems but over-regulation impedes transitions NU420M3 Organizational Structure Essay.
References
Darbi, W.  (2012, July).  Of mission and vision statements and their potential impact on employee behaviour and attitudes: The case of a public but profit oriented tertiary institution.  International journal of business and social science, 3(4), 95-109.  Retrieved from https://www.ijbssnet.com/journals/Vol_3_No_14_Special_Issue_July_2012/11.pdf
Hofstrand, D.  (2016, August). Vision and mission statements – A roadmap of where you want to go and how to get there.  Iowa State University extension and outreach, File C5-09, 1-4.  Retrieved from https://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/wholefarm/html/c5-09.html
Carroll, J. & Rudolph, J.  (2006, December).  Design of high reliability organizations in health care.  Quality and safety in healthcare, 15(Suppl. 1), i4-i9.  Doi: 10.1136/qshc.2005.015867
Hancock, L. & Hanley, D.  (2013, February).  From our readers: Nurses leading from the middle.  American nurse today, 8(2).  Retrieved from https://www.americannursetoday.com/from-our-readers-nurses-leading-from-the-middle/
Manojlovich, M. & Ketefian, S.  (2016, April)  The effects of organizational culture on nursing professionalism: Implications for health resource planning.  Canadian journal of nursing research, 33(4), 15-34.  Retrieved from http://cjnr.archive.mcgill.ca/article/view/1656/1656
Kavanagh, K., Cimiotti, J., Abusalem, S., & Coty, MB (2012, October 22).  Moving healthcare quality forward with nursing-sensitive value-based purchasing.  Journal of nursing scholarship, 44(4), 385-395.  Doi: 10.1111/j.1547-5069.2012.01469.x NU420M3 Organizational Structure Essay
Badash, I., Kleinman, N., Barr, S., Jang, J., Rahman, Suraiya, R., & Wu, B.  (2017, February).  Redefining health: The evolution of health ideas from antiquity to the era of value-based care.  Cureus, 9(2), e1018.  Doi: 10.7759/cureus.1018 NU420M3 Organizational Structure Essay