Organizational Culture and Climate Assessment

Answer

   Assessment and Analysis of Baptist Health’s Organizational Culture and Climate

The culture and climate of a healthcare organization significantly impact the nature of the care quality provided. An organization whose culture is aligned with its mission, vision, and goals is likely to provide high quality, safe, and person-centered care. Notably, according to Körner et al. (2015), organizational culture refers to the underlying values, customs, beliefs, assumptions and unique work environment of a healthcare organization. However, organizational climate entails the recurring behavioral patterns as well as attitudes and feelings which define the life of employees in an organization (Roch, Dubois, & Clarke, 2014). The culture of a healthcare facility creates an organizational climate and subsequently how the members of the organization will experience its culture (Yom, Noh, & Kim, 2014). This paper provides an analysis of organizational culture and climate in Baptist Health, a healthcare network based in Jacksonville, Florida. The organization’s culture and climate will be described as well as its alignment to the mission, vision, and goals. From the assessment, the strengths of the culture of the facility will be established and opportunities for improvement identified. Afterward, the capacity of the healthcare organization to support a healthy, safe, and person-centered healthcare will then be assessed. Finally, strategies to address the opportunities for improvement will be presented.

Organizational Culture and Climate Description

            One of the vital instruments which can be deployed in the assessment of the culture of an institution is the Organizational Culture and Climate Assessment Tool (Körner et al., 2015). The deployment of the tool in Baptist Health resulted in the assessment of the organization’s physical and social environment as well as its professional and personal support. Although the physical environment of the facility is guest-friendly because of the well-furnished waiting rooms, the physical buildings are not appealing because the exterior outlook does not present a good image. However, the social environment of the facility is conducive considering that Baptist Health organizes occasional celebrations to appreciate and recognize its staff members. Additionally, the relationship-based culture of the facility ensures better teamwork and the provision of effective patient care.

Baptist Health has made available professional development and support system by making sure that; every day, at least one individual help promote team member development. The institution has a clear power structure with the CEO being the leader and designated signs for offices and other major facilities. The hospital is safe based on its clean and shiny floors whereas the elevators and stairwells are devoid of clutter. The presence of two security persons, one at the ground floor and the other at first floor, ensure the security of the organization. The wide variety of communication channels, both formal and informal, implies the presence of freedom in communication (Roch, Dubois, & Clarke, 2014). Since Baptist Health has transformed into a relationship-based culture, it does not have any taboos which enable the freedom of expression of the members.

Mission, Vision, And Goals

The purpose and vision as well as the goals of a healthcare organization should be reflected in its culture. In the case of Baptist Health, the organization’s mission is to ensure the improvement of the wellbeing of its people and communities via the delivery of quality care services (Baptist Health, 2019). Additionally, its vision is to provide nursing care within a holistic environment for not only the body and mind but also for the spirit of every person. Baptist health endeavors to ensure that its patients come first and to offer compassionate care with the goals of pursuing perfection. The mission, vision, and objectives of the organization are aligned with various categories of its culture.

A relationship-based social environment ensures that the staff can work towards the improvement of patients’ wellbeing and the attainment of perfection. Additionally, the environmental safety of the facility makes sure that the physical welfare of the patients is maintained. Moreover, the professional and personal support offered to the workers to work as a team aligns to pursue perfection by providing an enabling environment for the staff members. Allowing the staff to communicate formally and informally aligns with the vision of delivering a sacred environment for the mind and body of the workers. Also, the organizational power structure which sees the CEO take the leadership position ensures that the vision and mission, as well as stated goals, are attained. However, the physical environment is not aligned to pursue perfection as it is nowhere close to being perfect.

Strengths and Opportunities for Improvement

Based on the assessment of Baptist Health, various advantages of its organizational culture have been established. One of those is that the facility has a conducive and appealing social environment for its employees to function well considering its initiatives towards professional development and support. Additionally, the institution has a safe environment which guarantees the safety of members of staff as well as the patients. Moreover, Baptist Health has the strength of a relationship-based culture which ensures that its staff members work as a team and thus provide quality care which translates to better patient outcomes. Its excellent power structure makes sure that the CEO can set the tone for the organization and; therefore, ensure accountability.

Despite the strengths, various opportunities for improving Baptist Health’s culture exist. One of those is that the facility can improve on its physical environment by renovating its buildings which appear to be old and dilapidated from outside. Notably, the visual appeal of a facility tells more about its service quality as the physical environment can be a marketing and customer attracting factor. Additionally, the facility should improve on the ways that it ensures the professional development of staff. In specific, as opposed to using one of the persons in the organization to ensure team member development, it should hire professionals to provide training to its staff members (Körner et al., 2015). Moreover, sporting activities should be to set up to increase staff interaction programs to boost interdepartmental socialization.

Climate Reflective of Culture

            An organizational climate refers to the manifestation of the attitudes of the members of staff towards an organization (Roch, Dubois, & Clarke, 2014). As such, the measurement of organizational climate is based on the individual perception of corporate properties. The dimensions of organizational climate include the management support, structure, concern for new members of staff, and the general satisfaction of the workers (Yom, Noh, & Kim, 2014). Additionally, the climate is affected by the mission, goals, and objectives as well as the structure of the facility, the leadership process, physical environment, and the organizational values and norms.

In Baptist Health, the organizational climate is conducive for the members of staff as they seem happy and content about how the organization is run. Notably, each of the members of team appear to be both friendly and welcoming of the visitors. The organizational climate of a friendly environment is reflective of the organizational culture of celebrating and appreciating its members of staff. Also, the general satisfaction of the employees aligns with the culture of not having any taboos which have given the staff members’ freedom.

Healthy, Safe, Person-Centered Care Capacity

            The nature of the climate and culture of an organization determines whether it can support the aspects of the person-centered healthcare work environment (Roch, Dubois, & Clarke, 2014). Notably, the culture of Baptist Health of appreciating its employees through celebrations and training ensures that it can highly attract staff members. Notably, attracting new members of staff requires a culture that caters for their interests and provides a good working environment (Yom, Noh, & Kim, 2014). Additionally, the recruitment process of the nurses will be competitive considering that there will be a high number of those seeking to work in the organization especially because Baptist Health has adopted a relationship-based care culture.

            The climate of Baptist health which has seen a general satisfaction of the members of staff because they feel valued and appreciated will result in the provision of quality and person-centered care. Notably, when the members of staff have positive attitudes towards an organization, they are likely to work towards the attainment of the organizational goals and objectives. The nurse leader has the role of setting the tone on how the employees should perceive their work experience. Warrick (2017) adds that the nurse leaders not only shape but upholds organizational culture and creates a conducive climate for the members of staff to work to the best of their efforts in the provision of quality care.

Implications

            Based on the identified opportunities that Baptist Health can explore to improve its organizational culture, it should renovate the exterior of its buildings so that they can have a visual appeal to attract new members of staff as well as new customers. Notably, the existing buildings look dilapidated and old from outside. The next strategy that Baptist health can use to explore the improvement of the opportunity of professional development and support is contacting professionals who are experienced in different fields to provide continuous training to its workers. Notably, according to Yom, Noh, and Kim (2014), the members of staff will need professional training based on the changing healthcare environment. Contracting the services of professionals from outside the organization will ensure that the staff members gain a wide variety of skills and competencies and thus be well equipped to provide person-centered care.

In conclusion, organizational culture and climate are critical determinants of the quality of healthcare provided by organizations. Whereas organizational culture refers to the underlying values, customs, beliefs, and assumptions of a facility, organizational climate is reflected by the attitudes of the staff members towards an institution. The corporate culture and climate assessment was done on Baptist Health has revealed that the organization has a conducive social environment, environmentally safe, and a structured organizational power whereas the organizational climate is encouraging considering the positive attitudes of the employers towards the facility. However, Baptist Health needs to improve on the physical environment as its exterior parts of the building look old and dilapidated. Additionally, new programs for professional development and support should be introduced to ensure that the staff members are equipped with skills to provide person-centered care.