Strategic Planning in the Community Health Sector - Research Paper Example

Strategic planning in the community health sector Introduction Strategic planning is the act of setting organizational activities in line with the vision of the organization and allocating resources appropriately to reach the goal. The main idea behind this concept is to organize the available resource which is the means towards achieving the goals that the organization is pursuing (Jeffs 2008). In some cases, strategic planning covers up to the actual of implementation of the same plan. The concept of strategic planning as compared to the financial planning varies slightly. In financial planning, the driving force is the projection of the cash flows which are then put in a budget. The budget is to be followed strictly to ensure financial discipline and ultimate success (Vinten, 2005). In strategic planning, the employment of strategy and the allocation of resources appropriately will lead to eventual success. In fact, budgeting can be a part of the allocation of resources in strategic planning. Community health sector is on such are that requires a well-designed strategic plan. A community health sector is an inextricably linked web of individuals and institutions that provide health services to the community. The members of this sector include service providers, non-governmental agencies, the health workers hospitals and the government. Since all these stakeholders operate within the community, members of that community cannot be left out. The concept of community health sector, therefore, can be understood as a replica of the national or statewide health sector but implemented with the context if a community. It involves all the stakeholders like in the national government but at a smaller scale (Stahl, 2004).). The complex interplay between the non-governmental organization, the pharmaceutical companies, drug suppliers hospitals and the community is the central focus of the community health sector. This paper discuses the development of the strategic plan for the community health sector through the commonly known strategy tools. It reviews the benefits of strategic planning within the context of health care and in other settings and draws a conclusion on the best way forward in managing health care within the community. Thesis: strategic planning is a prerequisite step toward the successful delivery of service within the community health sector. The Concept of Strategic Planning The concept of strategic planning can trace its way to many contributors in the recent past. For instance, Michael Porter introduced the concept of five forces analysis in strategic business planning. In this view, there are five forces affecting any organization and can deter it from providing quality service to its clients. The same author also popularized the value chain analysis concept. In this concept, the author described a number of strategic actions or chain of activities that would deliver value to the clients of an organization. This concept is a decision support tool that will enable those in charge of management to deliver the best quality to their clients. Henry Mintzberg on the other hand reviewed the gaps between the concept of strategy and the reality of actual implementation of the strategy. This authors view is that there should be more focus given to the emergent perspective of strategy within an organization. The views that are expressed in this form of strategy is that there should be a clearly thought strategy that is in line with the actual reality of the situation. Igor Ansoff is another contributor to strategic planning. According to this author, the strategic planning technique referred to as the Ansoff matrix that mainly focuses on the expansion of the organization. The matrix has four alternatives of growth that are directly linked to the direction of the general strategy of the organization (Bullington, 2009). Tools of strategic planning Pest Analysis This is an acronym that is used to analyze the environmental factors of an organization. The pest analysis looks at the political, economical, social and technological environment of an organization. It reviews if there are any impediments within these environments that can deter the organization from thriving. Alternatively, business experts have used this tool to analyze the environment for suitability of operating a business entity. As such the tool reveals both the strengths and weaknesses of an organization within the context of the four factors. This concept and tool is very essential to the success of the community health sector. The political leadership of the community is crucial because it has the power to influence the masses in a given direction. For the success of the community health sector, initiatives must originate or get support from the political leadership for more positive results. The socio-economic environment is also important in the sense that it will dictate the ability of the community to get access to health facilities and services (Parekh, Goodman, Gordon, & Koh, 2011). The technological environment is crucial in the environment in the sense that it will dictate the quality of services that the health sector can deliver quality. Technology is a simple method of delivering high-quality medication at a faster and efficient cost (Harrison, 2010). SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis is a review of an organizations strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and its threats. The aim of this review is to identify the current position of the organization so as to make changes. In the context of community health sector, this concept is applicable in many ways. First it will help the stakeholders identify the current position of the community health sector. This is like an initial research into the sector (Davis, Cilenti, Gunther-Mohr, & Barker, 2012). After identifying the current position, the healthcare stakeholders can then exploit the strengths and opportunities to overcome the weaknesses and block the threats that can derail the health sector. This way, action is purely based on the known facts and little redundancy is experienced in the process and the communitys health sector benefits from savings with the same margin (Abate, & Deneen, 2004). Balance Score Cards. A balanced scorecard is a tool that seeks to monitor and improve the performance of an organization. It does this by strategically aligning the organizations activities with the goals and vision of the same organization. The score cared carefully monitors the performance of the organization against the strategic objectives of the same institution over a specific period. This tool will be an effective monitoring tool to use in the community health sector. After setting the organizations goals and defining the specific strategies to be used in the health sector, the balanced scorecard will assist in the monitoring process. While monitoring the health sector through the balanced scorecard, it is important to check several aspects. This will include the role of the organizational structure on the performance of the sector (Barsi, Jones, Kotsonis, Lowell, Paret, & McPherson, 2010). Porters Five Force Analysis Porters Five Force Analysis combines the different forces of threats of new entrants and substitutes, the bargaining power of supplies and buyers and the rivalry within an industry to analyze industry competition. Through this analysis, the author draws an organizational strategy that will ensure potential development. To provide the community with a beneficial health sector, the stakeholders should address the various forces that are described in the porters model. The interrelationships that are described in this model should be constantly reviewed to avoid the possibility of conflict. For instance, the relationship between drug suppliers and hospitals or the pharmaceutical companies should be cordial to provide the community with quality medication (Eschenfelder, 2010). Scenario Planning This is a form of simulation of a real life situation and developing a strategic plan to counter the actions of the opponents. Through the simulation of the situation, the managers or policy makers develop means to mitigate challenges in a real situation. In the health sector, the stakeholders can perform simulations too within the community to ascertain the effectiveness of the health services (Jeffries and Battin, 2012). Practices like emergency drills can be used to test an aspect of disaster preparedness in and emergency services within the community. Simulation education will ensure that the members of the community especially the practitioners get a real taste of the actual working environment or situation. Case studies Apple Inc. There are several institutions that have used strategic planning in order to achieve their goals and vision. These include hotels, collages, and many business institutions. Apple Inc. is one such institution of business that employs the use of a strategic plan (Di Muro, Murray and Goode n.d). According to this study, the strategic plan that is employed by Apple Inc revolves around the development and constant improvement of their products. This is done while constantly reviewing the threats that the firm faces in the market at any point. This is almost similar to the integration of the methods described above. For instance, while developing their products, evaluation of the market for competition so as to compete effectively. Johns Hopkins Medicine The Johns Hopkins Medicine is one of the health care institutions that use the concept of strategic planning in achieving their vision. The hospital uses six pillars that are in line with their vision. These pillars are based on people, biomedical discovery, patient and family centered care, education, integration and sustainable performance over time (John Hopkins Medicine, n.d). The main reasons for the efficiency of the implementation of the strategic plan by the Johns Hopkins Hospital stem out from the fact that it core values are in line with its plan. As such it becomes easier for the hospital to stay on course while working to achieve its goals through the plan. Apart from this fact, the hospital has performed an informed allocation of resources towards achieving its goals and vision, in the long run. This is the essence of strategy in the first place. There has to be an intended direction, and a means to reach that destination which is the resources. Even when constructing award within the hospital, it is important to lay out plans for its sustainability so that it does not close down as soon as possible (Boltin & Berlinger, 2011). Share the care Share the care is an example of a community-based health institution that uses the concept of strategic planning. This community-based organization works in the state of California and assists young people aged between 0 and 18 years. The San Diego community health program designed a comprehensive strategic plan that includes a communication plan and an comprehensive work plan. The work plan was subdivided into tasks to be implemented by different stakeholders in the health sector of the community. The plan borrowed substantially from other communities and other states within the country (Trust for Americans health, n.d). The main factors that led to the success of this initiative are the ability to channel resources appropriately and an adept strategic planning. The impacts of this initiative are numerous both to the entire community of San Diego County. First a large number of young persons with no medical insurance were able to access to free dental care or at least at a subsidized cost. The number of volunteers and pro bono doctors increased considerably making it easy to access dental care within the county. Benefits of strategic planning Strategic planning has a big influence on both health institution and or financial institution. This is due to the ability of the planners to forecast the happenings ahead and be ready for the changes or difficulties as they come. Some of the benefits of strategic planning in the community health sector are discussed bellow. First, any type of planning will lead to a sense of direction. Any individual or organization wishing to take an undertaking must budget with the available resources and time. Setting of goals at this point will make the individual have a sense of direction as to the end of the undertaking or the ultimate goal. In the context of the provision of quality care within the community, the main goal of quality and accessibility should not go out of sight (Martin, 1996). Secondly, through strategic planning, managers will be able to make wise decisions within organizations. Without the involvement of a clear strategic plan, a leader can decide to implement any idea that comes to mind I any given situation. With a strategic plan, the leader has to stick to the agreeable actions within the plan in order to achieve the goals of the organization. In the community health sector, leadership is a driving force even in inspiring a workforce of volunteers to improve service (Damore, Royer, Strauss, Volkmar, & McPherson, 2010). Finally, strategic planning creates a unique differentiation of an organization. Some organization managers have the tendencies of looking in to what other organizations are doing and copying the practices. This is not guaranteed that will work if copying is done without a plan to guide the actions of the organization (Frigo & Ramaswamy, 2010). Having a plan will guide the course of action and the use of available resources within an organization. When an institution has a distinctive plan for the other players in the same sector, the organization is set apart from others and can have a high chance of competing. In the health sector, doing this differently will ensure that the community-based organization or health institution continues to survive among big hospitals and completion (Fottler, 2010, Ginter, & Duncan, 2013). The New Hampshire community mental health system This was one of the many community projects that was initiated in 1971 and had much success during the period running up to 1990. According to Timmins (2013), the new Hampshire community-based mental care facilities were some of the best in the country from their formative year. This plan got underway on a positive note realizing so many milestones including the development of an asylum that could host up to a maximum of 2000 individuals. Several years later, the project collapsed due to lack of funding and other managerial issues. Attempts to revive it saw the development of the ten-year plan in 2008. This plan did not see the light of day due to the great recession at the beginning of the same year. The main factor associated with this failure was the lack of a long-term strategic plan that could see the project through several years. As far as resource allocation is concerned, the project did not factor in the aspect of vision (Zuckerman, 2012). If the project were going to last decades, a clear goal and vision of the project would indicate the level of resources required. As such the planners would then put aside the means or resources required to see through the project until today. There is a need of developing a comprehensive plan and implement the plan. Ways of addressing the challenges facing strategic planning Strategic planning problems come from a number of issues that need addressing in order to avoid similar problems. One of the areas that require an organization to address is the area of change. A strategic plan will introduce a number of changes that will require the organization and all its members to align their actions in line with the goals and vision. Change is sometimes difficult to adapt to and as such can cause failure of the plan (Sare, & Ogilvie, 2010). The leaders of these organizations have to find better means to incorporate change mechanisms within their institutions. Other challenges arise from team leadership that has led to such plans being put on the shelves. This kind of leadership will lead the organization to just having the plan but not putting it into action. Due to this, the strategic plan just remains a plan and has no impact on the direction that the organization is taking. To solve this problem, a strategic plan should include a work plan that details the roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder within the health sector (Cleary, 2005). Critique of Strategic Planning Criticisms of strategic plans come from the belief of people. Many individuals think that strategic plans are the ultimate foolproof plans. As such no other plans can beat them in trying to achieve their goals. The result is a criticism of the plans in case the plan fails. However, it is important to realize that there is a possibility of failure due to unforeseen contingencies (Bullington, 2009). Concepts competing with strategic planning Financial planning Financial planning is the concept of predicting the overall cash flow of an organization and using such projections to budget for the future. In financial planning, the main idea is to allocate the available money to different tasks and objects to be purchase or services in a project. As compared to strategic planning, financial planning could be a small part of strategic planning that involves the allocation of money to different aspects of the overall strategy. Strategic thinking Strategic thinking is the process of generation of unique thought to solve situations that arise in the management of an organization. Strategic thinking is similar to the process of brainstorming unique ideas to solve a particular problem. Comparing strategic thinking and strategic planning reveals a slight difference in the two concepts. Strategic thinking simply deals with the current situation, but the strategic plan covers a lot more than just a single situation. It aims at accomplishing the vision of the organization. Conclusion and Recommendations: Strategic planning is a prerequisite step toward the successful delivery of service within the community health sector. to qualify this, it is important to take a review of the cases of success and failure in the community health sector discussed above. Most of the case of health sector failure stem out of the lack of a clear vision and a strategic plan that guides the direction of actions. Strategic planning is, therefore, essential to creating this direction and creating a unique way of implementing actions within any organization or sector. However, strategic planning is not without any challenges. The notion taken by many that a strategy is fool proof is the main problem to be addressed. This can be handled by constant review of the strategic plan through meeting and strategic thinking. Finally in managing community health care institutions, the main aspect that should be stressed is the visionary leadership that will drive the institutions to higher levels and continued survival. References: Abate, M., & Deneen, J. (2004). Managing health care costs: Back to basics. Handbook of Business Strategy, 141-146. Barsi, E., Jones, D., Kotsonis, D., Lowell, M., Paret, C., & McPherson, B. (2010). Community Benefit: Overcoming Organizational Barriers and Laying the Foundation for Success. Inquiry, vol 47, No. 2 pp103-109. Boltin, B., & Berlinger, N. (2011). Values Engineering: The Ethics of Design in Community Health Centers. The Hastings Center Report, 41(1), 27-28. Bullington, K. (2009). Driven to succeed (strategic planning). Strategic Direction. Top of Form Bottom of Form Cleary, B. 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Retrieved on 3/3/2015 at http://www.concordmonitor.com/home/4996245-95/mental-state-health-community First, it is important to realize that any It is important to have a comprehensive plan One of the key areas that require the Read More