Mayo Clinic - Case Study Example

Mayo Clinic Case Study AFFILIATION: Mayo Clinic Case Study Introduction to Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic is among the foremost and largest incorporated and not-for-profit organization that has been offering the most diverse range of healthcare services to residents of USA for so many years (McJoyant et al., 2009). The organization has medical professionals who belong to every medical specialty field; the entire workforce works together to provide top quality care to patients so that they can get recovered as soon as possible. It runs on its philosophy of “needs of every patient comes first” (Dilts & Sandler, 2006). Currently, there are about 3,300 scientists, researchers and physicians along with 46,000 associated health staff employed at Mayo Clinic. This clinic has sites in Minnesota, Florida, Scottsdale, Arizona, Rochester and Jacksonville (Hawn, 2011). The mission of Mayo Clinic is “to provide utmost care to every patient each day through built-in research, education and practice.” Collectively, all three locations of Mayo Clinic work together to treat more than half a million patients each year; Mayo, therefore, is supporting the most comprehensive research department so that it can apply its philosophy of “bringing bench to bedside” and it has developed Mayo College of Medicine to teach and prepare professionals of future medical field (Smith & Gronseth, 2011). Problems and issues faced by Mayo Clinic Case Study In service industry, customers are most important stakeholders and it is vital for companies to provide top quality services to them (Schweikhart, 2009). In case of healthcare industry, each customer needs to be given individual attention and every medical requirement needs to be fulfilled so that everyone is provided utmost care and all mandatory medical services. As an important member of health care industry, Mayo Clinic has made sure that it enhances its service level by trying to improve its entire quality management system (Dudas, 2011). It is important that workforce of Mayo Clinic is provided a conducive work environment along with competent skill development options so that each patient is provided excellent quality services which helps them in recovery at a fast pace and assist them in living a normal and healthy life (Ramlall, Welch, Walter & Tomlinson, 2009). The main problems and issues faced by Mayo Clinic are: 1. Mayo Clinic has high demand for its services but it has inadequate capacity to meet all demands of customers; more than thousands of patients are turned down because of inadequate space for accommodating them. 2. The service and communication with referring physicians is insufficient and they are the key customers of Mayo Clinic. 3. Mayo’s governance system is not aligned well which will impact its brand protection strategy and consensus culture in long-term. Impact of issues Whenever any organization faces any problem, it is more likely to have an impact on all of its stakeholders (Fokazi, 2012). The issues highlighted in the case are symptoms of future problems which need to be addressed now so that they don’t create any significant problem when they arise on front level in years ahead. In case of all these three issues, the main stakeholders who will be affected are customers, physicians and health staff; when workforce of Mayo Clinic will be unable to provide high quality care to customers, they will be dissatisfied and it will impact Mayo’s reputation in the long-run. When customers will be turned down, they will talk to people about dissatisfaction with Mayo’s services and it is evident that Mayo Clinic is moving away from strategic direction that is providing medical care services to everyone because it offers its services to selected people; in the case, it is mentioned that Mayo provides services to those people whom it considers to benefit the most from their services. Likewise, when physicians will not be satisfied with the working environment of Mayo Clinic, their morale will decrease which will hinder their service level that will cause decline in customer satisfaction level. When Mayo Clinic will not abide by its ethical values and guidelines, workforce morale will go down which will reduce customer’s satisfaction level. It is evident from all these three issues that when customers will be dissatisfied with Mayo’s services, they will move to other medical centers and it will cause decline in profitability of the healthcare clinic. The problems highlighted show that the company is moving away from its strategic direction and if the issues are not addressed then they can create serious problems in future as it will significantly create a negative image in the market. Detailed explanation of issues From the case, it is evident that all these three issues are at minimal level and they need to be addressed instantly so that they can be resolved at normal pace. The foremost area that should be dealt with is capacity constraint and insufficient number of physicians; it shows that there is lack of strategic focus. Although Mayo Clinic believes that it has a focused approach in its expansion strategy as it emphasizes on having same culture in all its sites but it has lack of direction in increasing capacity at clinic facilities. It still has less capacity for meeting needs of patients as it has less facilities available for them; when customers are not provided required services from Clinic, they will definitely move to other clinics. Likewise, physicians have to be provided their required facilities so that they can work with calm and relax mind and attend every customer with utmost care; when they are dissatisfied with the working conditions of Mayo Clinic, their morale will be down which will impact their service to customers. In order to create a right image in the market, it will have to first strengthen its internal environment and when workforce will be satisfied, they will be able to create a strong brand image in the market that will help them in ensuring that culture is aligned with Mayo’s principles of providing excellent quality of services. Recommendation plan for Mayo Clinic In order to meet demands of every patient of Mayo Clinic, it is important that it has best team of physicians and supporting staff that have high morale so that they can provide all required services to customers. At the top management level, strategic direction of Mayo Clinic needs to be first decided which means that it has to establish its mission statement, followed by objectives and strategy so that it has a clear direction about improving its operational efficiency (Khatri et al., 2006; Legatt & Dwyer, 2005). It will have to do expansion after doing strategic thinking so that it has additional space to accommodate patients who approach them and they are not turned down. Once operational systems will be aligned, Mayo Clinic will be able to provide its best range of medical services to its patients. It will also have to ensure that its guidelines are set in accordance with its core values so that employees are able to retrieve the right information and provide appropriate guidance to patients. Hence, when Mayo Clinic will develop its strategy, it will have complete idea about objectives that need to be achieved, steps that should be taken to resolve any kind of problem, and strategy that should be followed to increase satisfaction level of workforce and customers and ensure that everything within the organization is properly aligned with its mission statement. Hence, Mayo Clinic will have to focus on enhancing its brand image by aligning its operational activities with future demands of patients so that it can successfully maintain its positive image in the market. References Dilts, D.M., & Sandler, A.B. (2006). Invisible barriers to clinical traits: The impact of structural, infrastructural and procedural barriers to opening oncology clinical trials. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 24, 4545-4552. Dudas, J. (2011). Keeping an eye on the big picture: Mayo Clinic’s integrated supply chain management. Retrieved October 14, 2012 from http://www.gs1.org/docs/healthcare/case_studies/Case_study_USA_Mayo.pdf Fokazi, S. (2012, September 12). ‘Too many patients, not enough staff.’ Retrieved October 14, 2012 from http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/western-cape/too-many-patients-not-enough-staff-1.1381219#.UHqkc8XA91U Hawn, C. (2011). It’s all about the fit: Mayo Clinic Hardwires Innovation. Retrieved October 14, 2012 from http://innovations.chcf.org/images/iftu_perspectives/It%E2%80%99s_All_About_the_Fit__Mayo_Clinic_Hardwires_Innovation.pdf Holland, J. (2007). Increasing operating efficiencies. Secured Lender, 63(2), 34-38. Khatri, N., Wells, J., McKune, J., & Brewer, M. (2006). Strategic human resource management issues in hospitals: A study of a university and a community hospital. Hospital Topics, 84 (4), 9-20. Leggat, S. G., & Dwyer, J. D. (2005). Improving hospital performance: culture change is not the answer. Healthcare Quarterly, 8, 60-66. McJoynt, T.A., Hirzallah, M.A., Satele, D.V., Pitzen, J.H., Alberts, S.R., & Rajkumar, S.V. (2009). Building a Protocol Expressway: The Case of Mayo Clinic Cancer Center. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 27(23), 3855-3860. Ramlall, S., Welch, T., Walter, J., & Tomlinson, D. (2009). Strategic HRM at the Mayo Clinic: A case study. Journal of Human Resources Education, 3(3), 13-35. Schweikhart, S. A. (2009). The applicability of Lean and Six Sigma techniques to clinical and translational research. Journal of Investigative Medicine, 57(7), 748–755. Smith, S.C., & Gronseth, D.L. (2011). Transforming Research Management Systems at Mayo Clinic. Research Management Review, 18(2), 27-38. Read More