Creative Problem Solving - Coursework Example

?Case Study Dave Kindle has been hired by Peter to serve as a business consultant to help the veterinary practice tackle and resolve the many problemissues that are adversely impacting the business. Dave’s initial approach is to meet one on one with each staff member to get their perspectives on the practice. Dave decides to conduct the meetings one on one to create an environment where everyone can feel comfortable being as honest and forthcoming as possible with their input. The meetings take place offsite. The first meeting is conducted with Peter. Dave presents Peter with the same interview questions he will present all staff members; an overview of how Peter sees the business, the strengths and weaknesses of the business, things Peter would like to see change, and ideas Peter has on how those changes should come about. Peter indicates that he sees the practice as a strong and viable entity within the community. He acknowledges that there are some organizational issues, but he says he feels that much of that is just the nature of doing business. He does see that the business definitely needs to become more updated with accommodations, equipment, and resources. And, although he admits he’s not very technologically savvy, he knows the practice could use an upgrade in this area and doing so would greatly enhance the viability of the business, but with the practice’s current financial status he doesn’t see where the resources will come from to address any of those issues. When Dave interviews Joe and presents the same set of questions, Joe agrees with Peter that the practice could definitely use an atmospheric, equipment, and technological facelift, but unlike Peter, he feels that the company needs to just take whatever hits it incurs over the short run to make the necessary changes to improve the business for the future. When Ros is interviewed she expresses frustration at what she calls the disorganization of the practice and the lack of time and resources to address that issue. When Dave asks her to expound on what she sees as the primary source of the disorganization she says the lack of time she has to properly organize the office’s records and the lack of time available to organize better patient care. When Rukia is interviewed she expresses frustration at feeling like she never knows what has taken place before she gets involved with an issue and consequently she feels that she and the practice often look unprofessional to clients. When Kath is interviewed she expresses the same frustration as Rukia as it relates to lack of information and training, but she also expresses a concern that the office’s disorganization will eventually result in a treatment and/or accounting mistake and subsequent legal vulnerability for the practice. When Anna is interviewed she expresses a concern about her inability to convince her husband to recognize a lot of the logic in Joe’s thought process for the business, but she also fears Joe’s vision isn’t completely pragmatic enough and if left to his own wishes, the business could be placed in a position of severe financial stress which could threaten to destroy all that she and her husband have worked for. She is very concerned about the family name being ruined if the business were to fail. Once Dave completes all of the interviews he takes time to compile the data into a summarization of his conversations with each staff member. Then he suggests to Peter that instead of giving feedback to just Peter and Joe, since the staff size is small and everyone has relative familiarity with one another, it will be much more productive to discuss the issues and solutions in an all staff meeting because this approach would make every member feel like they are a part of the process to resolve the problems which would make everyone a stakeholder. Peter agrees that this approach will create much more buy-in as opposed to just providing mandates to staff members. Peter arranges to close the office for a four period to have an offsite lunch meeting. Dave prepares a document of all of the input received and uses the document as the basis of his presentation during the lunch meeting. Dave opens the meeting by indicating that he will present the six most important problems facing the practice according to staff input. 1. The practice is not viably positioned resource or technologically wise to compete effectively in the current veterinary market. 2. There is not a united vision of where the practice wants to be five years and beyond. 3. The practice isn’t doing everything it can to provide important quality service. 4. There are no processes in place to facilitate work getting done. 5. There is no methodology to consistently pass information to all staff. 6. The practice has no method to assess its performance to facilitate improvement. Dave then presents the model from which he believes the practice would benefit the most from. Before he presents the model he explains that all problems cannot be solved in one single act, especially for a smaller business, so that’s why it’s important to identify and prioritize the problems so that the most critically important problem is tackled first and subsequent problems are addressed in order accordingly. He does point out that typically with this process, if the biggest problem is addressed, that usually will naturally address many of the other problems as well. One of the things Dave did when he interviewed everyone was ask them to identify a word or phrase they felt summarized how they see the practice in its totality. He said he took all of the input provided and used it to come up with the name for the system approach to addressing the issues raised. The name of that model is Providing Efficiency Tactics Steadily or PETS. The components of the model are as follows: 1. The first priority for the practice is to insure it can be resource and technologically viable to compete within the local veterinary market. In order to do this the following action items were created: a. Invest immediately in an updated computer system that will permit the practice to hire an imaging service to quickly convert all paper documents into a paperless filing system that will track what documents have gone out to what clients and will automatically send out monthly statements, billing notices, and reminder notices via email and/or text. b. Have a website built ASAP to advertise the practice’s services and provide payment and appointment options online. c. Use a software program to create a current and projected budget as a part of a larger living, breathing business plan that will look at increased income projections by bringing in a new vet to treat an expanded list of animals and create a time frame to bring on that person as well as purchase the newly needed equipment. Dave pointed out to the group that the cost of the computer system and the designer to build a site will be offsite by the savings in time and postage expenses from searching for, organizing, and mailing out information to clients. The resulting technology will also free up time for more clients by encouraging everyone to schedule appointments online on the website thus freeing up the nurses from that duty. The technology will also provide an assessment tool for clients to suggest more efficient measures. Dave presented the impact of the PETS approach in the following format: Activities New Computer system Electronic handling of correspondence Website Electronic Payments Electronic Appointments Presently Exist? No No No No No Assessment Will greatly increase efficiencies and save money Same Will broaden influence and provide efficiency. Will increase payment returns and efficiency Greatly increase efficiencies and save employee time. Changes with PETS? Improve organization. Increase penetration with clients Increase community knowledge of practice Increase revenue Increase return visits by 50% and increase new visits 30% Peter, Joe, and everyone else, especially the nurses, were very enthusiastic about seeing the improvements in time management and organization that will result from PETS. Joe asked the question about what the best way would be to assess the proper time to bring on the new associate veterinarian and to look at buying more equipment. Dave suggested that one of the tools the website would provide that will also be available with the electronic communication would be a questionnaire asking for feedback on who would be interested in the types of new services a new vet would offer. Based on that feedback, the practice could create a plan based on the new budget that would tell them how soon they could bring on someone. Dave cautioned that using this approach would probably allow them to see that their ability and need to make the move for a new associate may come about sooner rather than later. He also discussed that the use of the budget could not be overstated because the plan should extend out for a minimum of five years and include all of the things the practice would like to see happen such as a new equipment, a new facility, etc. The PETS five year budget should include an analysis of potential problems, risks, threats, and issues that would impact the practice’s ability to move forward with their plan to move. These issues should be reviewed and assessed at a minimum every six months as conditions are subject to change constantly. Dave cautioned that the plan should also include a time frame for Peter’s gradual movement to part time and eventual retirement and that this should also be reviewed on the same time schedule. Joe mentioned that he felt unsure of when he should feel like the time for change was apparent. Dave suggested that the attention to detail in the PETS Business Plan is the key. The budget will tell them a great deal about timing and whether their time frames are realistic or not so the approach should be prioritizing numbers one and two on the list of issues and if it is agreed that technological and resource improvement is the main priority and getting another vet and new equipment falls within that, then the budget should be based on those premises with centerpieces being the immediate commitment to upgrade the technology and migrate to an electronic way of doing business as the fastest and most efficient methodology to save money and increase the businesses viability for future growth and profitability. Read More