Healthcare Organizational Culture

Organizational culture is “the shared values, principles, traditions, and ways of doing things that influence the way organizational members act” (Robbins et al., 2015, p. 48). In the health care environment, over the past 10 years or so there has been a renewed effort in the overall healthcare culture which has created change for healthcare organizations. My health care system is no different. The system worked to form a culture that our customers, employees and the community want to see thrive.
Upon examination of our organizational culture and the beliefs and values that our organization has modeled for years, it was found that with the new organizational design changes and initiatives facilitated the need for a redesign of our mission,
Our organizational structure has only changed slightly; healthcare is a traditional mechanistic organization. Defined by Robbins et al., 2015, “A bureaucratic organization; a structure that’s high in specialization, formalization, and centralization.” One example of change is the organization is currently working to break down barriers between the hierarchical relationships by dispersing work normally directed to physicians, to what we consider “midlevel” providers. Many tasks that were once only specialized for Physicians have been identified as tasks that are better managed by this defined group. Our new organizational culture is helping with the transition by creating new relationships and giving employees a renewed investment in the organization and a feeling of accomplishment, while also creating timely and increased quality outcomes for our
My organization has found that the culture within the organization is very important and plays a large role in setting the tone for a work environment that employees consider happy and healthy. When employees feel empowered and appreciated they will make a greater contribution to team collaboration, communication and organizational outcomes, thereby enhancing job satisfaction. Organizational culture and behavior are quite interrelated, as organizational culture influences behavior and vice-versa. This example also shows that once an organization is established, it is possible they will need to revisit the organizational structure, design and culture to meet changing business needs. I believe we will only keep improving on our culture, as long as our leaders are willing to invest in leadership training on communicating and modeling our new set organizational drivers and embracing changes that increase the healthy and happy environment for