Organizational Culture and Ethics

Write a 4-6 page strategic change management plan that describes how organizational culture affects health care management practices and the types of ethical challenges that can come with organizational change. Explain the role of personal integrity in managing change. Describe strategies that can be used to prevent or resolve ethical challenges related to organizational change.

Introduction

It can be said that one of the most profound organizational influence challenges for health care managers is that of balancing stewardship and fiscal responsibility. Conflicts of interest, billing practices, fraud, and abuse are just some examples of ethical issues related to the organizational influence of finance. The concept of justice plays a central role in ethical finance decision-making and management. As leaders attempt to balance market justice and patient justice-related priorities, they must still consider and protect the justice of their staff and community in the process.

It is also important for you to understand the value of using formal ethical decision-making processes for managing ethical issues within the health care organization, and how these processes differ from business processes in other industries. By developing an ethically focused mindset, adopting a personal moral stance, and choosing a personal ethical philosophy, you are establishing a strong foundation on which to build formal decision-making processes and steps. Common errors, or decision traps, often occur in decision-making processes and impede success. You must be able to identify and reflect on various decision traps in order to support the development of your own ethical decision-making skills and awareness.

Of course, it is equally important to have a strong, ethically oriented organizational culture to support leader success in meeting these challenges with integrity. The health care manager plays an integral role in implementing policies and procedures, as well as modeling an ethical mindset and behavior.

Preparation

For this assessment, imagine that you are a department manager in a mid-size health care organization that is in the process of undergoing a major change (perhaps a merger, buy-out, or restructuring). Your director has called a meeting of all department managers to develop a strategy for taking the organization successfully through the change. A major component of managing this change is safeguarding the organizational culture, which is currently very positive and based on ethical principles and practices. In addition, the organization has quality ratings in both patient safety and organizational integrity.

At the end of the meeting, the director asks each manager to draft a strategic change management plan to help them guide their department through the change. To help you get started, the director has provided a statement to be used in each plan. Each plan must consider the role of ethics and ethical management in organizational culture. You must bring your plan to the next strategy meeting in two weeks.

Review the resources provided to see how they may help you in completing this assessment. Conduct your own search in the Capella library and on the Internet to find authoritative resources on the topic of organizational culture and ethics. You will need at least three resources to support your work.

Organize your strategic change management plan logically and use headings and sub-headings as appropriate. Follow APA guidelines for citations and references. Please be sure you include a title page and references page.

Instructions

Please read carefully.

Please use the following statement as your thesis or opening statement for this assessment:

Creating and maintaining a positive organizational culture requires exceptional awareness, communication, and management skills on the part of leaders in any organization in any industry. When a shared identity is created and acceptance of the overall goals and mission of an organization is strong, ethical issues can more easily be prevented and resolved. This is vitally important in the health care industry as every aspect of management faces crucial ethical elements.

Then, in the rest of your assessment, complete the following:

• Explain how organizational culture can affect ethical health care management practices. Be sure you consider this from the perspective of both a negative organizational culture as well as a positive one. (Hint: think about other aspects that may be affected by organizational culture.)
• Describe possible ethical issues related to organizational change that could affect the existing organizational culture, patient safety, and organizational integrity.
• Explain the role of personal moral integrity in effectively leading change and maintaining a positive organizational culture.
• Describe evidence-based strategies health care leaders can use to prevent or resolve ethical challenges related to changes in organizational culture.

Additional Requirements

• Include a title page and references page.
• Number of pages: 4–6, double-spaced.
• At least three current scholarly or professional resources.
• APA format for citations and references.
• Times New Roman font, 12-point.

Note: The assessments in this course build upon each other, so you are strongly encouraged to complete them in sequence.

Competencies Measured

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the course competencies through the following assessment scoring guide criteria:

• Competency 1: Explain how ethical theories and principles influence health care organizational management practice.
  • Describe ethical issues related to organizational change that can affect organizational culture, patient safety, and organizational integrity.
  • Describe evidence-based strategies to prevent or resolve ethical issues related to organizational change.
• Competency 2: Describe how external forces and internal organizational factors influence ethical health care management practices.
  • Explain how organizational culture can affect ethical health care management practices.
• Competency 3: Examine the role personal moral integrity plays in ethical leadership practice.
  • Explain the role of personal moral integrity in leading change and maintaining a positive organizational culture.
• Competency 4: Communicate ideas effectively.
  • Correctly format citations and references using current APA style.
  • Write content clearly and logically, with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.