Organizational Foundations

As you strive to grow in your leadership skills and abilities, you will find that the context in which you work influences your motivation and areas of focus. In a similar vein, your commitment to developing professionally can contribute toward organizational effectiveness.

Table of Contents

To that end, it is critical to recognize the importance of organizational culture and climate. In particular, through this week’s Learning Resources, you may consider several questions: How do an organization’s mission, vision, and values relate to its culture? What is the difference between culture and climate? Moreover, how are culture and climate manifested within the organization?

For this Discussion, you explore the culture and climate of your current organization or one with which you are familiar. You also consider decisions and day-to-day practices and the way they relate to the organization’s mission, vision, and values.

To prepare:

Review the information related to planning and decision making in health care organizations presented in the textbook, Leadership Roles and Management Functions in Nursing: Theory and Application. Consider how planning and decision making relate to an organization’s mission, vision, and values, as well as its culture and its climate.
Familiarize yourself with the mission, vision, and values of your organization or one with which you are familiar. Consider how the statements and actions of leaders and others within the organization support or demonstrate the organizational mission, vision, and values. In addition, note any apparent discrepancies between word and deed. Think about how this translates into expectations for direct service providers. Note any data or artifacts that seem to indicate whether behaviors within the organization are congruent with its mission, vision, and values.
Begin to examine and reflect on the culture and climate of the organization. How do culture and climate differ?
Why is it important for you, as a master’s-prepared nurse leader, to be cognizant of these matters?

Post (1) a description of your selected organization’s mission, vision, and values. (2) Describe relevant data, or artifacts, words, and actions of leaders and others in the organization that support, or perhaps appear to contradict the organization’s mission, vision, and values statement. (3) In addition, discuss the organization’s culture and its climate, differentiating between the two. (4) Explain why examining these matters is significant to your role as a nurse leader

REQUIRED RESOURCES

Readings

Marquis, B. L., & Huston, C. J. (2015). Leadership roles and management functions in nursing: Theory and application(8th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins.
- Chapter 1, “Decision Making, Problem Solving, Critical Thinking: Requisites for Successful Leadership and Management, and Clinical Reasoning”
  Chapter 1 provides information relevant to this week’s Discussion and serves as a foundation for topics explored in future weeks of the course. The authors note that decision making, problem solving, critical thinking, and critical reasoning are integral to both leadership and management and beneficial as one examines leadership and management issues. As you read this chapter, focus primarily on the “Decision Making in Organizations” section.
- Chapter 7, “Strategic and Operational Planning”
  This chapter introduces planning and highlights some of the trends that are likely to impact health care organizations now and in the future. It also addresses vision and mission statements, which are essential for guiding planning and decision making in health care settings.
- Chapter 12, “Organizational Structure”
  - “Organizational Culture” (pp. 260–286)
    This section of the chapter addresses organizational culture.
Bellot, J. (2011). Defining and assessing organizational culture. Nursing Forum, 46(1), 29–37.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

This article examines organizational culture as a construct. It explores how organizational culture is unique to every workplace.
Business Dictionary.com.(2013) Organizational culture: Definition. Retrieved from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/organizational-culture.html
Collins, J. C., & Porras, J. I. (1996). Building your company’s vision. Harvard Business Review, 74(5), 65–77.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

This seminal article helped to pave the way for understanding why a company’s vision is so important. By focusing on its vision, a company can guarantee that its core values and purpose remain fixed while its strategies and methods are adapted to accommodate the changing environment.
Nelson, W. A., & Gardent, P. B. (2011). Organizational values statements. Healthcare Executive, 26(2), 56–59.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

This article focuses on the impact that organizational values statements have on an organization’s mission. For employees to follow value statements, leaders must effectively model those values day in and day out.
Plath, D. (2013). Organizational processes supporting evidence-based practice. Administration in Social Work, 37(2), 171-188. doi:10.1080/03643107.2012.672946
Abstract: A case study illustrates the implementation of evidence-based practice (EBP) as an organizational change process. A systemic process, reliant on executive leadership and organizational culture, facilitates implementation of EBP. Qualitative findings suggest that effective EBP implementation requires engagement of staff across the organization. The development of communities of practice and other strategies to engage staff, including a model for organizational analysis, assists preparation for EBP implementation.
Rai, G. S. (2013). Job satisfaction among long-term care staff: Bureaucracy isn’t always bad. Administration in Social Work, 37(1), 90-99. doi:10.1080/03643107.2012.657750
Abstract: The study investigated the influence of role conflict, workload, centralization, and formalization on job satisfaction of long-term care staff. Regression analysis revealed that role conflict, workload, centralization, and formalization together contributed 40.0% variance in job satisfaction. Role conflict and workload decrease job satisfaction while centralization and formalization increase it.
Watkins, M. (2013, May). What is organizational culture? Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2013/05/what-is-organizational-culture
This site offers several descriptions of organizational culture. These perspectives provide the kind of holistic, nuanced view of organizational culture that is needed by leaders in order to truly understand their organizations — and to have any hope of changing them for the better.

Online Assessments

Note: Results from the following assessment are required for the course.

- Keirsey Temperament Sorter (KTS-II). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.keirsey.com/
  Please complete the online assessment and receive a free mini report. Additional, more extensive reports are available for purchase and are optional. You should complete the Keirsey Temperament Sorter assessment early in the course so you will be prepared to discuss the results in Week 9.

Media

- Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2012e). Foundations of an organization and organizational assessment. Baltimore, MD: Author.
  In this week’s media presentation, experts from a diverse group of health care organizations share insights on how an organization’s mission, vision, and values influence its daily practices.
  
  Please click on the following links for the media transcripts:

- Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2012c). Factors that influence organizational cultures: Coastal Medical Associates, Salisbury, MA. Baltimore, MD: Author.
  
  Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 6 minutes.
  
  This week’s media pieces provide a glimpse into three very different health care organizations. The experts share the mission, vision, and values of their organization and the focus of the organization (teaching, research, patient care) and discuss how this influences the organizational structure.
  
  In addition to watching this media, you are strongly encouraged to view the “Stories from Skid Row” video from Union Rescue Mission, located in this week’s Optional Resources.
  
  Accessible player–Downloads–Download Video w/CCDownload AudioDownload Transcript
- Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2012d). Factors that influence organizational cultures: Huntington Hospital, Pasadena, CA. Baltimore, MD: Author.
  
  Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 4 minutes