Understanding an Organization: Part Two

In the last newsletter, I discussed how to understand an organization. I touched on learning about organizational structure and hierarchy, culture, mission, vision, and values, business priorities, and above all, having a keen sense for a right fit.

Allow me to introduce a few other concepts to understand an organization. Those who have studied organizations and their effectiveness may point out to view an organization through a known framework. One such framework is Malcolm Baldrige Excellence. The framework has such core values as systems perspective, visionary leadership, student-centered excellence. valuing people, agility and resilience, organizational learning, Focus on success and innovation, and management by fact. The goal of this framework is to have a sharp focus on leadership, people, business processes and outcomes, and overall market competitiveness. I know some healthcare organizations have used this model and have risen to excellence. If you would like to know more, please visit the NIST website - https://www.nist.gov/baldrige/about-baldrige-excellence-framework-education

?Using a similar framework would also make sense. I have tried to figure out if reviews done by Glassdoor and similar companies are worthy of anything or not. For me, it has been tough to find unbiased information about the company, culture, work environment and leadership. People are often putting negative comments, and positive comments or reviews are too general.

If companies are committing to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, that is a good thing I suppose. The key is to know if a company has a dedicated governance structure, people, and policies to effect sustainable changes in the DEI landscape. A growing number of large health systems, including many academic health centers are known for their DEI work. One still needs to review website or talk to employees to understand the extent of the DEI work. That said, the commitment to DEI itself does not mean that the company is going to be a great one.

?These days great companies are also trying to serve the communities in which they are located. The commitment to community for a healthcare organization seems very catchy and a great marketing tool to recruit people. The true meaning of commitment, I believe, is worth doing some research on your own. How do you know if a healthcare system is truly serving the community? A few good questions to ask in this regard could be the following: a) Has the organization partnered with local businesses to invest in community resources and amenities, such as parks, libraries, city and county governments to promote health and wellness? b) Does the company support healthcare workforce training to recruit from and retain local healthcare talents? c) Does the system have good programs to reduce clinician burnout? Some of this info could be difficult to find, but good company-level recruiter should be able to find some of these answers.

?Lastly, I am not sure how much weight to put on non-profit status or academic prestige? For most of the clinicians, a value of an organization is often judged by other metrics and markers, some of which I tried to cover in this article and on the previous one. I also think having an external and consumer-level view of gauging member experience, the extent of customized care offerings, and easy-to-understand billing solutions are also worth considering as we try to determine value of an organization.

?Feel free to share your thoughts. Happy reading!

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Emran Rouf, MD

February 27, 2023