Organization design and management

Abstract

As healthcare organizations examine how to design and adapt their management structures to ensure quality is being measured and improved, considerations around the functioning of systems and the management of change become crucial. The inherent financial and service-driven complexities of the healthcare industry and its systems require a mosaic approach to organizational structures and processes. Healthcare institutions must develop organizational structures in response to the requirements of dynamic external and internal stakeholders whose interests and motives do not categorically coincide. Organizations must be structured to embody the specific needs of their identity and mission. This chapter discusses the multiple structural approaches that have evolved to accommodate the explicit concerns of organizations whether a large academic medical center, large group practice, smaller community hospital, or an integrated healthcare system.