Leadership and Organizational Development

Students in this course examine organizational behavior as well as the roles and responsibilities of management and leadership within healthcare organizations through the macro (organization-wide) and micro (individual and team performance) perspectives. Students also focus on understanding organizational values, mission, and vision; management and leadership principles to help manage change; and effective delivery of services in an increasingly global environment. They also learn and apply theories of organizational design, governance, and alternative organizational structures, and they consider the theory and practice of managing individuals and groups through motivation, communication, teamwork, leadership, organizational change, coalition building, negotiation, and conflict management and resolution. Through group assignments and personal assessments, students work toward developing self-awareness and effective management styles and strategies.

Students in this course have the opportunity to learn how sustainable health information technologies and applications inform organizational strategies and transformation in the healthcare environment. They can also learn how these complex systems help organizational decision makers to improve patient care outcomes and organizational behaviors. Topics include evolving technologies such as data analytics, eHealth, and social media; using technology applications to manage population health; and personalized medicine. Students are challenged by scenario-based discussions that analyze best information technology practices across multiple industries.  

In this course, students examine the factors that affect performance outcomes within healthcare organizations; methods to monitor, adjust, and improve performance; and techniques and tools of quantitative analysis of operations and decision support that assist in management of capacity issues, reengineering, staffing, scheduling, productivity, and supply chain. Other important concepts that students examine include understanding operational assessment; understanding patient care and related support-care processes through creating flowcharts of steps in the process; taking a systems perspective on the organization and delivery of services; identifying problems and improvement opportunities using analytical techniques; and monitoring performance data to identify trends and variation based on current operations and those resulting from changes and improvements.

Students in this course apply principles, theories, and relevant contemporary concepts of healthcare marketing. They evaluate the effectiveness of healthcare marketing tools, such as advertisement campaigns and social media, develop data collection tools for marketing research, and create a marketing plan for a healthcare organization. The interrelationship of a healthcare organization's strategic plan, business plan, marketing plan, and healthcare consumerism is analyzed. Students will apply best practices of business communications as they practice effective oral and written business communication skills.

Students in this course are introduced to the basis for quality and patient safety and are provided an overview of healthcare quality, methods of assessing quality, and techniques for improving quality. They can learn key terminology and concepts, including defining quality care; measuring quality in terms of the structure-process-outcomes model; distinguishing between clinical and customer service quality; identifying techniques to avoid adverse clinical events; and exploring customer service quality in terms of defining, measuring, and improving patient satisfaction. Students also explore and discuss the roles of governmental agencies in promoting and reporting quality information regarding hospitals and other health organizations, accrediting bodies, and recent performance initiatives of government and private payers. They apply course concepts to current issues of improving clinical and service quality in healthcare organizations, with special consideration of the 5 Million Lives Campaign—a national effort initiated by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement designed to improve medical care in the United States.

Throughout this course, students review and apply the phases of strategic planning, integrating the principles and practices presented throughout the Master of Healthcare Administration program. They examine the role of strategic planning in achieving organizational performance excellence, as well as the notion of planning as a cyclical process within the healthcare organization. Students submit a comprehensive strategic plan and recommend courses of action that help healthcare organizations address their strategic and tactical needs and the needs of their communities.

The success of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) is largely dependent on the effective management of program volunteers and board members—individuals who often serve as the lifeblood of NPOs. Students in this course explore the volunteer management process, including volunteer recruitment, orientation, training, supervision, and evaluation. They focus on methods that organizations use to create and maintain an effective Board of Directors to ensure that the board governs and guides the organization toward their mission. Students design a board development or volunteer management plan based on processes presented in the course and fundamental concepts acquired earlier in the program.

Successful organizations in a rapidly changing and complex world require leaders who embrace change and are able to engage others in change. In this course, students use traditional literature, current articles, and interactive media to explore the qualities, characteristics, and skills of effective leaders as well as the theories, models, and relationships between leadership and organizational change. They assess the ethical issues and standards as well as the opportunities and challenges related to leading diverse organizations through change. Students also examine how current leaders employ leadership and organizational change to contribute to social change, and they consider how to use these lessons to make further positive changes within an organization or their own community.

In today's complex environment, leaders engaged in shaping public policy must know how to use the emotional as well as the intellectual power of language to motivate, inspire, and competently manage their organizations. In this course, students examine techniques, such as effective communication, used in dynamic leadership that affect conscious and unconscious influences on human behavior. Through discussions, group assignments, and individual projects, students apply theoretical and practical course content to demonstrate the necessary components for making effective human connections. Students also learn why stories, symbols, and metaphors are essential elements in the language of leadership.