High-reliability organization (HRO) 

The role of leadership in creating a quality-driven organizational culture

Today, the healthcare industry has improved as a result of technology. Healthcare professionals are now offering quality services, they are increasing the life expectancy, and chronic illnesses are well managed. However, lack of safety and lack of patient satisfaction are the major challenges facing the industry (Griffith, 2015). Despite the fact that the quality of healthcare has improved, patient safety is still at a lower level. The industry should improve patient safety to avoid errors, save costs and minimize harm. To maintain safety, the organization should create a quality organizational culture. A quality culture will be achieved by improving trust, fix the reported problems, and communicate the improvements (Griffith, 2015). These factors will create a stable organizational culture. Other factors that lead to quality organizational culture include communication, creating a strong relationship, and quality tools. Effective communication is very important in the healthcare industry. In order to communicate effectively, leaders should use the right channels. For example, they should use a directive channel (tell the client what to do), the requestive channel (request for information), the nurturative channel (maintain contact), and the emotive channel (use energetic tone) (Pauley & Pauley, 2012). These channels will ensure successful communication. If healthcare professionals feel that one challenge is not working, they should use another channel which suits both the speaker and the listener.  Managers should also create a quality culture by making substantial changes in strategies and tools. For example, the organization can apply tools such as Six Sigma to minimize errors and maximize patient safety. 

 

Organizations should create a High-Reliability Organization (HRO) rather than hope for one.

Healthcare organizations should achieve the goal of high reliability. Today, many organizations are using the Baldrige Criteria to improve performance. The principle of the Baldrige Criteria states that if organizations apply the model in the management framework, they will receive positive performance results. In other words, the model will improve health care outcomes, effectiveness, satisfaction, customer engagement, among other benefits (Griffith, 2015). The current debate is whether the Baldrige model should be used to achieve organizational reliability. Organizations that have employed the model argue that the model has helped them improve safety, reduce infections, increase patient satisfaction, and quality improves in other areas (Griffith, 2015). They argue that the model will help the organization achieve high reliability.

 According to my opinion, the Baldrige model does not create a high-reliability organization. Therefore, rather than using the Baldrige model to achieve high reliability, the healthcare organization should create one. In other words, organizations should create high organization reliability by using the Chassin-Loeb Model (Griffith, 2015). In comparing the Baldrige model and Chassin-Loeb model, it is clear that the organization that uses the Baldrige model are not high-reliability organization since they do not meet the criteria. The gap occurs in that the Baldrige model does not focus on strategic priorities, whereas the Chassin-Loeb model focuses on strategic priority which is ‘zero patient harm'.  For example, the Baldrige model focus on factors such as leadership, customers, workforce, results, and more. On the other hand, the Chassin-Loeb model focus on board members, physicians, information technology, accountability, assessment, training, among other factors (Griffith, 2015). I argue that the Baldrige award recipients have not yet become high-reliability organizations. Rather than applying the Baldrige model to achieve high reliability, the organization should create a high-reliability organization. This will be achieved by concentrating not only on quality but also on highest-priority strategic goal (Griffith, 2015). The purpose of strategic priorities is to maintain patient safety and improve satisfaction.

 

References

 

Griffith, J. R. (2015). Understanding high-reliability organizations Are Baldrige recipients models?.

Journal of Healthcare Management, 60(1), 44-61.

 

Pauley, J. A., & Pauley, J. F. (2012). Establishing a culture of patient safety: Improving communication,

building relationships, and using quality tools. Milwaukee, WI: ASQ Quality Press.