Banner Healthcare's workforce management and organizational values

Healthcare Organization

Banner Healthcare is an American non-profit healthcare system predominantly used in Phoenix, Arizona. The healthcare organization runs twenty-three hospitals plus various other specialized units. It has about 35,000 workers in its employment and so is one of the state's biggest employers. It offers emergency care, hospital care, rehab services, outpatient surgery, pharmacies, hospice, home care and long-term care. The organization has recently begun running primary care physician clinics such as Banner Arizona Medical Clinic and the Banner Medical Group. The organization was founded when Samaritan Health System and the Lutheran Health Systems merged.

The mission statement of Banner Health is "To make a difference in people's lives through excellent patient care (Banner health, 2014). The institution is known all over the country and is well recognized. The merger that led to the formation of the institution happened over two decades ago in 1991. The resultant company launched onto an ambitious plan and execution that has helped them grow in both reputation and size. Currently, the institution has operations in seven states in the United States and operates 24 hospitals.

The Evaluation of Workforce Management Program

Banner Healthcare takes pride in the atmosphere of collaboration that it gives to its workers together with the dedicated groups of co-workers. It runs facilities all over the west and the institution believes that opportunities exist for everyone (Banner Healthcare). The availability of Banner to the urban population as well as those in the rural areas ensures that the services of the organization can be accessed by a great number of the populace. The organization enjoys great stability as well as success. It has a strong set of organizational values that employees ascribe to. It offers several options of employment to match the varying needs of workers for lifestyle as well as career demands. This arrangement allows workers mobility and presents chances of career progression for those who stick to the company. Both new entrants into the job markets as well as seasoned practitioners are employed.

Banner Healthcare is serious about providing massive value to the community it serves as well as the employees that work for it. This approach of making a difference and adding value to both groups is to ensure employees understand the responsibility they have and transfer as much or even more value that the organization provides them to the patients they serve. Good service is important for the continued high performance of banner as it is both a good marketing effort and a good reputation building endeavor. Employees are therefore expected to live the mission of Banner Healthcare (Banner Healthcare). The mission shall be lived at both the field stations and the bedside station so as to ensure uniformity in quality of service. Employees have to understand that they are ambassadors of the organization and that their actions reflect on the image of the organization.

Advertising Campaign

Banner Healthcare carries out internal marketing to get the word out about their organization and services. By investing in its employees, the employees become ambassadors of the organization and communicate their offers and also offer exceptional service that people are more than willing to tell their friends and families about. The company has come to learn that by investing in its workers, it can improve their motivation and morale and so their effort and quality of work (Kongstvedt, 2001). By doing this, the organization has been able to get its workers to consistently deliver high quality services. One key aspect that Banner is very proud of is how it treats its workers. By making their employees feel valued, the organization has been able to attract top talent and retain them for longer. This reality also spills over to the patients and so the organization is able to attract lots of patients drawn to its reputation of having high quality staff who are willing, happy and able to help (Banner Healthcare). The organization also gets leads through referrals. It has established a reward system that rewards those who refer patients their way. This has been a very productive marketing endeavor and has attracted several one-time and long-term clients.

Strategic Plan

Corporate social responsibility is becoming even more important as various stakeholders increasingly take interest in organizations. It is in Banner Healthcare's best interest to start running some programs to contribute to the community it serves. All stakeholders should feel valued in the organization. This effort will ensure that employees and the community feel valued. CSR is not only a charitable act, but it can also serve as a marketing endeavor. By building good relationships with the communities it operates in, the populace will be more receptive to its promotional efforts (Brach et al., 2012). Besides CSR, other components of the strategic plan will be how to meet the competition that will eventually enter into their space. Moreover, clients' standards and expectations are increasing by the day and the organization needs to put in place new practices to ensure and measure patient satisfaction.

Resource Management

Using the right strategies and tools, the complexities of running a healthcare organization can be reduced significantly so it operates efficiently and as smoothly as possible. Some of these strategies include:

1. Make it Visible

Just like all other organizations, a healthcare organization operates in an economic environment where various projects compete for limited resources. There is need to ensure efficiency so the greatest benefit is derived from utilizing the resources available to the organization. One of the areas that have the greatest return on investment is making the organization more visible. A big picture plan or dashboard will allow Banner Healthcare to easily grasp the key metrics, data and efforts that contribute the most to the organization. The organization will then be able to focus on these areas.

2. Adaptation

The current business environment in the healthcare market requires businesses to consistently adapt to changing socioeconomic as well technological conditions. Adaptability can come in several ways. Banner Healthcare can employ an internal auditor to analyze the firm for internally-motivated changes and also to prepare the organization for regulatory changes. Banner Healthcare can also begin increasing the amount of technology it currently employs especially in diagnosis and in record keeping.

3. Better Resource Allocation

Several healthcare organizations fail to meet their potential because they do not efficiently allocate the resources available to them. Poor resource allocation can have disastrous effects as is the case with the Santa Clara County hospital that was losing $100,000 a day carrying out an expansion project. By Banner Healthcare knowing how much in financial and human resources is available to them and efficiently allocating them, they will be able to reap greater rewards and survive in today's highly competitive healthcare sector.

4. Choose Better Projects

While it is a good thing to achieve efficiency, achieving it in the wrong projects is a misuse of resources. It is very important that Banner Healthcare works on the right projects in the first place before they try to achieve efficiency. Banner Healthcare can use capital budgeting decision making strategies to choose the most viable projects to pursue to avoid investing time and money on operations that will not yield a positive return on investment.

Issues Affecting Staffing

1. Compensation - Compensation of healthcare workers differs by region and skill level of workers. Banner Healthcare is always striving to ensure that its workers are fairly remunerated but there are several organizational and individual factors that make it hard to achieve fair remuneration for all members of staff.

2. Workplace Violence -- One of the challenges faced is violence from patients who are not in the right frame of mind.

3. Short Staffing -- Staffing concerns affect both nurses individually and the organization in general. Staffing issues of concern include staffing levels, assignment equity and unit organization.

4. Long Working Hours -- Health care workers usually work long hours to meet the needs of their patients. There are several instances where nurses have to work extended shifts back-to-back and this can affect their health and productivity (Gooch, 2015).

Meeting Healthcare Needs in The Future

Banner is continually growing and seeking new and better ways to serve its clientele. This is demonstrated by their use of new technology as well as the digitization of records. The organization is also in the process of developing and implementing a system to help in delivery and labor so as to reduce or eliminate complications mothers may develop during childbirth. As we go into the future, the expectations of patients are bound to increase. The organization is therefore implementing programs to improve patient care and enhance patient satisfaction (Banner Health). The organization participates actively in performance reviews every year to ensure that its workers are well equipped to do what they do and that they meet the set standards of performance the organization and authority bodies have set. This review process ensures that organization is always operating at peak condition in such critical areas such as ICU, Heart Failure management and the carrying out of Open-Heart surgery. With evolution of healthcare going into the future, Banner Healthcare is opening smaller urgent care and health clinics in the communities they serve to reach more people and bring services closer to the people.