Building a Community Wellness Outreach Department at KGW HealthCare
This paper presents a strategic human resources plan for KGW HealthCare's proposed Community Outreach Department, centered on a new "community wellness centers" initiative. Facing cost pressures and increased market competition, the organization seeks to redeploy excess operational staff into meaningful roles supporting programs in nutrition, weight management, exercise, smoking cessation, and graceful aging. The analysis outlines the project's staffing requirements — including a budget of approximately $1.8 million annually for 14–16 employees — and applies a competency-based selection methodology to identify a project manager, administrative support, and high-performing physicians best suited to lead the initiative from planning through implementation.
- Introduction and Strategic Context: Business case for the community wellness initiative
- Project Requirements and Budget Parameters: Headcount, budget, and skill area requirements
- Selecting the Project Manager: Candidate evaluation for lead project manager role
- Administrative Support and Complementary Skill Sets: Staff assistant selection to complement the project manager
- Physician Selection Methodology: Competency-based filtering to identify top physician candidates
- Conclusion and Staffing Recommendations: Summary of the staffing framework and strategic alignment
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper translates high-level executive strategy into concrete, tactical HR decisions, demonstrating a clear linkage between organizational goals and workforce planning.
- It applies a systematic, competency-based filtering methodology — using change management scores and overall performance ratings — to objectively narrow a large candidate pool to a manageable shortlist.
- The analysis acknowledges candidate limitations honestly (e.g., lack of independent-work competency) and proposes compensatory staffing solutions, showing nuanced critical thinking.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates competency-based workforce segmentation — a structured HR technique in which specific performance dimensions are used sequentially to filter a large employee pool. The author first applies a single high-priority competency (change management) to generate an initial list, then applies an overall performance threshold to produce a final, prioritized shortlist. This two-stage filtering approach is a recognizable and practical method in applied HR management.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with an organizational context section that frames the business case, followed by a requirements section detailing budget, headcount, and skill needs. Two selection sections then address the project manager and supporting staff roles, respectively, before a dedicated section applies the competency model to physician recruitment. A brief conclusion summarizes the decision framework and restates strategic alignment. The structure follows a logical planning sequence — from problem identification through candidate selection — appropriate for a graduate-level applied HR case.
Introduction and Strategic Context
KGW HealthCare has identified several potential opportunities arising from external pressures the organization has faced. Healthcare is increasingly driven by cost constraints and intensifying market competition. To meet these challenges, the organization must remain nimble, flexible, and responsive to the general environment and emerging trends if it is to stay competitive. This awareness led the executive management team to conclude that it is a worthwhile use of organizational resources to explore an opportunity identified through strategic analysis of both the internal and external environment.
Consistent with this initiative, a subsequent opportunity was identified to retain human resources deemed excess in the operations department and transition these employees into new roles within the organization. The project selected involves creating and launching a series of "community wellness centers" designed to promote healthy living. Programming under this initiative would include nutrition and weight management, exercise, smoking cessation, and "graceful aging" programs, among other related offerings. The purpose of this analysis is to build a staffing strategy that supports the company's strategic objectives by identifying employees — particularly within operations — who are best suited to lead this exploratory project.
Project Requirements and Budget Parameters
The first step in this project is to accurately identify the selection requirements, budgetary circumstances, and primary objectives relevant to the initiative. This includes translating strategic goals from executive management into pragmatic, tactical terms so that HR can convert the proposed initiative into a workable decision-making framework. The case outlines the relevant circumstances as follows:
- Transferring current employees to the new department addresses two problems simultaneously: reducing excess staff (primarily in the operating divisions) while providing experienced personnel for the outreach program.
- The outreach department will initially have a staff of 14–16 employees, with an annual staff budget of approximately $1,800,000 to cover both salary and benefits costs for the group.
- The department will require skills in education, communications, sales or marketing, and public relations, as well as relevant clinical specialties.
- Administrative experience and clerical support will also be needed to help build the operating model.
- For reasons of credibility, management has decided that at least two positions will be filled by physicians, who will also be assigned to contact other medical practitioners likely to refer patients to the new wellness clinics.
- Healthcare professionals — including nurse practitioners, clinical specialists, and physician's assistants — would also be valuable additions, as they can provide unique perspectives and expertise in designing the new model and ensuring a successful transition from the project phase into a concrete operating model.
- Employees from the operating division should be selected as much as possible to fill the roles, balancing the human resource allocation needs of both the new project and the primary organization.
- A one-time incentive pool of $50,000 is available as a recruiting tool.
Selecting the Project Manager
It is reasonable to conclude that the most critical person on this project will be the project manager, who bears ultimate responsibility for leading the effort. This position requires a diverse skill set beyond traditional management capabilities and, notably, an expertise in change management. With these criteria in mind, the ideal candidate to head this initiative is Employee 1.
Employee 1 — Regional Manager, reporting to V.P. of Operations (Employee 2)
Employee 1 fits multiple selection criteria and is a highly competent professional, as evidenced by her broad skill set and current level of responsibility. As a regional manager who reports to the VP of Operations — the department that is the ideal source for filling these positions — it makes sense to open a dialogue with her first to gauge her interest in the role.
However, a review of Employee 1's competencies revealed one area of concern: she does not appear to demonstrate a strong competency in independent work. It would be prudent to explore this limitation further. That said, the project manager position would likely require relatively little independent work; her role would largely consist of managing the interpersonal dimensions of the project in a group or team format. If this limitation is confirmed, an office manager with strong attention-to-detail capabilities could be selected to complement Employee 1's skill set and fulfill the more autonomous, detail-oriented requirements of the role.
Conclusion and Staffing Recommendations
In order to fill the requirements for the new wellness outreach project, a decision-making model was developed that identified the highest-rated employees in the key competencies identified, as well as their overall performance. It was first recommended that Employee 1, a regional manager in operations, be considered for the project manager leadership role. If Employee 1 is selected, it was also recommended that a staff assistant with a complementary skill set be chosen — Employee 3 from operations was proposed for this purpose.
It was further recommended that at least one, and preferably two, high-performing physicians be engaged to help define the operating model and strengthen the project's likelihood of success. The change management competency was used first to segment the total HR population, and a smaller subset of physicians who scored at least 4.5 on overall competencies was then identified as the final candidate pool.
The logic behind this segmentation is straightforward: the most critical positions should be filled with the organization's most qualified personnel. While the project will ultimately require a full team effort to succeed, identifying key leaders first is a sound and practical approach. This methodology supports the executive management team's strategic objectives while making responsible use of the available human capital across the organization.
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