Examine the overall strategy and implementation your group devised to address the different aspects of the company merger.
Facilitation and Negotiation Skills
My group, after the discussion, devised open and effective communication as the overall strategy that was to be implemented to address all aspects of the hospital merger and resolve any challenges experienced after the hospitals merged. Effective communication involves a timely exchange of that information while creating an understanding of the intentions of the information shared. This means ensuring clarity of the message conveyed. On the other hand, open communication is transparent, consistent, and without judgment (Chakraborty & Ganguly, 2019). Therefore, through effective and open communication, we will focus on sharing information in a timely and more understandable manner and allowing the giving and receiving of feedback from the stakeholders. Through effective and open collaboration, we expected to overcome these challenges and easily integrate the two workplace cultures, improve collaboration, and have the entire workforce on the same page. Effective communication in hospital mergers and acquisitions is essential for creating effective synergies supporting inter-organizational collaborations (Aunger et al., 2021). Open communication is a collaborative communication activity that supports the development of full employee engagement in the organization’s operations(Chakraborty & Ganguly, 2019).
To implement effective and open communication, we will first divide the stakeholders into various groups based on their roles and how the merger will impact them. The shared information will be tailored to the needs of each stakeholder group. The next step will involve setting a timeline of how each piece of information will be shared with each group and when it will be shared. The next will ensure that the information shared will answer the questions of each group. Finally, more details will be shared as the merger grows and develops.
What were the major factors and considerations led your group to make the strategic decisions for the merger?
The decisions for the hospital merger were much driven by the existing and projected forces, which are expected to impact the healthcare industry with a market disruption. Our overall goal was to be able to provide less costly healthcare services of the highest quality by reducing our cost of operations while improving our operational capacity. Therefore, our first reason for making the strategic decision to merge the hospitals was the growing competition from the larger health systems, which were commanding a larger portion of the market due to their operational capacity. The merger was also projected to improve the capital capacity of the hospital after pooling the capital from both hospitals. This would allow the facility to expand and have the capacity to invest in modern equipment and research, employ quality staff, and support current professional development. We aimed to improve the capacity of the hospital to be able to compete fairly with other providers. The merger was a guarantee to improve the volume of current services, including complex surgeries and treatments. The long-held belief is that hospital mergers improve hospital efficiency, care accessibility, quality, and costs (Beaulieu et al., 2020). Additionally, a higher volume of services offered creates the picture of quality outcomes, making it a competitive advantage.