Strategic Planning and Management: The Importance of Strategic Planning and Management in Today's Healthcare Organizations (Research Paper Sample)

Strategic Planning and Management
Name
Institution
The importance of strategic planning and management in today's healthcare organizations.
Strategic planning in an organization is the process of defining direction or strategy then making decisions on allocation of resources to pursue the strategy. Strategic management, on the other hand, entails setting of objectives, evaluating strategies and ensuring the policies are rolled out across the organization.
Both are essential in health care institutions. Firstly, they help in efficient utilization of resources. They provide the top management with adequate information on which areas to allocate resources based on priorities. For instance, a health care organization may need more funds to the maternity department than to the emergency department. This information is made available due to strategic planning.
Moreover, they facilitate setting goals that challenge everyone in the health organization to strive for better performance. Goals ought to be aggressive but realistic. Let’s say a hospital would like to double the number of beds in the wards. That one is realistic and achievable. Thanks to strategic planning and management ("Better strategic planning", 2012).
Also, they assist in managing uncertainties and risks. This is essential to any organization’s success. Unforeseen occurrences that must be dealt with amicably, before undesirable financial results from these events, become worse. Planning helps develop what if scenarios where managers need to assess risks and contingency ways on how to deal with them ("Special Issue of Strategic Organization: "Strategic Management Theory and Universities", 2015).
Lastly, strategic planning and management enable team building in a health organization. As a result, chances of conflict are minimized.
Competencies
As a graduate in Master of Health Care Administration, I would like to analyze some competencies that I will continue developing while moving forward. They include decision making, collaboration and process involvement.
Critical decision making must be informed by knowledge of the economic and financial factors impacting the delivery of contemporary healthcare services as well as related ethical and legal issues.
Also, collaborating or partnering with individuals within or outside the organization is essential. This goes along with process involvement - making the processes involved in day-to-day healthcare management more effective and efficient requires an understanding of relationships, organizational structure, and quality performance in healthcare management.
Strengths
My strengths primarily lie in making quick and accurate decisions. This promotes effectiveness in operations of a health organization. Leading as an example from the top is always ideal ("Strategic decision-making", 1993).
Weaknesses
I must admit that process involvement can be a challenge to my leadership. Especially when it comes to the involvement of external stakeholders. This is simply because some of these external stakeholders may have the intention of sabotaging your processes for the benefit of their organizations.
Opportunities
The health care field is ripe with many opportunities. This is due to its rapid growth over the years extending to not only medical professionals but also health service managers. Employment of medical and health care managers is projected to grow much faster than any ...