Discussion Question

Promoting Successful Operational Planning and Implementation

How do health care organizations translate a strategic plan into day-to-day operations? For this Discussion, you will examine the intricacies of operational planning as well as how an organization can help to ensure the plan is implemented well.

You and your colleagues have been assigned to small groups for this Discussion. If the group configuration is the same as in the previous week's Discussion, you may keep the same facilitator or choose someone else to serve in that role.

Prepare for this Discussion as follows:

Examine the Annual Plan Overview document located on the initial Week 4 Discussion area. (You may want to keep this document open in a seperate window) This document provides a brief summary of operational planning decisions this organization has made. It presents strategic goals, key initiatives to achieve goals, and the measures that will be used for evaluation.

Select one of the goals identified in this document. Each group member should address a different goal; reserve the goal you would like to address by posting your name and the goal to this Discussion forum.

As you examine this document, think about the actions that are needed to turn a strategic plan into operational reality. How does an organization determine which actions will help to fulfill its strategic objectives? How does it make decisions regarding resource allocation?

Review the information presented in the Learning Resources as needed. With this information in mind, consider the following:

• What are some of the key success factors that might affect implementation?

• What are some of the barriers that may adversely impact implementation?

What considerations might need to be addressed with regard to:

• Physician involvement?
• Human resources?
• Organizational culture?
• Capital expenditures?

Post a response to the following:

• Identify the goal you have selected from the "Annual Plan Overview" document in the first line of your posting.Analyze issues related to operational planning for your selected goal. Describe key steps of operational planning and the considerations related to resource allocation with particular reference to this goal.

• Evaluate two or more success factors and two or more potential barriers that might influence implementation of the initiatives to achieve this goal. Explain why each of these is important and propose recommendations for addressing them.