Environmental changes Essay

Organizations adapt to environmental changes such as the adoption of a new technology, a change in market dynamic or new regulatory policies and as such the Affordable Care Act was put into place (Frates, 2014). The Affordable Care Act puts consumers back in charge of their health care. Under the law, a new â€Å"Patient’s Bill of Rights† gives the American people the stability and flexibility they need to make informed choices about their health (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2014). This has made leaders feel as if the government is making all the health decisions about a patient instead of allowing the physicians to do so. With that said, leaders must apply strategic management into their organizations by creating short term strategic planning which allows the office to meet incremental milestones on the path to an ultimate goal creates an opportunity to highlight achievements, identify and resolve setbacks, and encourage forward motion (Burger & Giger, 2014). Contingency Theory and Resource Dependence Theory are applicable to health care organizations due to the environmental dependency. With health care as unpredictable as it is having both theories used allows the facilities to be prepared for multiple different outcomes. Frates, J. (2014). Health care management: Theory in action. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Burger, J., & Giger, A. (2014, February 13). How Healthcare Organizations Can Improve This Year. Retrieved from http://businessjournal.gallup.com/content/167108/healthcare-organizations-improve-year.aspx U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2014, October 2). About the Law | HHS.gov/healthcare. Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/rights/ Markets have been increasingly complex, turbulent, and interrelated. Actual and potential opportunities and threats to an organization’s existing market(s) must be identified and evaluated (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson, 2013). Today’s business environment requires the decision makers to shape the organization as a dynamic organization that can rapidly initiate and implement strategic processes and respond quickly to strategic changes in the industry or to strategic processes of competitors in as short a period of time as possible. This Discussion also asks: How can healthcare leaders apply strategic management to their organizations? Healthcare leaders can apply strategic management to their organizations by ensuring all the task and activities include it in small bits and pieces of the change. Once that change is completed with no problems a new task can be added to the list. Sometimes smaller changes go unnoticed and are quicker to be accepted than a larger change that employees feel are pushed onto them.