SWOT Analysis And HR Strategies Of Cleveland Clinic

1. First, using the required template, conduct a SWOT analysis for your organization’s HR, identifying their internal strengths and weaknesses, along with the external opportunities and threats (Note: Assumptions may need to be made based on company background available).

2. Next, identify your organization’s top 3-5 business strategies (assumptions and critical thinking will need to be used).

3. Conduct an HR Gap Analysis and identify what HR strategies are in place to support the key 3-5 strategies of your chosen organization. In contrasting current HR strategies against the key strategies of that organization, gaps will likely be identified.

4. Since strategies are rarely made public, since competitors would find that very helpful to them, you will need to make assumptions about what they are, and you can do this based on the company’s website and their 10-k Form (https://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html).

5. These gaps in HR strategies are needed to support the company’s planned direction as depicted in their key strategies, and will, together with the findings of the SWOT analysis, become the new HR strategies in the next HR Operating Plan.

SWOT Analysis of Cleveland Clinic’s HR Department

Human Resource department is designed to maximize the performance of employees to achieve the desired results in an organization. HR focuses on the managing employees in the company’s from the stage of receiving job application up to entire work life of an employee with the organization. Every HR department has some strengths and weaknesses that affect the working of HR policies of the organization. The HR department also has some opportunities and threats existed in the environment of business that can affect the HR managers to perform desired actions to get better results for HR practices. For knowing these facts, SWOT analysis tool is used which is HR SWOT Analysis (Belhaj & Tkiouat , 2017). In this report, such analysis is performed out against the HR Management of Cleveland Clinic. It is a multispecialty academic hospital owned and managed by Cleveland Clinic Foundation which is a Non-Profit Organization. This hospital is operated in Cleveland, Ohio. The clinic also provide its facilities in the states of Nevada and Florida along with the United Arab Emirates and Canada at international level. This report describes the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the HR department of the organization. Further HR gap analysis has been performed after identifying the difference between key strategies of the organization and the HR department. On the basis of the analysis, an annual operating HR Plan has been suggested to the organization for the effective management of HR practices (Kaur & Kumar, 2013).

• HR department of the organization provides medical insurance form the lower level employees to the management level employees. It secures the health expenses of the employees and develops a sense of taking care of employees by the organization.
• The HR department uses up to date practices and technology to hire the professionals like skill test, interview rounds, knowledge of the required function as well as their behavior knowledge to work in the organization. On the basis of above the results of all tests and interviews, HR managers hire highly skilled professionals to work in the organization and to serve the community(Bagheri, 2016).
• HR department provides free medical treatment facility to the family members of the employees. It attracts the employees to work with the organization and to take advantages of such facilities.
• The organization provides a healthy working environment for the employees where they can easily discuss each other on the professional matters. The infrastructure of the Hospital is also designed as per the requirements of employees so they can provide the services to the patients without any extra mental pressure(Osita, R., & Justina, 2014).
• HR department pressurizes on the hiring of diversified force so that the knowledge and skills of the different regions and cultures can be used in serving the society.
• The organization works with the Norms of WHO and HR department also follows the same at the time of concerning the health of employees.

• The HR department is weak in providing training to the professionals to keep them up to date with the new practices and technology(Wijngaarden, Scholten, & Wijk, 2012).
• As the Clinic works under the control of a Non-Profit Organization, the remuneration package offered to employees is very low in comparison to its competitors. This is the main weakness of the organization which works as a barrier in the recruitment of a highly qualified professional.
• The HR department also does not put more efforts to retain the employees which is the reason for the increasing attrition rate of employees.
• The HR department does not invest in the training and development of employees due to non-availability of sufficient funds and financial resources. This is one of the main weaknesses of Cleveland Clinic in comparison to its competitors(Arshad, Noordin, & Othman, 2017).

• The HR department can take advantage of its goodwill in the healthcare industry to attract the outside talent.
• It can focus on the training programs of the staff to enhance their knowledge and information about the latest trends and technologies.
• The diversified force is also an opportunity for the HR department to treat the patients in the most effective manner(Esteves, Agarwal, Cho, & Majzoub, 2017).

• The organization also uses external consultants to hire the employees which creates the chances of loss of some confidential information about the HR department.
• The HR manages of the organization keep changing frequently and every time e new manager takes some time to understand the working of the organization which may create a threat for the organization in terms of losing important opportunities.
• Lower remuneration can increase the attrition rate of the employees.
• The expenses done on employees can be decreased because the organization is not getting any profit in monetary terms.
• The competitors are providing more salaries so there are chances of migration of employees.

The organization is making the investment in population health management and primary care for meeting the needs of the fast-changing healthcare market. Any major disease can be prevented at initial states by providing effective primary health care. The main strategy of the hospital to provide primary health services to the patients so the severe health issues can be prevented (Cleveland County Health Department 2012-2015, Strategic Plan, 2012).

The organization aims at the employee engagement from the very initial stage of the operations and practices. The management of Cleveland Clinic holds a view that it cannot get success in the long run without the engagement of its employees. To keep the staff engaged and interested in the work of the hospital, the management uses various performance methods like promotions, appraisals rewards, and recognition etc.

The company uses the patient awareness as one of its main strategy to achieve the objectives of the business. Patient awareness includes two types of information to be provided to the patients. One is related to the cure against the disease and another is related to the communicating services of the hospital related to the treatments provided by the hospital. The hospital organizes conferences and seminars for the general public to provide the information about the diseases (Reddy, Lam, Bauer, & Guzman, 2015).

HR Strategies of Cleveland Clinic

It helps Cleveland Clinic to enhance the quality and performance of its human resources. As the organization wishes to differentiate itself from its competitors by focusing on service quality, it invests the heavy amount in the training and development of employees to provide best quality services to the patients and society (Cleveland Clinic, 2007).

The HR department of Cleveland Clinic uses below-mentioned strategies to achieve the organizational objectives as well as to serve the society in the best possible manner.

It is a set of functions and practices used by the HR department to determine the future needs of the organization in terms of professional manpower. On the basis of identification, the HR department recruits qualified professionals within the interest of the organization. This strategy has been introduced on the basis of systematic development of business and corporative strategies of the organization so that staffing practices can be meshed up with other strategic elements. For example, if the organizational strategies include a reduction in the workforce then HR department would focus on the retaining of capable employees and terminate others (Rendon, Burnett, Helms, Goot, & Streiff, 2017).

The main strategy of HR department at the time of hiring the employees is the recruitment of employees on the basis of capabilities and not the basis of physical appearances, caste, races, gender, values, and religions. It increases the chances of hiring capable and qualifies employees to provide high-level services to the society. It also increases the goodwill of the organization in terms of diversified force and welfare of society.

HRM of Cleveland Clinic emphasis to follow downward communication in the organization. This type of communication does not allow the operational level employees to support in the decision making of managers and upper-level management. This is the main reason for the dissatisfaction of employees as their opinions are not considered and they are bound to follow the decisions taken by management without any failure. The HR Department emphasis to follow this strategy so that the chances of occurring conflicts regarding the different opinions of employees can be reduced (Prabawati, Meirinawati, & AOktariyanda, 2018).

• The organization aims in providing the higher level satisfaction to its employees with the employee engagement strategy. On the other hand, the HR department does not allow the employees to participate and give their opinions in the decision-making process. There is a gap in the strategy of the HR department and the organization.
• The organization aims at providing best level training to the employees and staff for the purpose of providing best services in comparison to its competitors. On the other hand, the HR department of the organization aims at recruiting the best capable staff instead of emphasizing the training programmes. Hence, there is a lack of developmental policies form the Human Resource Department side(Ferreira & Abbad, 2013).
• The company also aims at the strategy of patient awareness at the time of treatment and during seminars and training and development programmes. The HR department of the organization does not hire any specialists for such purpose. The task of patient awareness is performed by the doctors and nurses during their free time which results in consuming the time of employees and decreasing the productivity of the organization(Human Resources Strategy for Researchers, 2016).

On the basis of above analysis, New Human Resource Operating Plan can be discussed as follows:

On the basis of above discussion, it can be recommended to the HR Department of Cleveland Clinic that, it should create its strategies according to the organizational strategies. It will automatically cover the welfare and wellbeing of the employees and staff as the organization is also committed to providing satisfaction to its employees. For this purpose, the HR department should consider the areas of strategies gap and should work accordingly (Patrnchak J. M., 2015).

New Human Resource Operating Plan for Cleveland Clinic

Conclusion:

On the basis of the above study, it can be concluded that the well-functioning of the human resources of an organization is the main reason for its long-term success. For such purpose, the HR department of the organization should be well structured and well aware of its duties and responsibilities as in the above-mentioned case of Cleveland Clinic. The HR department of the organization is well aware of its duties and responsibilities up to some extent. The HR department has some strengths which can be used to take the advantages of the opportunities occurring in the healthcare industry like hiring professionals on the basis of goodwill and good image of the organization. There is a lack in some areas in the organizational strategy and HR strategy. For the purpose of covering this gap, the HR department is suggested to follow the above-mentioned HR Operation plan so that it can work in the direction of achieving organizational goals. This report emphasis on the fact that if the human resource and staff of an organization feels satisfied, then it can also provide satisfaction to the target people or patients. The healthcare industry works with a motive of the wellbeing of the society and for this purpose, the employees engaged in this task should feel healthy physically as well as mentally.

References:

Arshad, A., Noordin, M. F., & Othman, R. B. (2017). A Synthesis on SWOT Analysis of Public Sector Healthcare Knowledge Management Information Systems in Pakistan. International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, 8(8), 130-136.

Bagheri, J. (2016). Overlaps between human resources’ strategic planning and strategic management tools in public organizations. Social and Behavioral Sciences, 230, 430-438.

Belhaj, R., & Tkiouat, M. (2017). A new Framework of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) Based on Quantitative and Qualitative Data. American Journal of Applied Sciences, 14(2), 286-293.

Cleveland Clinic. (2007). Retrieved July 14, 2018, from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/ccf/media/files/About/CC_Annual_Report_2007.pdf

Cleveland County Health Department 2012-2015, Strategic Plan. (2012). Retrieved July 14, 2018, from https://clevelandcounty.com/cchd/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/2012-2015-Strategic-Plan.pdf

Esteves, S. C., Agarwal, A., Cho, C. L., & Majzoub, A. (2017). A Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) analysis on the clinical utility of sperm DNA fragmentation testing in specific male infertility scenarios. Translational Andrology and Urology, 6(4), 734-760.

Ferreira, R. R., & Abbad, G. (2013). Where We Are and Where We. Training Needs Assessment, 10(1), 77-99.

Human Resources Strategy for Researchers. (2016). Retrieved July 14, 2018, from https://www.ifmpan.poznan.pl/documents/HRS4R-Internal-gap-analysis-and-action-plan.pdf

Kaur, J., & Kumar, V. (2013). COMPETENCY MAPPING: A GAP ANALYSIS. International Journal of Education and Research, 1(1), 1-9.

L.Deadrick, D., & Gibson, P. A. (2009). Revisiting the research-practice gap in HR: A longitudinal analysis. Human Resource Management Review, 19(2), 144-153. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/System04086/Downloads/INTERNALANALYSIS2014rev2.pdf

Osita, I. C., R., I. O., & Justina, N. (2014). Organization's stability and productivity: the role of SWOT analysis an acronym for strength, weakness, opportunities, and threat. International Journal of Innovative and Applied Research, 2(9), 23-32.

Patrnchak, J. M. (2013). Building an engaged workforce at Cleveland Clinic. Journal of Healthcare Leadership, 20(3), 9-20.

Patrnchak, J. M. (2015). Implementing Servant Leadership at Cleveland Clinic: A Case Study in Organizational Change. Servant Leadership: Theory and Practice, 2(1), 36-48.

Prabawati, I., Meirinawati, & AOktariyanda, T. (2018). Competency-based training model for human resource management and. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 953, 1-6.

Reddy, A. J., Lam, S. W., Bauer, S. R., & Guzman, J. A. (2015). Lactic acidosis: Clinical implications and management strategies. CLEVELAND CLINIC JOURNAL OF MEDICINE, 82(9), 615-624.

Rendon, P., Burnett, A. E., Helms, J. Z., Goot, T., & Streiff, M. B. (2017). Optimizing diagnostic testing for venous thromboembolism. Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine, 84(7), 545-554.

Wijngaarden, J. D., Scholten, G. R., & Wijk, K. P. (2012). Strategic analysis for health care organizations: the suitability of the SWOT-analysis. International journal of health planning and management, 27, 34-49.