A Descriptive Analysis of an Organization in Transition

Abstract

The problem. The problem was concerned with the need for Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa, to determine whether its renewal efforts aimed at increasing the participation of upper, middle, and lower management personnel were successful. In addition, the hospital needed a baseline with which to compare future evaluations of the management system in the process of organizational renewal. Procedures. In this study, a modified version of Rensis Likert's Profile of Organizational Analysis was administered to 50 hospital management personnel. These subjects were divided into three groups--the administrative team, the department heads, and the supervisory personnel. Each subject made two responses, in the form of personal perceptions, to each of 19 items on the research instrument. These responses, the way the subject felt the management system of the hospital is and the way they felt it ought to be were profiled on Likert's four management systems to ascertain whether there were any differences in the perceptions. A t-test was applied to the mean differences of the is and the ought perceptions of each group on the six organizational characteristics that were measured on the Profile. An analysis of variance was made on the is perceptions of the three groups to see if there were any intergroup differences in those perceptions. The data obtained in these analyses were used to describe the management system at Mercy Hospital. Findings. There are significant differences in the way the management personnel surveyed in this study perceived the management system that exists at Mercy Hospital and the management system they desire to exist there. There is no significant difference in the way the three groups perceived the management system as it exists at the hospital. Conclusions. Even though the hospital has been involved in a renewal effort to increase the participation of the upper, middle, and lower management personnel, that renewal process has not been completed. In spite of the differences in the way the groups perceive the organization as it is and as it ought to be, there is no significant difference between the groups in their perceptions of the present management system regardless of their hierarchal position or their involvement in the renewal process. Recommendations. Based on the findings in this study, is recommended that the hospital continue its renewal efforts that an ongoing process of evaluation of the organizational style be instituted. In addition, further research be undertaken to determine why there were no significant differences in the perceptions of the three groups in the sample regardless of their involvement in the renewal program or their organizational position.