Organizational culture in healthcare is formed by attitudes, values, and behaviors of workers at all levels, influencing the quality of patient care and an organization’s performance. It can be measured by worker motivation, risk-taking, communication, and positive behaviors towards colleagues and patients. A culture of efficiency, waste reduction, and financial planning can improve services and reduce costs. Managers can foster a good culture by promoting teamwork, individual initiative, and a positive attitude towards change.
Part of organizational psychology attempts to address cultures within organizations and how they form and change. The organizational culture in healthcare is formed by the collective and prevailing attitudes, values and behaviors of workers at all levels. While there are subcultures within healthcare organizations, culture in general influences the quality of patients they receive due to cultural attitudes towards things like cleanliness, timeliness, respect, and dignity. Organizational culture also affects an organization’s ability to be performing and financially viable. If workers within the culture have an attitude towards underperforming and making mistakes, patients and the organization itself will be negatively impacted.
Organizational culture varies among different healthcare organizations and practices. Culture within an organization is created by the attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of the people who work within it. The organizational culture of healthcare cannot be seen or measured but can be experienced by watching and listening to people at work.
An idea of organizational culture can be measured by the collective extent to which workers are motivated, take risks, communicate and work with each other. This can be seen in workers’ attitudes towards colleagues and patients and in their positive or negative behaviours. Organizational culture in healthcare can be described as the collective personality, values and behaviors of workers within an organization.
The role of organizational culture in health care includes the ability to create a quality health service. Workers who have good personal values about what makes for good health care will naturally exhibit work behaviors conducive to quality health care. For example, a manager who believes in the ethos of person-centered care, care that revolves around the needs of the individual rather than the needs of the organization, will instill these concepts in subordinates.
Quality healthcare is also influenced by cultural values such as workers’ attitudes towards patient treatment, waiting times, dignity and respect. If the culture within the organization is one of hard work, care and respect, patients will feel the benefits. An organizational culture in which it is considered acceptable to leave patients waiting for hours in unsanitary conditions will produce very poor health care.
Resources are generally scarce and highly contested in health care, so a culture of efficiency, waste reduction, and financial planning will streamline services, while reducing costs. The overall performance of healthcare organizations is influenced by their organizational culture. Measures such as number of patients treated and survival rates can be improved with a culture of hard work, attention to detail and efficiency. Managers can help foster a good organizational culture by offering rewards and promotions, promoting teamwork or individual initiative, and having a positive attitude towards change and improvement.
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