Strategic Management and Leader Innovation

Question One

There are several ways that a DNP-prepared nurse can be more involved in strategic management decisions. First, a DNP-prepared nurse can join the leadership teams in his/her organization. Each organization has one or more leadership teams or committees. These teams play a central role in making strategic management decisions. These decisions determine the short-term and long-term activities within an organization. However, poor or zero representation of a certain group of employees may result in poor decision-making (Kools, 2020). The inclusion of a DNP-prepared nurse in such teams is vital in ensuring the decisions made align with the experiences of nurses and can adequately help the organization attain its objectives effectively.

Second, the nurse can carry out regular employee surveys to get the feedback of his/her team members or subordinates. Such surveys are vital in learning the workers’ satisfaction levels, ideas, and opinions (Makadok, 2018). The feedback from such surveys can help a DNP-prepared nurse make better decisions during the strategic management process. Since strategic management entails the proper management of the resources of an organization to attain its objectives and goals, the feedback received by a DNP-prepared nurse will ensure that the organization focuses its efforts on the appropriate issues rather than deal with obsolete ones.

Finally, a DNP-prepared nurse can take up an advocacy role. Advocacy is essential in ensuring that the voices of all stakeholders are heard and that decision-makers are aware of the issues that are important to them. A DNP-prepared nurse can be an advocate for people who are not part of the strategic management team to ensure that during the decision-making process, the management comes up with initiatives that are important to all stakeholders.

Question Two

There are various initiatives, which the DNP-prepared nurse can employ to build a culture of quality and safety. First, the DNP-prepared nurse can initiate the commitment of leadership to quality and safety. All members of the leadership team must be truly committed to the culture if the rest of the organization is to follow suit. The leadership should not only use words to promote the desired culture but should also express their desires through observable actions. Therefore, the leadership team should show a willingness to direct organizational resources towards programs aimed at improved quality and safety.

Second, the DNP-prepared nurse should empower employees to adopt a culture of quality and safety. The employees should be actively involved in coming up with strategies aimed at ensuring quality and safety are at the heart of everything they do. When employees are involved in decision-making exercises, they are more likely to be committed to ensuring the success of the venture (Murray, Sundin, & Cope, 2018). This is because they will feel valued and will be implementing decisions that they actively made. The training of the employees towards the adoption of the new culture will also be crucial in empowering them. They will gain the skills and knowledge necessary to appraise each situation they are faced with and react accordingly based on the established culture.

Finally, the DNP-prepared nurse can promote life-long organizational learning. All errors related to quality and safety will be considered learning opportunities. Hence, both organizational and human errors will allow the organization to carry out incident analysis to understand what caused the problem and how to avoid it in the future. Rather than hiding any error made, each employee will be open about his/her mistake to ensure that organization learns from it and is more vigilant in the future regarding its safety and quality practices.

References

Kools, M. (2020). Debate: The learning organization: A key construct linking strategic planning and strategic management. Public Money & Management, 40(4), 262-264.

Makadok, R. (2018). A practical guide for making theory contributions in strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 39(6), 1530-1545.

Murray, M., Sundin, D., & Cope, V. (2018). The nexus of nursing leadership and a culture of safer patient care. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 27(5-6), 1287-1293.

Week 3 Discussion: Introduction to Project Management

Question 1

Scope is the backbone of any project. Whenever a person manages a project, they neither want to aim too small nor too big. Rather, they prefer that the size of their project is the ideal size: small enough to be an attainable goal and large enough to meet all deliverables of a project. These elements are defined by the project scope. Moustafaev (2018) defines project scope as “a way to set boundaries on a project and define the project deliverables deadlines, and goals that one will be working towards.” The scope is the backbone of a project since it allows one to attain objectives and goals without overwork or delay. Defining the scope ideally occurs during the initial phase of project planning. It often entails coming up with a list of all that is required to establish the project’s framework. The list may include things like deliverables, goals, tasks, functions, features, costs, and deadlines.

Scope must be accurately assessed by the project manager. Moustafaev (2018) states that when a project manager accurately assesses the scope of a project, he/she will effectively map out all elements of the project and adequately allocate the necessary resources and labor required to complete the project. The assessment of the scope is covered through three phases. First, there is planning where the project manager defines and captures the work that ought to be carried out. Second, there is controlling where the project manager deals with issues like documenting, scope creep, and the tracking and approving/disapproving of changes. Finally, there is the closing where a project manager audits the deliverables of a project and evaluates the original plan’s outcomes. The accurate assessment of the scope ensures all stakeholders know exactly what is required of them to attain the final deliverables.

Question 2

Issues that occur during a project are frequently related to the scope. In any project, stakeholders often have their individual expectations of what the project ought to achieve. Engaging all these stakeholders will help in collaboratively coming up with specific deliverables while managing their expectations (Ahmad, Rehman, & Ilyas, 2019). A project always has certain risks, which must be identified early in order to minimize their occurrence and come up with mitigating actions in case they are realized. A project will also require extensive budgeting to ensure that the planning of resources is done as required. The hiring of the right personnel to carry out the project is another vital factor that contributes to project success. All these issues are tied to the scope of the project, the proper definition of the project scope will allow the project manager to plan for all these issues effectively.

Consequently, poorly defined scope statements are often linked to project problems or even failed projects. For starters, a poorly defined scope statement will result in the project requirements constantly changing. Due to an unclear scope, the stakeholders may be regularly adding their inputs into the design and deliverables of the project. The requirements of the project will be constantly revaluated mid-project. This will result in the ineffective implementation of the project (Collins, Parrish, & Gibson Jr., 2017). A poorly defined scope statement will also result in the project manager being unable to budget appropriately. Due to the addition of new project deliverables, additional funds may have to be sourced in order to complete the project. Also, there may be a need to hire more personnel to suit the new dynamics of the project. Finally, a poorly defined scope statement may result in outcomes that are contrary to client expectations. A good scope statement will ensure that all stakeholders know the exact goals of a project and the subsequent deliverables that are expected.

References

Ahmad, R., Rehman, C. A., & Ilyas, M. (2019). Linking the project scope with project success: The moderating role of managerial expertise in IT. Research, 20(4), 815-824.

Collins, W., Parrish, K., & Gibson Jr., G. E. (2017). Development of a project scope definition and assessment tool for small industrial construction projects. Journal of Management in Engineering, 33(4), 04017015.

Moustafaev, J. (2018). Project scope management. CRC Press.