Strategic Planning Challenges in the Hospital: A Qualitative Study Publisher



Mosadeghrad AM¹ ; Isfahani P²
Source: Payesh Published:2020

Abstract

Objective (s): Strategic planning (SP) is the art and science of strategic analysis of an organization, forecasting changes in an organization’s internal and external environments, articulating strategic goals, developing strategies, and utilization resources to achieve competitive advantage. Iranian hospitals are facing challenges in formulating and implementing strategic plans. Hence, this study aimed to explore and identify strategic planning challenges in hospitals. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with 47 managers of 17 public, private, social security, charity and military hospitals in 2016. Hospitals were selected purposefully from Tehran province hospitals in Iran. Content thematic analysis was used for data analysis using inductive approach. Overall, 8 themes and 34 codes were identified from the data. Results: weak leadership and management, in-effective planning, inappropriate organizational culture, insufficient organizational learning, and ineffective management of employees, patient, resources and processes caused obstacles to effective strategic planning in hospitals. Lack of justification for strategic planning, incompetent strategic planning team, inaapropriate strategic planning model, lack of teamwork morale, poor communication and coordination, inadequate education and training, lack of managers’, employees’ and physicians’ commitment and participation, lack of resources, lack of monitoring and evaluation were the main challenges of strategic planning in hospitals. Conclusion: Hospital managers are facing challenges in strategic planning. If these challenges are not managed well, more problems will occur during strategic plans implementation. Policy makers and managers have to address these barriers before implementing the strategic plans. © 2020, Iranian Institute for Health Sciences Research. All rights reserved.