Improving department quality performance with interdepartmental integration

Qing Li, Wiljeana Glover, Eitan Naveh, Michael Gross

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

Abstract

In balancing the differentiation and integration of subunits within complex systems, organizations often face challenges in deciding the appropriate level of interdepartmental mechanisms. The present paper seeks to explain some apparent paradoxes in current literature relating to the effects of integration on departmental performance, specifically quality. Collecting quantitative data on thirty-one departments at a medium-sized community hospital in Israel, this study explores the interaction of the integrative facets (i.e. centralization, formal coordination, informal cooperation) and departmental characteristics (i.e. external perspective, collectivism, environmental predictability) in improving departmental quality. Through the use of Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM), researchers identified the department characteristics that most significantly affected these integrative facets. Results provide a framework for maximizing departmental quality through the manipulation of formal coordination in accordance with the degree of intra-department environmental predictability.

Original languageEnglish
Pages1061-1067
Number of pages7
StatePublished - 2013
EventIIE Annual Conference and Expo 2013 - San Juan, Puerto Rico
Duration: 18 May 201322 May 2013

Conference

ConferenceIIE Annual Conference and Expo 2013
Country/TerritoryPuerto Rico
CitySan Juan
Period18/05/1322/05/13

Keywords

  • Departmental characteristics
  • Hospital systems
  • Integration
  • Performance improvement
  • Quality

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Improving department quality performance with interdepartmental integration'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this