Final Strategic Plan

Running head: Analyzing Internal Environment

Kaiser Permanente

Analyzing Internal Environment

Qiana Reynolds

Lisa Diesel

STR-581

May 15, 2017

Introduction

Kaiser Permanente (KP) is an integrated and a non-profit managed care consortium which is b y Oakland, California. Kaiser Permanente comprises of three independent and distinct group of entities example Kaiser Foundation Health Plan (KFHP), Kaiser Foundation Hospitals as well as regional Permanente Medical Groups (Kemper, 2014). Kaiser Permanente acts as an umbrella for the Federation of for-profit medical groups. Kaiser Permanente founders were industrialist Henry J. Kaiser together with his friend physician Sidney R. Garfield in 1945. Quality care provided by Kaiser Permanente is rated highly, and it is attributed to their strong focus on preventive care, the physicians being salaried compare to being paid per service and their affordability (Kemper, 2014).

Internal Environment

Internal environments are how employees and those in the organization undertake their duties in agreement with the mission, vision, and goals of the organization. The internal environment is changeable and controllable through management and planning processes. When analyzing the organization’s internal environment, the skills and resources used are the most significant element involved (Britton, 2017). The internal environment of Kaiser Permanente comprises of elements such as management, current employees and corporate culture which defines the behaviors of the employees. The present number of employees in Kaiser Permanente is 186,497 of which 18,652 are physicians. Some of the elements of the internal environment affect the company as a whole while other affects the management of the organization. A manager’s leadership or philosophical style affects the employees directly (Britton, 2017).

Another element is the mission statement of an organization. The mission statement for Kaiser Permanente is providing high quality and affordable care services and improving the healthcare of all communities and members they serve ("Kaiser Permanente," 2017) . The mission statement describes the primary purpose of Kaiser Permanente. The mission statement includes attributes which the organization from its competitors. The mission statement also reveals the philosophy of the organization and the values of an organization. An effective mission identifies and is centered on the customers served by the organization, products and services produced, location and philosophy of the organization (Britton, 2017).

Another important element of the internal environment of Kaiser Permanente is its organizational culture. It is simply the organization’s personality. Organizations have a different personality just like people do. Organization culture distinguishes the organization from its competitors and also shapes the actions of its shareholders. Organization’s culture is made up of four major components i.e. values, social network, heroes, and rites and rituals. Values refer to fundamental beliefs which define the employees’ success in a company (Britton, 2017) . The Hero is an exemplary individual who reflects attitudes, image, and values of the company as well as it serve as role model to the workers. Social network refers to the informal communication means within a company. Rites and rituals finally refer to ceremonies or routines which an organization uses so as to recognize the high-performing employees (Stoffels, 2011).

Next important element of the internal environment is resources. The resources of Kaiser Permanente include infrastructure, information, employees, facilities, supplies, equipment, machinery, and finances at a company’s disposal. Employees are an important resource for all organizations. Materials, information, equipment, facilities, finances and supplies are nonhuman and supporting resources which complement the employees in the quest to accomplish the organization’s goals and mission statement. Availability of resources and ways in which management values both human and nonhuman resources affects the organization’s internal environment (Kemper, 2014).

Strengths and Weaknesses

Some areas of strength and weaknesses have been realized after a thorough analysis of the leadership style of Kaiser Permanente within its internal environment. Some of the areas of strength are improved and favorable relationship between management, employees, and customers unlike in many organizations where the relationship is sour. This kind of relationship makes all those involved feels recognized and is part of the organization. Another strength is the creation of employment. Kaiser Permanente is a source of employment to many people in California and others from other regions (Stoffels, 2011). This improves diversity and helps in improving the quality of services they provide. Organization experiences a strong relationship with partners and suppliers as an area strength. This helps the organization to survive and overcome the challenges. Limited barriers to market entry making it easier for Kaiser Permanente to get new customers. Also, the organization has an adequate market size which helps in keeping the organization running. The last strength is that the company has a high growth rate due to the nature of the services they provide (Britton, 2017).

Another area of weaknesses of Kaiser Permanente is that the organization experience lack of strategic relationships which affects its performance. This is a very serious weakness which needs attention so as to improve performance and to outperform the competition. Another weakness is a competitive market in the industry. Competition is high in almost all industries and organizations should come up with strategies which outperform the competitors. The structure of the organization’s business units can be critical, and they require regular monitoring to maintain quality. The final weakness is that there are long adjustment periods in the organization (Britton, 2017).

Most important internal environmental factor in the general, industry, and external analysis about internal analysis

Analyzing the environment of an organization is inclined to the aim of providing significant data and information required to perform the strategic plan effectively. For an organization to maintain its competitive advantage in the entire industry, it must analyze its condition in external and internal environments (Stoffels, 2011). The outcome of environmental analysis will help the organization to implement strategic approaches so as to exploit the opportunities in the operating environment. The organization is also given a chance to prepare so as to adapt the unexpected trends and actions which bring change to it. The most significant factor in the internal environment is optimizing the environment to enable the smooth running of the organization’s operations (Britton, 2017).

Competitor Analysis

Kaiser Permanente is a very competitive organization, and many organizing is striving to reach the quality of services which this organization provides to its customers. The achievement in the healthcare industry is as a result of thorough analysis of both internal and external environments. As the other companies strive to get a market share in the industry, there are chances that Kaiser Permanente may experience a reduction in profits, increase in profits and reduced number of customers depending on how it will manage the environmental elements (Britton, 2017). The importance of competition is that it drives towards innovation and performance. It helps improve quality and regulate prices since there are many companies in the same industry providing similar products and services. Kaiser Permanente also faces competition, and they must do something extra which their competitors have not done so as to outperform them (Kemper, 2014).

Structure and the influence it has on performance

The organizational structure of Kaiser Permanente depends greatly on the internal environment especially the management team of the organization. This is because the management is the body in charge of the general strategic business plan. If the organization loses members of the management team, it would significantly affect the ability of the rest team members to effectively implement strategic business plans (Stoffels, 2011).

Competitive position and the possibility it provides

Kaiser Permanente in its entire setting has a particular competitive position in the overall market according to the analysis of its internal environments. The organization is different from others in the same industries due to how it operates and the quality of services it provides to its customers. Kaiser Permanente has taken the center position in the healthcare industry in the region especially in healthcare delivery and embracing in the digitized provision of healthcare (Kemper, 2014). Many other organization would like to take the title of being the largest integrated and non-profit healthcare delivery system in the U.S. However, as a result of the analysis of both external and internal environments, Kaiser Permanente has outperformed the competitors and this trend is likely to continue if they continue with their innovative agenda and provision of quality services (Kemper, 2014).

Conclusion

In conclusion, we can see that analysis of external and internal environment is very important. Kaiser Permanente knows its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Kaiser Permanente understands what it needs to make improvements, opportunities it has to make improvements and vulnerabilities available. It is through analysis of environment that the organization can know the strategies used by competitors and come up with other strategies to outperform them. Competition is important because it drives towards innovation and performance. It also helps in quality and price management.

Britton, C. (2017). Business and internal environment. Boston: Cengage Learning.

Kaiser Permanente. (2017). Retrieved from https://share.kaiserpermanente.org/about-kaiser-permanente/

Kemper, D. W. (2014). Kaiser Permanente. Boston: Pearson Education.

Stoffels, J. D. (2011). Strategic issues management: a comprehensive guide to environmental scanning. New York: Springer.