Effect of organizational structure, leadership and communication on efficiency and productivity : A qualitative study of a public health-care organization

• Main Authors: Zbirenko, Alena, Andersson, Johanna
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Umeå universitet, Företagsekonomi 2014
• Subjects: Optimisation; organisational structure; leadership; communication
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-91357

This thesis has been written on commission by Laboratoriemedicin VLL, which is a part of region’s hospital. The organization did not work as efficiently as it could, and senior managers have encountered various problems. We have been asked to estimate the situation, analyze it, and come up with solutions which could increase efficiency and productivity; in other words, increase organizational performance. After preliminary interview with the senior manager, we have identified our areas of the interest: organizational structure, leadership, and communication.   This preliminary interview made us very interested at the situation at Laboratoriemedicin, and helped us to formulate our research question: “How do organizational structure, leadership, and communication affect productivity and efficiency of the public health-care organization?” Moreover, it made our research have two purposes, one of academic character, and one of practical character. The academic purpose is in investigating relationship between organizational structure, leadership, and communication and organizational performance, i.e. efficiency and productivity. The practical purpose is in giving analysis-based recommendations about possible ways to increase productivity and efficiency to Laboratoriemedicin VLL.   In order to find out the answer to the research question and to fulfill both purposes of the research, we have conducted a qualitative research. This has been done by interviewing ten people working at Laboratoriemedicin. We have tried to talk to representatives of different layers of the organization to make our research more diversificated and complete. These semi-structured interviews resulted in qualitative data, which had been processed and analyzed using coding technique.   The findings of our research revealed that structure, leadership, and communication affect efficiency and productivity. Structure defines how productive the operational processes are; leadership affects the whole personnel and the way they strive for achieving their goal; communication affects how fast things are getting done and how happy and willing personnel are. Additionally, we have spotted two areas affecting the relationship between structure, communication, leadership, and organizational performance: development issues and personal issues. Moreover, we have found that leadership and organization are the most problematic spots in Laboratoriemedicin. After careful analysis of the situation we have come up with the list of suggestions that can help the organization to achieve increased efficiency and productivity.