20 Sep Decisions against existing realities while taking into consideration

Introduction

The CFO of a small rural women’s health center within Bright Road Health Care System has received requests from several physicians to purchase a 3D mammography machine. The equipment is state-of-the-art and excellent for early diagnosis, but the women’s health center has limited funds and currently does not have a large incidence of breast cancer diagnosis. In addition to thinking about the impact of the machine on early diagnosis and increasing revenue, the leadership team is keenly aware of the importance of keeping the young physicians happy, in order to retain staff. On the other hand, the Board of Directors has indicated they want to keep a tight control over frivolous spending, as they are uncertain how new regulations like the ACA will impact the solvency of the corporation. You will need to balance the financial concerns, authority of the Board of Directors, public relations/marketing, wishes of the medical staff, operation concerns, and future implications when making a decision.

This scenario illustrates the complexities typically associated with decision-making in firms of varying sizes. The fact is that most of the problems organizations experience are complex, in nature, requiring the active involvement from multiple functional areas to fully understand the nature and scope of the problem, explore viable alternatives, commit to a solution, and then implement, monitor, and make necessary changes to achieve desired outcomes. In addition, this case makes clear the interconnection between operations, economics, finance, marketing, politics, regulations, organizational behavior, leadership, and human resources when it comes to making capital acquisition decisions. In other words, decisions are seldom cut and dry and frequently require thoughtful consideration of many interwoven factors as well as input from key stakeholders. As an operations professional, youre responsible for executing due diligence when determining whether or not to support or put forward proposals. These proposals can be as simple as modifying existing processes or as complex as expanding the company through organic or inorganic growth strategies. You need to be able to weigh decisions against existing realities while taking into consideration future uncertainties.

Directions

Based on their observations, in this scenario, and upon a careful review of the available literature, the student is to consider him- or herself to be the Chief Operations Officer (COO) for Bright Road Health Care System. The CFO, Mr. Jones, at the womens health center, would like to get the COOs endorsement for the physicians request to purchase the 3D mammography machine. The student is to formulate a memorandum to Mr. Jones making clear the information and analyses he or she will require prior to giving an official endorsement. Ensure that the memorandum not only makes clear what information and analyses will be required to make his or her decision, but also a rationale to support the requests. This request for additional information should be logically presented, well-supported, and thoroughly vetted.

The initial posting should be prepared as a Microsoft Word document, and then attached to the unit discussion thread. There is no minimum or maximum in terms of the word count; however, the response should explicitly address all required components of this discussion assignment. The document should be prepared as a practical business deliverable (single-spaced) and reflect higher-level cognitive processing (analysis, synthesis, and evaluation). 

Support the initial posting with at least 3 references of credible or peer-reviewed sources. The in-text citations and the list of references should be consistent with the APA writing style (7th ed.). To earn the maximum number of points for the initial posting, the overall quality of the writing should be consistent with that expected of a graduate student and industry professional.
Use references from the United States at least 3 references.