Why Strategic Planning Is Important?

In recent years, the health care system around the world is undergoing changes associated with the financing system and the needs of the population, which requires the development of new approaches to strengthen management in the future. The growth of global competition leads to the need for reconstructing of business processes to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of the work of a medical organization. The importance of strategic planning is in bringing together the main objectives, and develops policies and related actions based on anticipating changes in the environment and useful for allocating enterprise resources in a unique and valuable way.

One of the earliest definitions of governance was presented by Fayol in the early 20th century: “Governance is forecasting, that is, to plan, organize, command, coordinate and control.” Consequently, strategic planning is about assessing likely future scenarios, deciding on the best way to respond, and making rational use of the resources needed to make that response. Shortell and Kaluzny noted that healthcare management differs from many other organizations.

In recent years, the health care system around the world has been undergoing changes related to the financing system, an increase in the accountability of the strategic planning of medical organizations for their work, which, in particular, led to new problems for medical organizations. WHO has developed an approach to management strengthening that has been successful in a variety of settings. It is important to identify where specific management skills are lacking and to train through different methods, through training, recruiting or liaising with relevant organizations.

Porter also demonstrated that the perspective of an organization can be used to examine a firm’s relationship with other organizations and presented an updated version of the organizational paradigm. The strategy should be driven by the sectoral structure (external forces) as it affects the firm’s performance. In turn, performance redefines and updates strategy, which can then be used to influence industry structure.

Growing global competition has led healthcare organizations to restructured business processes as a means of ensuring efficiency, effectiveness and, ultimately, their success. One of the most effective strategies for the success of organizations is strategic planning. This is one of the most common management practices in healthcare organizations.

What is strategic planning?

Strategic planning is a systematic process by which an organization creates a document indicating how it plans to move from a current situation to a desired future situation. According to Swayne, Duncan, and Ginter, strategic planning is a set of processes that help define an organization’s desired future and develop guidelines for making decisions that lead to that future. Strategic planning brings together the main goals, policies and related activities in an individual organization as a whole. A strategy based on gaps and competencies within the enterprise can anticipate changes in the environment and can be useful in allocating enterprise resources in a unique and valuable way.

The aim of the study is to determine the role of strategic planning in a medical organization. Methods: In the first phase of the study, literature was reviewed for keywords such as strategic planning, strategic planning tools, healthcare organizations, etc. Searches were conducted in PubMed, Google scholarship and library databases. At the second stage, we conducted a survey among top and middle managers of a medical organization. The survey involved 20 respondents. The survey was conducted anonymously. It took 20-30 minutes to fill out the questionnaire.

Results and discussion: the largest number of deputy chief physicians, 45%, 25% of chief physicians and 30% of department heads, took part in the survey.