Sample critical thinking on the most ethical companies

Introduction

The Cleveland Clinic is an academic, multispecialty medical center that is situated in Cleveland, Ohio state in the United States of America. The Cleveland Clinic is presently one of the top four highest regarded hospitals in USA. At Cleveland clinic, all the core value and ethics regarding their code of conduct both to their clients and employees have been given put into great consideration. In their policy statement their clients come first for cannot meet their objectives without them. Furthermore, this has been shown by their commitment to principles in the areas of their environment, human rights, labor and anticorruption. These are principles highlighted in the UN Global compact strategic policy. Businesses have to think about the effect that their policies have on both the populace and the environment. Additionally, systems are in place to hold accountable those businesses that flout these expectations. This paper will assess efforts established by the Cleveland Clinic in behaving in a morally responsible manner with special focus on customers, the environment and its employees.

Consumers

In relation to consumerism, consumers expect a wide range of superior products and services. Right to information and choice is vital to healthy return on investment. Interaction with our consumers is based on mutual respect and therefore the company engaged in customer satisfaction resulting in win-win relationship. Since 1921, the clinic has been putting the needs of the patients and its customers at the forefront. Its transition to a big and thriving medical center only enabled the clinic to provide even more premium quality services. The clinic treats the patients with the highest ideals of morality.
One of the ways in which the clinic does this is by making everyone a caregiver. The primary relationship in the hospital is between the doctor and the patient. All the other employees in the clinic serve in a supporting role in order to enhance the primary relationship. A study performed in the clinic showed that a patient interacted with over eight doctors, sixty nurses, transporters, food workers and other house staff. The patient was there for only five days and very few of the one hundred and twenty hours spent in the clinic by the patient were spent with physicians. This goes to show that the model used by the hospital is centered on the patient and all the employees are galvanized to care for the patients.
Another customized way for the clinic of treating its patients in a morally responsible manner is dubbed as ‘ managing 360.’ This is an initiative by the clinic to ensure that their personnel went beyond the normal expectations in patient care. The personnel in the hospital are aware that empathy is required in treating a patient. However, the hospital management found out that the personnel knew very little about the patient experience from when they are admitted. Through this strategy, the administration commissioned two studies to illuminate on the issues of patient experience. The findings of this study were used to revolutionize patient care (Ferrell, C., Fraedrich & Ferrell, 2013).

The Environment

For a long time, Cleveland clinic has been on the forefront in environmental conservation efforts. Cleveland Clinic has been in partnership with environmental agencies. For instance, since 2008, Cleveland Clinic has been a partner of Energy Star. For its effort in energy conservation and sustainability, the clinic has been recognized the Environmental Protection Agency. The clinic was awarded with the 2013 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year -Sustained Excellence Award. This is in recognition of its efforts towards energy efficiency. In a number of ways, the clinic has shown moral responsibility towards the environment. One of the ways includes the better buildings initiative. This challenge was issued by President Obama in 2011, and the clinic has taken it up with an objective of ensuring reduced energy intensity. The specific reduction benchmark for energy intensity is 20%. Cleveland Clinic is continuously reinvesting in existing buildings in order to improve their energy efficiency and optimizing building systems.
Additionally, the new constructions in the clinic are done with particular interest to environmental conservation. Since 2007, the clinic adopted Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), a leading technology of the Green Building Council in the United States. All the major construction in the clinic now follows LEED standards. The building processes and standards in the clinic have been revised to reflect the commitment of the clinic in patient experience, employee safety, patient safety and environmental stewardship.

Employees

Through Occupational Health and Safety Regulations enacted to protect workers this has greatly improved the performance and safety of employees at the cleave land clinic. Through the value of team work they able to work together and even share knowledge which in turn benefits both the patients and the health providers. Without safety rules coupled with good employer employee relationship, the business cannot be able to achieve its objectives. Cleveland clinic treats its employees very well. Their employees enjoy numerous benefits. They enjoy vision and dental plans, excellent health, paid time off, pension plans and tuition programs.
As espoused earlier, Cleveland Clinic has turned its employees into caregivers. This shift in organizational culture means that all employees – from physicians to cleaners- have new roles as caregivers. The transformative change in the tradition of the organization is relatively challenging. Employees have to learn their new roles in order to deliver their mandate. Although these endeavors might be perceived as challenging in the initial stages, it is beneficial for the employee in the long run. This is because they now have diversified perspectives to healthcare courtesy of the organizational change (Stoller, Michota, Mandell & Cleveland Clinic Foundation, 2009).

Effects of Morally Conscious Decisions on the Clinic’s Bottom Line

Morally conscious decisions form an integral part in the success of any business because they build trust and confidence in business relationships. Cleveland Clinic has engaged in many morally conscious decisions in different sectors as espoused above. These morally conscious decisions will have a positive impact on the clinic’s bottom line. Firstly, the changes in patient care will increase the quality of care delivered to its customers. Customer satisfaction is an important part of an organization’s success. Increased quality will lead to better reviews and even a higher ranking in the list of the top hospitals in the country. This will increase the traffic in the hospital and this will in turn translate to better financial performance. The shifting organizational change into a model where all employees are caregivers is also important to their bottom line. The new model is pegged towards better patient experience and the effect of this is increased admissions and outpatient care because of better customer service.
The environmental conscious initiatives that the clinic has adopted will also have a positive effect on their bottom line. It is true that the initial costs are tremendous. However, the caveat with such initiatives benefit in the long run. The steps to increase energy efficiency will reduce the cost of operations significantly. This is because energy will be used optimally in the clinic. In addition, the initiatives wills also take care of spillages, misuse and improper use. A reduction of energy inefficiency by twenty percent will have a tremendous effect on the clinic’s bottom line. This will reduce the cost of operations and therefore save the profit margins.
The efforts towards giving their employees better working conditions are also important to their bottom line. Disgruntled employees are less productive, when compared to satisfied employees. The employee benefits that they give their personnel keep the employees motivated. Scholars have argued that employee motivation is important to job performance. Very good working conditions will also attract the best crop of healthcare workers into the clinic. Skilled employees working in good working conditions will increase their productivity and this will affect the bottom line positively (Boyle, DuBose, Ellingson & Et, 2001).

Areas for improvement

Even in the best conditions, there are always one or two things that can be improved. Cleveland Clinic has announced a massive layoff of its employees in order to reduce the cost of operations. While it is important to review the clinic’s financial direction, letting employees go will have a serious effect on the operations of the clinic. Additionally, the clinic should consider creating nursing facilities for employees who are back from maternity leave. This will ensure sustained and exclusive breastfeeding; which is very important to the health of the population. The clinic has a nonsmoking hiring policy that in, my opinion is prejudicial. Firstly, the policy only applies to job applicants. They are required to take nicotine tests before they are placed. The same tests are required for those with appointments in the clinic. This is prejudicial to job applicants who smoke especially because people working in the clinic can smoke. Additionally, the policy is in bad faith especially because patients seeking appointments might have nicotine addiction. This implies that such patients would not be admitted in the clinic.

Conclusion

Cleveland Clinic has placed itself n a pedestal in the provision of quality health care services. It has cut a niche for itself that other health care facilities would only wish t join. All this is down to making ethical decisions. The progress in its environmental conservation has been recognized by global standard bodies. The clinic is in partnership with likeminded organizations in order to come up with more solutions to environmental problems. The shifting organizational culture will serve to place the hospital at the helm of healthcare provision. The clinic can only perform better given the present trend.

References

Boyle, P. J., DuBose, E. R., Ellingson, S. J., & Et, . (2001). Organizational Ethics in Health Care: Principles, Cases, and Practical Solutions. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L. (2013). Business ethics: Ethical decision making and cases. Mason, OH: South-Western/Cengage Learning.
Stoller, J. K., Michota, F. A., Mandell, B. F., & Cleveland Clinic Foundation. (2009). The Cleveland Clinic Foundation intensive review of internal medicine. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.