Collaborative Decision Making Through Shared Governance

Collaborative decision-making through shared governance involves partnering with other employees to make important decisions in an organization. Leaders have traditionally made individual decisions without involving other members of the organization. This would lead to some members rejecting some of these decisions due to their impact on the performance of the members (Swihart & Hess, 2014).

Collaborative decision making through shared governance has been indicated as beneficial in making effective decisions that may help an organization in achieving its goals and objectives. This is because different members may provide diverse opinions and views which is different from an individual perspective (Swihart & Hess, 2014). I had an opportunity to attend a meeting at the AAMC Community Health Center that was aimed at discussing the quality of care and performance improvement in the organization. This provided me with an opportunity to observe the interactions between committee members as well as the process used by the committee to arrive at decisions (Swihart & Hess, 2014).

The Function of the Committee and the Roles of Those in Attendance

The committee aimed at discussing the quality of care in the organization as well as performance improvement that is aimed at improving the achievement of the organization's goals.

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All the members of the committee attending the meeting had different roles. One of the members was the chairperson who was responsible for directing the meeting as well as giving other members the opportunity to air their views during the meeting (Zaraté, 2013). He was responsible for approving the final decision after other members participated by providing their views on the developed decisions.

Since most decisions would directly impact their performance in the organization, it is important for them to participate in the decision-making process since they are also involved in the implementation process of any developed decisions (Zaraté, 2013).

Quality improvement has been one of the major goals in all healthcare organizations where a negative impact on this aspect would affect patient outcomes and the goals of the organizations. A secretary who had the responsibility of recording down every detail of the meeting was also present (Zaraté, 2013). This involves writing minutes, the members present, as well as any conclusions made by the members. There is also the coordinator who is responsible for planning the meetings, communicating to all members on the venue and time of the meeting. The coordinator is also responsible for communicating the meeting's agenda to all members as well as maintaining order during the meetings (Zaraté, 2013). Other members who include department representatives are present to provide their opinions and views related to the meeting's agenda.

Describe Your Observations of the Interactions between Members of the Committee and Determine Whether the Process Used To Arrive At Decisions Is A Form of Shared Governance

The setting of the meeting involved members sitting facing each other where the chairperson and the coordinator were on either side facing each other. This allowed members to clearly hear as well as understand explanations from other members as this provided a close physical interaction between members (Dewing, McCormack, & Titchen, 2014). The members were excited about the meeting as all were present at the start of the meeting where the discussions started on time. A brief update was done regarding the previous meeting and what conclusions were made. This was done by the secretary where the coordinator continued by informing the members on the main agenda for the meeting (Dewing, McCormack, & Titchen, 2014). A roll call was done to determine the present members and any absent members.
Members were allowed to provide their opinions on what had affected the quality and performance of the organization and their opinions on what needs to be done to improve this aspect (Dewing, McCormack, & Titchen, 2014). Departmental representatives gave a performance update which was compared to their previous performance where departments that had a poor performance were asked to explain the reasons for the drop in performance (Dewing, McCormack, & Titchen, 2014). The chairperson highlighted the importance of quality and high performance in the organization where members were reminded of the reason for their employment and the importance of their roles in achieving organizational goals.

The process used to arrive at decisions is a form of shared governance since all present members participated in the decision-making process as the last decision was made after consideration and analysis of all opinions provided by the members (Small & Williams, 2019). Although some members of the top management were present during the meeting, they allowed members to make the decisions where they only approved the developed decisions a sign that they did not influence the decision-making process (Small & Williams, 2019). Since different departments had diverse challenges, members representing different departments are allowed to participate in making decisions that may impact their performance which is a form of shared governance. The meeting was closed after the secretary made the final prayer where they had food and drinks as they continued to interact with their leaders (Small & Williams, 2019).

References

Dewing, J., McCormack, B., & Titchen, A. (2014). Practice development workbook for nursing, health, and social care teams. Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Small, P. M., & Williams, L. (2019). Improving Collaborative Decision-making in the Pediatric Setting. AACN Advanced Critical Care, 30(2), 189–192.
Swihart, D., & Hess, R. G. (2014). Shared governance: A practical approach to transforming interprofessional health care. Danvers, MA: HCPro.
Zaraté, P. (2013). Tools for Collaborative Decision-Making. Oxford: Wiley-ISTE.