MBA-FXP5002 Sanford Jaclyn Assessment 1-3 PDF

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Critical Thinking affected by VUCA in a Business Problem Jaclyn Sanford Assignment 1: Critical Thinking in Action February 21, 2019

Page 2 Critical Thinking affected by VUCA in a Business Problem Introduction Performing tasks online has become a common business practice. Time saving, efficiency increasing software and online programs can be found to some degree in nearly every industry. Restaurants use online ordering interfaces for pick up or delivery, while many healthcare facilities offer online check-in, in an attempt to eliminate long patient waits and speed up the process of being seen by the doctor. The decision for companies to start using online tools was not made overnight. CEO’s as well as other key business players had to employ critical thinking skills and think outside of the box to come up with dynamic solutions to better utilize modern technology. People are looking at a world that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous, or VUCA for short, to help examine and aid in their critical thinking (Bennett, 2014). Panera Bread Co.’s Business Problem The Chief Executive, Ron Shaich, of Panera Bread Co. found himself realizing that long lines during lunch time was hurting the business far more than they were helping. He discovered that the long lines coupled with the time a customer took to park, order and then pick up the food, resulted in a total customer time investment of up to 30 minutes. Some customers were standing in line or what he referred to as a “mosh pit” of people for up to 8 minutes before they even placed their order. In 2010, Mr. Shaich decided that it was time to work on improving this business situation and increase not only customer satisfaction but also sales (Jargon, 2017). The problem that Mr. Shaich was facing, was not the demand for Panera Bread Co., but rather the company’s ability to handle the demand. Mr. Shaich invested in the expertise of Blaine Hurst to help facilitate a change. In 2012 a prototype Panera chain

Page 3 was opened and the elements of what they called “Panera 2.0” began being tested. This included self-order kiosks, delivery, digital ordering and bringing food to customers tables. Both gentlemen spent many hours each week in the café observing what would work and what still needed improvement. Due to Mr. Shaich noticing this business situation and the hard work and hours he put in, Panera Bread Co. has continued to post growth per share throughout 2016 (Jargon, 2017). Panera Bread Co. and the use of VUCA Panera Bread Co. and Mr. Shaich had a vision that could help improve the company’s overall ability to control the demand, but he also knew that the volatility of the situation would have a large impact on the success. While attempting to find a solution to this problem, there was a lot of uncertainty regarding whether the process that they were going to attempt to implement would even work. In the article, “VUCA 2.0: A strategy for steady leadership in an unsteady world”, they say that “today’s business leaders need the ability to see through the chaos to have a clear vision for their organizations (George, 2017, p. 2).” In the first trial of Panera 2.0, the ordering of food did become easier, but simply increasing ordering efficiency was not enough. Mr. Shaich had to get a better understanding of his company’s capabilities and play to the company’s strengths to make this successful. Even though the ordering process had been streamlined, the kitchen was going to have to be able to handle the volume of increased orders and customer customization in orders. Critical Thinking to Solve the Problem In the article, “Think smarter: critical thinking to improve problem-solving and decision-making skills”, they identify risk as a major role in critical thinking (Kallet,

Page 4 2014). Panera Bread Co. knew that it was necessary to take a risk to be able to handle the volume of orders in the kitchen. They ordered new technology to help manage the increase in orders and order customization. By having the courage to take this risk, it caused Panera’s per-share profit to fall 7%, partially because of this investment. By adapting and identifying the changes that were needing to be made, Panera was able to overcome this loss and now online or digital orders, make up about 26% of sales in the more than 900 Panera cafes (Jargon, 2017). By identifying the risks and being willing to make a change even with the uncertainty of how it will affect the company, Panera Bread Co. has seen great success in the growth of their company as well as the wait times at each café (Jargon, 2017). Wait times not only play a large role in the restaurant industry, but these wait times also affect the medical industry as well. Asante Urgent Care Waiting Times At Asante Urgent Care, time spent in the waiting room before a patient is even seen by a doctor can reach up to 4 hours or more. This causes some patients to become angry and can lead to dissatisfaction in the care that they receive. In the Asante Health System, customer satisfaction plays a large role in the success of the company and the service satisfaction scores are extremely important to all employees at all levels of the organization. Additionally, prolonging the time that a contagious patient spends in the waiting area, can cause the spread of an infection or other disease. This can cause Asante Urgent Care to see an increase in patients that will naturally increase the already prolonged waiting times, creating a vicious cycle of inefficiency. This cycle of inefficiency can then result in a decrease in patient satisfaction. As mentioned previously, even if a patient receives the best care by a care team, a long wait can

Page 5 create a dissatisfied patient thus hurting Asante Urgent Care’s reputation and bottom line. Critical Thinking to Fix A Problem To fix this problem, critical thinking will play a large role in coming up with a solution. Critical thinking is a process and not just automatic thinking (Kallet, 2014). When looking at the waiting room problem at Asante Urgent Care, the first step in critical thinking is getting clarity on the situation. The problem that has been identified, is that the waiting times in the Asante Urgent care are too long and need to be decreased. Once you have clarity on a situation, a goal must be set. When a goal is set, it needs to be clearly defined and obtainable. For example, the goal could be to decrease the waiting times in the Asante Urgent Care to less than 2 hours. Once the goal is set, in critical thinking you must then establish conclusions. These conclusions are the solutions and a list of to-do actions that you are attempting to accomplish for the issue presented. For example, to decrease waiting times in the Asante Urgent Care, we will implement an on-line check in option to decrease the amount of people who are walking in to be seen. Once this conclusion is made, then it is time to decide whether to implement the solution or not. To move forward with the conclusion of implementing online check in, the decision maker(s) need to be identified. At Asante, this decision would have to come from a board of directors at the executive level. When it has been identified who will make the decision, a timeline needs to be put in place. The timeline must be clear, and a date set as to when a response is needed. As stated in Kallet, do not approach the decision maker with a blank page and be ready to ask him or her to list the criteria for a

Page 6 decision (Kallet, 2014). This will help keep you maintain a proper timeline and move forward in solving the problem. Critical thinking requires us to look at the risk factors to solve a problem. In Kallet, they identify 11 factors to consider when evaluating risk in critical thinking. Those are 11 factors are downside, probability of the downside, upside, probability of the upside, ignoring the statistical downside, absorption capability, controllability, necessity of the upside, reversibility, mitigation strategy and preeminent metrics (Kallet, 2014). For example, one downside of implementing an online check in to Asante Urgent Care, would be that the learning curve for staff may be longer than expected and could slow down the normal workflow. However, the upside is that an online check in will make it possible to accommodate more patients and improve the customer satisfaction with decreased waiting times. Another risk that Asante would need to consider is the absorption capability. With an online check in, you might see an increase in patients who would normally not go to urgent care due to the possibility of a 4 hour long wait. The risk of an influx of patients would be the possibility that Asante would need to adjust its staffing levels in order able to properly handle the increase, which would ultimately increase Asante Urgent Care’s overhead. A Proposed Solution The solution proposed to decrease the wait times in Asante Urgent Care, is to create an online check in for patients. This is a solution that has helped at other urgent care facilities across the country. Some of these facilities have hired outside companies to handle their online check in and others have taken it upon themselves to come up with a solution to the problem. One of the companies that urgent care facilities are using

Page 7 is a company named Solv. In one article published by this online check in company, they state that their data shows that 14% of the patients who used their online check in service would have chosen to go to the ER if this convenient option had not been available. The benefit to the healthcare system when a patient chooses an urgent care facility rather in an ER facility, is nearly a $1 billion-dollar savings to the healthcare industry as whole (Nessim, 2018). In another case study in Nevada, a company named QLess has helped medical professionals improve patient service flow and allowed patients to skip the waiting room and show up right before their scheduled appointment in Urgent Care. With the QLess solution of online check in, the urgent care has reported an increase in patient satisfaction of 20%, which can be attributed to the shorter patient wait times (Qless, 2008). The CEO of this Nevada based urgent care stated, “Adopting a new system and redefining internal processes will have it challenges but the effort is worth it. The bottom line is that patients want real-time care, not to sit around wondering when they-re going to be seen (Qless, 2008, p.4).” VUCA in Asante Urgent Care One tool that could help in examining the problem that the Asante Urgent Care faces and that could affect the outcome is “volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous, or VUCA for short (Bennett, 2014).” The situation that has been identified at the Asante Urgent Care facility will require the company’s leaders to see through the chaos that is occurring and focus on the vision that has been developed. These leaders must also understand the capabilities of their Urgent Care facility and their company as a whole. When introducing a solution or recommendation to the Urgent Care, the leaders and

Page 8 staff must be able to adapt to change and work with the different processes that they have in place to make the solution work. Conclusion Overall, critical thinking and VUCA will play an integral role in a business’s decision-making process. If leadership and executives effectively utilize the tools that they have available to them, a viable solution can be found. Additionally, identifying the various risks presented by each solution, the leadership team can be prepared and set itself for success.

Page 9 References Bennett, N., & Lemoine, G. (January February 2014). What VUCA really means for you. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved February 5, 2019. George, B. (2017, February 17). VUCA 2.0: A strategy for steady leadership in an unsteady world. Retrieved February 5, 2019, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/hbsworkingknowledge/2017/02/17/vuca-2-0-astrategy-for-steady-leadership-in-an-unsteady-world/#2ca0ef8f13d8 Jargon, J. (2017). The New Lunch: Panera Slices lines with mobile. Wall Street Journal, Eastern Edition, B.1. Retrieved February 5, 2019, from http://library.capella.edu/login? qurl=thhps://search.proquest.com/docview/1905117312?accountid=27965 Kallet, M. (2014). Think smarter: critical thinking to improve problem-solving and decision-making skills. Retrieved February 5, 2019 from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com Nessim, N. (2018, June 10). 3 Ways to make waiting easier for patients at urgent care. Retrieved February 12, 2019, from https://www.solvhealth.com/blog/make-urgent-care-wait-time-easier-for-patients Qless. (2008). Urgent Care takes the "wait" out of waiting room. Retrieved February 13, 2019, from https://www.qless.com/case-study-urgent-care...