Case Study Background information: Whitlam Memorial Hospital (WMH), a 130 bed community hospital situated in the outer suburbs of Sydney, has provided general acute medical, surgical, obstetric and...

Running Head: CRITICAL ESSAY-STYLE DISCUSSION PAPER    1
CRITICAL ESSAY-STYLE DISCUSSION PAPER    2
CRITICAL ESSAY-STYLE DISCUSSION PAPER
Table of Contents
Introduction    3
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Prevailing Bureaucratic Structure    3
Significance of the Organisational Vision, Mission and Goals and their Relationship to Organisational Structure    4
Alternative Organisational Structure appropriate for Whitlam Memorial Hospital (WMH), along with its Strengths, Weaknesses and Justifications    5
Conclusion    6
References    7
Introduction
An organisation comprises of a number of entities, who might form either the authority or the individuals performing under them. This is a systematic a
angement that is achieved by the implementation of organisational structure. Organisational structure not only helps to a
ange the individuals of an organisation into a hierarchy or divisions, but also distributes the power, roles, regulations, responsibilities and accountability amongst them accordingly. Thus, it can be seen that the choice of a suitable organisational structure is a very responsible decision to be undertaken by the management of the organisation.
The present critical essay is a discussion on the case study of the Whitlam Memorial Hospital (WMH) of Sydney that plans to reconsider its existing organisational structure in order to cater to the growing service needs of the community members. Hence, the essay outlines the merits and demerits of their prevalent functional or bureaucratic organisational structure, relate it to their mission, goals as well as vision and critically suggest a better organisational structure for implementing all the desired service enhancements for the community.
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Prevailing Bureaucratic Structure
    Presently, the concerned hospital WMH has been mentioned to be following the functional bureaucratic structure. As defined by Josefy, Kuban, Ireland and Hitt (2015), a bureaucratic structure is the one that establishes the a
angements of the authority and the subordinates within an organisation in a very rigid manner. The regulations, policies and accountability are quietly firmly imposed. The format of the organisation is so staunch that the hierarchy of power and their restrictions are also unalterable. Therefore, as argued by Albers, Wohlgezogen and Zajac (2016), such an organisational structure does not provide enough space for inculcating any changes. Thus, it can be opined that the structure prevailing at WMH has both advantages and disadvantages.
Its strengths are that it allows working opportunity to highly eminent people, who are quite skilled in their discipline and the instructions of the central authority, is a key one, which cannot be violated at any instance. As supported by Nason, McKelvie and Lumpkin (2015), the majority of the employees within a bureaucratic structure are highly qualified and of high experiences, which is mainly because the work efficiency of such a structure is too high. Given its staunch nature, this structure also does not provide a wide scope to commit any mistake, which is why the need of highly efficient employees is inevitable. Moreover, as mentioned by Den Hond, De Bakker and Smith (2015), the accountability and firmness of this structure imparts the necessity of obeying to the strict instructions of the central authority that usually comprises of the senior management level of the organisation. Thus, it is evident that so far the WMH has implicated this structure for their a
angement of power, where their internal and external environments were integrated firmly into a single managerial accountability, power as well as control that was sufficient for managing and regulating their 130-bed small community hospital.
However, as contradicted by Bennis (2017), such an organisational structure is not sufficient for the situations, wherein changes are to be welcomed within the organisation or the employees are to perform in a flexible way that caters to the situations of emergency or the changing needs of the clients. In case of the WMH, the population of the Sydney...