The Merging of Departments for Cost Containment

This assignment will help you explore how the nursing leader can maintain human and ethical decision making while implementing a departmental merger.

As the chief nursing officer (CNO), you have been asked to merge three departments—
social work, discharge planning, and utilization review—with overlapping functions and different managers. You have been told at this point that no one will lose his or her position. However, you must justify each person’s role. When completing this week’s project, please keep in mind that you are bringing together three departments (social work, discharge planning (care management), and utilization review into one department. 

You are not merging organizations.  DO NOT discuss organizational mergers, shareholder equity, capitalization, etc.  That is not the scope of this project. Also, you must make the new department an economic revenue saver.

Write a 4 page report that addresses the following:

• Describe the process, strategic questions, and issues related to financial resource management that you must consider while merging the three departments.
• Outline and describe your approach to the following questions:
  • How will you maintain the human needs of the staff members in this merger?
  • How will you ensure that all the staff members engage fully in this merger?
  • How will you ensure the staff members feel good about this merger?
  • How will you maintain the fiscal focus of the merger?