Computer tools to support collaborative organization design: definition and analysis of the work at the Vanderbilt...

In November, 1993 The Vanderbilt University Hospital and Clinic (VUH/TVC) convened a 10-member Collaborative Organization Design (COD) team that represented a diagonal slice through the organization. This team, lead by Gelinas & James, an outside consulting firm, was charged to develop, recommend, and implement a new organizational design which would promote a stronger patient focus, increased efficiency, and lower costs. The COD process is structured to inspire and enable employees to rebuild their organization so that it can respond to the challenges and opportunities that exist within their environment, to customer needs, and their own aspirations. This manuscript describes several of the computer tools which were utilized in the definition and analysis of the work of patient care at VUH/TVC. Specific examples of the findings from this phase of the work are utilized to illustrate their use and value.