Posts Tagged ‘Dissertation’
New Direction… New Energy!
I remember during my Bachelors program, sitting in my academic advisor’s office looking at all of the books on her shelf and thinking to myself, “How can anyone want to read so many boring looking books?” This week I was reading books like Empowered: Unleash your employees, energize your customers, transform your business, The Delphi technique in nursing and health research, and a U.S. government-issued report entitled Crossing the quality chasm: A new health system for the 21st century. What was even more strange was I found myself fascinated by their contents! Back then I really wanted to pursue a doctoral degree, but didn’t think I’d ever be allowed to do so. Now that I’m here, I have to chuckle at that young woman who couldn’t imagine spending hours reading boring, professor-type books, much less enjoying doing so!
I spent much of the week getting to know more about the Delphi Method that I am now planning to use. I have learned about its strengths and limitations, but no matter how much I learn about it, the one phrase that keeps going through my head is “This sounds like FUN!” I can’t wait to get started on the recruitment process. However, first I need to get through the proposal approval process. One step at a time…
References:
Bernoff, J. & Schadler, T. (2010). Empowered: Unleash your employees, energize your customers, transform your business. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.
Keeney, S., Hasson, F. & McKenna, H. (2011). The Delphi technique in nursing and health research. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons.
National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, Committee on Quality of Health Care in America. (2001). Crossing the quality chasm: A new health system for the 21st century. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
My First Week Back…
This is my first week back to school after taking six months off due to health issues. I am glad I took the time off, but I have missed this incredibly. I have continued my reading and research and have decided to change the direction of my dissertation. In Doc722 I was planning to do a case study of Sutter Health – the organization that I work for – and how they are using and not using social networking tools. Because of several experiences I have had over the past few months and some resources that I have found and others I’ve read, I’ve decided to do a case study of the US Healthcare Industry instead of concentrating on one organization. Now, the revisions to chapter one have started.
Dr. Holley (my dissertation mentor) has pointed out some issues that need to be addressed. Most notably, why would any leadership care about my study? I think that leaders should always care about how their customers (patients) and employees are communicating with each other and how they are communicating with management. Social networking presents problems for old-style corporations or organizations that have always maintained tight control over what is said within and by and about their organization. Such control is lost when social networking tools are used. However, on the potentially positive side, social networking can also open the lines of communication between patients and clinicians and between employees and management. Such openness has the potential of reducing confrontation and increasing collaboration between employees and management (Chesbrough, 2006; Levine, Locke, Searls, & Weinberger, 2001; Tapscott, & Williams, 2008). I am also planning to do some research on how social networking could affect the cost of healthcare and productivity for both patients and clinicians. I am eager to see if there is an affect.
References:
Chesbrough, H. (2006). Open innovation: The new imperative for creating and profiting from technology. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Levine, R. Locke, C. Searls, D. and Weinberger, D. (2001). The cluetrain manifesto: The end of business as usual. New York: Perseus Publishing.
Tapscott, D. & Williams, A.D. (2008). Wikinomics: How mass collaboration changes everything. New York: Penguin Group.
P.S. My new word-of-the-day is winsome. I was called this by someone I work with. What do you think?