What is the management-research question hierarchy for Akron Children’s Hospital?            Akron Children’s Hospital is a distinguished hospital in Northeast Ohio where the hospital market is extremely competitive

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What is the management-research question hierarchy for Akron Children’s Hospital?

           Akron Children’s Hospital is a distinguished hospital in Northeast Ohio where the hospital market is extremely competitive. While distinguished for its innovation, size, and reputation in the public eye, Akron Children’s competitors were finding success in Akron’s core markets. As Akron Children’s management decided to conduct research on how to address this dilemma, they asked the different layers of the management-research question hierarchy as defined in the course text: the management question, the research questions, the investigative questions, and the measurement questions (Schindler, 2022, 49).

           Regarding the management question, the management of Akron Children’s asked how it could distinguish itself and convey its commitment to children and medically-advanced highest-quality care. By asking this question, they restated their dilemma and began to query regarding what should be done to address their dilemma (Schindler, 2022, 49). Regarding the research questions asked by the management of Akron Children’s, they were forced to ask Marcus Thomas LLC, a longtime research partner, to identify how parents decided where to take their children when acute care is necessary. This was the research question because it identified the issues that would ultimately be studied in the case (Lane, 2018, 1057). Regarding the investigative questions asked, management for Akron Children’s asked what practices within the hospital contribute to the emotional confidence of parents. Regarding the measurement questions, the researchers observed the physical and emotional interactions between physicians, patients, and patients’ parents at Akron Children’s in order to answer the investigative, research, and management questions in this case.

What are the advantages/disadvantages of an observation study for this research?

           The disadvantages of an observation study for this research include the lack of precise quantifiable results and the difficulty of protecting patient confidentiality. Because all of the results from this research were developed from the qualitative observations of researchers without manipulation of any variables, it is difficult for any results to have statistical or objective support. Additionally, because all of the patients at Akron Children’s are children and the kind of data desired, researchers had to be present during very difficult and heart-breaking conversations between physicians and patients’ parents. Not only were the patients’ confidentiality at risk, but the presence of the researchers could have impacted the actions and reactions of all of the parties being observed.

           One of the advantages of the observation study in this research is the ability to gain a deeper grasp of patient and parent feelings than an experiment could have. Because all of the patients in Akron Children’s are children, it is difficult for researchers to make true assessments of patient emotion using one-point-in-time assessments (Wakabayashi, Claxton, and Smith, 2019, 70). By employing the use of an observation in this study, the researchers were actually able to observe the patients (children), their parents, and their physicians for longer periods of time in order to form more well-informed conclusions about the nature of the hospital’s practices.

What does the brand promise recommendation reveal about what researchers experienced and concluded from their study?

            The brand promise recommendation reveals that the researchers concluded that Akron Children’s Hospital could indeed fulfill the promise. Organizational branding is important because, when done well, it can enhance the organization’s appeal in the eyes of both organization personnel and customers (Hytti, Kuoppankangas, Suomi, Chapleo, & Giovanardi, 2015, 255). Employees and the public recognize the legitimacy of a brand promise when the company in question is actually able to fulfill their brand promises. That the conclusion of an external research firm would be to recommend that Akron Children’s Hospital make a brand promise that would exclusively apply to their business would seem to imply that the research firm, after observing interactions in the hospital, believes in the hospital’s ability to fulfill that promise. That the recommendation is a brand promise reveals that the research firm already believes the promise to be true of the hospital.

If you were designing such an observation study, what would you direct researchers to record/look for/listen for?

           If I were designing such an observation study as the one produced in this case study, I would have specifically instructed researchers to observe all of the observations that Akron Children’s had the research firm observe. Like Akron Children’s but to also make additional notes about the duration of patients’ stays, the resources of the hospital to actually meet the patients’ needs, the number of patients being referred to other hospitals, and the number of patients who (via their parents) opt to return to Akron Children’s. Customer retention is an extremely important value in business, so observing and investing in customers feeling important and being regularly communicated with is important (Burton, 2011, 363). Hospital practices are important to observe, but the impacts of their practices on patient/customer retention would also be an important point of observation and record.

What ethical issues would surface in hospital studies in general and this study in particular?

           While whole books could certainly be written to outline ethical considerations in the medical field, as it pertains to business research generally and this study about Akron Children’s Hospital in particular, one ethical consideration seems glaringly obvious. This ethical consideration has much to do with protecting the confidentiality of the patients and their parents in the hospital. While the interests of the hospital are the ones on display in this case study, it is a pertinent question to ask if the interests of the hospital play any obligatory role in bringing external researchers into intimate family and patient moments in dire situations. It is clear that the patient’s best interest must be the primary concern in their care, so the hospital’s financial interest must be subjected to this in all circumstances (Kuczewski, Pinkus, & Wasson, 2018, 158). For this reason, the patient’s confidentiality becomes the primary ethical concern in this case and in many hospital business research cases. The Bible would affirm this view with its doctrine of the Imago Dei, which functionally argues for mankind having been made in the image of God (English Standard Version Bible, 2001, Gen. 1:28). If human beings are made in the likeness of God, they are to be treated with honor and respect – not as means to a financial entity’s furthering its bottom line.

References

Customer Relationship Management. (2011). In V. L. Burton, III (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Small Business 1, 363. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX2343700160/GVRL?u=vic_liberty&sid=bookmark-GVRL&xid=c74802d3

English Standard Version Bible. (2001). ESV Online. https://esv.literalword.com/

Hytti, U., Kuoppakangas, P., Suomi, K., Chapleo, C. &Giovanardi, M. (2015). Challenges in delivering brand promise – focusing on municipal healthcare organisations. International Journal of Public Sector Management 28 (3), 254-272. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-10-2014-0127

Kuczewski, M. G., Pinkus, R. L. B., & Wasson, K. (2018). Conceptual Framework. In An Ethics Casebook for Hospitals: Practical Approaches to Everyday Ethics Consultations, Second Edition (2nd ed., pp. 154–161). Georgetown University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvvngxz.33

Lane, S. (2018). A good study starts with a clearly defined question. BJOG: International Journal Obstetrics and Gynecology 125, 1057. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.15196

Schindler, Pamela. (2022). Business research methods (14th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Wakabayshi, T., Claxton, J., & Smith Jr., E. (2017). Validation of a revised observation-based assessment tool for children birth through kindergarten: The COR advantage. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment 37 (1), 69-90. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282917732491