Chapter 31 : Performance Appraisals and Competency Assessment

Abstract:

This chapter shows that clinical laboratories have developed a variety of distinctive strategic positions to differentiate themselves from rivals. The strategic planning process involves a commitment by leadership to identify a strategic direction for the organization, development or refinement of a mission statement, a situation analysis, in which the strengths and weaknesses of the organization are articulated, along with external threats and opportunities, and finally, summarizing the conclusions. Whereas the operational manager seeks to maximize the effectiveness of each part of a business, the business strategist seeks to arrange the parts into a whole that will succeed in a competitive environment. The structural elements of the clinical laboratory industry include market size, concentration of competitors, and economies of scale. The objective of a competitor analysis is to predict competitors’ behavior, both when the competitors are left to their own devices and in response to the moves of rivals. Diagnostic laboratories have sought a number of distinguishable market positions such as outpatient-centered testing to differentiate themselves from rivals. Most hospital-based laboratories focus their activities around a small group of local physicians with whom they maintain close relationships. Activities that fit with this strategy may be found in other departments of a hospital, such as marketing radiology and cardiology, to the same group of physicians. The best-laid strategy may fall short through bad luck or external developments that no strategist could reasonably foresee.