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This case study examines real life data for a one mental health medical group that is has been given the fictious name of TCL at the request of the organization to protect its privacy and intellectual property. This case represents an intervention from a management consultant to help the practice respond to COVID-induced business challenges. Implementing a strategic market management process allows organizations to manage volatility occurring in an organization’s external environment (Aaker, 2001).
Before COVID-19, TCL lacked a formalized strategy to address the pandemic. As a result, a management consultant brought the help given over 75% decline in revenue due to COVID-19. Unlike a single strategic planning event that is often completed once, annually, using a strategic change process allows organizations to continuously take in information, thereby deconstructing the organization from a predetermined, time-bound planning cycle (Aaker, 2001). The Convergence Lab used a management consultant to help the organizations adopt a strategy to respond better to COVID-19.
Strategic planning ideologies emerged and dominated the strategic management process between the 1960s and the 1980s (Emerald, 2003). The process encompasses a business’s structured review of its customers and markets to craft a strategy to respond to changing market forces (Aaker, 2001). These organizational strategy changes might include plans to move into new markets or prioritize learning priorities and more (Aaker, 2001).
Strategic planning consultants have a myriad of tools for facilitating the planning process. One of these tools is a SWOT analysis, a review of an organization's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Treats to craft organizational strategies around opportunities, strengths, and competitive advantages. (Krogerus et al., 2018). SWOT analysis helped clarify organization members and design strategies to bolster strengths and mitigate weaknesses (Krogerus et al., 2018).
Overview of the Problem
TCL is a mental health medical group practice that provides group and individual therapy for its adult clients. TCL is a 5-year old organization with five (5) clinicians inclusive of one (1) full-time office manager, and five clinicians are full-time staff. As a result of COVID, TCL has experienced a 75% decrease in revenue since patients cannot complete their appointments in person.
Research Method
This inquiry uses organizational development action research intervention and a content analysis of the literature. This paper utilizes articles from existing literature that explores the complexities and challenges facing mental health businesses in the pandemic. The value of a content analysis review of the literature is the ability to take dispersed, innovative perspectives and emerging research on a topic and articulately merge them for practitioner digestion or as a base-level foundation for future academic research. Databases used include ResearchGate, Academia.edu, Google Scholar, Business Source Corporate, ProQuest Business, and ProQuest News. Keywords included COVID-19 and counseling, Business Strategy and COVID-19, Change Management, Management Strategy, Strategic Planning, Planned Change, telemedicine, and Tele-counseling. The focus combined the use of seminal literature and current literature in 5 years.
Organizational development action research is a methodical examination approach to analyze real-world problems, establish evidence, apply established theories, engage in data collection interventions, present reliable results, and develop viable solutions (Stringer & Aragón, 2020; Masters, 1995; O’Brien, 1998).
This approach is the core methodology for management and organizational development consultants (Stringer & Aragón, 2020; Cheung-Judge and Holbeche, 2015). The ability to marry practical and theoretical frameworks in the study of complex organizations in real-time highlights the worth, value, and importance of organizational development action research as an approach (Stringer & Aragón, 2020; Masters, 1995; O’Brien, 1998).