HCM 3070 Module 5 Final Project Part 1 Example

Course	HCM-3070 Principles of Healthcare Management
Module	Module 5
Paper type	Final project, Part 1: organizational and managerial assessment
Length	About 1,036 words, 6 pages
Format	APA 7 student paper
School	Thomas Edison State University
Program	B.S. in Healthcare Management
Updated	October 2026

Free sample paper for HCM 3070 Module 5

How Leadership Reaches the Floor at Cedar Ridge Regional Medical Center: Managerial Styles, Communication Channels and Their Effect on Operations

Student Name

B.S. in Healthcare Management, Thomas Edison State University

HCM-3070: Principles of Healthcare Management

Mentor Name

Month Day, Year

What this page is doingThe title frames the whole project around one question: whether what leaders intend actually reaches the people doing the work. Naming styles and channels in the subtitle tells the mentor exactly what Part 1 will describe and assess.

How Leadership Reaches the Floor at Cedar Ridge Regional Medical Center: Managerial Styles, Communication Channels and Their Effect on Operations

The HCM-3070 final project asks students to examine the managerial style and influence in an organization in order to understand its operations, its direction and how leadership shapes it. This first part describes the organization, the managerial styles of its leaders at three levels and the channels through which they communicate, and assesses how those styles and channels affect daily operations. The organization is Cedar Ridge Regional Medical Center, the invented community hospital that has served as this course's running example. Part 2 will analyze the findings and recommend changes in training, budgeting and personnel practices.

The Organization

Cedar Ridge serves a mid-sized metropolitan area and its surrounding towns. It employs about 1,450 people, including roughly 520 registered nurses, and operates six inpatient units, an emergency department that sees about 48,000 visits a year, surgical services and several outpatient clinics. The hospital reports a thin operating margin, about 2%, and its strategic plan lists three priorities: reduce emergency department boarding, stabilize the nursing workforce and expand outpatient services. Earlier modules of this course examined a change in scheduling, a decision about a closed unit, a technician career ladder and the cost of nurse turnover at the same hospital; this project draws those threads together.

Managerial Styles at Three Levels

At the executive level, the chief executive officer, who came from a larger system three years ago, leads in a strategic and data-oriented way. The executive team meets weekly, sets targets for each priority and reviews dashboards. Staff describe the chief executive officer as fair but distant, and few frontline employees have spoken with the chief executive officer directly. The chief operating officer, by contrast, runs a daily safety huddle and walks the units most afternoons, and is the leader staff mention most often when asked who listens.

At the middle level, nurse managers and department directors vary widely. The manager of 5 East uses a participative style: staff help build the schedule, the unit holds a monthly practice meeting and the manager explains budget constraints openly. The manager of 5 West, newly promoted and responsible for two units, relies on email and directives and is rarely on the floor during evenings. The two floors have similar patients and staffing budgets, but 5 West had nearly twice the nurse turnover of 5 East last year.

At the frontline level, charge nurses carry most of the day-to-day leadership. Some act as coordinators who manage assignments; others coach newer nurses and escalate problems. The hospital has not trained charge nurses in leadership, so their styles reflect personal habit more than design.

What this page is doingThe section describes styles at each level through observable behavior, such as walking the units or building schedules with staff, rather than labels alone. Part 1 of a final project is usually judged on how concretely the organization is described.

Communication Channels

Leadership influence depends on communication that reaches the right people in a form they can use. The table summarizes the main channels at Cedar Ridge and what the assessment observed.

Two patterns stand out. First, the channels that work best are short, regular and two-way, such as the daily safety huddle, where problems raised receive an owner the same day. The weakest are one-way and infrequent, such as the monthly email. Second, communication reaches day shift far better than nights, because huddles, town halls and managers' rounds all happen during the day.

Channel	Who uses it	What travels through it	What we observed
Daily safety huddle (15 minutes)	Department leaders, chaired by the chief operating officer	Staffing gaps, safety events, bed capacity	Fast and two-way; problems raised get owners the same day
Unit huddles at shift change	Charge nurses and staff	Assignments, high-risk patients, equipment issues	Strong on 5 East, skipped on 5 West most nights
Monthly leadership email	Chief executive officer to all staff	Finances, strategy, recognition	Read by few; written for managers rather than frontline staff
Quarterly town halls	Executive team and any staff	Strategy, questions from staff	Night staff rarely attend; no recording posted
Structured handoff (SBAR)	Nurses and physicians	Patient status and requests	Used reliably for calls to physicians, less for nurse-to-nurse handoffs

Effects on Operations

These patterns have operational consequences. Where communication is two-way, problems are fixed faster: on 5 East, a broken bed alarm reported at a unit huddle was replaced within a day, while on 5 West a similar report sat in an email queue for a week. Leonard et al. (2004) traced much unintended patient harm to breakdowns in how clinicians talk to each other and that structured tools such as SBAR, along with a culture in which any team member can raise a concern, help teams communicate reliably; Cedar Ridge uses SBAR well for calls to physicians but less consistently between nurses. The difference between the two floors also fits research on climate. Edmondson (1999) studied teams in one manufacturer and showed that psychological safety, the sense among members that a team will not punish candor, was associated with learning behavior, which in turn supported team performance.

Managerial style also appears to influence outcomes. Wong et al. (2013) reviewed 20 studies of nursing leadership and concluded that leaders who build relationships are associated with more satisfied patients and with lower rates of death, medication mistakes, restraint use and hospital infection. The contrast between 5 East and 5 West is consistent with that evidence, though many factors affect a unit, and Part 2 will consider other explanations.

Effects on Direction

The hospital's strategic direction is clear at the top but blurred at the floor. Most managers can name the three priorities; most staff nurses interviewed could name one, usually boarding, because it affects them daily. Nursing workforce stability, the priority that matters most to staff, was described by several nurses as something leaders say but do not show. The gap suggests that the strategy is being communicated as targets rather than as commitments staff can see, which Part 2 will address.

Summary of Findings for Part 2

Part 1 found a strategic executive team with one highly visible leader, wide variation in middle managers' styles, untrained frontline leaders, strong two-way communication on days and weak communication on nights, and a strategy that has not reached staff in meaningful terms. Part 2 will analyze these findings and recommend leadership training, budget priorities and personnel practices to close the gaps.

References

Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350-383. https://doi.org/10.2307/2666999

Leonard, M., Graham, S., & Bonacum, D. (2004). The human factor: The critical importance of effective teamwork and communication in providing safe care. Quality and Safety in Health Care, 13(Suppl. 1), i85-i90. https://doi.org/10.1136/qshc.2004.010033

Wong, C. A., Cummings, G. G., & Ducharme, L. (2013). The relationship between nursing leadership and patient outcomes: A systematic review update. Journal of Nursing Management, 21(5), 709-724. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.12116

What the HCM 3070 Module 5 instructions ask for

The HCM-3070 syllabus describes a final project in two parts that examines the managerial style and influence in an organization in order to understand its operations, direction and how leadership influences it, and lists Module 5 as Effective Communication Strategies. Part 1 is worth 10% of the course grade and Part 2 is worth 20%; the Course Calendar sets the due dates. Detailed directions are posted in the classroom, so follow their required sections. Choose an organization you can describe accurately, use APA format and references, and protect confidential information by describing roles rather than naming people. Some students choose their employer; others use a composite or published case where permitted.

How this HCM 3070 Module 5 example is built

Part 1 opens by quoting the project's purpose and naming what the two parts will cover. The organization section gives size, services, finances and strategic priorities. The styles section describes leaders at three levels through what they actually do, including a contrast between two similar units. The communication section presents channels in a table and identifies two patterns, two-way versus one-way and day versus night. The operations section uses research on teamwork communication, psychological safety and leadership to interpret the patterns carefully. The direction section shows how strategy blurs at the floor, and a summary sets up Part 2. A short findings summary at the end hands off cleanly to Part 2.

Reading the HCM 3070 Module 5 grading rubric

Mentors read Part 1 for completeness against the project directions first, then for a faithful picture of the organization and its leaders, sound use of course concepts, trustworthy sources, a sensible order and APA format. For Part 1, mentors look for a concrete, specific picture of the organization and its managerial styles, supported by examples rather than general labels. Using research to interpret what was observed, while acknowledging other explanations, shows analytical maturity. A clear summary that leads into Part 2 helps the project read as one piece of work. A table of communication channels or leaders' roles can make a complex organization easy to follow. Clear headings that mirror the directions make it easy for a mentor to find each required part.

Common HCM 3070 Module 5 mistakes, and how to avoid them

Part 1 papers often describe an organization's mission and organizational chart at length and say little about how leaders actually behave. Describe what managers do, how they communicate and what staff experience. Another common weakness is labeling a style, such as transformational, without evidence. Compare units or leaders when you can, since contrasts make influence visible. Keep confidential details general and avoid naming individuals. Save recommendations for Part 2 unless the directions say otherwise. The desk can help structure Part 1 around an organization you know, using your notes and the project directions. Interview or observe where you can, since firsthand detail strengthens the description.

Write yours, or have the desk draft it

This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Thomas Edison State University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.

More HCM 3070 and B.S. in Healthcare Management sample papers

HCM 3070 Module 5 questions, answered

Where can I find a free HCM 3070 Module 5 sample paper?

Part 1 of the final project is above, set in a composite hospital, with a table of communication channels and notes on each page. Follow its organization, styles, channels and effects structure for your own organization.

What does the HCM-3070 final project ask for?

An examination of managerial style and influence in an organization to understand its operations, direction and how leadership shapes it, submitted in two parts worth 10% and 20% of the grade.

How do I describe a managerial style without just labeling it?

Describe observable behavior, such as how decisions are made, how often the leader is present and how information is shared, then connect it to a concept or style with a source.

What is psychological safety?

Team members' common sense that raising a concern or owning up to an error will not be punished. Research has linked it to team learning behavior and performance.

Should Part 1 include recommendations?

Usually not. Part 1 describes and assesses; Part 2 analyzes and recommends. Follow your classroom directions, which set the required sections for each part.