| Course | HA515 Leadership and Management in Health Care |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 3 |
| Paper type | Planning and organizing exercise |
| Length | About 850 words, 6 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | Master of Health Administration (MHA) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HA515 Unit 3
Where Should a New Wound Care Center Sit on the Chart? A Planning and Organizing Exercise for a Composite Two-Hospital System, Writing Objectives First and Then Testing Three Placements Against Gulick's Bases of Departmentalization
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
HA515: Leadership and Management in Health Care
Unit 3 Planning and Organizing Exercise
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The health system, the center and every objective and figure are composite and bracketed; the exercise is a course model.
Why a Wound Care Center
Chronic wounds, such as diabetic foot ulcers, venous leg ulcers and pressure injuries, affect millions of Americans and are costly to treat, a burden expected to grow with an aging, more diabetic population (Sen et al., 2009). The system's patients with chronic wounds are now seen in surgeons' offices, a dermatology clinic and the emergency department, with no shared protocols. Leaders approved a dedicated outpatient center in the medical office building at the larger hospital.
Planning: Four Objectives
Drucker argued that managers should set objectives in each area that matters to the organization's performance and that each objective should have a measure and an owner who agrees to it (Drucker, 1954). The center's four objectives, in that form:
1. Healing: [55] percent of chronic wounds healed within [12] weeks of the first visit by the end of year one. Owner: medical director.
2. Access: new patients seen within [seven] days of referral. Owner: practice manager.
3. Experience: [85] percent of patients rating the center 9 or 10 on the survey. Owner: nurse manager.
4. Cost: cost per healed wound within [10] percent of the regional benchmark. Owner: practice manager with finance.
Each objective is reviewed quarterly at a meeting of the owners.
What the Plan Must Respect
The center needs surgeons for debridement, wound nurses for most visits, vascular studies from imaging and referrals from primary care. Some of these staff belong to departments that will not move. The structure has to make healing the first priority, because that is the objective the system will be judged on and the one most easily lost among other departments' goals.
Organizing: Gulick's Bases
Gulick described four bases for grouping work: by major purpose, by process, by clientele and by place (Gulick, 1937). Each suggests a different home for the center. Placement A, by purpose: under the surgical services line, with surgeons who treat wounds. Strength: clinical alignment and surgical access. Weakness: surgery's priorities are operating rooms, and a clinic may become an afterthought. Placement B, by process: under ambulatory operations, with other outpatient clinics. Strength: scheduling, registration and access objectives are handled by people who run clinics well. Weakness: distance from clinical leadership. Placement C, by clientele: under nursing, since wound nurses provide most visits. Strength: nursing expertise and staffing. Weakness: nursing's chain of command is built around inpatient units.
Testing the Placements Against the Objectives
Healing: best served by A or by strong clinical leadership in B. Access: best served by B. Experience: B or C. Cost: B, where clinic costs are routinely tracked.
The Choice
Placement B, ambulatory operations, with a dyad leadership model: a surgeon medical director, accountable for healing, and a nurse manager, accountable for experience, reporting jointly to the vice president of ambulatory operations, with the medical director also holding a dotted line to surgery. This combines the process strengths of B with the clinical authority of A.
Coordination Mechanisms
A monthly wound committee of surgery, vascular, dermatology, endocrinology and nursing will approve protocols. Referrals from primary care will go through the system's referral office with a seven-day standard.
The Fourth Base, Place
Gulick's fourth base, place, raises a question the three placements do not: should the smaller hospital have its own wound clinic? For now, the answer is no; volume there is about [six] visits a day. Instead, a wound nurse from the center will hold a weekly session at the smaller hospital, and patients needing debridement will be seen at the main center. The decision will be revisited when volume at the smaller site passes [ten] visits a day.
How the Objectives Shaped the Structure
Had cost been the first priority, placement B alone would have won easily. Had healing alone mattered, placement A would have been chosen. Because the system set healing first and access second, the structure had to combine clinical authority with clinic operations, which led to the dyad.
Risks
The dyad may blur accountability; the objective owners are named to prevent that. Surgeons may resist clinic time; the medical director's role includes a protected schedule.
Staffing Plan for Year One
The center opens with [one] medical director at [0.4] FTE, [three] certified wound nurses, [one] medical assistant and [one] scheduler, adding a second surgeon's sessions if visits exceed [30] a day.
Limits
The objectives are first-year targets based on benchmarks; they will need revision once the center has its own data.
Conclusion
Writing objectives first showed that healing and access matter most, and Gulick's bases showed that no single grouping serves both. A process home with a clinical dyad and a dotted line to surgery serves the objectives best.
References
Drucker, P. F. (1954). The practice of management. Harper & Row.
Gulick, L. (1937). Notes on the theory of organization. In L. Gulick & L. Urwick (Eds.), Papers on the science of administration (pp. 1-45). Institute of Public Administration.
Sen, C. K., Gordillo, G. M., Roy, S., Kirsner, R., Lambert, L., Hunt, T. K., Gottrup, F., Gurtner, G. C., & Longaker, M. T. (2009). Human skin wounds: A major and snowballing threat to public health and the economy. Wound Repair and Regeneration, 17(6), 763-771. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1524-475X.2009.00543.x
What the HA515 Unit 3 assignment asks for
Unit 3 commonly asks students to plan and organize a new health care service or program. Instructions usually require objectives with measures and owners, an environmental scan or constraints, a structure with reasons, an organization chart and coordination mechanisms. Many courses draw on classical management writers, such as Drucker on objectives and Gulick on departmentalization, so students can test modern decisions against older principles. Expect to cite those sources and any evidence about the service's need in APA style, bracket composite figures, keep the organization composite and show why planning comes before organizing. A structure chosen because it serves the objectives best is more convincing than one chosen because it resembles other departments, so make the link between each objective and the placement explicit.
Inside the HA515 Unit 3 example
The sample explains why the system needs a wound care center, citing research on the burden of chronic wounds, with a margin note on putting planning before organizing. Four objectives follow, each with a measure, target and owner as Drucker proposed, and a short section lists what the plan must respect. The highlighted sentence explains why healing must come first. Gulick's four bases produce three placements, each with strengths and weaknesses, with a margin note on testing them evenly. The placements are tested against the objectives, the fourth base of place is applied separately with a third note, and the choice of a clinical dyad, coordination, risks, year-one staffing and limits close the exercise.
Where the points sit in the HA515 Unit 3 rubric
Planning and organizing rubrics in HA 515 tend to award points for clear objectives, attention to constraints, a reasoned structure, use of management theory, coordination mechanisms, an organization chart, citations and writing quality. Objective points depend on measures, targets and owners for each objective. Constraint points go to naming what the plan must respect, such as staff who belong to other departments. Structure points reward testing several placements rather than assuming one. Theory points require accurate use of classical sources. Coordination points go to committees, liaisons or dotted lines. Exercises that show how the chosen structure follows from the objectives' priorities tend to be graded best, since a grader can see that a different priority would have produced a different chart.
Common HA515 Unit 3 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Planning and organizing papers often lose points by drawing an organization chart first and writing objectives afterward to justify it. Another gap is objectives without measures or owners, which cannot be managed. Some papers apply only one basis of departmentalization, so the choice looks automatic. Others ignore coordination with departments the new program depends on, such as surgery or imaging. Write objectives first, list constraints, test at least three placements against the objectives, choose the one that serves the top priorities and add coordination mechanisms. Then name risks and a first-year staffing plan. Showing how the answer would change if priorities changed proves the reasoning was not arranged after the fact.
Get an HA515 Unit 3 example written to your instructions
Outline the service or project your prompt describes, or one your own organization is planning, together with the Unit 3 instructions and rubric. A first exercise on it comes free in 24-48h, objectives set with measures and owners, and structure chosen because of those objectives rather than habit, with decision rights assigned by role. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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HA515 Unit 3 questions, answered
Where can I find a free HA515 Unit 3 sample paper?
The complete HA515 Unit 3 planning and organizing exercise is available here, placing a composite system's new wound care center by testing three structures against four objectives, with three sources. Your own program can be planned and organized the same way.
What is management by objectives?
Drucker's approach of setting objectives in each key area, each with a measure and an owner who agrees to it and reviews progress on a schedule.
What are Gulick's bases of departmentalization?
Grouping work by major purpose, by process, by clientele or by place.
What is a dyad leadership model?
A structure in which a physician leader and an administrative or nursing leader share accountability for a service.
How long is the HA515 Unit 3 exercise?
About six pages in two parts, with an organization chart and a planning table.