No matter how new or old, small or big, government owned or private enterprise, an organization must develop and implement their own management concepts in order to be successful. Four fundamental and core concepts to follow are plan, organize, lead, and control. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has forgone such challenges in the process of reinventing itself (United States Department of Veteran Affairs, 2011). The VA fought internal and external factors that impacted areas in globalization, technology, innovation, diversity, and ethics.
As the United States continues to fight against terrorism, members of the military continue to come home broken and disabled. Some disabilities require long-term recovery. The Department of Veteran Affairs makes every possible effort to ensure veterans receive the quality of care they need to enable them in performing their daily functions. The VA uses globalization not in a way to sell goods or services throughout the world but as an internal measure to promote acceptance, appreciation and tolerance of people from all backgrounds, cultures and nationalities. (businessdictionary.com, n.d.) Veterans gave of themselves to preserve the freedoms Americans now cherish without any concern to one’s background, religion, race, or culture. A veteran is a hero who deserves to be treated with honor and dignity no matter what part of the world he or she comes from.
According to the businessdictionary.com, Technology is the purposeful application of information used in the health care field. The Department of Veterans Affairs health care system is using various types of technologies in the VA hospitals. Telemetry is an example of one technology in use today. Telemetry allows measurements to be made at a distance via radio waves or IP network transmission and reception of the information (Food and Drug Administration, 2009). Telemetry is an excellent resource in medicine, because a patient is hooked up to a machine that sends an electronic signal from the patient's room to the nurses’ station. It transmits patient’s heart rate, heart rhythm, blood pressure, breathing, and other things to the nurse’s station wirelessly. This allows doctors to perform their duties without spending the majority of time going from bedside to bedside trying to keep track of each patient. Telemetry helps nurses to help better determine patient’s cares and needs. It also helps the nurse to monitor responses to any anti-arrhythmic medications like digoxin. (Food and Drug Administration, 2009) A patient is put into this unit when a doctor believes a patient needs to be monitored around the clock. The patient who uses telemetry suffers from heart attacks or has a dangerous condition that needs monitoring.
Veterans Affairs hospitals have been operating since 1834 and have succeeded because they keep improving their innovation. It is important to improve innovation because innovation is “growth through improvements in efficiency, productivity, quality competitive positioning, and market share”. In the 1990s the VA hospitals were going to be closed down by Congress because the quality of care to veterans was not up to standards, and the technology resources were outdated. VA hospitals managed to stay open because management became more efficient in the decision making process. First they were going to start enhancing internal and external factors. Internally VA hospitals started to hire better qualified doctors, nurses, and improve their management. VA also improved their technology by always updating it to the latest technology. For example, “Harvard University gave the VA Innovations in American Government for the agency’s work in computerizing patient records” (Walter, 2006). To improve externally the VA hospitals started to collaborate with university hospitals. They began to place hospitals next to university campuses. By combining hospitals in university campuses, the Department of Veterans Affairs has benefited through research, supplies, and hiring of newly graduated doctors. New innovations are helping the VA hospitals to become one of the best in health care providers. Time Magazine reported “for six year in a row, VA hospitals scored higher than private facilities on the Universities of Michigan’s American customer satisfaction” (Walter, 2006)
Diversity in the VA hospital is essential because of its customer base. Veterans who seek their services come from all different backgrounds, cultures and different countries. Management has taken steps to ensure the message of “Quality service” is delivered to all customers they serve by advocating their intent through their mission and vision statements: Mission: Honor America’s Veterans by providing exceptional health care that improves their health and well-being. Vision: Veterans Health Administration (VHA) will continue to be the benchmark of excellence and benefits by providing exemplary services that are both patient centered and evidence based. This care will be delivered by engaged, collaborative teams in an integrated environment that supports learning, discovery and continuous improvement. It will emphasize prevention and population health and contribute to the Nation’s well-being through education, research and service in national emergencies (United States Department of Veteran Affairs, 2011). Alike their customer base, the hospitals’ employee base consists, in majority, of fellow veterans. In the human resources department for example, one can find many veterans who served in the military and now are found to be disabled in one form or another. Management has taken time to organize its people in a way that customers feel welcomed and relaxed as they encounter friendly employees who identify with their needs. Implementing ethics in the workplace is a way to supplement formal policies as it helps create the culture of the organization. As previously stated, the Veterans Affairs went through a period of time where ethics among leadership was questionable and veterans care was substandard. As a result, Congress decided to implement new laws to ensure Veterans began to receive proper care and leaders began to lead with high ethical standards. The new legislation forced the VA to create a desired goal- to provide exceptional health care to all veterans. However, achieving the goal meant implementing a tactical plan that will help them get there. One element needed to make the plan a success is open communication of ethics among management and employees. “Open communication can have a positive effect on individuals and the organization” (Trapp, 2011). Opposite to that Trapp suggest the absence of open communication has the potential of creating less than ideal behavior amongst employees (Trapp, 2011). Today, one can find the VA’s core values alongside their mission and vision statements. Their core values consist of integrity, commitment, advocacy, respect, and excellence. The success of the Department of Veterans Affairs can be attributed only to the devotion and dedication of all members of the organization. Leadership that cares along with employees who understand their roles in the services they provide to veterans has turned this organization around. The Department of Veterans Affairs has forgone a massive transformation by overcoming both internal and external challenges. It has achieved its goal of becoming Americas top medical health provider to America’s veterans by applying the four management concepts into globalization, technology, innovation, diversity and ethics. It took leadership as well as the workforce to ensure the change was accepted and the standard of care provided to the veterans was brought up to compete with the private sector.

References
Food and Drug Administration. (2009). Radiation-Emitting Products. Retrieved from http://http://www.fda.gov/Radiation-EmittingProducts/RadiationSafety/ElectromagneticCompatibilityEMC/ucm116574.htm
Trapp, L. N. (2011). Staff attitudes to talking openly about ethical dilemmas. The role of business ethics conceptions and trust. Journal of Business Ethics, 103(1), 543-552.
United States Department of Veteran Affairs. (2011). Healthcare for Veterans. Retrieved from http://www.lomalinda.va.gov/about/index.asp
Walter, D. (2006). How Veteran hospital became the best in health care. Retrieved from http://http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1376238,00.html businessdictionary.com. (n.d.). Technology. Retrieved from http://http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/technology.html