NURS FPX 6216 Assessment 3 Budget Negotiations and Communication Assessment

NURS FPX 6216 Assessment 3 Budget Negotiations and Communication

Introduction

Note: Complete the assessments in this course in the order in which they are presented.

Negotiating budgets and communicating financial needs to stakeholders are vital skills for nurse leaders. Given today’s numerous constraints on funding and a highly competitive environment, the ability to win support for your budget proposals hinges on being able to present a compelling argument based on well-documented needs, accurate financial information, and a justifiable business case.

This assessment provides an opportunity for you to examine the mission and goals of a health care organization, in order to justify a budget proposal. A persuasive argument requires thoughtful justification and rationale for the expenses required to support your proposal. A proposal that supports the organization’s mission and goals strengthens your argument and is much more likely to get you what you need.

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In every health care organization, dollars are scarce and the budget process is carefully scrutinized at every level. Nurse leaders must be business-savvy. They must be able to make a compelling case for why every budget line item and every dollar on a budget supports the mission and goals of the unit and the organization. This means that nurse leaders must be able to think in terms of the business of health care and be able to present a business proposal or plan with thorough and thoughtful justification and rationale for expenses. The business plan should present accurate, factual data and costs, and should also be concise and clearly organized.

Note: Complete the assessments in this course in the order in which they are presented.

Preparation

The financial department has reviewed your unit’s operating budget and has asked you to submit an executive summary that provides support for your budget proposal. Your challenge is to position your unit favorably within an environment of competing demands for limited funding.

As you prepare to complete this assessment, you may want to think about other related issues to deepen your understanding or broaden your viewpoint. You are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of your professional community. Note that these questions are for your own development and exploration and do not need to be completed or submitted as part of your assessment.

Consider the operating budget you developed in Assessment 2.

• • How would you justify your budget to executive leaders?
  • How would you link your budget to the organization’s goals and objectives?
  • How would you propose to meet productivity goals while staying within budget?

The following resources are required to complete the assessment.

• • APA Style Paper Tutorial [DOCX]. Use this tutorial for your executive summary.

Requirements

Note: The following requirements correspond to the grading criteria in the assessment scoring guide. Be sure that your executive summary addresses each point, at a minimum. You may also want to read the Guiding Questions: Budget Negotiations and Communication [DOCX] to better understand how each criterion will be assessed.

Write an executive summary of the operating budget you prepared in Assessment 2 that makes a compelling case for why funds should be allocated for your budget.

• • Outline a strategic plan that ensures profitability and fiscal success.
  • Present a plan to meet staff productivity goals, while staying within budget parameters.
  • Justify equipment and service costs.
  • Analyze department, unit, or project alignment with the organization’s mission and goals.
  • Write clearly and concisely, using correct grammar and mechanics.
  • Integrate relevant and credible sources of evidence to support your assertions, correctly formatting citations and references using current APA style.

Additional Requirements for NURS FPX 6216 Assessment 3 Budget Negotiations and Communication 

Format your summary using APA style.

• • Use the APA Style Paper Tutorial [DOCX] to help you in writing and formatting your summary. Be sure to include:

• • • A title page and reference page. An abstract is not required.
    • Appropriate section headings.
    • A minimum of five properly formatted citations and references.
  • Your summary should be 3–5 pages in length, not including the title page and reference page.

Portfolio Prompt: You may choose to save this learning activity to your ePortfolio.

Competencies Measured

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:

• • Competency 1: Design an operating budget that incorporates variances or discretionary spending.

• • • Outline a strategic plan that ensures profitability and fiscal success.
  • Competency 2: Develop a plan for managing the labor force, within the parameters of the budget and productivity.

• • • Present a plan to meet staff productivity goals, while staying within budget parameters.
  • Competency 4: Determine the equipment and services needed to maintain seamless patient or client care.

• • • Justify equipment and service costs.
  • Competency 5: Apply financial principles to a strategic plan for achieving organizational goals and fiscal success.

• • • Analyze department, unit, or project alignment with an organization’s mission and goals.
  • Competency 6: Communicate effectively with diverse audiences, in an appropriate form and style, consistent with applicable organizational, professional, and scholarly standards.

• • • Write clearly and concisely, using correct grammar and mechanics.
    • Integrate relevant and credible sources of evidence to support your assertions, correctly formatting citations and references using APA style.

Budget Negotiations and Communication Scoring Guide

CRITERIA	NON-PERFORMANCE	BASIC	PROFICIENT	DISTINGUISHED
Outline a strategic plan that ensures profitability and fiscal success.	Does not outline a strategic plan that ensures profitability and fiscal success.	The outline is not compelling, not strategic, omits key elements or responsibilities, or fails to include data or case studies to support the plan.	Outlines a strategic plan that ensures profitability and fiscal success.	Outlines a strategic plan that ensures profitability and fiscal success, and identifies knowledge gaps, unknowns, missing information, unanswered questions, or areas of uncertainty.
Present a plan to meet staff productivity goals, while staying within budget parameters.	Does not present a plan to meet staff productivity goals, while staying within budget parameters.	Attempts to present a plan, but omits major factors affecting staffing and productivity, does not connect proposed staffing levels to the attainment of organizational goals, or omits staffing metrics or case studies that support the plan.	Presents a plan to meet staff productivity goals, while staying within budget parameters.	Presents a plan to meet staff productivity goals, while staying within budget parameters, including rationale for rejecting alternative approaches.
Justify equipment and service costs.	Does not justify equipment and service costs.	Attempts to justify equipment and service costs, but fails to explain contribution to organizational goals, cost calculations, or use of available resources.	Justifies equipment and service costs.	Justifies equipment and service costs, and identifies assumptions on which the projected costs are based.
Analyze department, unit, or project alignment with an organization’s mission and goals.	Does not connect department, unit, or project alignment with an organization’s mission and goals.	Attempts to connect department, unit, or project alignment with an organization’s mission and goals, but fails to communicate linkages clearly, or fails to provide evidence to support linkages.	Analyzes department, unit, or project alignment with an organization’s mission and goals.	Provides a persuasive analysis linking the department, unit, or project with an organization’s mission and goals.
Write clearly and concisely, using correct grammar and mechanics.	Does not write clearly and concisely, using correct grammar and mechanics.	Writing is not consistently clear or concise, or errors in grammar and mechanics inhibit effective communication.	Writes clearly and concisely, using correct grammar and mechanics.	Writes clearly and concisely. Grammar and mechanics are error-free.
Integrate relevant and credible sources of evidence to support your assertions, correctly formatting citations and references using current APA style.	Does not integrate relevant and credible sources of evidence to support assertions, correctly formatting citations and references using current APA style.	Sources lack relevance or credibility, are poorly integrated, or are incorrectly formatted.	Integrates relevant and credible sources of evidence to support your assertions, correctly formatting citations and references using current APA style.	Integrates relevant, credible, and convincing sources of evidence to support assertions. Sources are current, and citations and references are error-free.

Guiding Questions

Budget Negotiations and Communication

This document is designed to give you questions to consider and additional guidance to help you successfully complete the Budget Negotiations and Communication assessment. You may find it useful to use this document as a pre-writing exercise, an outlining tool, or as a final check to ensure that you have sufficiently addressed all the grading criteria for this assessment. This document is a resource to help you complete the assessment. Do not turn in this document as your assessment submission.

Executive Summary

Write an executive summary of the operating budget you designed in Assessment 2 that makes a compelling case for why funds should be allocated for your budget.

Outline a strategic plan that ensures profitability and fiscal success.

• Does your executive summary begin with a strong first paragraph that captures the reader’s attention and compels her to read through the rest of the document?
• Is your plan truly strategic, rather than just an operational or business plan?
• Have you captured the key elements of your plan that you wish to communicate to executive leaders?
• Have you identified responsibilities for implementing the plan?
• What data or case studies support your plan?

Present a plan to meet staff productivity goals, while staying within budget parameters.

• Does your plan address the major factors affecting staffing and productivity?
• How will proposed staffing levels affect the attainment of organizational goals?
• What staffing metrics or case studies support your plan?

Justify equipment and service costs.

• How will the equipment and services contribute to organizational goals?
• How did you calculate costs?
• What information can be gathered from stakeholders to ensure that you maximize available resources?

Analyze department, unit, or project alignment with the organization’s mission and goals.

• Does your analysis clearly communicate these linkages?
• What evidence do you have to support your analysis?

Write clearly and concisely, using correct grammar and mechanics.

• Express your main points and conclusions coherently.
• Proofread your writing to minimize errors that could distract readers and make it more difficult to focus on the substance of your summary.

Integrate relevant and credible sources of evidence to support your assertions, correctly formatting citations and references using APA style.

• Integrate relevant evidence from at least five scholarly or professional sources.

Submission Reminders

• Have you effectively outlined a strategic plan that ensures profitability and fiscal success?
• Have you presented your plan for meeting staff productivity goals, while staying within budget parameters?
• Have you provided rational and compelling justification for the costs of equipment and services?
• Have you analyzed the alignment of your department, unit, or project with the organization’s mission and goals?
• Is your summary well-supported by at least five sources of credible evidence?
• Is your summary properly formatted and 3–5 pages in length, not including the title page and reference page?
• Have you proofread your writing to minimize errors that could distract the reader and make it more difficult to focus on the substance of your summary?

Resources: Strategic Planning

• The resources provided here are optional. You may use other resources of your choice to prepare for this assessment; however, you will need to ensure that they are appropriate, credible, and valid. The MSN Program Library Research Guide can help direct your research.
  • Free Management Library. (n.d.). All about strategic planning. 
    • Introduces the concept and benefits of strategic planning.

Resources: Developing a Business Care

• The resources provided here are optional. You may use other resources of your choice to prepare for this assessment; however, you will need to ensure that they are appropriate, credible, and valid. The MSN Program Library Research Guide can help direct your research.
  • Mallory, L. (2016). How to write a business case ― 4 steps to a perfect business case template [Blog post]. Workfront. https://resources.workfront.com/project-management-blog/how-to-write-a-business-case-4-steps-to-a-perfect-business-case-template

• • • Presents recommendations for preparing a business case.
  • O’Hara, C. (2014). The Right Way to Present Your Business Case. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, 2-5

• • • Offers best practice recommendations for effectively communicating business case to stakeholders.

Resources: Cost-Benefit Analysis

• The resources provided here are optional. You may use other resources of your choice to prepare for this assessment; however, you will need to ensure that they are appropriate, credible, and valid. The MSN Program Library Research Guide can help direct your research.
  • Wahlster, P., Goetghebeur, M., Kriza, C., Niederlander, C., & Kolominsky-Rabas, P. (2015). Balancing costs and benefits at different stages of medical innovation: A systematic review of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). BMC Health Services Research, 15, 1-12.

• • • Reviews applications of MCDA methods in decisions addressing the trade-off between costs and benefits.

Resources: Vocabulary Practice

• The resources provided here are optional. You may use other resources of your choice to prepare for this assessment; however, you will need to ensure that they are appropriate, credible, and valid. The MSN Program Library Research Guide can help direct your research.

The following interactive drag-and-drop exercises will enable you to test your knowledge of financial terminology and may help you build your vocabulary.

• Vocabulary Drag-and-Drop Exercise 5.
• Vocabulary Drag-and-Drop Exercise 6.

Activity: Budget Negotiations and Communication

Click the linked Budget Negotiations and Communication title above to check your understanding of important assessment concepts. This ungraded activity is for your own self-assessment.