Overview
Pre-Assignment Reading Requirement:
Before working through this case study, you must carefully review the following article to fully understand the Three-Step Stakeholder Engagement Approach:
Engaging Stakeholders for Project Success – Project Management Institute: https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/engaging-stakeholders-project-success-11199
This article outlines the foundation of your work in stakeholder mapping, prioritization, and development. Your responses must reflect the principles and strategies discussed in the reading.
Background: ZenithCare is a nationally recognized healthcare provider with a strong reputation for clinical excellence, patient satisfaction, and regional innovation. Serving millions of patients annually, the organization operates 25 hospitals and over 300 outpatient clinics across multiple states. With increasing pressure to improve interoperability, meet compliance mandates, and transition to value-based care models, the executive board approved Project Phoenix—a $200 million digital transformation initiative aimed at replacing legacy systems with a cloud-based Electronic Health Record (EHR) platform.
The Promise: Project Phoenix was championed as a transformative leap forward, with ambitious goals including:
- Seamless sharing of patient information across facilities.
- Streamlined scheduling and billing workflows.
- Enhanced clinical decision support.
- Improved documentation accuracy and audit readiness.
- Real-time reporting for operational and clinical analytics.
Stakeholders ranged from physicians and nurses to IT professionals, department heads, compliance officers, and regional managers. The system was developed in partnership with a major vendor and rolled out in stages, with the final “go-live” across all facilities three months ago.
The Current Reality: Despite a technically successful system installation, full implementation and adoption have stalled. Maria Chen, the project manager, now faces a growing crisis of disengagement:
- Front-line nurses in emergency rooms and inpatient units are reverting to paper logs, citing usability issues and slow system response times.
- Physicians, particularly in specialties like oncology and orthopedics, are bypassing the scheduling tool, opting instead to rely on administrative assistants or personal calendars.
- The IT support desk has been inundated with support tickets, many from frustrated clinicians requesting system changes that were already addressed during training.
- Mid-level managers and department heads are voicing concerns about limited system functionality, claiming it doesn’t align with existing workflows.
- Staff morale is low, with many claiming they were left out of the change process and expressing skepticism about the system’s benefits.
While Maria had secured executive support and managed the technical deployment effectively, she recognizes now that the true challenge is social and behavioral—not technological.
Your Role: You have been brought in as part of Maria Chen’s extended project team, tasked with helping turn Project Phoenix from a technical rollout into a cultural shift. To do so, you must apply the Three-Step Stakeholder Management Approach to create a pathway to sustainable adoption and deeper engagement.
Key Considerations to Keep in Mind:
- Organizational Complexity: ZenithCare is a large matrixed organization with formal hierarchies and informal networks of influence (e.g., respected senior nurses, informal physician leaders, IT champions).
- Geographical Spread: Facilities across different states have varying cultures, levels of readiness, and resource constraints.
- Resistance Points: Previous initiatives have failed due to lack of communication, insufficient training, and perceived top-down mandates.
- Communication Gaps: Project messaging has mostly come from the top, with limited two-way feedback from front-line users.
- Maria’s Goal: Shift from mere “go-live” to meaningful “buy-in”—a transition from installation to implementation.
Assignment Instructions:
As a member of Maria Chen’s extended project team, your task is to help transition Project Phoenix from a technical rollout to a sustainable organizational change. You are required to analyze the case using the Three-Step Stakeholder Engagement Approach outlined in the PMI article, applying its principles to identify key stakeholders, assess their levels of influence and commitment, and develop strategies to improve engagement, build trust, and drive adoption.
Your submission should include a visual representation of stakeholder relationships and a brief written reflection addressing how stakeholder dynamics, influence, resistance, and communication gaps are impacting the project’s success. Be sure to incorporate strategic, ethical, and political considerations as you propose actionable solutions.
Requirements:
- There is no minimum or maximum required number of pages. Your analysis will be considered complete, if it addresses each of the components outlined above.
- Use of proper APA formatting and citations. If supporting evidence from outside resources is used those must be properly cited. A minimum of 3 - 5 sources (excluding the course textbook) from scholarly articles or business periodicals is required.
- Include your best critical thinking and analysis to arrive at your justification.