Week 8 Discussion Response- Capstone

Week 8 Discussion Responses

Capstone

Colleague 1- Tiffany Mitchell

A Company and its External Problem

Ford's F-150 pickup is its best-selling vehicle, and F-Series trucks bring in most of the company's profits. Last month, September 2026, Ford had to stop F-150 production at its Detroit-area plant because of a problem with a parts supplier. F-Series sales were already down 11% compared to last year and this situation cut into Ford’s third quarter wholesale numbers (Colias, 2026).

This is the second big supplier problem in about a year. Fires at an aluminum supplier, Novelis, had already limited Ford’s truck production for most of 2026, and that outage is expected to cost Ford $1.5 billion this year. The Kansas City plant had also been interrupted several times in September from parts shortages before the full shutdown (Editorial Team, 2026). This shows Ford leans too heavily on single suppliers for key parts and doesn’t have enough backup when one of them fails. Reddy (2018) explains that a solid strategy is one where the assumptions behind it have been tested and checked. Ford seems to have assumed its key suppliers would keep delivering, and that assumption was never really challenged.

Strategy to Address External Problem

Ford leadership should build a more flexible supply chain. First, use at least two suppliers for the most important F-150 parts so one failure doesn’t stop the line. Second, keep a small safety stock of high-risk parts. It costs more to store, but it’s cheaper than shutting down a plant that makes your most profitable product. Third, check in on key suppliers’ health regularly so warning signs get caught early. Finally, be more open with dealers and customers about delays to protect trust and sales.

Ford should build a more flexible supply chain. They could use at least two suppliers for the most important F-150 parts so one failure doesn't stop the line. This aligns with Reddy's (2018) advice to identify risks early and have a plan ready to handle them. Second, keep a small safety stock of high-risk parts. It might cost more to store them but it's a better option than creating a bottleneck and shutting down the plant that builds their most profitable product. Finally, Ford should keep dealers, investors, and customers informed about delays. Reddy (2018) stresses sharing the plan with outside stakeholders, not just employees.

References

Colias, M. (2026, September 30). Ford F-150 supplier disruption to impact third-quarter sales, CEO says. Reuters. Ford F-150 supplier disruption to impact third-quarter dealer shipments, CEO says | Reuters Links to an external site.

Editorial Team. (2026, October 1). Ford F150 production restarts after supplier issue. Manufacturing & Production. https://www.globalautoinsight.com/news/ford-f-150-production-restarts-after-supplier-issue Links to an external site.

Reddy, N. (2018, February 12). Want a successful business? Build an effective strategy Links to an external site. . Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2018/02/12/want-a-successful-business-build-an-effective-strategy/?sh=4debe0a869bf

Colleague 2- Nadia Bhatti

I chose to focus on workforce shortages and employee retention because these are challenges, I have experienced throughout my career in healthcare and behavioral health. Staffing problems rarely remain just a human resources issue. In my experience, vacancies and turnover can increase the workload on existing employees, affect morale, limit patient access, and ultimately influence the quality and financial performance of an organization. For that reason, I was interested in examining how another behavioral healthcare organization is addressing a similar challenge.

Universal Health Services (UHS) is one of the largest healthcare organizations in the United States and operates an extensive network of behavioral health facilities. Like many behavioral healthcare organizations, UHS continues to face workforce challenges at a time when demand for mental health and substance use treatment remains high. Muoio (2026) reported that UHS behavioral health volumes continued to be affected by workforce bottlenecks during the first quarter of 2026. The organization has identified staffing shortages involving positions such as nurses, therapists, and mental health technicians, with the specific shortages varying by market. UHS has also acknowledged that staffing vacancies have prevented some facilities from fully capturing available patient demand.

The external problem is the continuing shortage of qualified behavioral healthcare workers. UHS cannot control the overall availability of nurses, therapists, or other behavioral health professionals. However, I believe the situation demonstrates why workforce capacity must be treated as part of organizational strategy rather than primarily as a recruitment problem. An organization can have available beds and strong community demand, but neither translates into meaningful growth or improved access if there are not enough qualified employees to safely provide the care.

I would recommend that UHS develop a market-level workforce capacity and retention strategy that connects growth decisions directly to workforce readiness. Instead of focusing primarily on filling open positions after vacancies occur, leadership should examine turnover, vacancy rates, time to fill positions, first-year retention, employee workload, and projected patient demand within each market. This information could then be used to determine where additional capacity can realistically be supported and where workforce stabilization needs to occur before further expansion.

Retention should be an equally important part of the strategy. Recruitment alone will not solve a workforce shortage if an organization continues losing employees shortly after they are hired. UHS could strengthen onboarding, clinical supervision, career development opportunities, and stay interviews to better understand why employees remain with or leave the organization. From my own leadership experience, I have seen that adding positions does not automatically solve a staffing problem. Organizations also have to understand the employee experience and the operational conditions employees encounter once they arrive.

Employee involvement would also be important. Adobor (2019) explains that expanding participation in strategy formulation can provide leaders with perspectives they may not otherwise have. Frontline clinicians and direct-care staff understand workload, scheduling, documentation requirements, patient acuity, and workflow barriers in ways that may not be fully visible at the executive level. Including those employees in workforce planning could help UHS identify why certain markets or positions remain difficult for staff and develop solutions that are more likely to work in practice.

Finally, UHS should continue expanding outpatient and virtual behavioral healthcare when clinically appropriate. Healthcare Dive reported that UHS has recognized strong behavioral health demand and is increasingly focused on capturing some of that demand through outpatient services (Halleman, 2026). A broader continuum of care could allow the organization to improve access while using its workforce more strategically rather than relying primarily on inpatient expansion.

The behavioral health workforce shortage is an external challenge that UHS cannot solve on its own. However, the organization can determine how strategically it responds to that environment. In my view, the goal should not simply be to hire more people. The stronger strategy is to retain the workforce already in place, build sustainable pipelines for difficult-to-fill positions, involve employees in identifying operational barriers, and align future growth with the workforce capacity required to provide safe and effective care.

References:

Adobor, H. (2019). Opening up strategy formulation: Benefits, risks, and some suggestions. Business Horizons, 62(3), 383–393. doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2019.01.005

Halleman, S. (2026, April 29). UHS reaffirms 2026 volume targets, despite seasonal hits in Q1. Healthcare Dive.

Muoio, D. (2026, April 29). UHS’ Q1 2026 earnings growth dampened by volume hits. Fierce Healthcare.

Week 8 Discussion Responses

Capstone

Colleague 1- Tiffany Mitchell

A Company and its External Problem

Ford's F-150 pickup is its best-selling vehicle, and F-Series trucks bring in most of the company's profits. Last month, September 2026, Ford had to stop F-150 production at its Detroit-area plant because of a problem with a parts supplier. F-Series sales were already down 11% compared to last year and this situation cut into Ford’s third quarter wholesale numbers (Colias, 2026).

This is the second big supplier problem in about a year. Fires at an aluminum supplier, Novelis, had already limited Ford’s truck production for most of 2026, and that outage is expected to cost Ford $1.5 billion this year. The Kansas City plant had also been interrupted several times in September from parts shortages before the full shutdown (Editorial Team, 2026). This shows Ford leans too heavily on single suppliers for key parts and doesn’t have enough backup when one of them fails. Reddy (2018) explains that a solid strategy is one where the assumptions behind it have been tested and checked. Ford seems to have assumed its key suppliers would keep delivering, and that assumption was never really challenged.

Strategy to Address External Problem

Ford leadership should build a more flexible supply chain. First, use at least two suppliers for the most important F-150 parts so one failure doesn’t stop the line. Second, keep a small safety stock of high-risk parts. It costs more to store, but it’s cheaper than shutting down a plant that makes your most profitable product. Third, check in on key suppliers’ health regularly so warning signs get caught early. Finally, be more open with dealers and customers about delays to protect trust and sales.

Ford should build a more flexible supply chain. They could use at least two suppliers for the most important F-150 parts so one failure doesn't stop the line. This aligns with Reddy's (2018) advice to identify risks early and have a plan ready to handle them. Second, keep a small safety stock of high-risk parts. It might cost more to store them but it's a better option than creating a bottleneck and shutting down the plant that builds their most profitable product. Finally, Ford should keep dealers, investors, and customers informed about delays. Reddy (2018) stresses sharing the plan with outside stakeholders, not just employees.

References

Colias, M. (2026, September 30). Ford F-150 supplier disruption to impact third-quarter sales, CEO says. Reuters. Ford F-150 supplier disruption to impact third-quarter dealer shipments, CEO says | Reuters Links to an external site.

Editorial Team. (2026, October 1). Ford F150 production restarts after supplier issue. Manufacturing & Production. https://www.globalautoinsight.com/news/ford-f-150-production-restarts-after-supplier-issue Links to an external site.

Reddy, N. (2018, February 12). Want a successful business? Build an effective strategy Links to an external site. . Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2018/02/12/want-a-successful-business-build-an-effective-strategy/?sh=4debe0a869bf

Colleague 2- Nadia Bhatti

I chose to focus on workforce shortages and employee retention because these are challenges, I have experienced throughout my career in healthcare and behavioral health. Staffing problems rarely remain just a human resources issue. In my experience, vacancies and turnover can increase the workload on existing employees, affect morale, limit patient access, and ultimately influence the quality and financial performance of an organization. For that reason, I was interested in examining how another behavioral healthcare organization is addressing a similar challenge.

Universal Health Services (UHS) is one of the largest healthcare organizations in the United States and operates an extensive network of behavioral health facilities. Like many behavioral healthcare organizations, UHS continues to face workforce challenges at a time when demand for mental health and substance use treatment remains high. Muoio (2026) reported that UHS behavioral health volumes continued to be affected by workforce bottlenecks during the first quarter of 2026. The organization has identified staffing shortages involving positions such as nurses, therapists, and mental health technicians, with the specific shortages varying by market. UHS has also acknowledged that staffing vacancies have prevented some facilities from fully capturing available patient demand.

The external problem is the continuing shortage of qualified behavioral healthcare workers. UHS cannot control the overall availability of nurses, therapists, or other behavioral health professionals. However, I believe the situation demonstrates why workforce capacity must be treated as part of organizational strategy rather than primarily as a recruitment problem. An organization can have available beds and strong community demand, but neither translates into meaningful growth or improved access if there are not enough qualified employees to safely provide the care.

I would recommend that UHS develop a market-level workforce capacity and retention strategy that connects growth decisions directly to workforce readiness. Instead of focusing primarily on filling open positions after vacancies occur, leadership should examine turnover, vacancy rates, time to fill positions, first-year retention, employee workload, and projected patient demand within each market. This information could then be used to determine where additional capacity can realistically be supported and where workforce stabilization needs to occur before further expansion.

Retention should be an equally important part of the strategy. Recruitment alone will not solve a workforce shortage if an organization continues losing employees shortly after they are hired. UHS could strengthen onboarding, clinical supervision, career development opportunities, and stay interviews to better understand why employees remain with or leave the organization. From my own leadership experience, I have seen that adding positions does not automatically solve a staffing problem. Organizations also have to understand the employee experience and the operational conditions employees encounter once they arrive.

Employee involvement would also be important. Adobor (2019) explains that expanding participation in strategy formulation can provide leaders with perspectives they may not otherwise have. Frontline clinicians and direct-care staff understand workload, scheduling, documentation requirements, patient acuity, and workflow barriers in ways that may not be fully visible at the executive level. Including those employees in workforce planning could help UHS identify why certain markets or positions remain difficult for staff and develop solutions that are more likely to work in practice.

Finally, UHS should continue expanding outpatient and virtual behavioral healthcare when clinically appropriate. Healthcare Dive reported that UHS has recognized strong behavioral health demand and is increasingly focused on capturing some of that demand through outpatient services (Halleman, 2026). A broader continuum of care could allow the organization to improve access while using its workforce more strategically rather than relying primarily on inpatient expansion.

The behavioral health workforce shortage is an external challenge that UHS cannot solve on its own. However, the organization can determine how strategically it responds to that environment. In my view, the goal should not simply be to hire more people. The stronger strategy is to retain the workforce already in place, build sustainable pipelines for difficult-to-fill positions, involve employees in identifying operational barriers, and align future growth with the workforce capacity required to provide safe and effective care.

References:

Adobor, H. (2019). Opening up strategy formulation: Benefits, risks, and some suggestions. Business Horizons, 62(3), 383–393. doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2019.01.005

Halleman, S. (2026, April 29). UHS reaffirms 2026 volume targets, despite seasonal hits in Q1. Healthcare Dive.

Muoio, D. (2026, April 29). UHS’ Q1 2026 earnings growth dampened by volume hits. Fierce Healthcare.