How did the Aravind Eye Hospital boost its efficiency from TWO to SEVEN times (Mcdonalization)?
Paul Jerry Rozario
M00650904
The Aravind Hospital – Mcdonaldization
“Intelligence and capability are not enough. There must be joy of doing something beautiful” – (Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy)
Dr. Venkataswamy established the Aravind Hospital in 1976 after his retirement. He realized that the problem of avoidable blindness rapidly escalating remained a major cause of concern and problem, so he established the GOVEL trust under which Aravind Eye Hospitals were founded. The Aravind eye care system now serves as a good role model for India, as well as the rest of the world. The Aravind Eye care system is now one of the best and largest eye care facility in the world with its headquarters located in Madurai, India. The 20 bed Eye Hospital opened in 1976 and performed all sorts of eye surgery; its goal was to offer quality eye care at reasonable cost .(Rangan ,2009). Soon the Aravind hospital kept rising above and were successful at achieving their organizational goals.
Dr. Venkataswamy decided that he would dedicate the remaining years to eliminating needless blindness among india’s population, mainly the poor. Aravind is not just health successful but also it is financially successful, thus does not rely on the government for financial support like how the nonprofit organizations do. Soon the Aravind eye Hospital grew from a 20-bed Hospital to a 600-bed hospital, and Dr. Venkataswamy also had a lot of support from his family. I watched several operations performed by Dr. Natchiar. She and her assistants took no more than 15 minutes for each ECCE cataract surgery.(Rangan ,2009). Aravind Eye Hospital basically got its efficiency boosted using the method of Mcdonaldization. This essay is basically done to analyze how the use of the principles or the method of Mcdonaldization led to the boosting or increase in the efficiency at an increasing rate.
Mcdonaldization is the term invented by George Ritzer to describe a sociological phenomenon that is happening in our society. People think that it started with Ray Kroc in the 1950’s, but its origin was way before that. Mcdonaldization is basically the process of raltionalization , it takes a task and breaks it down into smaller tasks. Mcdonaldization is the process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as of the rest of the world.(Ritzer,2010).Mcdonaldization in the medical field has able to develop an enormous and successful business model. The principles/dimensions of Mcdonaldization are efficiency, calculability, predictability and control. The advantages are that it provides wider range of goods and services, also ensures availability of goads and services which are of really good quality and the people are able to acquire what they want or need almost instantly
Dr. venkataswamy applied the principles of mcdonaldization. The founder members of Aravind were interested in making a franchise of delivering all types of eye care services with the effectiveness and efficiency of Mcdonald’s. One of the key building blocks in developing the Aravind eye care system has been through transferring the ideas of another industry that is concerned with low cost, high and good quality – such as the hamburger business pioneered by Ray Croc and underpinning Mcdonalds. Using the efficiency and effectiveness of Mcdonaldization and its principles Aravind eye Hospital has been able to boost its efficiency from TWO to SEVEN times.
Aravind’s efficiency allows its paying patients to subsidise the free ones, while eventually still paying less than they would at other Indian hospitals. Under the great leadership of Dr. Venkataswamy,
Aravind Eye managed to reach at peak and are known role model for other enterprises who are training to achieve their organizational goal. Aravind displays Henri Fayol’s principle of equity by transferring staffs from the free and paying on a rotational basis ensuring equal treatment of the patients as well as the personnel. He applied the rule of Mcdonaldization which is a simple procedure that aims to develop people all around the world, irrespective of their faiths. Through great and astonishing leadership skills Dr.Venkataswamy was able to adapt to all the dimensions and principles of Mcdonaldization. Aravind took the initiative to recruit and provide in- house training to the nurses and further training to all employee’s.
Efficiency is the defining element of Mcdonaldization. Efficiency in an organisation benefits it by increasing its productivity and the achievement of their goals with limited resources. More over in the long time run it improves the organizational performance overall giving the organization an elevated position as opposed to other contenders in the market. Dr. Venkataswamy main vision was to eradicate blindness at the working efficiency of fast food chains, Aravind rose to the position it has reached today successfully through the application of the elements of Mcdonaldization. Efficiency is the defining element of Mcdonaldization. Efficiency was achieved by Aravind hospitals by evaluating and analyzing the best route to achieve the targeted goals of the organization such as reduction, excellence in operation, commitment etc.
The Macdonald’s principle of predictability was also applied by Dr. Venkataswamy. Predictability according to Mcdonald’s is the assurance that products and services will be the same over time and in all locale’s.(Ritzer ,2010). This principle was applied by Dr. Venkataswamy in Aravind by providing the people with the same products ,goods and services from one time to another or from one place to another place, people are more likely to be treated in the same manner, proper equality , no discrimination , no matter what their race, gender or caste. Thus, leading to consistency in their work which led to extreme optimization of the cost incurred.
The next principle applied by Dr.Venkataswamy is Calculability. Calculability is basically the measurable aspects of the goods and services provided. In McDonaldized systems, quantity has become equivalent to quality; a lot of something, or the quick delivery of it, means it must be good. As two observers of contemporary American culture put it, “As a culture, we tend to believe deeply that in general ‘bigger is better.'” (Ritzer, 2010). They gave more importance to quality in comparison to quality in order to meet the required demands of increasing patients not only in India but also for the rest of the world. Mcdonaldization has shown every sign’s of inexorable process.
Dr. Venkataswamy applied one of the most important principle rule of Mcdonald’s that is the use of non human technology or engineering, it was established in the Aravind organizational structure which plans on carrying out their operations with the help of machines rather than just using the human workforce or human technology. This enabled them to do more operations and conduct as well as take part in more surgeries in just a year, leading to the treatment of quite large number of patients in India as well as around the world. through great leadership skills of Dr. V and through his idea of adapting with the dimensions and principles of Mcdonaldization they were able to achieve higher efficiency.
CONCLUSION
From this essay we can conclude that the Aravind eye care system under the leadership of Dr.Venkataswamy were able to achieve higher efficiency or boost in their efficiency by the efficient use of the principles of Mcdonaldization. Aravind high has achieved their desired goals by providing goods and services to the patients and also ensuring the availability of the goods and services. The principles of Mcdonaldization that is efficiency, predictability, and calculability were taken in use by Aravind which gave them the necessary boost needed to increase its efficiency from two to seven times. All these principles helped in the growth of Aravind which has now made them the largest providers of eye surgeries.
Through the adoption of the principles of Mcdonaldization Aravind has able to achieve the targeted goals of the organization such as reduction of cost, excellence of operations, better treatment of the patients, commitment etc.
They have also been able to select the best route required for the achievement of their targeted goals. Dr.V proved himself by applying all his experience quality and skills that he had gained for over 50 years of his long journey that enabled him to achieve all his goals and serve the society.
Thus the adoption of Mcdonaldization was the one of the key element towards achieving greater efficiency.
REFERENCING
Rangan, V (2009). The Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai, India: In Service for Sight. Harvard Business School
Ritzer, G (2010). The Mcdonaldization of Society. Boston: Mcgraw Hill
George Ritzer (1996) “mcdonaldization of society” California pine forge press.
Websites
Aravind.org. (2017). Aravind Eye Care System. online Available at: http://www.aravind.org/default/aboutuscontent/genesis
