In recent years many countries have experienced population ageing, which causes difficulties for countries' economies, and requires improvements of the elderly care to address seniors' health issues(Bloom, et al., 2015).Therefore, the current study is relevant because senior living facilities in the United States and Russia need the improvement of the management system to meet the increasing demands of older adults. Moreover, leadership and staffing are critical in the organisationbecause this influences the quality of services (Havig et al., 2011). When the company gets access to information about residents' needs and defines outcomes, then the organisation chooses an approach to undertake management tasks which are aimed to achieve desired outcomes (Yee-Melichar et al., 2010). Consequently, this study focuses on the management systems and best management practices used to solve current issues in the field of elderly care and meet residents' needs.

The objectives of the thesis are to compare and analyse management systems of senior living facilities in the United States and Russia and determine the best practices used in the field of elderly care in order to improve the management of senior living facilities and quality of care provided by them. The objectives of the study are achieved through accomplishing a set of tasks.

The tasks of the thesis include examining previous studies on the topic, establishing methods for the current study, interviewing experts working in the organisations who have taken part in the study, comparing management systems of two organisations operating in different countries, and defining the best practices implemented in the companies in terms of management approaches and techniques for meeting needs of older adults and providing quality care in senior living facilities.

In order to accomplish major objectives, the study addresses the following research questions, “How are management systems of senior living facilities in Russia and the United States organised in order to solve issues in the field?” and “What are the features of a management system of an American senior living residence which differentiate it from a similar type of organisations in Russia?” The description of differences between features which differentiate one organisation from another organisation in a foreign country is critical because the economic and cultural context is different in both countries of analysis. This context influences the management system of senior living facilities and approaches for operational activities.

The management system is “documented and tested step-by-step method aimed at smooth functioning through standard practices, which include detailed information on topics such asorganising an enterprise, setting and implementing corporate policies, establishing accounting, monitoring, and quality control procedures, choosing and training employees, choosing suppliers and getting best value from them, and marketing and distribution” (BusinessDictionary, n.d.). In the current study, a management system is an approach of running an organisation through defining strategic goals, dealing with external issues, and managing marketing, human capital, business development, and finance of the firm.

Assisted living is defined as residential care, home for the aged, or housing with services, which means a residential facility for six or more elderly people that provides assistance, activities, and health-related services (Renz & Stout, 2017). In the current study, the term “senior living facility” describes different types of residences for older adults including assisted living.

There are 28,900 assisted living and similar residential care communities in the United States (National Center for Health Statistics (U.S.), 2019). While in Russia the market of elderly care has not reached the same level, there are only about 2,000 senior living facilities, according to the Russian Federal State Statistics Service and Registry of Social Service Providers. The study focuses on management systems in non-governmental senior living facilities which might be a private for-profit or not-for-profit organisationbecause participants of thestudy are not state organisations and non-governmental facilities' management systems are more comparable.

In previous studies, we found out that the participation of top management in operations is important as well as the participation of first-line supervisors and caregivers in strategic decision-making (Castle, Ferguson, & Hughes, 2009; Strцmberg et al., 2019). Furthermore, the marketing for the elderly has specific features which are important to consider while promoting services of senior living facilities (Meiners& Seeberger, 2010). As for human resource management, the current issue is employees' burnout which influences the quality of care (Harrad & Sula, 2018). Despite the fact, that several parts of a management system of a senior living activity have been studied recently, there is a lack of studies which applies a holistic approach to learn the management system of a senior living facility as a whole. Another aspect that differentiates the current research from prior studies is the comparison of organisations in the United States and Russia which are understudied from the managerial perspective on elderly care.

Considering the fact that the population in the United States and Russia is ageing, comparative analysis of management in senior living facilities is beneficial for organisations which operate in the market because this study shows which practices are efficient and which do not work. Moreover, this is an exploratory study. Therefore, current research is advantageous for future studies in the field of senior living. Additionally, new entrances to the market might find the study useful because this represents the inner perspective of how senior living residences operate, which issues they face, what potential opportunities exist, and to what extent the market of senior living facilities is developed in different countries such as Russia and the United States. For both respondents, this study is beneficial since they can compare different management practices and implement the best approaches from the analysis. From a managerial standpoint, the study contributes to the field because it discusses successful cases of two companies operating in the industry.

With regard to limitations, the study includes the subjective experiences of two organisations operating in the field of senior assisted living facilities. Thus, the results cannot be generalised. Nevertheless, the outcomes of the study are a contribution to the research of understudied issues in the area of managing senior living residences for elderly people.

Thisstudy is structured as follows: the paper starts with the introduction, part 1 serves as the theoretical foundation which describes previous studies on the topic, followed by the statement ofthe research question; then the third part is the methodology of the thesis accompanied by the description of research design, methods, and analysis tools; the fourth part is the description of results of comparative analysis, while the last part reveals the conclusion of the thesis.The appendices with the guide for the interview, the informed consent form, and the description of literature review process, are provided at the end of the document.

1. Theoretical foundation

The literature review of this thesis focuses on the importance of elderly environment, law regulation, and features of different aspects of the management system in the senior living facilities. The discussion of the management systems includes the description of the top management's and first-line managers' role in the organisation, external and internal marketing, features of human resource management, quality management tools, and financial aspects of eldercare. Today a senior living facility considers not only providing medical services but also life enrichment programs, social interactions, and other activities to make a life of the residents interesting and full.

While a senior is choosing a senior living facility medical factors are the most important and are considered as “push” factors, however, hospitality services such as accommodation, food, recreation, and social opportunities are “pull” factors which make residents choose one senior living facility over another (Pizam, 2014). The management of the company might consider both types of factors to improve the management system, the quality of care, and the facility itself.

Concerning the development of the industry in the United States and Russia, this is significant to address the historical context and law regulation on elderly welfare. The following parts describe in detail statistics about the ageing population in both countries, governmental programs, national projects and laws on elderly care, the status and types of senior living facilities, and features of the management of senior living facilities. The process of choosing sources for the theoretical foundation is described in Appendix 3.

1.1 Elderly Care in Russia.

The population in Russia is ageing. In Russia, the percentage of elderly persons aged 65 and over equals 14.7% for 2018 compared to global 8.8%, according to the World Bank data (2018). This means that the development of elderly care might be a priority for the government and businesses because the demand for elderly care will increase with the increase in the number of seniors.

There are three types of operators of senior facilities in Russia: private, social and governmental organisations. Private retirement homes are targeted on seniors with middle- or high- income. These facilities have modern equipment, good infrastructure, cultural enrichment programs, and a big variety of health care services. Social senior living facilities require residents to transfer apartment ownership to the senior living organisation for residential registration. Governmental retirement homes provide services for low-income citizens who apply to senior living facilities through social organisations. These residences provide low-quality care because of lack of funding, lack of health workforce, and poor system approach (TechartResearch, 2012).

In Russia, the responsibility for long-term care of older adults lies with their family members and this is enforced by the legislation except for those who do not have family members (Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2016). However, a family cannot provide complex care for older adults and maintain their health, work-life balance, financial security, and well-being simultaneously because this might affect the quality of care (Committee on Family Caregiving for Older Adults, 2016).

The status of elderly care in Russia remains controversial. Davis (2018)argues that there are significant shortcomings with respect to social care, senior living facilities for elderly, individual support by social workers, increasing charges for public transportation, low-quality care, and expensive medications.

1.2 Law regulation of elderly care in Russia.

The recent stage of sociohistorical development in Russia witnessed a great number of elderly people whose need for medical and social care was not fulfilled. The state social protection system was not able to provide required elderly support, and the journalist Daria Sarkisyan (2018) emphasised that “in many regions across the country, for example, there aren't enough spaces in nursing homes or social workers on staff to accommodate all the elderly people who need care”(“State aid for the elderly is tangled in red tape section”, para. 4).

The decision to stimulate private business to improve senior living facilities was a considerable step undertaken by the government in 2013. According to the Federal Law-442, a person looking for professional assistance can get it either in the state or private retirement home (Federal law about bases of social servicing of citizens in the Russian Federation, 2013).According to this law, residents in the senior living facilities pay 75% of their pension if they are eligible for the State subsidy. This law also implied the implementation of the individual programs which aim was to increase the quality of care in the social facilities for older adults and to create a personality-oriented approach.

In practice, this system is not a very effective mechanism due to the lack of flexibility and bureaucratization of the system (Parfenova, 2018). The author notes that senior living facilities provide individual services for a certain fee,which many Russian pensioners cannot afford. Moreover, some older adults are sceptical to the non-governmental services in Russia since they are still considered unreliable in contrast to the services provided by the government. Nevertheless, the participant of the study, the senior living facility “Kurortniy”, is a successful example of how the regulation works.

In 2019, the Ministry of Labour released the National project "Demography” which includes the Federal project «Older generation». The primary goal of the Federal project is an increase in life expectancy of up to 67 yearsby providing elderly people with balanced social services and medical care both at home and in the hospital andinforming families how to help their older relatives. A pilot version of this project was carried out in 6 regions of Russia a year earlier. The result was an implementation of geriatric rooms in the outpatient hospitals, where older adults can ask for advice in the prevention of any age-related disease.

One of the other important goals of the Federal project is to create a system of long-term care for older adults. However, Ulumbekova (2018) points out that only pilot projects in regions were implemented, but this issue needs serious measures and solutions on the federal level. For example, the author suggests defining the needs of older adults, the volume and mechanisms of financial sources, skills development programs for employees,strategic management, and operational control system of the project (Ulumbekova, 2018).

1.3 Elderly care in the United States

The United States currently experiences growth in the elderly population. The World Bank statistics (2018) show that there were 15.8% of the population older than 65 in 2018, which is 7% higher than the global rate. The most pressing issues in health care for elderly people are high health care expenses for patients, leading to senior living facilities' difficulties in receiving compensations for their services (Lopez, 2015). There are different types of senior living facilities operating in the United States. They include community-based options, geriatric outpatient clinics, adult day care, nursing home or long-term care, hospices, assisted-living residences, dementia and Alzheimer's care, independent living apartments, and continuing-care retirement community (CCRC) (Eastman, 2013).Some terms need to be discussed in detail because the study focuses on them. The authors define community-based options as the providing of health services to older adults living in their homes through a health care worker's or a service provider's visits. A nursing home, according to the authors, is a setting providing medical services for older adults who need 24-hour care.

The facilities can be combined into one organisation. Such organisations can be non-for profit and for profit. There are specific features of both kinds of senior living facilities. For example, non-for-profit facilities show better performance, have low hospitalisation rates, and have more nursing staff, while for-profit facilities have a high number of deficiencies and low staffing levels (Center for Medicare Advocacy, 2012).

1.4 Law regulation of elderly care in the United States

The turning point in the development of public benefits in the USA dates back to 1965 when President Lyndon B. Johnson established a system of the Medicare and Medicaid as an amendment to the Social Security Act of 1935 (Legal Information Institute, n.d.). The programs were enacted to support all Americans aged 65 and older providing hospital, post-hospital and home care (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2015). Later in 1972, the list of people eligible for the Medicare benefits was extended to people under age 65 with long-term disabilities and end-stage renal diseases. The Federal Supplemental Security Income program also enacted in 1972 was linked to the Medicaid and provided cash assistance for socially vulnerable groups, which was aimed to create a universal minimum social safety net(Daly & Burkhauser, 2003). Nowadays many US citizens including low-income residents are provided with social benefits. The other reform that was positively assessed by specialists was the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) (Shchegolev, 2018). The main focus of the reform was the extension of subsidising which allowed people of 55 years and older to get medical care in the community instead of going to a nursing home or other senior living facilities. In 2010, President Barack Obama validated the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) one of the points of which was obligatory insurance for everyone. This law provoked a controversial reaction from society and, in 2017, Donald Trump called for the abolition of the Obama health care system. The Trump administration in its turn was aimed to develop innovative approaches to arrange assisted living at costs less than providing a full set of services in a nursing home(Stefanacci & Riddle, 2017).

1.5 Management of services for older adults

The top management team of a senior living facility is a vital part of the status of elderly care in the facility. For example, in a nursing home, the top management influences humanistic care of residents by providing education, support and empowerment of employees (Castle, Ferguson, & Hughes, 2009). This means that the quality of services provided in a senior living facility is connected with the top management style to running the organisation.

With regard to marketing, older adults as consumers of elderly care services in senior living facilities have certain characteristics. Seniors are likely to share the decision-making process with members of their families, friends, caregivers, and health professionals (Meiners& Seeberger, 2010). This means that while promoting services for older adults, marketing teams might consider specific characteristics of their target audience and those with whom they share decision-making.

As for internal marketing, there is an effect of internal marketing on employee and management commitment to the organisation through internal value exchange, cooperation, and training within the elderly care home (Bermъdez-Gonzбlez et al, 2016). Therefore,internal marketing is critical for organisational commitment and should be one of the priorities for retaining employees.

In a most recent study, the significance of facility management is discussed highlighting appropriate living environments for older adults through the design of distances for functional areas, improvement of natural ventilation, maintenance to hygiene facilities (Leung & Liang, 2019). Overall, the design of the facility should be appropriate for the residents with disabilities or memory disorders and conditions because the external environment makes the life in the facility easier and more convenient for daily activities (Ball et al., 2012).

One of the most pressing issues for the management of the health workforce for older adults is burnout in nursing and caregivers for the elderly. Factors associated with burnout of staff in senior living facilities are emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and managing grief when patients die at work (Harrad & Sula, 2018). The authors emphasise the importance of examination of working conditions by administrators looking for sources of stress for the staff in order to prevent burnout of the personnel. Another way to decrease burnout risk is by providing training about coping mechanisms which can mitigate the impact of stress (Harrad & Sula, 2018).

The management role is significant for high-performing senior living facilities. There are three key principles for quality elderly care revealed by the study: organising care considering views and preferences of the older adults, training and recruiting qualified and autonomous staff, and ensuring that employees follow mission and vision of the organisation (Kajonius et al., 2016). The authors also highlight the importance of management and working climate where employees care about fulfilling the mission of the firm, people have an optimistic mood, and members of the management team trust each other and cooperate accomplishing common goals (Kajonius et al., 2016). In other words, the performance of the senior living facility depends on the management involvement in day-to-day operations and the development of a positive working environment.

Another aspect of the management is quality management residential homes for the elderly. The previous study on this topic revealed that the implementation of the ISO 9001 can positively influence the quality of care if the organisation focuses on improving the quality of care, being flexible in adapting to the needs of all stakeholders, setting up the budget to implement the quality-management model, and making all employees to be involved in its implementation (Heras et al., 2008). This highlights the importance of the implementation of the quality-management model to improve the quality of care in the organisation.

Equally important to consider different management approaches on different management levels since first-line managers and caregivers cooperate with the residents directly and know the environment better than executive staff which means that they should take part in discussing the budget and strategic decisions (Strцmberg et al., 2019). This highlights the significance of first-line managers' and caregivers' participation in the decision-making process about direct care since they are more informed about the residents' needs.

A financial model is critical for operating a senior living facility because this defines the direction of the development. There are many sources of finances for different kinds of facilities for older adults. As for assisted living, for-profit firms can use credits for building and operating a residence until they become profitable, or use public stocks, or use the cash from other businesses to finance a new senior living facility while not-for-profit firms organise the fundraising campaign, or use the financial endowment, or partner with for-profit firms using credit enhancement instruments (Eastman, 2013). The most relevant programs for older adults in the United States are Medicare and Medicaid, specifically, Medicare has funded the infrastructure development, educational program, and health care changes, while Medicaid has provided low-income people with help to cover health care expenses (Arenson et al., 2009) The governmental programs are contributing to the industry of services for older adults because they allow more people to have access to health care services and help new entrants to start a new business in the field.

Effective management practices of operating a senior living facility include providing supervisors with tools and opportunities to perform, a freestanding operation which means that thetop management participates in day-to-day operations and is closer to the residents, a multi-facility which is more cost-effective compared to the freestanding facility because several facilities share expenses on different departments such as human resource, information technology support, and facility administration (Yee-Melichar & Flores, 2014). Another important point is effective management is developing health care teams to provide residents with high-quality care, negotiate for best solutions, mentor new employees, and improve the work environment and corporate culture by collaboration (Sullivan-Marx & Gray-Miceli, 2008).

1.6 The contribution of the study and the description of emerging trends

There is a gap in the literature about the effects of the management and administration on the performance of a senior living facility. The current study is focused on contributing the knowledge about management systems of assisted living facilities to the research field of elderly care in the United States and Russia by introducing comparative analysis of effective practices used in the organisation. Hence, this research will close the gap from the perspective of the administration of a senior living facility.

Overall, real practical examples are useful for all stakeholders in elderly care. The analysis of management systems of two different senior living facilities operating in contrasting elderly environments will be beneficial for this field because newcomers can evaluate specific characteristics of the management of a facility for older adults. Furthermore, the study identifies what knowledge managers obtain working in elderly care.

The relevant issues were identified in prior research: management systems are not fully studied from the holistic perspective, law regulation plays a vital role in managing a senior living facility, and historical context of the field influences the development of the market in a specific country.

Concerning the emerging trends in the industry of eldercare, the first one is the concept of human diversity which can be applied to the employees and the residents, and this concept needs to be considered in order to adapt the management system to diverse health care workforce and residents (Yee-Melichar & Flores, 2014). The second trend is integrating new technologies into eldercare provision by using the tools on different levels from monitoring the personnel's tasks accomplishment to direct care by creating a smart room, according to Yee-Melichar and Flores (2014). Furthermore, the technologies might be used by the resident for communicating with their relatives and friends more often and tracking their health signs on the web.

2. Statement of the research question

The study addresses the following research questions, “How are management systems of senior living facilities in Russia and the United States organised in order to solve issues in the field?” and “What are the features of a management system of an American senior living residence which differentiate it from a similar type of organisations in Russia?”. In order to address properly the first question, the researcher prepares a guide for the interview with respondents in which questions about current issues and the management system's features are included. Afterwards, the researcher conducts interviews with respondents in order to get information about the management systems of the organisations.The second question is important to study because this defines specific features of the management system in the senior living facility in the context of the external environment and highlights different approaches for running a senior living facility in the United States and Russia.

The study states open research questions instead of testing hypotheses because the research uses qualitative methods to answer the research questions. If the study goal is to understand experiences of past events and the results of the study are related to a specific context and cannotbe generalised to a particular group, there is no need for hypotheses testing (Chigbu, 2019). This approach is used in the current study since the study aims to understand the management systems of senior living facilities and the results cannot be applied to all facilities operating in the field because of different contexts.

The main objectives are to conduct a comparative analysis of the management systems of two senior living residences in the United States and Russia and to define the best practices in the field such as management approaches to running a senior living facility, priorities in the decision- making process, and coping mechanisms for a rapidly changing environment in elderly care.

To achieve these objectives, the semi-structuredinterviews were conducted with representatives of the different department of the senior living facility. The researcher prepared a guide with open-ended questions for the residents. The interviews were recorded, and the researcher transcribed them. These recordings allow the researcher to analyse the interview content and not to miss important information (Jamshed, 2014).

The current study employsa semi-structured interview as a method of gathering expert opinions about the management of senior living facilities. The type of interviews is semi-structured because the questionnaire prepared in advance allows the researcher to focus on the specific questions, which are significant for the study (Longhurst, 2009). However, some questions can be added during the interview in order to clarify reasoning for decisions or changes in operations of the organisation.

Several topics are discussed during the interview: management style of the organisation; factors which influence business performance; the marketing strategy of the company; the features of promotion in elderly care; issues with health workforce in senior living facilities; the main issues associated with leading employees; financial models of a senior living residence's operation; and the practice of running an assisted living facility in the United States and Russia. The duration of the interview varies from 20 minutes to 1 hour. The researcher conducts face-to-face interviews in the workplace in the United States and the interviews via phone with the deputy director of the organisation in Russia. The interview with the manager of a certain department is conducted separately from others. Appendix 1 shows the guide for interviews with all participants.

3. Methodology

The current study is exploratory. The exploratory study is not aimed to generalise the results of the study to the entire population (Quinton& Smallbone, 2006). Furthermore, the exploratory research focuses on issues which were not studied before or there is little prior research on the topic (Brown, 2006). Therefore, this type is appropriate for the current study. The major method is semi-structured interviews with professionals of each department in the administration because this study focuses on insights from organisations, and their management systems can be explained only through deep internal analysis which can be facilitated by access to experts' opinions of the management of the organisation. This method helps the researcher to learn what internal and external factors influence the success of an organisation, what practices have affected the performance of senior living services in Russia and the United States, and what differences and similarities between two management systems in different countries exist. 

The objectives of the study are to conduct a comparative analysis of two senior living facilities' management systems and to identify best practices used by the participants. The major method of this study is a one-on-one interview with representatives of the organisation. Other methods aredocument analysis and the process of observation. With regard to document analysis, the researcher has reviewed the documentation about marketing strategy, financial results, and the internal rules of the American organisation while the researcher has also examined the documentation of the Russian organisation which included the informational analytical note, the internal regulations of the senior living facility “Kurortniy”, and the formation of the contract. The process of observation was available only in the American organisation during the internship of the researcher in the senior living facility. However, the observation was not available in the Russian organisation because of the pandemic situation and a strict quarantine regime.

3.1 Data collection

With regard to the main stages of the study, the first one is an application to the institutional review board and preparing an informed consentform (Appendix 2) for the participants in the United States. This took a month to get approval from the institutional review board at Alma College. The second stage is reading the documentation of the company. This stage took several days.During this stage, the researcher has also implemented an observation method because of the job shadowing in the organisation, which took a month and a half. The third stage is conducting semi-structured interviews with professionals at the Michigan Masonic Home. This process took a week to conduct five professional interviews with the respondents. During the first and second stages, the researcher has also observed the work environment in the American organisation during the internship. The next stage is reviewing the documentation of the Russian organisation. Afterwards,semi-structured interviews have been conducted with representatives from the Russian senior living facility. This took around two months to find a company from Russia which agreed to participate in the study. The next stage of the process is transcribing the recording of the interviews, and this took a week.Afterwards, the analysis of the documentation has been implemented. When this has been done, the researcher has analysed the text of the interviews. Finally, the comparative analysis has been conducted defining similarities and differences of management systems in the organisations who participated in the study. In addition to that, the best management practices have been identified.

The interviews with some representatives of the departments in the Michigan Masonic Home were conducted in their workplace in Alma. Other interviews were conducted online because of the pandemic situation. The researcher was not able to visit the senior living facility in Russia. Therefore, the interview with the deputy director of the senior living facility in Russia was conducted via phone. The interview with the representative of the Russian organisation is extended because the respondent has answered all questions about different departments since other managers were busy during the unpredictable situation related to Covid-19.

The sources for document analysis are official websites of the organisations who have been participated in the study and internal documents of the organisations. For document analysis, the researcher used such internal documents as a marketing brochure of the Michigan Masonic Home, the marketing plan report of the Michigan Masonic Home, an analytical note entitled “The implementation of the infrastructure project in the field of social services for older adults. Practical experience” from the Russian organisation, and the internal regulations of both organisations.All data are described in Table 1.

Table 1 The description of data used in the study

American organisation	Russian organisation
Data type	Description	Data type	Description
Interview #1 Primary data	The interview with the CEO from the Michigan Masonic Home.	Interview Primary data	The extended interview with the deputy director of the company.
Interview #2 Primary data	The interview with the social media strategist from the marketing department.	Documentation # 1 Secondary data	An analytical note entitled “The implementation of the infrastructure project in the field of social services for older adults. Practical experience”
Interview #3 Primary data	The interview with the controller fromthe financial department.	Documentation # 2 Secondary data	The formation of the contract. Retrieved from http://pansionat-kurortniy.ru/wp-content/uploads/poryadok-oformleniya-pri-napravlenii.pdf
Interview #4 Primary data	The interview with the associate executive director.	Documentation #3 Secondary data	The internal regulations. Retrieved from http://pansionat-kurortniy.ru/wp-content/uploads/Pravila-vnutrennego-rasporyadka-1.pdf
Interview #5 Primary data	The interview with the resident care coordinator.	Official website Secondary data	http://pansionat-kurortniy.ru/
Observation data Primary data	Notes from the observation method during the job shadowing in the organisation.
Documentation #1 Secondary data	The marketing plan report of the Michigan Masonic Home.
Documentation #2 Secondary data	A marketing brochure of the Michigan Masonic Home.
Documentation #3 Secondary data	Financial reports.

3.2 Pre-processing

One of the tasks to achieve the key objective was to learn management systems of the organisations which have been chosen for the analysis. To accomplish this task, the researcher prepared a guide for the interviews. This has been decided that the evaluation of the management system needs to include information about related departments such as marketing, finance, business and development, and human resource. This approach was used in order to apply to systems thinking concept because the management system has an impact on all of these departments.

The first part of the pre-conceived guide includes general questions to the top-management of the organisation. These questions focus on the information about the organisation in order to define its size. Furthermore, the respondents describe the organisational structure and the management style in the organisation, which is critical to identify the characteristics of the management system. Another type of questions which the researcher included in the first part is questions about the external environment because this is a very important aspect since the study is the comparative analysis of the management systems of the organisations operating in different countries. The context for the organisations is critical because running the business in the field of social serviced for older adults depends on many external factors and other entities.

The second cluster on marketing is necessary for defining the marketing strategy of the organisation, identifying specific features of the marketing for older adults, and understanding how this is related to the management system of the organisation. Furthermore, these questions allow the researcher to find out information about the competitors on the market of services for older adults.

The next cluster on human resource management is important for the analysis because of the significance of the human capital in the organisation operating in the field of elderly care. Questions about the opportunities of being promoted, training for the personnel, and the participation of the employees in the decision-making process define the management style of the company.

Next set of questions is related to the business development of the organisation. These questions help the researcher to identify what modern management techniques are used in the organisations and what studies do they need in the industry. The business development department also shows possible improvements to the company and strategies adopted by the management.

Finally, the cluster on financing is related to the financial model of the organisations and the relationship between the organisation and other entities. This department is a very important source of information for the management because the top managers make strategic decisions partially based on the information from the finance department.

During interviews with professionals from the organisations, the researcher could add and eliminate some questions because of the following reasons. The first one is the differences in the markets in which the senior living facilities are operated.The second reason is the uniqueness of the forms of companies. Last but not theleast,theexperience oftheoperating in thefield is different between two organisations who have participated in the study.



3.3 Sample

The participants of the study are two senior living facilities. The Michigan Masonic Home which is the participant in the United States and the senior living facility “Kurortniy” which is the participant in Russia. The type of samplings for this study is convenience sampling because participants are chosen according to geographic location and consent to participate which make it convenient for the researcher.

The first organisation for analysis is located in Alma, Michigan. This facility was chosen for the analysis since it is comprised of assisted living residence, nursing home, and rehabilitation centre. There are 450-500 residents who live and get medical support there. The Michigan Masonic Home provides a variety of services for the residents including independent and assisted living, skilled nursing, short-stay rehabilitation, and memory care services. The accommodation options for the independent or assisted living residents are the Masonic Village Estates and private rooms on the Masonic Pathways campus.

The second organisation is operated in St. Petersburg. This is a senior living facility which providesmany services for seniors. This organisation was chosen for the study because it operates in the same field as the first organisation, and the respondent provided a researcher with consent for participation. There are 184 residents who live in the senior living facility “Kurortniy”. This facility is a unique project for the Russian market of services for older adults. This is based on the partnership between the government, the nonprofit organisation “Hesed Avraam”, and Ltd “Zobota i Opeka”.

The researcher has conducted five semi-structured interviews with representatives of human resource, marketing, finance, business development departments, and CEO of the organisation in the United States. In addition, the researcher has conducted one extended semi-structured interview with the deputy director of the organisation in Russia. During the interview, the respondent answered all questions about human resource management, marketing, finance, business development and general management of the facility.

3.4 The relevance and limitations

The method of semi-structured interviews was chosen because this method has many advantages for health care management related research. This method enables the researcher to answer the research question which cannot be easily answered by quantitative methods and, additionally to this, the qualitative study considers the cultural and historical context of the field (Al-Busaidi, 2008). Therefore, the researcher has chosen to apply to qualitative methods for the current study. Furthermore, the type of semi-structured interviews enables to ask additional questions which are not included in the guide and allows the interviewee to be flexible with topics discussed during interviews (Young et al., 2018). This is critical for the current study because the management systems of the organisations have unique features and, therefore, to learnabout them it is important to consider them while asking questions during the interviews.

However, there are certain limitations to this method. While interviewing respondents, the researcher gets access only to the information they share, there is no access to information about their real actions (Green & Thorogood, 2004). Furthermore, setting up the interview is time-consuming. In addition, there might be cultural, linguistic, and geographical barriers conducting interviews with respondents from different countries (Young et al., 2018)

3.5 Analysis

The analysis was conducted byhighlighting the most important information from the respondents' responses and constant comparative analysis of the responses. The researcher has transcribed interviews and defined the differences of responses from representatives of Russian and American senior living facilities. The responses wereanalysed applying to literature review about elderly care in both countries in order to find reasons for contrasting opinions. Additionally to the interview analysis, the researcher has applied information from the internal documents of the companies.

The pre-analysis tool was MAXQDA, which is a software for analysing qualitative data, belonging to Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS) (Kuckartz & Rдdiker, 2019). The transcripts of the interviews were downloaded to the program and codes were assigned to the text by the researcher. The coded part of the data is called a data segment in MAXQDA (Kuckartz & Rдdiker, 2019). After all questions and responses were assigned a code, the researcher compared data segments with the same code name. Table 2 represents the code system used during the coding process.

Table 2 Text codes from MAXQDA

Text code	Interview questions
Legal form	Are you a for-profit or not-for-profit organisation?
Organisational structure	What is your organisational structure? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the structure?
Competitive advantage	What strategy ?differentiates your organisation ?from other long-term care facilities?
Influence factors	· What factors influence the performance of the company? · What are external factors which influence the financial resources of your organisation?
Stakeholders	What are your strategic partners?
Challenges in management

Страница:

•  1 
•  2 
•  3 

дипломная работа "The Comparative Analysis of the Senior Living Facilities’ Management Systems in the United States and Russia" скачать

Подобные документы

• Model of management of company

  Analysis of the peculiarities of the mobile applications market. The specifics of the process of mobile application development. Systematization of the main project management methodologies. Decision of the problems of use of the classical methodologies.
  
  контрольная работа [1,4 M], добавлен 14.02.2016
  

• Business process modeling

  Investigation of the subjective approach in optimization of real business process. Software development of subject-oriented business process management systems, their modeling and perfection. Implementing subject approach, analysis of practical results.
  
  контрольная работа [18,6 K], добавлен 14.02.2016
  

• Outsourcing: an instrument for project management efficiency raise

  Types of the software for project management. The reasonability for usage of outsourcing in the implementation of information systems. The efficiency of outsourcing during the process of creating basic project plan of information system implementation.
  
  реферат [566,4 K], добавлен 14.02.2016
  

• Logistics

  Logistics as a part of the supply chain process and storage of goods, services. Logistics software from enterprise resource planning. Physical distribution of transportation management systems. Real-time system with leading-edge proprietary technology.
  
  контрольная работа [15,1 K], добавлен 18.07.2009
  

• Business etiquette in Germany

  Milestones and direction of historical development in Germany, its current status and value in the world. The main rules and principles of business negotiations. Etiquette in management of German companies. The approaches to the formation of management.
  
  презентация [7,8 M], добавлен 26.05.2015
  

• Features of financial management in transnational companies

  The concept of transnational companies. Finding ways to improve production efficiency. International money and capital markets. The difference between Eurodollar deposits and ordinary deposit in the United States. The budget in multinational companies.
  
  курсовая работа [34,2 K], добавлен 13.04.2013
  

• What is management?

  Definition of management. The aim of all managers. Their levels: executives, mid-managers and supervisors. The content and value of basic components of management: planning, organizing, coordinating, staffing, directing, controlling and evaluating.
  
  презентация [414,2 K], добавлен 16.12.2014
  

• The manager as a teacher: selected aspects of stimulation of scientsfsc thinking

  Selected aspects of stimulation of scientific thinking. Meta-skills. Methods of critical and creative thinking. Analysis of the decision-making methods without use of numerical values of probability (exemplificative of the investment projects).
  
  аттестационная работа [196,7 K], добавлен 15.10.2008
  

• Asset Management

  The primary goals and principles of asset management companies. The return of bank loans. Funds that are used as a working capital. Management perfection by material resources. Planning of purchases of necessary materials. Uses of modern warehouses.
  
  реферат [14,4 K], добавлен 13.05.2013
  

• Approaches to modeling project management system for small businesses

  Company’s representative of small business. Development a project management system in the small business, considering its specifics and promoting its development. Specifics of project management. Problems and structure of the enterprises of business.
  
  реферат [120,6 K], добавлен 14.02.2016
  

Другие документы, подобные "The Comparative Analysis of the Senior Living Facilities’ Management Systems in the United States and Russia"

• главная
• рубрики
• по алфавиту
• вернуться в начало страницы
• вернуться к началу текста
• вернуться к подобным работам