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JA7. Navigating Organizational Change and Effective Execution in the Healthcare Industry

Statement

This assignment intends to assess the following learning outcomes:

  • Discuss organizational change and resistance to it
  • Summarize methods of executing change effectively

Task: Navigating Organizational Change and Effective Execution in the Healthcare Industry

Scenario: You are a healthcare administrator at “HealthyCare Hospital,” a prominent medical facility renowned for its high-quality patient care and medical expertise. As the healthcare industry experiences rapid advancements in technology and evolving patient expectations, HealthyCare Hospital faces challenges in adapting to these changes while maintaining its reputation for excellence. To address these challenges and ensure continued success, the hospital recognizes the need for a transformative change process.

Healthy Care Hospital currently relies on traditional paper-based record-keeping and outdated systems, leading to inefficiencies and potential errors in patient care. The lack of integrated electronic health records (EHRs) hinders seamless information sharing among healthcare providers, affecting patient outcomes.

  1. Describe the scenario and explain the importance of organizational change adaptation for organizations in dynamic industries.
  2. Briefly explain Lewin’s change model and discuss, if this could be applied to the given scenario.
  3. Develop a comprehensive change management plan for HealthyCare Hospital, centered around implementing technology integration (EHR).
  4. Address potential challenges that HealthyCare Hospital might encounter during the change process, and devise strategies to ensure a smooth and successful transition.

Note: Using the concepts you have learned in Chapter 7: Organizational Structure and Change your textbook, author an essay of 500-750 words. In your essay, demonstrate a thorough understanding of organizational change and resistance. Utilize relevant theoretical concepts like Lewin’s change model to propose effective change management strategies for HealthyCare Hospital. Your analysis, solutions, and change management plan will be assessed based on clarity, depth, and practicality aligned with the specified learning outcomes.

Answer

Introduction

Organizational structure is the way an organization arranges individual and team duties and work and coordinates them to achieve its goals. There are several types of organizational structures, including matrix, boundaryless, and learning organizations. Each structure has its advantages and disadvantages, and the choice of structure depends on the organization’s goals and culture (Carpenter, Bauer, & Erdogan, 2010).

Organizational change is a process that involves changing the organizational structure due to various forces. These forces can be internal or external and can be positive or negative, and can include workplace demographics, technology, globalization, market conditions, growth, and poor performance (Carpenter, Bauer, & Erdogan, 2010).

An organization may be structured in a certain way, but due to some changing forces, it may need to change that structure through a planned change process. This text will explore the environment around HealthyCare Hospital, and develop a change management plan according to Lewin’s change model.

Describe the scenario and explain the importance of organizational change adaptation for organizations in dynamic industries

HealthyCare Hospital -as the name suggests- operates in the healthcare industry, an industry that’s known for its rigorous standards and regulations regarding patient care operations and record-keeping. The industry is also known for being understaffed, under rapid technological advancements, and in need of constant statistical analysis to respond to things like pandemic management and the efficiency of patient care.

The current situation at HealthyCare Hospital is that it relies on traditional paper-based record-keeping and outdated systems, leading to inefficiencies and potential errors in patient care. This means that more man-hours are spent on organizing, searching, administrative work, and preparing reports for the management or the regulation bodies. This also means that more overhead is spent on administrative tasks rather than the core business of patient care.

Change seems a necessity as the Hospital has been recently renewed, and the choice was to introduce integrated electronic health records (EHRs) into its operation. EHRs are digital versions of patients’ papers including medical history, diagnoses, medications, treatment plans, etc (HealthIT.gov, 2019). This change is important as it will improve the quality of patient care, free up more time for the staff to focus on patient care, increase regulatory compliance, and set the course for easier adaptation to future technological advancements.

Briefly explain Lewin’s change model and discuss if this could be applied to the given scenario

Structural change in an organization is a major and complex process that affects every single aspect of the organization, from employees to management to customers and the relationship between them. Such a change should be planned and executed carefully to ensure swift and smooth success with minimal disruption to the organization’s operations. Lewin’s change model sets a framework for such a change process.

Lewin’s change model consists of three stages: unfreezing, changing, and refreezing. In the unfreezing stage, the organization prepares for the change through internal discussions, communications, and planning. In the changing stage, the organization implements the change, supports employees through the change process, and prepares evaluating channels. In the refreezing stage, the organization ensures that the change is permanent and integrated into the organization’s culture and operations, and also readjusts according to feedback and evaluations (Malik, 2022).

Develop a comprehensive change management plan for HealthyCare Hospital, centered around implementing technology integration (EHR)

Following Lewin’s change model, the change management plan for HealthyCare will start from the unfreezing stage, where the change is discussed and planned through higher management lines first, then communicated to the employees through leaflets or emails that explain the issues that HealthyCare is facing and how moving to EHRs will solve them. The plan should accommodate any resistance or training needed. Another meeting should be held to discuss any feedback or concerns and to address them, then a final plan should be set.

The second step is the changing stage, where employees must be trained on how to use the new systems and corresponding teams or contractors start installing the devices and software needed. By the time the training is over, and the EHR systems are ready, we can start a trial period where everyone uses old methods and copies them to the new systems to test the new systems and get familiar with them. The next step is to finally switch to the new systems and solely rely on them. There should be feedback channels open for employees to report any issues or concerns. Third-party consultants and monitors from the systems’ providers or regulatory bodies should be present to ensure the systems are working as intended.

The last stage is the refreezing stage, where inspection and reporting are done to make sure systems are working and in compliance with regulations. This step should also ensure that historical data is transferred correctly to the new systems. A plan for maintaining the systems and maintaining the integrity, secrecy, and availability of the data should be set. Once this is all done, an official announcement should be made to the stakeholders about the successful transition to EHRs, and a celebration should be held to mark the occasion.

Address potential challenges that HealthyCare Hospital might encounter during the change process, and devise strategies to ensure a smooth and successful transition

One major challenge to the plan is resistance from employees. Employees may resist the change due to fear of the unknown, fear of losing their jobs, or just because they are not familiar with technology. Addressing this challenge should start from the very beginning by preparing employees for the change, holding regulatory meetings to provide emotional support and answer any questions, and ensuring that everyone gets enough training and support to use the new systems. Managers should create a sense of urgency and push for change as a necessity for the hospital’s survival (Carpenter, Bauer, & Erdogan, 2010).

Another challenge is historical data as it should all manually be transferred and entered into the new systems. This is a time-consuming and error-prone process and employees may not have enough time to dedicate to this task. To address this challenge, a third-party contractor should be hired to help with the data entry process while considering the privacy of the data; some employees can be put in charge of overseeing this process to ensure the data is entered correctly and securely.

Conclusion

Organizational change is a complex process that affects every stakeholder and should be planned, executed, and evaluated correctly. HealthyCare Hospital is in need of a change, and using EHRs is a solution to a few problems that the organization is facing and promises more efficiency, regulatory compliance, and future adaptability. The text discussed a plan for introducing EHRs into the hospital’s operations, following Lewin’s change model. The main challenges are resistance from employees and migrating historical data, and the text provided strategies to address these challenges.

References

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