The Performance and Effectiveness of the Hospital Trust - Assignment Example

? Leadership and Management Table of Contents Introduction 3 Analysis of the Changes within the Hospital Trust along with the associated factors 3 The issues which were concerning the Hospital Trust 3 Proposed Changes 4 Impact of the Hierarchical Structure on the Proposed Change Process 4 Impact of the present culture on the Proposed Change Process 4 Impact of the power of doctors on the Proposed Change 5 Solution to reduce the resistance in the Change Process 5 Conclusion 6 Recommendation 7 Preparing the Leaders for change by implementation of appropriate leadership style 7 Implementation of an efficient cultural change model 7 Change of the management style 8 Reference List 9 Introduction The case study deals with the challenges faced by a hospital trust. The trust had to struggle in order to improve the performance as well as efficiency within the organization. The performance and effectiveness of the trust was hampered previously because of some of the issues on grounds of bureaucratic management, hierarchical structure and ineffective leadership at every level. The leadership skills within the organization was very poor which resulted in arise of various issues. There have been various changes taking place in the HR Management as well as the learning and development functions in the HR Department. As the Learning and development manager of the Hospital Trust, I have been asked to prepare a draft report for the HR Director. The report would reflect the changes that have been proposed followed by the impact of the existing culture, hierarchical structure and power of the doctors on the proposed changes. A set of recommendations would also be provided in order to reduce the impact of the above mentioned factors on the proposed changes. Analysis of the Changes within the Hospital Trust along with the associated factors The issues which were concerning the Hospital Trust The hospital trust was struggling badly in order to improve its efficiency as well as performance. The main reasons behind this were the hierarchical structure, bureaucratic management and inefficient leadership in all levels of the organization. The doctors looked down upon the generalist managers whereas they themselves had the opportunity to learn about the efficient management of the people and the budgets. Moreover the leadership skill in the top management level was poor. Proposed Changes The new CEO of the trust has decided to start a process of radical transformation which would make the trust outward looking by means of high levels of employee engagement and external and internal customer service. The streamlining of the Human Resource management & Development is taking place by using various assessment centres in order to determine the suitability of these new roles within the organization. This required recruitment of new staffs because the existing managers failed to get back their positions in the downsized trust. The HR Department of the Trust was also organized with eight HR professionals among whom four were new in the Trust. The Hr Director was expecting that this time they could provide quality service to the external organizations as well as the internal customers. The learning & development programs within the organization were also being changed. Impact of the Hierarchical Structure on the Proposed Change Process The hospital trust has bureaucratic hierarchy which resulted in the poor management process within the organization. According to Ashkanasy, Wilderom and Peterson (2011) the bureaucratic hierarchy has discouraged the innovation and creativity within the organization. Under bureaucratic hierarchy, the Trust faced rigid controls. In such case it is very likely that the organization will find it difficult in adapting to the change process taking place. Thus it will provide resistance to the change process and can make the process slow and time consuming. This would de-motivate the employees and provide stronger resistance to the change. Impact of the present culture on the Proposed Change Process The culture of any organization is the set of unwritten rules. The Trust is having its own set of protocols for its employees which help in performing the business processes. The existing cultural environment can face problem in adapting to the proposed changes in the HR Management (Naylor, 1996). A sudden change in the work environment can be restricted by the existing cultural environment of the organization. It would result in the slowdown of the change process. The change process can be ineffective if the resistance to the process is high. Impact of the power of doctors on the Proposed Change The doctors have a habit of looking down at the managers and accuse them for ineffective management within the organization. The managers will have new roles after the implementation of the change process. The doctors might intervene in the change process by various means and restrict the change process. It is important for the doctors to cooperate with the managers in order to make the change process successful. According to Saksvik (2009) the relationship of the employees with the management and the leadership style are potential sources of stress for the employees during work. Thus the employee relation plays an important role in the change process. In such a case the negative intervention of the doctors in the proposed change will have a negative impact on the change process. Solution to reduce the resistance in the Change Process The issues related to hierarchical structure and employment relations can be reduced by means of effective communication. The effective communication at all levels in the hospital trust would reduce the organizational conflicts and increase the productivity within the organization by successfully implementing the change process (Cowan, n. d.). The effective communication in both directions is necessary. Effective communication in downward direction would help the middle and lower level of management to understand the policies or missions that have been set up by the top management and adapt to them quickly. Effective communication in the upward direction would help the lower management in communicating all the problems to the top level management. Moreover this would increase the understanding level between the employees as well. Thus as a whole this would enable the successful implementation of change process within the organization. The effective communication would help in the creation of participative culture which would foster innovation within the organization. Conclusion The Hospital Trust was not performing well. The organization was facing problem due to poor performances and organizational ineffectiveness. The poor leadership style, bureaucratic management, hierarchical structure and poor employment relations were the main reasons behind the poor performance and ineffectiveness of the organizations. A change process would be implemented within the Human Resource Management of NHS which would help in improving the performance as well as the efficiency of the organization. The bureaucratic management style and hierarchical structure can have a negative impact on the proposed change which would result in the slowdown in the process. The existing culture will also act as a barrier and restrict the change process. The present cultural environment might not be able to adapt to the change in the management so quickly. Poor relationship between the doctors and the managers might result in the intervention of the doctors in the change process in a negative manner which would act as a constraint in the change process. Effective communication between all levels of managements would help in figuring out the organizational conflicts and reducing them which in turn would reduce the resistance to the change process. The hospital trust requires effective communication in both directions in order to successfully implement the proposed change within the management. Recommendation Preparing the Leaders for change by implementation of appropriate leadership style It has been mentioned that the poor leadership style was one of the reasons behind the concern of the hospital trust. In order to make the management recognize the requirement of a cultural change it is very important for the organization to prepare the leaders for the change process by implementing appropriate leadership style. It can implement transformational leadership style in order to reduce the resistance in the change process. The transformational leadership would depend on high communication level from the management in order to meet the goals and objectives. This type of leadership includes encouraging and motivating the doctors and other employees so that they feel encouraged and perform efficiently within the organization. Transformational leadership style would be more appropriate for various innovative activities (Academic Conferences, 2010). This type of leadership will provide high satisfaction to the employees and help them to adapt to the change process at a faster rate. (Academia, 2013) Implementation of an efficient cultural change model The culture can have an impact on the effective as well as the ineffective behaviours (Carr, 2006). The implementation of a cultural change is the starting point of a change process. In order to implement the proposed change successfully it is important that the change is integrated into the cultural pattern of the members of the organization. The cultural change model should be reviewed periodically in order to reduce the cultural barriers in the effective management processes. Change of the management style The bureaucratic management style has been another reason behind the declining performance of the Hospital Trust previously. The implementation of non bureaucratic management style would help in adapting to the proposed change and reducing the resistance to the change process. The involvement of all the employees in the decision making related to the change process would help in reducing the constraints in respect of the poor employment relations between the management and the employees. Reference List Academia, 2013. Advantages of transformational leadership. [online] Available at: < http://www.academia.edu/524047/Advantages_of_transformational_leadership> [Accessed 13 August 2013]. Academic Conferences, 2010. Proceedings of the 4th European Conference on innovation and entrepreneurship. Reading: Academic Conferences Limited. Ashkanasy, N. M., Wilderom, C. P. M. and Peterson, M. F., 2011. The handbook of organizational culture and climate. California: SAGE. Carr, P., 2006. Implementing culture change. Alexandria: American Society for Training and Development. Cowan, S. L., n. d. Change management. New York: American Society for Training and Development. Naylor, L. L., 1996. Culture and change: An introduction. Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. Saksvik, P., 2009. Prerequisites for healthy organizational change. Sharjah: Bentham Science Publishers. Read More