Management Change in Healthcare - Report Example

Running Header: Management Change in Healthcare Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Introduction In the modern society, the issue of health care in many countries has become a subject of debate as many states seek to come up with ways to improve on their service delivery to the public. This is by enacting different policies that will ensure that all the healthcare institution have the capacity to provide standard health care to the patients. This is done through the institutional clinicians and managers who are charged with the responsibility of making sure patients are well taken care of and the available resources are well utilized for the overall performance of the healthcare sector. The primary aim of taking this step is to ensure that the health care is well placed to deal with future health care demands. The clinicians and managers in the health sector are seen as the agent of the change required and are expected to play the pivotal role in improving the performance of the healthcare institutions (Landro 2007). Establishment of the devolved management system in the health care service is seen in the contemporary society as the strategy to providing power and authority to the clinicians and other company management staff to be in charge of the available resources by making sure that are resources are properly allocated. This move has necessitated the need to change the management of the different health care institutions in order to come with managements that have the capacity to deal with the emerging challenges. Management change in many health institutions is intended at ensuring that people who are heading these facilities are of high caliber and the capability, skills and competencies to lead and make good use of the available service for the patient good. This in particular has been witnessed in the Queensland Government which has provided a guideline on ways in which different health services should go about changing management in order to meet the customer demands (Stable 2010). This follows the public outcry that the standard of healthcare services in the state was going down since 2005. The objective of this essay therefore is to critically look into the change of management in the health care institution and more particular the role of the manager in change management. In 2009, the Government of Queensland received the award for its excellence in developing and appropriate support for its staff. For many years in the state, effective leadership of the clinicians has been seen as the pivotal point to the healthcare reforms. The government has recognized and appreciated the role of developing and designing different training programs as means of promoting its managers and clinicians to provide the required services to the public (Lencioni 2006). This move was recognized by the Directors of Medical Services Advisory Committee (DOMSAC) as the best approach to bringing about the change that many people have been longing for, in many years. This project was supported by the Queensland Health Executive Management Team (EMT). The support included funding and providing educational materials and other manuals for all senior medical staff that was undergoing training. This training and development program was a planned to overcome the issues that had been raised about the Queensland Public Hospitals Commission in 2005 about governance in public hospitals (Stable 2010). Some of the common issues that had been raised included: incompetence of some of the staff in dealing with managerial issues, existence of some multi-practices such as lack of transparency, accountability and integrity. Therefore the management change in health facilities is aimed at providing good leadership that upholds the integrity of the profession which requires one to demonstrate high level of integrity and responsibility when discharging services to the general public. Further, change of management is seen as an approach to ensure that the clinicians and management are fully equipped and ready to serve as in their various capacities. Change of management is also associated with the platform of creating an environment where policies and procedures as well as quality requirements are well understood. Further, the need to come up with a variety of activities in the health care sector is to ensure resilience to deal with different medical challenges that have continued to emerge in everyday life (Lencioni 2006). The challenges in the health care have been accelerated that lack of competencies in the health care institutions. Change in these institutions is therefore planned towards helping the management and the clinicians to deal with different issues and at the same time ensure that are accountable in their duties. Even though the issue of management in health care facilities has been seen as the Government Issue, the role of the manger cannot be underlet and ignored. This is because is the person who responsible to oversee the implementation of good policies and procedures (Ahmad 2002). View on change systems In environment where change is likely to occur irrespective of the industry, sector, company or institution, the role of the manager is of great importance. It’s expected that the manager is one of the key agents of change. This is to mean that each agent must be able to analyze and different systems which he operates in and how they affect his mandate in participating in all activities of creating change (Lencioni 2006). In any institution it’s always important to be aware that single change in any particular area of the system is likely to interfere with all parts to the whole system within the organization. For instance, in a situation where restructuring is taking place and where particular department is affected for example the purchaser or the supplier, consultation is seen as the way forward in managing other eventualities that may result from the other departments which in one way or the other are linked to it. Viewing and consulting the Corporate Improvement Strategy is important in seeing how different change initiatives can be entangled in the organizational context (Wheatley 2005). In health sector, the manager is expected to play a critical role in the implementation of change. This is because of his mandate and role in the health care institution. The check list for the role of the manger in change management is long. This is because he is the overall supervisor of various functions in the institution. It is important to highlight that if one of the roles is neglected there is a possibility that change may not take place as planned (Cohen 2005). Defining change purpose: The manager is the health care change management starts with defining the reason why changing is taking place. The manger in particular is expected to explain in detail what the health care facility wants to achieve by taking particular step to ensure the overall change in the functioning of the institution. All people involved in change have to understand what is likely to take place before they are asked to take part (Bridges 2003). While explaining on the purpose for change, the manager in the health facility is expected to consider explaining the input factors that will be used in promoting and enhancing change towards getting the desired results as output. In the same line, the manager, has the responsibility of explaining where changes have to take place, elements of change and the reasons as to why change and the problem that has necessitated the need for change as illustrated by Kanter (2001). On the same line the work of the manager is to work on the consultation plan whereby he should talk to the other staff on change. This is done not only to seeking for technical or professional guidance but also allow for the staff to reflect on change means to them and how it will affect their work life. This way the manager will have the chance to exercise his power in developing an organizational culture that supports continuous improvement and full collaboration of different stakeholders from various professionals including medical and management to work towards optimizing the available resources in terms of skills and capabilities in well defined consultative framework. While managing the problem that has necessitated change in the health facility, the manager is expected to determine the probability of getting the desired results if a solution is sort for a problem that was in the past perceived by many as no problem (Landro 2007). Reporting: In implementing change, it’s the responsibility of the manager to ensure that proper structure that support good relationships among the members and at the same promote transparency and accountability is in place (Cohen 2005). This is important there are always different disciplines in the health sector. On the same line, the cost structure should be used to demonstrate how the facility’s financial resources will be used in enhancing care delivery to the patients. This is important in creating transparency and responsibility in different roles. The staff that is to become cost centre, the managers are expected to clearly explain who is to be responsible and what is accountable to them. incase there is a situation there are unstructured form of reporting, there is always a possibility of confusion and this may make some of the employees to find it very difficult in making decisions on important issues (Silversin and Kornacki 2003). The process of developing an organizational structure that is clear should be aligned with the cost centre structures where a culture of transparency and accountability is top of priorities. The cost centres structures are particularly enacted to ensure that District needs are incorporated. The needs to be incorporated in the cost centre could be identified using the following criteria: first, reviewing and more importantly what form the core functions of the facility and what is required to support health service provision to the public. Second, the clinical service range also has to be defined and the available resources that will support its provision. Third, the general impact the intended change will have on the day-to-day provision of the services to the public. Fourth, there is also need to ascertain if there is also need to ascertain if the designed cost centre structure that has been put in place, meets the current criteria for reporting and has the capacity to deliver the expected services and meet the future needs of the patient. In general terms in establishing cost centre structures, the manager will be working towards ensuring a well balanced system to between quality and volume in service delivery. This then guides the devolvement of resources to various departments (Landro 2007). Instilling values and practices: The work of the manager in change management is to ensure that all the staff members are able to live to their expectations and are not in any way deviating from the organizational values and practices. It is important for the manager to make sure that there are values and organizational principles that are shared among the healthcare practitioners who participate in providing care for the patients. This is important in making sure that all individuals are showing respect for what they are supposed and that they are able to demonstrate high level professionalism in their work by Lencioni (2006). Further, on the same line, the manager is charged with the responsibility of determining the foundation under which the current model of care delivery was based and the values and practices guided its formation. This is important in determining whether the community that is to be affected by change shares the same values. This should used by the manager as the criteria to coming up with new values to guide change. On the same line, the manager is expected to work on the current structure roles by stating clearly who should do what and how they should relate with each other. Care delivery process: while enacting change, the manager is also expected to play a major role in determining where care should be delivered. This to a wider extent this involves defining who is the patient and the ambulatory settings such as outpatient department, home and hostel as well as emergency department that are available. Further, the manager should state clearly who is to provide what care by looking into the general practitioners, the nursing staff, the allied healthcare staff and other participants such as the non-government organizations and carers accordiong to Lencioni (2006). Staffing and skills mix: in change management existence of appropriate skills and competences is very necessary. This is because they help the institution to carry out its functions in a more professional way. Given the kind of service that is provided by the healthcare facility, ensuring competence and professionalism is very important. This is because even the organization may have a good plan on healthcare, its implementation still depends on the kind of staff the healthcare facility has at its disposal. In this case therefore, before embarking in implementing change in health, the manager is responsible in making sure that the facility has the required number of staff that is adequate in providing the expected services and that are people who are qualified to serve in health and that have the required competencies, skills and experiences. The process of getting the most appropriate staff and skill starts at recruitment and selection of employees (Kotter and Cohen 2002). This explains the importance of coming up with a comprehensive criteria to recruit good crop of employees from the labor market. This is to imply change should be a long-term process and should be based on term issues. This is the only way the institution could be able to work on a plan that promotes good employee selections and retain strategies that will ensure that successful workers are always maintained. Therefore, apart from acquiring and recruiting people with special capabilities, it’s the work of the manager to create a working environment where employees are satisfied to work in and develop their careers. This is particularly important in ensuring that employees do not leave the company at the middle of change as this may destruct the overall performance of the company. On the same line, the manager is expected to determine what the impact of absenteeism to change management is. Absenteeism means a lot the process of change management. This is because some activities are likely to stall if the individuals who are expected to oversee their implementation do not appear at work for a long duration (Collins 2001). Absenteeism in this case can be as a result of sickness, leave or negligence of duty. In such as a situation the manager is to have in place a contingency plan that will assist him make-up for persisted absentees. Further, the role of the managing in handling staff is to determine the performance measurement criteria which he may use to determine if the staff is motivated to work towards realizing their objectives and make necessary arrangements to improve on their morale if need be. Communication structures: communication is a very important aspect in change management. This is because it’s through information roles and individuals’ tasks alongside the organizational objectives will be communicated to the team members. Communication in particular is expected to allow for information transfer across different disciplines in the organization. From this perspective therefore, the manager is expected to determine times and areas in which communication should be taken more serious. Obstacles that are likely to hinder communication among different disciplines also need to be taken care of in order to make sure that every member is able to get correct and timely information (Stacey 2006). The manager, for instance should work on establishing a communication structure where the company staff and the patient should communicate in a more efficient and understandable language. Further, areas where communication does well should also be identified in order to help utilize available opportunities. The structure of communication created by the manager should always take into account such issues as transfer of information across the facility, the existing links between the government and non-governmental organizations that are informed in provision of health care services. This is important in ensuring that the roles of institution are clearly outlined to avoid any conflict of interest (Silversin and Kornacki 2003). Provision of meaningful work: it is expected that during the process of transition, reasonable amount of work be assigned to the staff. This is because there is always a possibility of having employees leaving the facility. The need to give meaningful work to the employees is seen as an acute in acute for many of the employees in Queensland whose immediate job replacements are available during change and those who may be waiting or seeking placement elsewhere. During transition assigning meaningful work is under the manager’s jurisdiction and it should be done in such away to make sure that everyone is engaged. Further, there is need for the manager to discuss with the employees on where they would like to work during the transition period (Zacks 2002). It’s also expected that the manager play a very major role in assisting employees to get placements immediately after change. This is important to avoid a situation where some of the staff is rendered jobless. For instance in Queensland, the manager may use the Queensland Health Staff Search to help employee find placements. Finally, the manager is expected to assist the employees in getting the secondment to the project and at the same work on a plan of relieving staff from training and development (Bridges 2003). Conclusion As earlier highlighted in the introduction, the objective of this essay was to look into change management health and in particular the role of the manager in change management. management in health is seen as an approach to change on from the old models of service delivery that are very costly to modern ways where resources are well utilized for optimum service provision. Looking at the Queensland Government, it was found that change in the public health sector has been taking place since 2005 (Cohen 2005). This follows public complaints that service delivery at public hospitalized was being compromised for self-interest oriented staff. Enactment of change has been used strategy to reform this sector in providing quality health services to the public. However, most important, this review has established that manager has got a key role in managing change. 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