Strategies for Evaluating Organizational Change - Essay Example

? Part III of a comprehensive plan to implement an organizational change Strategies for Evaluating the Proposed Change Summary from Previous Parts Globalization and constant technological innovation have greatly affected our lives in the modern world including a significant impact on the business environment. This has necessitated organizations to change in one way or another so as to fit in to the ever changing society and to be able to meet their goals and be competitive in the market. In as much as it is necessary for these organizations to change their strategies, managing organizational change is not an easy task (Hechanova and Teng-Calleja, 2011). The challenges of managing organizational change often scare away some leaders who opt to avoid change. This often has its own consequences. Organizational change, if approached in the right way, can lead the organization in the best direction in the industry and helps to keep the organization prepared for any future changes. The most critical part of organizational change lies with the leaders. An organization’s leaders have to manage the change through planning, assessment and evaluation and have to ensure that every stakeholder in the organization buys in to the ides of change and is involved in it (Hechanova, and Teng-Calleja, 2011). Organizational change can be said to be successful if it meets its objectives and the benefits of the change are realized by the management and employees of the organization. Readiness for change is one of the issues that change management experts have focused on in the recent few years by recommending strategies that organizations need to take in order to be fully prepared for change. Readiness for change is a very crucial concept in healthcare given the ever changing nature of treatment. Healthcare organizations have to be strategically positioned so as to meet the demands brought about by change. An organization’s readiness for change depends on various factors such as organizational culture, flexibility of the organization’s policies, and the ability of leaders to manage changes in the working environment. Managing change in a healthcare facility is not different from other organizations (Weiner, Lewis & Linnan, 2009). The leaders have to be very assertive and proactive in steering health organizations in the right direction. This requires constant assessment of the current level of operations in the organization and determining what needs to be done so as to help improve treatment of patients. The need for the proposed change has been brought up by the increase in the number of deaths occurring from invasive interventional radiology procedures in recent years. Despite having qualified and dedicated personnel, the deaths have increased persistently for many people to notice. It came to our realization that this was due to insufficient staff. The number of patients has increased significantly increasing the ration between patients and employees. This situation has created the need for a change in the organization which would include hiring of two nurses who will specifically handle patients in the radiology room. There are likely to be barriers to implementing this change. Some of the challenges in implementing the proposed change include lack of funds to initiate and manage the change as well as lack of receptors. Implementing the proposed change require creating strategies that will be used as guiding principles throughout the process. A change implementation strategy for organizations includes various elements that have to be carefully analyzed before the change process is implemented (Hechanova and Teng-Calleja, 2011). These elements include situational awareness, the structures supporting the change, and strategy analysis. Situational awareness involves understanding the implications of change on the organizations, knowing who will be affected by the impending change and gathering as much resources and knowledge about the change to be implemented. Supporting structures for organizational change include the team facilitating the change process and the sponsors of the change process. Strategy analysis involves identification of the risks involved in the change process, any resistance to the change and tactics for implementing the strategy (Ghazaeli et al, 2008). The change initiative proposed involves about of organizational restructuring hence need to be approached with care. This will require a new organizational structure, improvement and changes in the organizational culture and behavior. The process of hiring new nurses wiling the new nurses will require significant contribution from every staff member in the organization. The top management will be required to approve and implement the change while the other employees will be required to create a conducive environment for the new recruits and support them in their work in any way possible. The methods that will be used to implement and monitor this change include the following; completing the Functional job statement, posting of position, hiring of nurses, selecting preceptors who will assist in guiding and training the new employees, developing an orientation plan that will be used to induct the new employees to their new positions. At the completion of the orientation process, the new employees will be assessed to determine if they have gained the required skills that will be relevant for their new jobs. In order to improve communication as a result of the new organizational change, the organization structure will have to be adjusted to accommodate the new changes additional employees. The new employees as well as other employees will be informed on who to report to in case anything arises. There will also be regular departmental meetings to address any emerging issues. Strategies for Evaluating the Proposed Change Evaluating organizational change is mainly concerned with gathering and presenting relevant information with the aim of proving the relationship between the organizational change and the benefits that the organization see after implementing the change. The team in charge of the change will analyze the whole change process from the beginning to the end to determine if the desired objectives were met. Determining the Effectiveness of the Proposed Change The main objective of this change is to improve patient safety in interventional radiology procedures and reducing chances of loss of life for many patients. This is in line with the organization’s main goal of saving life. The other objectives for the change include expanding the organization’s capability to manage interventional radiology procedures effectively, as well as setting new precedents in employment procedures in the organization. Effectiveness of the proposed change will be measured against these objectives to determine if the change process was beneficial for the organization. Possible outcome measurement strategies related to organizational change processes There are several strategies that can be used to measure the effectiveness of a change process in an organization. Organizations can rely on any measurement strategy that suits their change process, or one that is most suitable for the industry that the organization is in. Some of the measurement strategies include comparing the change process with the objectives that were outlined at the beginning of the process. A change process will be considered successful if all the objectives have met (Ghazaeli et al, 2008). The other strategy for measuring organizational change is by analyzing the economical or financial benefits brought about by the change process. If the Change has resulted to more financial benefits, it is said to be successful. Organizational change can also be measured by evaluating the non financial benefits of the change such as social benefits, perception of the organization among others. A change process is said to be successful if it generates many benefits for the organization. How quality, cost, and satisfaction outcomes for the proposed organizational change will be measured Quality of the new change will be measured by determining the improvements in service delivery in the radiology room. This change process will be beneficial if the level of service delivery in the radiology room will have improved significantly. This will include patient satisfaction for the service. Costs for the change process will be measured by analyzing the maintenance costs for the new employees, which includes salaries and other benefits, against the income from the payments of patients when they settle their bills after interventional radiology procedures. Satisfaction from the new change process will be measured by interviewing patients, radiology technicians, the radiology director, the nurse manager and other key people in the organization who have been affected by the change, to find out their views about the change and if they are fully satisfied with the new developments in the organization. References Bouckenooghe D., Davos G and Van Den Broek H., (2009). Organiztional Change Questionaire- Climate of Change, Processes, and Readiness: Development of a New Instrument. The Journal of Psychology, 143 (6), 559- 599. Ghazaeli, R., Ahmad, A., Uli, J. Suandi, T., and Hassan, S. A. (2008). Commitment to change among managers in selected service organizations in Malaysia. The International Journal of the Humanities, (6) 123-134. Hechanova, M. R., and Teng-Calleja, M., (2011). Predicting Commitment towards Organizational Change. Journal of Social Transformation, (1) 31-50. Weiner B. J, Lewis M. A, Linnan L. A (2009). Using organization theory to understand the determinants of effective implementation of worksite health promotion programs. Health Educ Res, 24:292-305. Read More