Analyzing the Change Situation Using Force Field Analysis: Driving and Restraining Forces - Coursework Example

Name: Title: Tutor: Healthcare Course: Institution: Date Introduction Modern day Health care professionals are faced with tremendous changes as a result of key growths in clinical practice and reorganization in the workplace. Subsequently, change these changes are having devastating impacts on the staff who are being expoused to feelings of loss, stress, impulsiveness and doubt along with feelings of placate, where they are experiencing a sense of pride, belong or accomplishment. Due to these predicaments, nursing managers have been required to adapt to being efficient change agents throughout the process of change since it is crucial in the role of a leader. This paper looks how a Nurse Unit Manager can effectively manage and implement change in the paediatric intravenous policy through force field analysis and transformational leadership strategies. Analyzing the change situation using force field analysis: Driving and restraining forces Force field analysis is a helpful change management tool that the nurse unit manager (NUM) can use to analyze the forces or and forces against change. According to Glenn (2010), there are two forms of forces in an organization explained as either resisting or pushing forces. The pushing forces are strengths in the organizational culture that helps with implementation of change while resisting forces are the negative elements of a culture or weaknesses that may impede or slow down change. So as to plan and effectively implement change, the NUM is required to analyze the pushing and resting forces and move the stability amid these forces. Individuals who are likely to be affected by the change might resist it due to lack of knowledge on clinical supervision, anxiety on what change might lead to and transformation in work activities. Employee resistance to change isn’t essentially a harmful thing, since it might temper and hinder a quick move into a particular situation without prior planning (Glenn, 2010). As resistance must always be anticipated, it is vital that nurses are capable to identify it and plan and implement strategies in order to minimize resistance to change. However, change agent must be able to increase pushing forces to make sure that change is instigated. The NUM can achieve this through motivating nurses to take ownership of the change process, engaging them in proposed innovation and put more emphasis on clinical supervision through support, other than acting as a control tool to regulate the paediatric intravenous policy (Glenn, 2010). According to Lewis, (2004), the role of nurse manager has greatly changes. Within a novel role, nurse manager possesses the independence to manage his ward along with its resources, with a highlight on the incorporation of efficient management decisions making and clinical knowledge. The NUM is required to have excellent managerial skills that will help him to analyze the change situation and successfully implement it through force field analysis. The NUM needs to sufficiently consult with other nurses during the process of change and offer support. Leading and managing of change by application of force field analysis According to Glenn, (2010), in undertaking organizational change, it is vital for the NUM to choose a change strategy to enhance the process of change. Selection of a change strategy reduces resistance and promotes commitment to envision change. The NUM can use Lewin’s change theory which presumes that change is brought about through a three phase process: unfreezing, moving and refreezing. Unfreezing is crucial before the occurrence of any change, because the people influence by change should believe that change is essential. Thus, it is the duty of the NUM as a change agent to initially build up respect, trust and motivate other nurses. Motivation is vital in the promotion of change and it offers impetus to upset normal equilibrium of subsisting habitual practices. In this phase current conditions are decisively analyzed and presumed to be frozen. After the current equilibrium level is identified, the plan to minimize and maximize driving forces is performed. In the unfreezing stage it is also essential for the NUM to unfreeze individuals. People will adjust to the planned change if the change can be logically justified and demonstrated. Therefore, The NUM can undertake educational sessions and offer evidence base information on the significance of reviewing the policy. Lewin’s moving stage is where change is employed. If equilibrium is to be disturbed in a positive fashion so that the driving forces surpass restraining forces, change happens. Analyzing the outcomes of feedbacks during the education sessions will enhance the NUM to establish how the policy would have been reviewed, what models of peadetric intravenous policy they would favour to utilize and the way the staff would like the policy to be implemented. Finkelman, (2012) argues that typical schemes that can be utilized to raise staff feedback include the manager requesting directly for feedback from the staff. When feedback is offered freely and got by the manager without unnecessary stress, the work atmosphere is a positive atmosphere, an atmosphere that enables both the manager and followers to engage in the change process (Glenn, 2010). According to Lewis (2004), communication in work environment is vital to excellent working conditions that lead to retention of nurses and minimization of medical flaws. Communication is a very vital element of every day activities and is fundamental to clinical practice because it helps in building teams and effective leadership. According to Glenn (2010), the refreezing stage aims at restring the stability through being supportive and listening to apprehensions of the staff and following trail duration of the new policy. Refreezing is established when novel behavior and attitudes are apparent by the nursing staff, thus positive talk on the new padiatric intravenous policy and statements and actions are consistent. In this stage, the nurses will support that the resolution to implement change in the policy is acceptable. The NUM can set time for the nurses to assess the change via reflection on efficiency of the new policy and recognize any setbacks. Consequently, the NUM can incorporate a period of re-evaluation of the policy in order to permit him to attain overall comprehensive image of the way individuals are adjusting to change. This will offer the staff ample period to settle into novel ways of practicing their tasks (Glenn, 2010). Hein (1998) notes that leadership is an interactional procedure that entails and requires individuals communicating with one another. In this process, communication is an exchange medium that will allow the NUM to influence and direct the staff in implementation of change. According to Folse (2011), managers, followers and leaders should be committed to quality improvement. Top managers and leaders maintain the eventual responsibility for quality management but should engage the whole organization in the process of quality improvement. Even though numerous healthcare firms have accomplished considerable quality improvement outcomes with no system wide support, overall organizational involvement is essential for the NUM to cultural transformation as a result of change. If all staff are actively engaged in quality improvement and reviewing of the paediatric intravenous policy, clear demarcations of roles in a nonthreatening atmosphere will be established. Application of transformational leadership in nursing According to Hein, (1998), transformational leadership theory has come up as a reaction to the swift transformations happening in health care scheme. The main premise of the transformational leadership theory involves the capability of a transformational leadership to share a future vision with colleagues in the organization. Through sharing of a future state vision, the leader assists coworkers to prepare for the anticipated changes. Transformational leadership is also explained as a moral leadership since its effects changes the individuals who are engaged with one another. Through their interrelations, every individual brings out a good thing in the other person. Part inspirational, part charismatic, the individual who utilizes transformational leadership provides individualized attention, intellectual stimulation and collegiality to a team as it works jointly to accomplish a communal goal. Gallagher and Tschudin (2010) note that all nursing workforce members are ethical leaders since they display a commitment to moral practice in their daily work and function as role models for their followers. Nurse Managers have the responsibility of positively influencing their teams and they act as trendsetters amid professional and organizational values. Transformational leaders in the clinical practice are ethical leaders and role models since they make sure that the hidden and explicit practices display a dedication to the professional values. Nurse leaders who take up political roles also have the responsibility of leading on moral agenda with nursing values. Transformational leadership strategies Successful leaders model affirmative values and turn these values into transformational strategies that enhance them to instill their values into fabric of the culture of the organization. There are four transformational leadership strategies that enable transformational leaders to lead in a new and more effective way. There four transformational leadership strategies, everyone with its own themes that can be used by the NUM to successfully implement change in the intravenous paediatric policy in the ward. These themes include attention through vision, meaning through communication, trust through position and deployment of self via self knowledge. Leaders who use these strategies develop high performance firms with cultures distinguished by committed members and constant innovation (Stanley, 2011). Attention through Vision According to Bleich, (2010), leading requires envisioning goals in affiliation with others. Leading a change in the paediatric intravenous policy needs the NUM to have the capability to engage with, persuade or convince the staff on the relevance of the change and go on with establishing direction. Visualizing goals is dependent on trustful relationships, agreement upon collective expectations and share information. Setting up a shared vision is a vital leadership concept and visioning will help NUM to engage with other staff to evaluate the present reality, establish and specify the aspired end point state of the policy, and strategize to minimize the difference amid the old disparity. When this is executed well, the nurses in the hospital will experience inventive tension, which will inspire them to work jointly to attain an aspired objective. Visioning will also offer direction to the employees to speed up change. Meaning through communication Managing and leading change needs an enthusiasm to explain and communicate the need for change. In order to enable the staff to full understand the benefits of the changes made in the peadiatric intravenous policy, the NUM needs to communicate the message to the employees repeatedly. The leader will be required to offer a chance for dialogue as well as feedback. Face to face communication is a better mode of communication in this case because the situation needs instant feedback which will provide the chance to simplify information (Bleich, 2010). According to Ellis and Hartley, (2009), the NUM can effectively implement change using this strategy in addition to the use of shared goal model. Shared governance signifies a professional practice model whereby the nursing management and nursing staff are both engaged in decision making as opposed to decision making at administrative level. Through this model, nurses can be able to manage the policy and express their activities with a greater degree of professional independence. Embedded in this model is the actuality that the nursing staff will have full regulation of their paediatric intravenous practice and possess input in broader fields of the unit management as well as further decision making procedures involving care of the patient. Trust through positioning A hallmark role of effective transformational leadership is to act in constancy so that followers believe in and are able to count upon the direction and intentions of the leader. Trust will occur when the NUM is clear with other staff on the direction of change of the paediatric intravenous and the manner in which to accomplish high performance will be by developing on strengths and alleviating poor performance. Inherent in this strategy of trust through positioning is the act of truth telling. Even though leaders can’t usually share all the information, it is not good to misdirect followers in their actions and thinking. Trust, thus, is the major element of a team and lack of it makes a team to be dysfunctional and to resist change. Trustworthiness will be reflected in communications and actions of the NUM as a transformational leader (Bleich, 2010). According to Courtney et al, (2004), visioning or dreaming is regarded as a major component of leadership, especially transformational leadership. Visioning is all about evaluating the present reality, establishing what an aspired state would look like and managing and leading the consequential tension amid the two states in a way that is productive and constructive. The capability to conceptualize a dream and communicate it effectively to other people is a vital matter for nurse managers and leaders. A clear envisaging of a more ideal or better future state is an influential means through which the NUM can offer employees with a sense of common purpose and direction, guide and focus decision making , develop an equilibrium amid the contesting interests of the manager and other nursing staff and create forward impetus towards aspired goals. Creation of shared vision is a very vital element of visioning. These dreams are required to put into considerations all relevant employees and exterior stakeholders. According to Ellis, and Hartley, (2009), trust is vital in any firm and should be valued by persons in leadership and management positions. A sense of trust and trustworthiness should exist and it involves having a belief in someone and having self-assurance in them. Trust moves upward from employees to the leader when staff trusts the leader and it also moves from the leader to the staff as the leader displays trust in employees. Therefore, by positioning through trust, the NUM will be able to promote confidence of the nurses on his move to change the policy. Deployment of self through self- knowledge Paramount to achievement of a management or leadership role is the capability to be in harmony with oneself, or the ability to possess emotional self awareness. The demands of nursing leaders and managers in health care are highly increasing and self knowhow on matters that drive these leaders and the way they respond to other people is vital. In order to be successful in a leadership role, the NUM is required to look far beyond the essentials of the nursing care delivery. Efficient nurse leaders are required to shift from a placate zone of what they have acquired and learnt via clinical experience and education. They are required to be capable of dealing with swift technological changes, quick throughput of patients and changing government policy. It is also vital for leaders to be capable to make excellent business decisions on the basis of having a knowhow of bureaucratic structures. Through deployment of self through knowledge, the new NUM will be able to effectively implement change because he will be able to internalize and apply practices skilled of change management, through cognitive activity, information analysis and deployment of skilled knowledge in problem solving and development of new products and ideas (Courtney et al, 2004). Conclusion Reviewing of the paediatric intravenous policy is a major change that the Nurse Unit Manager is expected to manage and lead other nurses to follow the new policy. Through the use of Lewin’s force field analysis, the NUM can analyze the restraining and driving forces to change and create equilibrium that will promote change and minimize employee resistance to change. The NUM can also use transformational leadership strategies to effectively communicate the need of change to the staff, to create a vision for desired future state and engage and motivate employees implementation of the new policy. Therefore, combining force field analysis and transformational leadership strategies will enable the NUM to have a better understanding of the change process and reduce employee resistance. Bibliography Bleich, R 2011, Leading managing and following, in S Yoder-Wise (ed.), Leading and managing in nursing, 5th edn, Elsevier Mosby, St Louis, MO, pp. 3-24. Courtney, M, Nash, R & Thornton, R 2004, Leading and managing in nursing practice : concepts processes and challenges, in J Daly, S Speedy & D Jackson (eds.), Nursing leadership, Elsevier Australia, Marrickville, NSW, pp. 3-17. 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