About Facilitating Organizational Change

No matter the sector in which a firm competes, change is inescapable in today’s competitive market. To remain relevant in the market, firms should be ready to adapt changes as they come about. Unfortunately, most firms find managing change to be a difficult undertaking (Chaboyer, McMurray, Johnson, Hardy, & Chu, 2009). Organizations can utilize the change model developed by Kurt Lewin to control change and ensure a seamless transition. This essay investigates how businesses might change without compromising their productivity.

In a hospital, shift turnover is a crucial component of the communication process. Hospital X uses a traditional handover system which is characterized by a high number of critical incidents and complaints from doctors, patients, and relatives. The hospital looks forward to shifting to a new system of bedside handover. However, the proposed change has faced some setbacks over time. Some of the restraining forces include but not limited to lack of confidence, fear of accountability, and that the change might lead to more work. Therefore, some employees want to retain the traditional system.

There are various ways of preparing organizations to break the status quo and accept change. One of the approaches is by encouraging employees to think about the current situation and help them acknowledge the need for change (Oreg & Berson, 2011). Those facilitating change can start by communicating the proposed change to all employees affected by the change. The common communication channels include personal contact with those affected. The information will provide workers with a shared vision of the proposed handover system.

One can also demonstrate how the new handover system has been successfully used in other health care centers. The other approach includes organizing group works to discuss benefits of the proposed system, identify constraints, and suggest solutions (Armenakis, Bernerth, Pitts, & Walker, 2007). The leader should convince employees that the current system has some shortcomings thus the organization needs a new system. The process will help to address initial resistances and prepare employees for change.

Human resource (HR) managers play a vital role in facilitating change. First and foremost, a manager facilitates training of employees to prepare them for change. Oreg and Berson (2011) assert that an organization that wants to implement a change needs first to train the workers on the use of the system. The knowledge and skills provided clear a misconception among the employees regarding the proposed system. Oreg and Berson (2011) clarify that training employees before assigning new roles facilitate proper change of attitude. Employ recognition also facilitates change. Oreg and Berson (2011) suggest the HR manager applaud employees for their performances and assure them that they will easily deliver higher quality using the new system. Oreg and Berson (2011) affirm that employee recognition encourages them to attempt new things in their daily work to demonstrate their abilities. The HR manager can also facilitate change by working to define and describe new job descriptions which arise from the change and the skills which employees will require for the new tasks. These and other approaches can facilitate a quick change in the organization.

There are various strategies that organizations can use to solve employee uncertainties and make them accept the change. These approaches include Lewin’s three-step model which include unfreezing, changing, and refreezing (Hussain, Akram, Hussain, Ali, & Haider, 2016). The figure shows the Lewin’s Model.

Figure 1: Lewin’s Three-Step Model

Unfreezing Change process

Knowledge Sharing

Employee Involvement in the change

Organizational Change

Change process

Refreezing

Leadership

Change process

Implementation of the Change

Source: (Hussain et al., 2016)

The first stage in the model is unfreezing. According to Hussain et al. (2016), unfreezing entails encouraging those affected by the proposed change to think about the current situation and help them to recognize the need for change. In the case of a hospital, the manager can highlight some shortcomings associated with the traditional handover system and emphasize the benefits of the proposed bedside handover system (Chaboyer et al., 2009). The leader should communicate the change to create awareness to employees who will be affected by the change. Lewin emphasizes communication to ensure that the target employees have a shared vision of the new or improved handover system.

Armenakis et al. (2007) advocate the organization to demonstrate a clear goal-seeking behavior combined with a logical sequence of appropriate actions throughout the change process. The organization can announce the change using various channels including personal contacts with those affected. Armenakis et al. (2007) suggest an announcement of the proposed change at the initial stage to create a cognitive dissonance. The information will make employees seek more information about the change and come up with suggestions to make the new system efficient. The leader should also allow those affected to consult about the proposed system, identify constraints that might arise, and contribute towards addressing them (Chaboyer et al., 2009). The organization should disconfirm the usefulness of the current system and emphasize appropriateness of the proposed system.

The next stage in the change management process includes the change which is also the implementation stage (Hussain et al., 2016). The organization provides affected employees with information regarding the new system through training and simulation. The main purpose of training employees at this stage is to help them learn new concepts and develop new perspectives about the proposed change. Therefore, the leaders in the organization can train the employees. The leader can also involve experts to train or explain the use of the proposed system. For example, the leader can involve senior volunteer staff experienced in bedside handover to carry out the turnover process as many times as possible in an effective manner (Chaboyer et al., 2009). Some of the employees present might initially have problems adapting to the new practice. However, repeating the process several times can help them adapt with time.

The final stage is the refreezing which entails integrating the changed practice or behavior into the normal way of doing things (Hussain et al., 2016). Armenakis et al. (2007) suggest the leader to first give employees chances to shows their attitudes towards the newly introduced system through implementation. The leader should then assess the behavioral change and give appropriate feedback. All the target individuals will adopt the new system by observing others in action during the actual handover process and then do it. After sometimes, all the employees will be fully conversant with the newly introduced practice. At this time, the organization will be ready for refreezing. The leader helps workers integrate the new handover process to their normal way of doing things. Once workers show that they have adopted the new practice, the leader can use positive reinforcement approaches to underpin the desired practice. The organization might need modeling and coaching to reinforce the stability of the change.

There are various outward signs of the refreeze to prove that the organization will institutionalize the change successfully. These include a stable organizational chart that reflects the new system and positive attitudes towards the use of the new system (Chaboyer et al., 2009). There should also be consistent new job descriptions that incorporate the new practice. Employees should also demonstrate ability and willingness to use the new system without being coerced.

In conclusion, managing a change is a challenging task not only for hospitals but also other organizations as it involves a change of employee attitude in a complex environment to win their collaboration. Nevertheless, Lewin’s 3-phase model can be useful in implementing change in a structured and planned way. An organization can overcome resistance to change by creating a climate that encourages change. This can be attained through communication. The leader can use experts to show shortcomings associated with the old way of doing things and potential benefits of the proposed change. The leader should inform employees that similar change was implemented in other organizations thus instilling confidence that it will also work for that particular company.

References

Armenakis, A. A., Bernerth, J. B., Pitts, J. P., & Walker, H. J. (2007). Organizational change recipients’ beliefs scale: Development of an assessment instrument. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 43(4), 481-505.

Chaboyer, W., McMurray, A., Johnson, J., Hardy, L., Wallis, M., & Chu, F. Y. S. (2009). Bedside handover: quality improvement strategy to “transform care at the bedside”. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 24(2), 136-142.

Hussain, S., T., Akram, T., Hussain, S., H. & Ali, M., Lei, S., Haider, J., M. (2016). Kurt Lewin’s change model: A critical review of the role of leadership and employee involvement in organizational change. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 17 (1), 3-8.

Oreg, S., & Berson, Y. (2011). Leadership and employees’ reactions to change: The role of leaders’ personal attributes and transformational leadership style. Personnel Psychology, 64(3), 627-659.