Change Management Strategies For Introducing Innovation In An Organization

Change Management and Innovation

Write an essay on “Change Management Strategies”.
 

The essay discusses the change management strategies that can be employed in an organization setting to introduce innovation (Awad et al. 2013). In this paper, a plan has been discussed for introducing Telehealth services in a health care organization i.e. the Mental Health Division of St. Vincent’s Hospital. The adoption of change management strategies and innovation are interrelated phenomenon (Cho et al. 2012). If the organization introduces innovative processes or services within the organization, the existing organizational structure would be affected and require change. Innovative ideas can be implemented within the organizations by introducing change (Cameron and Green 2015). 

Change management can be defined as a process of bringing required changes in the way employees within an organization undertakes various roles and responsibilities (Mitchell 2013). The desired changes within the organization can be brought by introduction of new policies, procedures, and methods that people follows to perform a task or responsibility (Hayes 2014).  Hence, change management can be understood as a procedure or a guiding principle that enables the people in the organization to prepare and equip themselves for the change process.The process change management is initiated after observing the type of changes that are required.

There are different types of changes in the organization such as operational change, strategic change, cultural change and political change (Benn et al. 2014). Further, change management can be divided in two types; employee change management and organizational change management. Change management consists of three important stages – understanding the nature of change, planning the change management process, and implementing and communicating the change. First, the organization needs to understand what changes it wants to achieve, for instance, the implementation if Telehealth services at Mental Health Division of St. Vincent’s Hospital are an innovation that the organization wants to implement. Once the nature of change is understood, the hospital administration is required to plan various strategies to implement the desired change and communicating the requirement, benefits of change and expectations from the employees in making the change a success (Oreg et al.2013). 

Diffusion of innovation on the other hand aims at explaining how, why and at what rate new technology or ideas can be implemented in an organization (Cho  et al. 2012). Diffusion is the process by which an innovation is spread and communicated within the organization (Cummings and Worley 2014). In this study, the organization has implemented Telehealth services as an innovative solution for patients. In order to, successfully implement the innovative solution, the organization needs to communicate the desired changes to the staffs and other stakeholders and device strategies to implement the change in defined period(Awadet al.2013).

Further, to implement the change (innovation), social systems plays crucial role (Hayes 2014). Social systems include external influences such as mass media, government mandates; and internal influences such as change agents and/or opinion leaders (Hornstein 2015). In order to implement Telehealth services in the Mental Health Division of St. Vincent’s Hospital, internal influences will have greater influence to make the desired change in the organization (Benn et al.2014). Opinion leaders are well known individuals in the organization that have the ability to influences the opinions of others on the subject matter for which opinion leaders are known. Similarly, change agents are individuals who are experts typically experts in their domain and can bring desired changes in the organization by providing counseling, training, and assisting other individuals in the organization to achieve desired level of change to implement the innovation (Cho et al. 2012).

Types of Change

In order to implement change the organization has to develop strategies to introduce change in a systematic manner so that there are no resistances and the desired results achieved (Benn et al. 2014). There are different approaches to change management but the overall objective of change management process is to communicate and prepare employees for implementing desired change so that there is little resistance from the employees and the new process or system (innovation) are effectively incorporated into the organization (Becker et al. 2013).

Lippitt’s seven-step change management theory is focused on the role of a change agent (Cummings and Worley 2014). The organization has implemented the right change after observing the key requirements of change. There are seven different phases in Lippitt’s seven phase structure.

Phase 1: The managers have to identify the issues of the existing management structure and develop the requirement of the change management structure. The organization has identified Telehealth, which is to be implemented (Emani et al.2012).

Phase 2: The managers establish the change relationship in the management structure. The managers motivate the employees and identify the capacity of the organization for change (Mitchell 2013).

Phase 3: The managers evaluate have evaluated the resources of the health care organization. The administrative has motivated the managers for the change agent (Tedeschi 2013).

Phase 4: after that, the managers define the progressive stage of change for the management structure (White 2016).

Phase 5: The managers ensure the role and responsibility of the change agents (White 2016).

Phase 6: The managers maintain the change in the management structure through communication, feedback and group coordination (White 2016).

Phase 7: The managers gradually remove the change agent from the relationship. The changed part thus becomes the part of the management structure (Cummings and Worley 2014).  

The ADKAR model is based on the five key strategies to implement change within an organization (Awadet al. 2013). This model can be used by the organization to ensure Telehealth services are effectively implement and incorporated. This model presents five stages that can be used by the organization to implement Telehealth services in the organization (Mitchell 2013) –

Awareness: employees (or people) who are affected by the change must be made aware about the reason of change (Hornstein 2015).

In order to create awareness about the implementation of Telehealth services, the management can conduct brainstorming session, focus group interviews and personal interviews to educate the employees and solicit desired responses from them.

Desire: desire refers to engaging employees in the change process to minimize any possible resistances (Hornstein 2015).

It is human tendency to resist change, similarly in the St. Vincent Hospital, not all the employees would welcome change. Therefore, it is important for the management to develop strategies to induce desire for change among the employees; this can be achieved by implementing motivational programs to boost employee desire to participate in the change process.

Knowledge: knowledge refers to imparting required level of skills and knowledge about the change through coaching or training (Hornstein 2015).

Social Systems and Change Management

Sometimes, employees resist change because they think that they do not possess the desired skills that would be required after implementing an innovative idea or change in the organization. However, the management can easily eliminate such resistances by providing special training to employees to develop skills that would be required for implementing change process.

Ability: is implementing the change and developing required skills to ensure its success  (Hornstein 2015).

Other then training, management can prepare its own capabilities by being innovative and developing a learning organization  to keep resources updated and thereby, staying ahead of competitors.

Reinforcement: It refers to ensuring the desired change is maintained, it includes evaluation of effectiveness of change and taking correcting actions if required (Hornstein 2015).

Once the new process is successfully implemented into the organization, the management is required to take evaluative measures to identify the extent of change is accepted by the employees. Further, the management is also required to devise strategies to prevent the situation of slipping back to the earlier condition 

Another model of change that can be used by the organization to implement proposed change (Telehealth services) in the organization is Kotter’s 8-step model discussed below –

Step 1: Create Urgency – By creating urgency, the organization can influence and motivate its employees to understand the importance of desired change and solicit positive responses from them to initiate change process (Kotter 2012).

Step 2: Form a powerful coalition – It is convincing people that change is necessary. This stage requires organizational leaders, opinion leaders or change agents to communicate and convince employees that change is important and leading them through the change process so as to avoid resistances (Kotter 2012).

Step 3: Create a vision for change – this step requires developing values central to change and developing strategies to execute the change (Kotter 2012).

Stage 4: Communicate the vision – once the change vision and strategies are formulated, it is important to communicate that vision to the employees so that they can understand the management point of view (Kotter 2012).

Stage 5: Remove Obstacles –This stage includes identifying possible areas of resistance, employing the services of change leaders, and developing strategies to overcome such obstacles (Kotter 2012).

Stage 6: Short-term wins – change is a long term and continuous process; therefore, it is important to create short-term targets and rewarding employees once these short-term targets are achieved. This motivates employees and assists in achieving desired change (Appelbaumet al.2012).

Stage 7: Build on the change – Once the desired levels of change are achieved, it is important to take actions to build upon on that change. Change is a continuous process and requires constant up-gradation (Kotter 2012).

Stage 8: Anchor the change in corporate culture –Finally, to make the change stick, it should become part of organization core culture, therefore, it is important to make sure that organizational leaders are continue to support change (Hickman and Ojo 2014).

Conclusion

From the above discussion, it can be concluded that change management is a long term and continuous process. In order to implement Telehealth services into the Mental Health Department of St. Vincent Hospital, the management has to understand change management models and role of change agents and opinion leaders. The administrators of the health and social care organization have implemented the change management strategy. The management has followed Lippitt’s seven-phase structures and ADKAR model. In addition, Kotter’s eight step change model has also been discussed that can be utilized by the management to bring desired change into the organization. The change management structure will help the healthcare organizations to redevelop the workforce structure and improve the service of the organization. 

Reference list:

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Cho, Y., Hwang, J. and Lee, D., 2012. Identification of effective opinion leaders in the diffusion of technological innovation: A social network approach. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 79(1), pp.97-106.

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Emani, S., Yamin, C.K., Peters, E., Karson, A.S., Lipsitz, S.R., Wald, J.S., Williams, D.H. and Bates, D.W., 2012. Patient perceptions of a personal health record: a test of the diffusion of innovation model. Journal of medical Internet research, 14(6), p.e150.

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Kotter, J., 2012. The 8-step process for leading change. Kotter International.

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