This report is based on the case study of famous agency for health i.e. World Health Organization (WHO). Before proceeding, it is crucial to understand about WHO and its functions. Who is the specialized agency of United Nations which has aim to provide highest possible health care to the people. WHO started its operations in 1948 an now it has 192 member states. Headquarter of the organization is in Geneva including 6 regional offices and 150 countries offices and now around 8,000 people are working there. Headquarter of WHO is accountable for seven key functions i.e. policy expansion, research, support and communication, technological support, execution, observing & valuation and corporation & organization. There are three main bodies in the organization i.e. World health assembly (WHA), the executive board and the Secretariat. WHA is the decision making body of the WHO by which all the meeting are conducted in Geneva in every May with all the member states. Key functions of WHA are to electing Director-General (DG), determination of WHO policies, and review and approval of the budgets proposed for various programs. Further, the executive board and Secretariat are the supporting bodies of WHA and WHO (WHO, 2017).
(Source: WHO, 2017)
Based on the given case study, it is observed that there are some parts in WHO which are needed to be changed. There is the need to perform effective change management strategies in order to deal with the earlier incorrectness due to Dr. Brundtland. After the election of Dr. Brundtland, it was assumed that she would implement some important reforms to enhance the position and reputation of WHO organization. But, despite of implementing changes and improvements, World health organization faced some structural problems that were needed to be addressed. There were basically some sources of impact the organization including two groups i.e. internal and external. The internal factors included bureaucratic organizational structure that affected the human resource in the organization. The bureaucratic organizational structure was the cause of centralized resources in the Headquarters, employment issue for long term and cultural issues in human resource. Further, the external factors include big change in the health situations in all over the world including increased high infection rates of HIV and AIDS and many other diseases on daily basis. Further, there was appearance of new health organizations i.e. IOs, NGOs and many other private health institutes which negatively impact on the authority and authenticity of WHO (Pasmore & Woodman, 2007).
To deal with the above discussed issues, Dr. Lee set five core priorities that needed to be changed in the organizational process i.e. decentralized decision making process, achieving various development goals, IT investments, human resource reforms, improvement in the managerial efficiency and liability. To implement the effective change in the organization, Dr. Lee tried to handle WHO with the clear picture of projected process. He gathered an efficient team to implement the change process. He planned for major steps and used them in the prepared plan for the change management. So, there were five basic priorities set by Dr. Lee which are needed to be changed effectively (Martocchio, 2004).
Dr. Lee took first step towards the decentralized organization as the changing process. Dr. Brundtland differentiated the organization as practical in which the decision making process leads by the top level management. She was also not able to hold the challenges of organization effectively. When Dr. Lee took office in 2003 and he supposed that he could implement the tactical plan of the organizational formation for World health organization. There were many employees who felt stress due to controlling with the centralized structure. Centralized structure can be described as decision making process and formulation of the process are handled by the top level management in the organization and it is used within whole organization (Fleming & Senior, 2006). Although, coordination and leadership are not the part of decentralized process but it is considered as the effective management by the organization. For making an effective decentralized organization, it is important to build up open and free connection in the organization. Being as DG, DR. Lee tried to make WHO recognized into decentralized process by distributing the resources in those parts where they are needed. The distribution of the resources is important and major step to implement the change in the organization effectively. Main objective of Dr. Lee by adopting decentralization is to enhance the authority and priority of the regional offices in various countries. By the decentralization process, world health organization would be able to improve its supervision and control in the organizational operations (Lee & Teo, 2005). Along with this, organization will also be able to do rapid decision making and effective and flexible communication with the members. Dr. Lee repeated that the decentralized system of WHO is essential for enhancing the responsibilities, authorities and accountabilities of the regional and country offices. He tried that all the members and employees to understand decentralized method and provide the necessary and required support. According to Yach (2003), Dr. Brundtland was not successful in this manner but Dr. Lee did it successfully (Szamosi & Duxbury, 2006).
It is observed that there is the lack of leadership in the IT department of World Health Organization and it was very important for the organization to invest in the IT sector. From the given case study, it is observed that Dr. Lee realized that IT infrastructure is an important and crucial part for the change implementation as the data, important information and knowledge cannot be shared without the support of IT in the organization. So, the team of Dr. Lee decides to select an effective leader for the IT department who would be able to install important software for the organizational growth and success. It was assumed that the new software system in the organization would be based on the Enterprise resource planning (ERP) tool which is system software that can be used for coordinating the working process of various departments (Wooldridge, Schmid & Floyd, 2008). By the case, it is analyzed that WHO wants to spread out the information at various level department in the organization but there is the lack of technical support. So, new IT director was appointed to implement new system i.e. Global Management system based on ERP tool. Along with this, organization had conducted training for the staff to understand new technological investments. Along with the new system, organization also established new communication network i.e. Strategic Health Operations Centre (CSHOC). Main objective of this communication network is to enhance the connectivity among the global dispersed teams by the faster information flow and data exchange (Ardichvili, 2012).
The accountability of world health organization is to complete the projects related to global organizations, UN agencies, foundations and governments. If the outcomes of the projects do not accomplish in the deadline then organization would lose the trust of investors and financial support provided by them. So, there is the need of decentralized resources and authorities at the regional and national level to improve the accountability of the organization. Along with this, organization would implement performing auditing system to analyze the requirements for investors. This auditing system would analyze the effectiveness and efficiency of the operations of World Health Organization and promote the investors, employees and the member states. In the change implementation, Dr. Lee and his team used this structure to analyze and evaluate the liability of the organization and expected results of the projects.
Human resource is main and important part of the organization for the future growth. There was the need of some skills such as leadership, management practices, writing skills and conversation which are important for the development of each position in the organization. Dr. Lee and his team implemented an appraisal structure for the development of human resource. For this manner, Dr. Lee and his team was quite acceptable among the staff and member states. In the process of HR renovation, objective of Dr. Lee was to minimize the cultural limits in the various organizational departments and enhancing long-lasting employment at the equal position (Gashi, 2013).
For implementing the change, Dr. Lee had an effective proposal for the change of entire operation process. After taking his responsibilities, he had a detailed plan for the effective change management. There were five basic steps for the effective change process. Those steps of change process include inception phase, listening and learning process, analysis and planning process, rollout stage one and rollout phase two. Along with this, there was timeframe for each step of transition.
|
Transition steps |
Timeframe |
|
Inception |
28th January 2003 – 3rd March 2003 |
|
Listening and learning |
3rd March 2003 – 25th May 2003 |
|
Analysis and planning |
25th May 2003 – 21st July 2003 |
|
Rollout phase I |
21st July – 30th August 2003 |
|
Rollout phase II |
1st September 2003 – May 2004 |
This was the primary phase of the overall transition procedure. Dr. Lee gathered a small team of 3 to 4 people as the mentors to enhance the level of operational plan during the change process. After that, Dr. Lee and his team focused on the development of information technology infrastructure and organizational structure in the positive manner. Along with this, team would also ensure the budget during the change process.
This step was started in March 2003 and started internal discussion with the ended questions. The discussion was done with all the consultants of the organization to understand their opinions and experience of the organization. Team took on the trip of member and regional states to hear the opinions of external and internal stakeholders in terms of health cases across the world. As the outcome, they were able to understand the views of inner and outer investors for the tactical plan of the organization.
In this process, various people effectively were involved in the temporary team of change management. This step was started from 25th May 2003. In this step, the team tried to implement working master plan and reporting methods which are required to improve in the rollout stages. The planning team would evaluate every situation in the detailed pattern. Objective of this phase was to achieve the goals and complete the plan. Dr. Lee and his team tried to implement high level of leadership practices for the best operational parts (Kossek, 2007).
In this phase, Dr. Lee and his team implemented the transformational leadership style along with the decentralized structure. The team set the goals and responsibilities for all the team members from all the departments, arranged effective organizational operations and controlled serious communication intentions. Initially, Dr. Lee had an effective plan to improve the fund in the organization for its effectiveness. After these phases, Dr. Lee was able to implement the change process successfully in World Health Organization in main five areas i.e. decentralization, IT investments, Human resource reinvent, accountability and efficiency.
After starting of the rollout phase one, second phase was launched in the organization by the transition team. This was the last step of the changing process and transition team tried to complete the working plans which are required to implement the change in organization. Although not all the targets would be completed by the leaders but leaders had confidence in completing their work (Smart & Pontifex, 2003).
To implement the change in the World Health Organization, DR. Lee adopted the change management framework i.e. Lewin’s three-step change model. According to Lewin (1951), the change management plan includes three main steps i.e. unfreeze, change process and refreeze. First step is unfreeze i.e. new missions are defined and share the vision with the employees. After that, set plans are implemented by various adjustments, reassessments, and consolidations. The refreezing parts include the reinforcement of change to implement them permanently (Kotter & Cohen, 2008).
Figure 1: Lewin’s three-step change model
(Source: Kotter & Cohen, 2008)
New vision foe WHO is to implement the change in the structure, transition phases, minimizing the cultural barriers and ensure the employees to follow the change path. Team of Dr. Lee collaborated with the Lewin’s model during the transition process (Graham & Bennett, 2008).
Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland former Prime minister was designated as the Director General of World Health Organization in 1998. She was conscious of all the challenges and issues of the operations of the organization and then she set some visions for the organization such as better communication, effective structure and superior simplicity as the objectives of change process. Alike Dr. Lee, she also gathered a change management group and she also proposed some effective changes in the organizational structure. But many members in the organization resisted the change implemented by her (Erkama, 2010).
Dr. Brundtland removed various top level managers from the organization and brought external experts from outside to attain and execute the health care operations. Her acts revealed her control in the top level management and due to this fact; many employees had insecurity with their job. This triggered inactive participation of the employees in the change process. There were some reasons behind the unsuccessful attempt of Dr. Brundtland. Based on the analysis of given case, it is observed that there were several factors that lead failure in the change process i.e. leadership failure, resistance to change and lack of managerial skills (Tracey, 2004).
It is observed that there were the lack leadership skills. According to Adair’s action centered leadership model, the leaders in the management need to focus on three basic areas including task, team and individual. Leaders will get success when all these requirements are fulfilled and significantly met.
Figure 2: Adair’s action centered leadership model
(Source: Tracey, 2004)
Task includes the achievement of the organizational objectives by various actions i.e. defining group tasks, designing work plans, allocation of task and controlling the performance of the employees. Teams should be maintained by the effective training and communication system. Team must be maintained at high level of morale to achieve cohesiveness of team and enhance the effectiveness of the organization. Individual must support the development of the organization with full potential. Mistake of Dr. Brundtland was to focus only on fulfilling the task and neglected other important components (Gill, 2012).
With the given case, it is analyzed that Dr. Brundtland had to deal with the resistance of change. In such case, employees of the organization did not actively take part in the change process. The reason was that they felt unsecured with their job and were not able to change their bureaucratic organizational structure as they felt that they have to divide up their authorities and rights with the other member states. Because of these particulars, Dr. Brundtland was not successful in implementing effective change process in the organization (Hersey & Blanchard, 2012).
According to Mullins (2011), there are basic management philosophies hat must be included in the change management such as involvement, trust, satisfaction of the employees, recognition etc.
Figure 3: Managerial Philosophies
(Source: Jeanes, 2011)
The supreme framework of administrative philosophy must comprise all described factors. But Dr. Brundtland did not focus on every fundamental management philosophies and she did not get success in managing the employees effectively.
It is analyzed that DR. Lee and his team has to deal with some issues and challenges while implementing change process in World Health Organization. For implementing change with the change management philosophies, the organization adopted Lewin’s change model. With the change of the structure of organization, the working culture of the employees was completely changed. For maintaining efficient workplace environment for the employees, Dr. Lee and his change management team have to face some future challenges i.e. organizational culture, reliability, utilization of various departments and motivation and job satisfaction of the employees (Brown, 2006).
The implemented change can impact on the culture and effectiveness of the organization. Dr. Lee and his team has to deal maintain compatibility of changes with the culture of World health organization. Along with this, they should adjust with the various levels of culture to get benefits. Further, change management team should motivate the employees in terms of economic rewards, social relationships and intrinsic satisfaction. Employees need job satisfaction and by providing job satisfaction, organization can get various benefits such as higher productivity, increased profit, low employee turnover and increased loyalty of the employees (Smith, 2015). In terms of consistency, decision making and quality work should be delivered by the regional offices for improving the effectiveness of the organization. Based on all the discussion, Dr. Lee and his transition team should be prepared to deal with all the challenges and make the work of organization consistent (Saphiro, 2010).
Conclusion:
This report is based on the case on famous health organization i.e. World Health Organizations. From the analysis of overall case, it is observed that Human resource is the important part in the development of the organizational structure along with the resources and behavior. According to Buchanan and Huczynski (2004), human resource management can be described as the managerial process which analyzes the need of the personal policies for developing organizational strategies. It is well known that World Health Organization needed tremendous reforms while serices was managed by Dr. Brundtland as the Director General of the World Health Organization. Although she tried to implement some effective changes but she had to face resistance to change by the employees. After that, Dr. Lee implemented change process plans by setting five basic priorities as the change objectives. With the help of his change management team, Dr. Lee was able to implement effective change successfully and achieved all the expected goals. It is analyzed that transformation of the organization structure took lots of time and efforts and the team had to deal with various challenges in terms of culture and sustainability. But the core objective of the change implementation was to enhance the efficiency of World Health Organization in terms of health care services. To achieve good outcomes of the transition process, Dr. Lee has to deal with the challenges and manage the consequences of the change implementation plan.
References:
Ardichvili, A., (2012), Knowledge Management, Human Resource Development, and Internet Technology: Advances in Developing Human Resources, 4(4), pp.451-463
Brown, A., (2006), Quality Management: Issues for Human Resource Management: Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 33(3), pp.117-129.
Erkama, N., (2010), Power and resistance in a multinational organization: Scandinavian Journal of Management. 26, pp 151-165.
Fleming, J., & Senior, B., (2006), Organizational Change, (3rd), UK: Prentice Hall.
Gashi, R., (2013), Strategic Human Resources Management: Human Resources or Human Capital: Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies.
Gill, R., (2012), Change management or change leadership: Journal of Change Management, 3(4), pp.307-318.
Graham, H., & Bennett, R., (2008), Human resources management. London: Pitman
Hersey, P. & Blanchard, K. (2012), Management of organizational behavior, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall
Kossek, E., (2007), Human Resources Management Innovation: Human Resource Management, 26(1), pp.71-92.
Kotter, J. P., & Cohen, D.S., (2008), The Heart Of Change, Bucuresti: Meteor Press
Lee, G., & Teo, A., (2005), Organizational restructuring: Impact on trust and work satisfaction: Asia Pacific Journal of Management. (22). 23—39.
Martocchio, J., (2004), Research in personnel and human resources management, Amsterdam: Elsevier JAI.
Pasmore, W.A., & Woodman, R.W., (2007), Research in Organizational Change and Development, (16)
Saphiro, A., (2010), Creating Contagious Commitment: Applying the Tipping Point to Organizational Change, (2nd) , North Carolina: Hillsborough
Smart, J., & Pontifex, M., (2003), Human Resources Management and the Australian Human Resources Institute: The Profession and Its Professional Body. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 31(1), pp.1-19.
Smith,C., (2015), 5 Barriers to Change Management and How to Easily Overcome Them, accessed on 19th October 2017 from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-barriers-change-management-how-easily-overcome-them-smith
Szamosi, L.T., & Duxbury, L., (2006), Development of a measure to assess organizational change: Journal of Organizational Change Management, 15 (2), pp.184 – 201.
Tracey, W., (2004), Human resources management & development handbook, New York: Amacom.
WHO, (2017), Who we are, what we do, accessed on 19th October 2017 from https://www.who.int/about/en/
Wooldridge, B., Schmid, T., & Floyd, S. W. (2008), The middle management perspective: Contributions, synthesis and future research: Journal of Management. 34. 1190—1221.
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download