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Organizational Change in Health and Medicine

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Organizational Behavior and Management in Health and Medicine

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Abstract

Organizational change concerns the alteration of operations within an institution. It typically is prompted by circumstances and situations encountered in external and internal environments, with organizations maneuvering themselves in a manner to accommodate or adjust to these influences. Great skill is required to proficiently address change in healthcare organizations. At face value, change-related activities in institutions might seem to be somewhat problem-free endeavors, but that is not the case. In fact, change is almost universally described as being difficult. Success requires intensive knowledge of change processes, keen surveillance abilities, problem-solving prowess, and implementation acumen, among many other things. Since change is a pervasive and enduring feature of organizational life, healthcare managers cannot evade responsibilities for handling change. Its level of prominence is so pronounced that many institutions seek to proactively guide and direct change initiatives by engaging in a formal process known as change management. Given the perpetual change associated with the healthcare industry and its many establishments, health and medical providers must endeavor to develop skill sets that help them to navigate this tumultuous environment. This chapter sheds light on change in health and medical organizations, aiding healthcare providers in understanding its impact and management.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Willis Knighton Health, Shreveport, LA, USA

    James K. Elrod & John L. Fortenberry Jr.

  2. College of Business, LSU Shreveport, Shreveport, LA, USA

    John L. Fortenberry Jr.

Authors
  1. James K. Elrod
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  2. John L. Fortenberry Jr.
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Appendices

Key Terms

  • Action Research

  • Change Agent

  • Change Management

  • Changing

  • Cooptation

  • Environmental Analysis

  • Environmental Scanning

  • Environmental Surveillance

  • Evolutionary Change

  • External Environment

  • Internal Environment

  • Kotter’s Eight-Stage Process of Creating Major Change

  • Lewin’s Model of Change

  • Macroenvironment

  • Microenvironment

  • Organizational Change

  • Organizational Development

  • PEST Analysis

  • Planned Change

  • Refreezing

  • Revolutionary Change

  • Role Modeling

  • Situation Analysis

  • SWOT Analysis

  • Unfreezing

  • Unplanned Change

  • Vision

Exercises

  1. 1.

    In your own words, define organizational change and change management and discuss their role and importance in the healthcare industry.

  2. 2.

    Compare and contrast planned and unplanned change, as well as evolutionary and revolutionary change. Reflect on your recent work experiences and provide examples illustrating each of these types of change.

  3. 3.

    Define change agent and discuss your personal strengths and weaknesses in such a capacity. As all managers should strive to become change agents on behalf of their organizations, what steps are you taking to develop associated skills?

  4. 4.

    Define environmental scanning and discuss its importance in the change management processes of healthcare establishments. How might you go about establishing an environmental scanning program in a healthcare organization? What methods would you use to operationalize the practice and ensure situational awareness?

  5. 5.

    Compare and contrast Lewin’s model of change and Kotter’s eight-stage process of creating major change. Which do you prefer and why?

  6. 6.

    Identify and discuss common sources of resistance to change. Based on your personal and professional experiences, which of the common sources of resistance presented in the chapter have you most often encountered? Provide associated details.

  7. 7.

    Outline and briefly summarize common methods used to address resistance to change. Following this, describe a situation where you encountered resistance to change, indicate how it was addressed, and communicate the resulting outcome. Based on the information supplied in the chapter, could any improvements have been made in your attempts to break resistance? Share associated insights.

  8. 8.

    Define cooptation and describe its use in overcoming resistance to change. Reflect on your work experiences and answer the following questions: Have you ever been coopted? Have you ever coopted another party? Have you ever observed cooptation? What are your overall thoughts on cooptation? Share associated experiences and insights.

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Elrod, J.K., Fortenberry, J.L. (2024). Organizational Change in Health and Medicine. In: Organizational Behavior and Management in Health and Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-61823-9_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-61823-9_10

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-61822-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-61823-9

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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