Change Management Essay: An Analysis Of Hospital Integration Using Four Phase Model By Bullock And Batten. (70 Characters)

The integration of the hospitals is a big event and lot of changes will occur during the transitioning period. In this paper, we will try to analyze the ways in which change management can be smoothly carried out with the help of Integrated Four Phase Model by Bullock and Batten.

Change management is one of the most difficult process faced by any organization. The change management not only includes changes related to human resources but also to many other areas. The managers within the organizations need to strategize carefully when bringing about any changes within the organizations.

Background

Change management is one of the most difficult process faced by any organization. The change management not only includes changes related to human resources but also to many other areas. The managers within the organizations need to strategize carefully when bringing about any changes within the organizations (Cameron, 2015). In the previous assignment, we have seen that the Government of the Region of Erie is trying to integrate the smaller 5 hospitals and a few ancillary services with the Metropolitan, one of the largest hospital of that region. This integration will be a big change for the employees working at all the parties involved. The Employees of all the hospitals need to be motivated to go through this change. The processes being followed in the hospitals were very inefficient. It led to the integration. So, after integration, the Govt. wants to have restoration of the past glory of all the hospitals. This change will also be difficult. The merged entity will face competition from top hospitals present in the sector. The CEO of the new entity will have a lot on the plates to keep the balance and to provide best healthcare facilities to the citizens.

There are many change management models which describes the best ways for bringing about any change in any organization. The company needs to choose suitable ways of transitioning from the old processes to the new processes (Bamford, 2006). The integration of the hospitals is a big event and lot of changes will occur during the transitioning period. In this section, we will try to analyze the ways in which change management can be smoothly carried out with the help of Integrated Four Phase Model by Bullock and Batten. This model came into existence in the year 1985. The model is famous to evaluate the phases in which the organizations go through during any change management process. It also considers the processes which are in the use in the various change management phases (Frankland, 2013).

The four phases of Bullock and Batten Model are as below:

1. Exploration
2. Planning
3. Action
4. Integration

The exploration phase helps the organizations to find out the resources and parameters which are required to implement the changes. To help up with the change management processes, the company can try to bring in some expert from outside who can facilitate the entire change management process (Cummings, 2016). The companies brought Jessica to head the entire integration process. This was a positive move and a way forwards to achieve successful integration. Jessica designed the entire task force along with the senior members and they tried to implement the changes successfully.

The planning phase -  the organization starts making certain moves to know about the changes required within the company. A lot of analysis along with cross – examined counteractions are required to make the process error free. Any problem identified should be taken seriously and removed as soon as possible (Hayes, 2014). In the case, the processes and human resources along with few more will undergo vast changes. The structure of the new entity will change with all the hospitals reporting to the Metropolitan. The learning and development activities will kick in with force so the people can ramp up fast and start improvising the quality of healthcare services provided till date.

Integrated Four Phase Model by Bullock and Batten

The Action Phase adds on to the planning phase. It is focused into the staging of the strategies required for the change management processes (Goetsch, 2014). Adding to this, the strategies are prioritized and implemented so that changes can happen in real time. For this, the users need to be trained by some expert. A small work group can be selected and can be provided all required training for new processes. This group will then help others to get along quickly.

The final phase is the Integration phase. The changes are already implemented now. The organization will try to receive the feedbacks and ways in which the changes can be fine-tuned to meet the needs of the business and the people (Hornstein, 2015). The timeline fixed by the Govt. for integration of the hospitals is 10 months. Jessica is working 55-60 hours a week to try and accommodate everything within the given timeline. After the integration, she knows that at least 1-2 years of support will be required to bring back everything in line. Thus, Integration phase is difficult since, many change reactions will emerge after the implementation of the changes. Thus, the organization needs to carefully present everything and try to finish the process smoothly.

The change management processes put forward many ethical dilemmas in front of the management. They need to figure out whether to choose a decision based on the facts of based on years of experience (Haslam, 2014). The change management process has put forward an ethical dilemma in front of Jessica and other managers whether to go for job cutting after the integration is complete. There might be some roles in which there would be more than one person. Whether to retain them or fire them is a big ethical dilemma.

This change management process in the integration of the hospitals will certainly add to the profitability of the organizations involved. Also, the quality of service will be increased. There won’t be any kind of environmental issues arising out of this integration (Kraft, 2016). The work will be the same just that it should now be done with full compassion so that quality is maintained this time. Thus, the change processes come along with many hidden issues. These issues should be removed in the early stages post change process so that the issues do not get compounded (Nasim, 2011). The ethical and social issues should be dealt with carefully as they involve lots of other parameters which can change the course of the organization.

The major stakeholders in the integration process of all the hospitals are the Hospitals, Ancillary third parties, the citizens of the Region of Erie (who are waiting to get quality services after the integration) and the management team which will make strategies and look over the integrations process. The stakeholders will be impacted once the transition process starts (Rock, 2014). The transition process will involve lots of full day full night dedication from the most of the stakeholders. They must work dedicatedly so that the plans go successful. The success of the integration process will help all the stakeholders a lot. The main risk for the stakeholders is the scenario when the change process fails in between. This will incur a lot of loss for them. The process of change is not easy and the stakeholders know it in and out.

Conclusion

In the above sections, we have seen the way change process can happen in any organization. Also, we saw the scenarios being faced and the efforts required for the integrations of the hospitals. the change processes come along with many hidden issues. The company needs to choose suitable ways of transitioning from the old processes to the new processes (Timmerman, 2003). The integration of the hospitals is a big event and lot of changes will occur during the transitioning period. These issues should be removed in the early stages post change process so that the issues do not get compounded. The ethical and social issues should be dealt with carefully as they involve lots of other parameters which can change the course of the organization.

References

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Cameron, E. and Green, M., 2015. Making sense of change management: a complete guide to the models, tools and techniques of organizational change. Kogan Page Publishers.

Cummings, S., Bridgman, T. and Brown, K.G., 2016. Unfreezing change as three steps: Rethinking Kurt Lewin’s legacy for change management. human relations, 69(1), pp.33-60.

Frankland, R., Mitchell, C.M., Ferguson, J.D., Sziklai, A.T., Verma, A.K., Popowski, J.E. and Sturgeon, D.H., Applications In Internet Time, Llc, 2013. Integrated change management unit. U.S. Patent 8,484,111.

Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson.

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Haslam, S.A., van Knippenberg, D., Platow, M.J. and Ellemers, N. eds., 2014. Social identity at work: Developing theory for organizational practice. Psychology Press.

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Kraft, A., Sparr, J.L. and Peus, C., 2016. Giving and Making Sense About Change: The Back and Forth Between Leaders and Employees. Journal of Business and Psychology, pp.1-17.

Nasim, S. and Sushil, 2011. Revisiting organizational change: Exploring the paradox of managing continuity and change. Journal of Change Management, 11(2), pp.185-206.

Rock, D., 2014. Quiet leadership. HarperCollins e-books.

Timmerman, C.E., 2003. Media selection during the implementation of planned organizational change: A predictive framework based on implementation approach and phase. Management Communication Quarterly, 16(3), pp.301-340.