Overview
Midshires College was the primary organization being studied, particularly, due to the changes that were being introduced as of late. The key aspects of the paper will focus on the drivers for the change and the aim that the organization was essentially trying to achieve. Other elements that will aimed to be captures include an assessment of the organization’s readiness for change in the context. The type of change will relate to the merging of five colleges of nursing and midwifery to the new Midshires College of Midwifery and nursing. Ultimately, the aim is to oversee the amalgamation of the five component colleges. Issues within the culture will be expanded upon and they relate to many aspects such as the off-scene challenges that workers underwent due to the lack of clear guidelines. Leadership and communicational aspects were highly disrupted and will be expanded upon and supported by previously published literature. The way that the team at Midshires College handled change will be discussed, and all implementations will be highlighted.
The need and goals for change at Midshire College
Organizational change is a process where establishments such as Midshires College move from their present state to a desired future state that ultimately increases effectiveness. Characteristically, the change was required and witnessed in the organization to prevent stagnation, and to increase competitiveness levels in the business. Change is essentially understood as leading and carrying out actions in a different manner to cope up with any emerging issues within the previous environment. Midshires College planned to change its structure proactively, to prepare for any future challenges that may emerge. In general, such steps are initiated by management initiatives. Lacovini (1993) states that a reactive change can be an automatic process that takes place in such fast paced environment. The merger at Midshires College could have been much more straightforward, should the three primary issues been tended to; developmental changes occur when such establishments aim to improve the business. It any such organization decides to improve processes, these aspects should be considered developmental changes, and not transitional. Primarily, transitional changes refer to additions in technology or other processes where the company is in process of replacing old and dismantled processes. However, the employees at the Midshires College Organization faced many insecurities as they felt that there were many instabilities in personal securities that increased ever since the merging process hastened. Employees were planning an overrun of the current project leaders as they were highly uncomfortable, and there was a general lack of engagement and activity.
Previously conducted research suggests that such hospital consolidations in the long run result in an increase in the prices for services. Physicians will more so become hospital employees. Such mergers will provide a newly merged Midshire College to have a great consolidating power that will help in limiting competition, negotiating powers, and result in higher prices for services. These were some of the goals and needs that resulted in the change of any organization in the healthcare sector. Solstad and Pettersen (2010) conducted a similar study in three hospitals that were eventually merged into a hospital enterprise that focused on changes in activities. The study concluded that there were many different pathways that were focused on externally imposed changes. Along the line, the parallel processes evolved and improved. Moreover, there were also many qualitative strengths that Solstad and Pettersen (2010) ultimately exposed. Such methods allow one to impose organizational change methods in a succinct manner.
Key issues resulting in complications
Midshires College showcases three major issues when assessing potential changes and complications. Primarily, there were insecurities and uncertainties in the way that the demand for nurse education and its role in the new college was deemed. A threat to jobs was the pivotal change that workers felt. Change management ought to have taken a very systemic approach within this context. Effective management does not only pertain to project management and tending to technical tasks, but also relates to the ‘peoples’ issues. Within the HR departments today, there has been a broad initiative placed on managing change and cultural transformation. As such, change initiatives have become widespread and more common across all organizational levels. Employees who are unhappy with the mode of change and its application are unproductive. A focus ought to be made on improving communication between workers and the project leader at Midshires College. All such mitigating risks should be underlined and discussed in the future meetings. Trust levels should be improved between the management and employees during the merging time period. The organization should be unified and not dispersed amid such a strategic upgrade.
The steering group’s general managers and the new college also seemed to have conflicts due to the nature of the NHS policies. The policy had changed and there were issues in the way that the general managers had exercising right to the choice of the college of nursing the trainee nurses were to become a part (Doppelt, 2017). One can view that the key players involved in establishing the college were put in an ambiguous place when the remit and purpose of the establishment was suggested. Another issue that lacked any clear leadership support includes the qualifications that were required in the new college, the support by the higher education and the eventual goal of merging it into the university sector.
Many models have been discussed in published literature. One such model expanded upon by Fritzenschaft (2013) is Lewin’s three step model. The planned approach to change commenced in 1946 when Lewin, a researched, and practitioner in the community proposed that such behaviors and changes can be adopted. As per Lewin, all changes might have three steps that relate to the present level, moving to the new level, and refocusing on changes at that new level (Hussain et al., 2016). This model is useful as it discards any old behavior and focuses on structures, cultures, and processes before finally adapting new approaches. The model skillfully applies to the current issue that prevails. The freezing point should be the time before the change model commenced, and ought to be unfrozen upon completion when key roles and requirements for nurses is finally shared. By carefully reviewing these planned models of change, a new four phase mode was proposed by Bullock and Batten in 1985 (Levy, 2018). This model looks at exploring, planning, executing, and integration. One recent model is Luecke’s seven steps that primarily focuses on looking at one joint commitment vie joint identification of solutions and businesses. The second aspect relate to developing a shared vision and organizing and managing for competitiveness. The third aspect relates to identifying leadership (Fritzenschaft, 2013). Other aspects also relate to institutionalizing success, and focusing on the results, more than the activities.
Sun, Liu, and Chen (2018) further analyze the importance that communication has within the HRM sapphire. It is an imperative part of management activities and behavior there. Effective communication can change the attitude of employees, and then change the behavior of employees, because people in different information and views under the influence of the formation of different attitudes, triggering different behavior (Sun, Liu, & Chen, 2018). The most important role will eventually be carried out by the new chair at the 9th month of project development. However, prior to that, there ought to have been a focus on the top level leadership. As such, the project leader essentially failed to show and express his own skills at decision making and also guide the staff. There was a failure to promote and improve enthusiasm levels among the staff. Communication skills ought to rise to a strategic level, and ought to be a two-way process (Sun, Liu, & Chen, 2018). The interpersonal meeting that took place at the 4th month truly resulted in some developments where the staff was enthusiastic to share viewpoints. Such events can result in improving, progressing, and developing highly efficient channels for communication.
Readiness to Change at Midshires College
Modular transformation is seen in the present case as there are major shifts that are being carried out at this time. Such radical changes are seen as a whole, and can be seen in many other corporate transformations. The current model of change at the college and hospital is very weak as there is no acknowledgement of many key issues. The steering group and project leaders are no aligned with one another, and there are many other issues such as the number of students, operational areas, and the merging of the new college with the higher education institution that are not formally discussed. Essentially, the 24 month timeline is an adequate time to align and tend to primary issues. However, the project leader that is appointed on a fixed-term contract was a previous principal and did not have any personal motives, and was not a potential candidate for the principal’s post at the new college. However, the employees and other sub-project handlers were not given any support or budget; there was no secretary appointed. There were, however, three managers that included a finance manager, personnel manager, and the educational officer.
Having expanded upon weak initiatives to change, the organization was very conservative prior to changing. Many establishments such as Midshires College tend to resist change and one can see such tendencies in government agencies where the workers continue to do their job and do not attempt to support or introduce change. Such structural inertia is common when such nursing establishments are threatened displacement where there are major changes in structure, leadership, and management. Group inertia tendencies are visible when groups and individuals act as constraints, and there are union members who are willing to go against the management and resist any changes made.
The first meeting with the project board aimed to establish the instructions and put forward the project leader as one to explain the pace, purpose, and other requirements that the proposed merger brought. During the time for a rethink, the one-day conference resulted in many employees complaining about issues that were not being deal about. The staff was hesitant of moving forward as it was unclear whether they would be able to advance and work further. The second issue was the lack of clear direction by all those involved in the decision making part. The products and services were not explained well enough to the staff, and in addition to that, the project leader was very powerless and uncertain regarding many issues.
One can see that there were many companies in Europe and North America that have engaged in change processes and cultural changes. The ‘rightsizing’ of Midshires College reflects the organizational restructuring. There were many introductions that relate to leading changes in organizational structures at the dawn of the 21st century. Effective change will only be visible in the present scenario if the change was developed during these 24 months, and if the staff was catered to at every step. The best possible solution is to use a managerialist approach to change that is both prescriptive and functional.
The Leadership perils-MC
Many examples are present that relate to radical changes. For instance, there has been proof about the Indian educational system and the radical changes that is has seen over the years. For example, there has been a change in the curriculum, management, and research activities. These drastic changes have resulted in dramatic modifications in the culture, leadership, and business models. These changes in educational and other departments require changes in inventions, deployments, and operation innovations. Such an invention will require the medical leaders and project leader at Midshires College to view major successes of Walmart, Dell, and Toyota like organizations who know how to scale and handle employee retention issues (Hayes, 2014). The management needs to make it simple for the staff and managers to transfer to other areas within the same organization, and also improve the financial scalability of the organization (Mullen, Frank, & Rosenthal, 2010). The management’s role it so improve and bring about the right leadership in the form of an executive team.
The project leader seemed to have been a piggy in the middle between the steering group and the project board. At the 4th month meting for instance, the project leader made new proposals that eventually aimed to tear down all previous work. The meeting still did not result in a definite number of students that would be enrolled in the future. It was also unclear whether there would be post registration courses or if there would be affiliations with the higher education. The Management Committee did not seem to have great impact upon the new college, and all structures were only present on paper. This required there to be a new proposal and a change in the leadership model as the project leader was not playing any substantial role in the center. The management committee was very vague, and the financial and educational aspects were still not accomplished (Hussain et al., 2016). Substantial changes were made in the 9th month of the project, once more than 1/3rd the time had lapsed. However, the new chair was involved with aspects that related to staffing issues. Such a key role addition meant that all redundancies would be taken care of by the new Chair, and that also included associated costs and redundancies. The issues persisted primarily because there were issues in the way that the leadership skills and policies were being dealt; the project leader was neither a team leader neither an authoritative one.
Employee representations at Midshires College
Case examples can be seen based on a research that was carried out at the South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC). Like any other governmental organization in Australia, this establishment has undergone many changes in policies. It represents the adjustments that the employees have had to make and the changing needs and other aspects that were demanded of the government. It is imperative that the employees are fully knowledgeable about change management and the pressure that are felt with this change. Individual employees can best understand the meanings if they are fully affluent.
To provide better insight to the employee reactions and their willingness to change, there can be surveys that are conducted every month to seek a better understanding of the complex changes as a result of change management. These can include the following questions:
How do you view the “MC (Midshires College)” change processes and work dynamics within the organization?
Did you have a previous understanding of the definitions of change within MC?
Are you happy with the way that these change processes are being implemented at MC?
Have you been afforded opportunities before, during, or after the change process?
Through data collection, the case study can provide insight to identifying, understanding and describing related issues within the organization.
Midshire’s College Reliance to change, future consolidations and implementations
In the context of organizational resilience, in 2014, an organization- BSI- produced guidance on preparing for, anticipating, adapting and respond to the volatile climate. It represents collective best practice thinking, created by industry for industry, the world’s first standard on Organizational Resilience, BS 65000 (Bryman & Buchanan, 2018). Essentially, organizations can prepare for, anticipate, and also adapt to incremental changes in addition to sudden fluctuations that are seen in order to prosper and survive.
As seen in the present Midshire College merger, the word resilience has become highly popular. This is seen in part due to the growing need to manage uncertainty in economies and societies. In addition to being used in an establishments, it is also used at an individual, ecological, and organizational level. Essentially, it is not a one-off program that can be reviewed or developed, but is evolved in parallel to many understandings and interpretations of the society. At the “time for another rethink” phased, there were creations of the management committee that did not have any impact on the creation and merging towards the path to create a new college. Organizational resilience into behavior dimensions, cognitive dimensions, and context dimensions. The following is the theoretical model of organization change. The recovery phase was well integrated due to the addition of a leader who brought in social and capital awareness and inputs.
(Xiao & Cao, 2017.)
Key research problems by the management committee that will have to be catered to include the resilience to adversity that the staff has faced. Other human behaviors that will be studied include the level of accomplishments that complaining portion of the staff has realized. Additionally, the efforts that have been placed on these endeavors will also be analyzed. The courses of action that the project leader initially chose and one that the new Chair proposed were highly opposite particularly due to the ‘perseverance’ that was changed on the face of failure and facing obstacles.
Implications of change management
The entire healthcare spectrum is changing. Despite the various issues that have presented themselves in such mergers, many hospitals and colleges in this niche still aim to move in a merging and similar direction. There are many benefits that such activities have along with also maintaining some level of control and leadership to the midwifery and nursing department. However, mergers tend to drain energies of the leaders, for a wide variety of reasons. There are many distractions that the executive teams and HR managers face under these conditions (Mullen, Frank, & Rosenthal, 2010). It is still not a regular activity to become and move into a merged direction as was seen with the Midshire College case. It can be seen that such mergers mostly cause the establishment to focus on internal issues such as staff retention and management irregularities more than external threats. There is a high potential for failure along the process. This can be exemplified by many hospitals that have failed to merge aptly.
Overall, the MC merger can prove to be beneficial due to the desire for there to be a unified reduction in the cost of care for all participating sides (Cameron & Green, 2015.) The strategic initiatives will likely be placed in an attempt to promote benefit for everyone involved. A collaborative leadership presence by the new chair will help managers and nurses to work together as equals on many levels.
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