"Life used to be so simple", lamented an
independent logger." My father cut the trees, hauled them to a saw mill,
and got paid. The demand for wood was
quite stable, the supply of trees was plentiful, and his logging equipment
consisted of a chain saw, axe and truck. Life was good in those days.
"So what is different now?" the logger was asked.
"Absolutely everything", he replied. "Current
logging rigs cost hundreds of thousands of rupees. I need Government permits
for everything I do. Environmental groups protest against logging. Demand for
my loggers fluctuates widely. And cut throat competition makes it tough for me
to make a buck. I am not sure I can keep my head above water."
EVERYTHING CHANGES. The only thing permanent in universe is
change. So to exist we need to adapt; we need to change. Unless we do that we
fail to exist: we perish. So did a range of entities ranging from the mighty
dinosaurs to thriving organizations.
Change management is being increasingly recognized as an
important issue for organizational management. The world is not the same as it
was 50 years ago or as a matter of fact 10 years ago or even 5 years ago. With
changing times, people change, expectations change, circumstances change,
trends change and so need an organization to change. Whether the change is
positive or negative is very relative.
Factors initiating change-
· Globalization
· Increasing customer awareness
· Increasing customer demands
· Changing customer tastes
· Changes in technology
· Increasing competition
· Increasing costs
· Changing national and international policies and
regulations etc.
TYPES OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES IN
ORGANIZATIONS
The change management can be continuous or dis-continuous.
Let’s illustrate it.
Let us look at a right angled triangle.
If A is the initial state of an organization and C the final
changed state, we can arrive from A to C through 2 pathways. Either we can go
along the sides of the triangle, i.e. from A to B and then from B to C or we
can go along the hypotenuse of the triangle- directly from A to C.
For such a triangle, AB + BC > AC
AB + BC represents discontinuous change, AC represents
continuous change.
We find that through continuous change we can achieve the
objectives faster than through a discontinuous change. This forms the principle
of Total Quality Management (TQM) through which organizations strive to achieve
continuous improvement by continuous change.
NEEDS TO BE ANSWERED BY THE CHANGE MANAGERS OF THE
ORGANIZATION. TO IMPLEMENT A CHANGE, THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS FIRST
3 ASPECTS OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Change management deals primarily with changing 3 aspects:
1. Content
2. People
3. Process
An example to illustrate it has been given below:
Change management for establishing computerised HMIS in a
hospital
Changes should be smoothly and successfully implemented to
achieve lasting benefits. For a systemic change management various models are
followed, most popular of which are discussed below.
CHANGE MANAGEMENT & AESOP’S FABLES
The seeds of management can be traced back to the morals of
Aesop’s Fables. Following are various stories whose morals teach us a thing
about change management.
CHANGE MANAGEMENT IN HOSPITALS
Hospital processes have not dramatically changed over the
years as to impact over-all patient satisfaction. It is common and ironic to
see out-of-date management practices mixed with state-of-the-art medical
equipment and sophisticated information technologies.
Factors initiating change in hospitals-
·
Changes in the hospital's operating
environment and stakeholders
·
New government regulations.
·
Implementation of new technology in the
hospital such as HMIS etc.
·
The increase in insured patients.
·
The high turnover of medical staff
particularly nurses.
·
The increase in new hospitals in the country:
increased competition.
·
Operating costs - salaries, supplies, and
utilities - have continuously gone up.
·
Hospitals stakeholders - patients, their
employers, doctors, nurses, - have likewise become more demanding and have
raised their expectations from hospitals.
Few objectives a
hospital would like to achieve through change management
·
Inculcate the hotel component in the hospital.
·
Management staff becoming more proactive rather
than reactive.
·
Increasing patient satisfaction by reducing
waiting times.
·
Reduce costs.
·
Reduce length of stay of patients.
·
Improve quality of services etc.
Dr. Sugata Pyne
MHA-Hospital Administration
2012-2014 Batch
TISS,Mumbai
