Healthcare is a dynamic system that more often than not calls for implementation of process changes. Professionals in healthcare are required to update their knowledge and skills in order to cope with changes in practice. Healthcare managers also have the task of maintaining a workforce that is competent as well as provide a work environment that supports effectiveness in service delivery. As such, health organizations have the mandate to create and maintain an organizational culture that aligns with its vision and mission. Process change within an organization confers a competitive advantage, ensuring sustainability. For this to take effect, there has to be commitment from the senior management and collaboration between the different departments. This paper will describe the process improvement through cultural change in a hospital setting.
For a healthcare facility to effect a sustainable process improvement, it to lay more focus on changing the organizational culture along with the tools and methods of management. Culture entails the behavior of the employees at the workforce, their motivation to perform and interactions with one another. In any organization, culture is majorly driven by the management rather than the employees themselves. Achieving a desirable organizational culture that improves outcomes is a continuous process rather than a destination (Scott et al, 2018). In a healthcare facility, adopting a culture that drives self-drive, innovation and workforce collaboration would be essential in fostering effectiveness and sustainability. This process would require the institution of the concept of class management which entails pragmatic devising of policies and cross-functional supervision. The top management will be responsible for processes such as determining the areas of focus, deployment of resources and evaluating policy implementation at each phase.
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In order to increase employees’ productivity, a hospital should focus on familiarizing employees with the world-class management approach. Through this, employees will be taught about the methods and tools to be used in the implementation of the new strategies, regardless of their cadre within the organization. The learned methods will be applicable in their day-to-day duties. To foster the skills of problem solving and critical thinking, employees will be expected to apply their learned knowledge in coming up with solutions for problems framed by the top leadership (Wellman, Jeffries, & Hagan, 2016). . To achieve full integration, process improvement will be anchored on a program aiming at culture change in a hospital setting. The Lewis Kurt model of change implementation will be employed.
According to Lewis Kurt, the implementation of change may occur through three main phases which are unfreezing, rolling out of the change itself and refreezing. The unfreezing process requires an evaluation of the status quo of an organization, and attaining a diagnosis of the current culture ( Cummings, Bridgman & Brown, 2016) . Only after determining the prevailing culture can careful steps be taken to aid in molding it into what the management desires. Once this has been done, the next phase involves implementing the change itself, which in the case of Lean Six Sigma will entail rolling out the world-class management approach ( Cummings, Bridgman & Brown, 2016) . The final step is refreezing, which encompasses solidifying the culture as part of the organization. Refreezing requires that the management pays keen attention on the employee uptake of the new methods. Failure to this may lead to employee resistance which is always detrimental in effecting change.
It would be crucial to determine the alignment of the new culture in a hospital with the environment in which it will be introduced. This consideration would minimize conflicts that may exist between the internal and the external business environments, since organizations do not exist in isolation. A proper implementation strategy would require an evaluation of the cultural lag in order to establish the gap between the present culture and the preferred culture. The management will also need to remain cognizant of the possible barriers to culture change. Several factors that would need to be addressed to overcome resistance to change would include ownership of the culture, leadership style and cultural diversity among employees. It is crucial to help employees ‘buy into’ the new process by guiding them to understand the benefits of the change to both the organization and themselves ( Cummings, Bridgman & Brown, 2016) . The initial stages of introducing change may require the use of incentives to promote its adoption among employees.
Although cultural change does not occur overnight, it would be important to set timeframes within which key milestones would be achieved. However, it would be realistic to anticipate that changes would not occur at all fronts in tandem. Methods to ensure that the culture is passed from one generation of employees to the next would also be crucial in ensuring continuity of the organization. One of these strategies would be limiting employee turnover and instituting mentorship programs between the senior employees and the junior ones. In addition to this, the hospital would need to guard their culture by protecting their employees against external influences. Interests of external stakeholders may affect the values and behavior of healthcare employees at the facility, contrasting the institution of reforms (Scott et al, 2018). The new culture would be in line with the public and professional core values. This will encourage and foster its integration.
In conclusion, culture change must be guided by need. Instituting a culture change that aligns with the organizational goals and professional beliefs would require harmonization of the sub-cultures of the different cadres. Implementing the world-class management approach would entail educating each member on the need for change and how such change would benefit the employees and the company. To limit resistance, it would be necessary for the management in a healthcare facility to address challenges such as external influence, cultural diversity and the complexity of the change itself.
References
Cummings, S., Bridgman, T., & Brown, K. G. (2016). Unfreezing change as three steps: Rethinking Kurt Lewin’s legacy for change management. Human Relations , 69 (1), 33-60.
Scott, T., Mannion, R., Davies, H., & Marshall, M. (2018). Healthcare performance and organisational culture . CRC Press.
Wellman, J., Jeffries, H., & Hagan, P. (2016). Leading the lean healthcare journey: driving culture change to increase value . CRC Press.
