Evaluating and Sustaining Change Paper

Evaluating and Sustaining Change Paper

Change in healthcare systems is inevitable and inclined to the overarching objective of quality improvement. According to Errida & Lotfi (2021), organizations should invest in implementing change to facilitate adaptability and flourishing in ever-dynamic contexts. Although change management and sustenance are plex and risky endeavors, Institutional leaders are responsible for addressing the restraining factors for change by playing a forefront role in improving every stage of change management, including designing (initiation), planning, implementation, regulation/monitoring/controlling, and conclusion (Sipes, 2020). While organizational leadership is a profound determinant of change in healthcare settings, this discussion elaborates on the comparison between change management and change leadership, how leadership approaches relate to change evaluation and sustenance, and the function of leadership in evaluating, maintaining, and sustaining change.

Change Management and Change Leadership

Undoubtedly, introducing change in healthcare organizations is a daunting endeavor, considering the potential limitations of rigid cultures, resource constraints, unfamiliarity to change elements, and the determination to maintain the status quo. Carman et al. (2019) contend that effective and successful organizational change requires planning. In the same breath, Errida & Lotfi (2021) argue that many organizations struggle to implement and sustain change projects, failing to realize the desired outcomes. It is important to note that successful change relies massively upon two broad concepts: change management and change leadership. These aspects are intertwined and determine how organizations implement, evaluate, and sustain change components, including new technologies and projects to enhance care quality.

Change management entails multiple activities, tools, and functions, such as employee training programs through which institutions introduce new ideas, projects, and initiatives that form the basis of change (Sartori et al., 2018). In this sense, managing change involves empowering employees, improving their performance, fostering innovation, and aligning the organizational mission and vision with the desired outcomes. On the other hand, change leadership concerns the organizational vision, processes, and driving forces that fuel change and transformation. According to Issah (2018), change leadership is about seizing opportunities for transformation, urgency, vision, and empowering employees. It is essential to note that change affects people’s perceptions, values, beliefs, and employees’ identities, explaining the reason for potential resistance to change. As a result, change leadership is responsible for addressing the reasons for change recipients’ reluctance to accept change components, projects, and initiatives.

How Leadership Approaches Relate to Change Evaluation and Sustenance

Change evaluation and sustenance are essential phases of the change management cycle. According to Sipes (2020), change evaluation entails multiple activities for assessing processes and the impacts of new approaches. Although leaders can evaluate change initiatives during the planning and implementation phases, project evaluation is often the last phase of change management (Sipes, 2020). It involves resolving any emerging issues, completing all necessary documents, assigning the project against its desired outcomes, debriefing, and compiling helpful information regarding the project’s impacts for current and future references. In the same breath, change sustenance entails anchoring new approaches, projects, and initiatives in the organizational culture by developing policies, training employees, addressing challenges identified during the evaluation phase, supporting employees to reinforce change, and ensuring stakeholders’ involvement.

Change evaluation and sustenance are consistent with leadership approaches influencing followers’ motivation and ability to accept and assimilate change. Farahnak et al. (2019) argue that transformational leadership is a widely recognized approach for addressing organizational tensions and improving the overall performance amidst the pressure to implement, evaluate, and sustain change. It is essential to note that this leadership strategy improves staff attitudes and facilitates the cultivation of a flexible organizational culture that supports change. The elements of transformational leadership that render it effective and ideal in promoting change evaluation and sustenance are intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, idealized influence, and inspirational motivation.

Idealized influence positions transformational leaders as exemplary role models for their followers by fostering trust and respect and paving the way for effective change management. Similarly, inspirational motivation requires leaders to motivate and influence followers to commit to the organizational vision, encourage teamwork, and improve performance to achieve collective strategic goals (Jensen et al., 2019). Thirdly, intellectual stimulation entails the leadership’s ability to promote creativity and innovation by challenging the status quos and customary beliefs that compromise critical thinking and problem-solving mindsets.

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

Finally, individual consideration positions transformational leaders as coaches and advisors to their followers. This concept enables leaders to incorporate emotional intelligence and participative strategies to allow the followers to achieve organizational goals (Jensen et al., 2019). Collectively the four components of transformational leadership distinguish it from other leadership and management strategies that are less motivating and inspirational. Therefore, it is valid to argue that this leadership strategy supports practical change evaluation and sustenance.

Functions of Leadership in Evaluating, Maintaining, and Sustaining Change

Organizational top leadership must participate in change evaluation, maintenance, and sustenance. According to Sipes (2020), leaders can leverage key performance indicators (KPIs) to determine the effectiveness of change initiatives. Examples of KPIs consistent with the change process are patient satisfaction, decreased number of readmissions, reduced employee turnover rates, and improved job satisfaction (Sipes, 2020). Also, leaders can use metrics that provide essential information about the change process to evaluate new projects and initiatives. Thirdly, they are responsible for implementing risk management interventions to eliminate issues compromising change implementation and sustenance. These risk management interventions include plan revision, performance assessment, reviewing reports, and control of human resources.

During change maintenance and sustenance, top leaders and managers are pivotal in motivating, empowering, and enabling employees to accept and assimilate change components. According to Jansen et al. (2019), leaders can influence followers by implementing the four principles of transformational leadership: inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, and idealized influence. Besides these strategies, leaders are responsible for training employees, aligning organizational mission and vision with quality improvement programs, and implementing approaches to effective conflict management. Finally, leaders can facilitate change maintenance and sustenance by incorporating emotional intelligence to address employees’ sense of fear, anxiety, and emotions regarding change processes (Issah, 2018). Therefore, it is valid to argue that change leadership is a prerequisite for successful change evaluation, maintenance, and sustenance.

Conclusion

Change in healthcare is inevitable due to the prevailing dynamics in internal and external environments. In this sense, issues like demographic changes, the need to incorporate advanced technologies, and rising demands for quality care prompt healthcare institutions to implement change initiatives and projects. It is essential to note that successful change implementation relies massively upon change management and leadership. Leaders are responsible for motivating employees, empowering and enabling followers, leveraging key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics that provide insights into the effectiveness of the change process, and encouraging innovation and creativity to support change. These roles facilitate effective change implementation, evaluation, maintenance, and sustenance.

References

Carman, A. L., Vanderpool, R. C., Stradtman, L. R., & Edmiston, E. A. (2019). A change-management approach to closing care gaps in a federally qualified health center: A Rural Kentucky case study. Preventing Chronic Disease, 16(E105). https://doi.org/10.5888/pcd16.180589

Errida, A., & Lotfi, B. (2021). The determinants of organizational change management success: Literature review and case study. International Journal of Engineering Business Management, 13(1), 184797902110162. https://doi.org/10.1177/18479790211016273

Issah, M. (2018). Change leadership: The role of emotional intelligence. SAGE Open, 8(3), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244018800910

Jensen, U. T., Andersen, L. B., Bro, L. L., Bøllingtoft, A., Eriksen, T. L. M., Holten, A.-L., Jacobsen, C. B., Ladenburg, J., Nielsen, P. A., Salomonsen, H. H., Westergård-Nielsen, N., & Würtz, A. (2016). Conceptualizing and measuring transformational and transactional leadership. Administration & Society, 51(1), 3–33. Sagepub. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095399716667157

Sartori, R., Costantini, A., Ceschi, A., & Tommasi, F. (2018). How do you manage change in organizations? Training, development, innovation, and their relationships. Frontiers in Psychology, 9(313). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00313

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

 

Sipes, C. (2020). Project management for the advanced practice nurse (2nd ed.). Springer Publishing Company.

Week 11: DISCUSSION INSTRUCTIONS
Discussion: Evaluating and Sustaining Change
Change is the law of life.
—John F. Kennedy
Change is inevitable. There is no getting around it, but that does not mean change always has to be negative. Society often places a negative connotation to change, but what if the change is for the best? What if change is what sustains growth and encourages improvement?
In nursing practice, change is unavoidable. How should change be evaluated, maintained, and sustained in nursing practice? What role does leadership have in change management? Consider the role of change management in nursing, and reflect on how change management may differ from change leadership.
For this Discussion, compare change management and change leadership. Reflect on the potential impact of leadership approaches on change, and consider how leadership may influence change in healthcare organizations and nursing practice.
To Prepare:
• Review the Learning Resources for this week, and reflect on the mechanisms available to evaluate change in healthcare organizations and nursing practice.
• How is change management related to change leadership?
• Consider how leadership approaches may contribute to evaluation processes for change management, as well as for the support of sustaining changes in healthcare organizations and nursing practice.
• What does it mean to sustain changes in healthcare organizations or nursing practice, and how might leadership support these aims?
• Reflect on when you should stop measuring change in an organization, and why.
By Day 3 of Week 11
Post a brief comparison between change management and change leadership. Be specific. Explain how leadership approaches may relate to processes for evaluation of and sustainment of change in a healthcare organization or nursing practice. Then, explain the function of leadership in evaluating, maintaining, and sustaining change. What is the influence of leadership on these aims? Be sure to include a brief explanation of whether you should stop measuring change in an organization, and explain why. Be specific and provide examples.

LEARNING RESOURCES TO USE FOR REFERENCES; THIS INSTRUCTOR WILL TAKE 5-10 POINTS OFF IF THE RESOURCES PROVIDED ARE NOT USED FIRST.

Sipes, C. (2020). Project management for the advanced practice nurse (2nd ed.). Springer Publishing Company.
Chapter 6, “Monitoring and Controlling: Project Management—Phase 4” (pp. 145–168)

Kotter, J. (n.d). The 8-step process for leading change. https:www.kotterinc.com/8-steps-process-for-leading-change/

Kotter,J. (2012, February 6). Change management vs change leadership__
What’s the difference? [Video]. You Tube.https://www.youtube.com/watch?
V=2ssUnbrhf_U&t=46s