Introduction
According to this study by Lewin, that successful organizational change may be planned and this requires the system to be unfrozen. There are different reasons for a change in an organization and the changes should have a positive impact of diverting the organization from its current position or status to a new direction. The Kurt Lewin change model is effective and still used today. This is because it is based on sound behavioral psychology. It is designed to understand why people resist change and put the forces in place to drive people to embrace the change and implement it in their day-to-day activities in an organization.
Change Theory Background
In the 1940s, Kurt Lewin a physicist and social scientist described a management model known as Lewin’s change theory. This is a three-stage model to change organizational behavior; the three stages include unfreeze, change and refreeze (Burnes, 2020). For an easier understanding of the different stages of; Lewin’s change theory; ice is used as a perfect example as it is usually changed from a frozen state to a liquid state, or melted then frozen. Employees are usually accustomed to a particular behavior in their day-to-day activities hence it is more likely for them to be resistant to change. Lewin’s change model considers them to be habituated to a certain behavior. Lewin says these employees must be unfrozen from their usual behavior for change to occur and then refrozen which refers to the new behavior being solidified and the changes made becoming permanent (Nagelkerk, 2005). According to Lewin, this change theory can encourage people to; change from old ways of behavior, begin to behave in new ways, and reinforce the new, desired behavior so that it becomes a routine.
Educating staff
This is part of stage one of Lewin’s change theory. This is one of the most critical stages in the entire process of change management, it involves making people aware of the need for change and improving their motivation for accepting the new ways of working. During this stage, effective communication plays a vital role in getting the desired support and involvement of the people in the change process (Saleem et al., 2019). Ways of educating the staff on the importance of the plan proposal and implementation involve ensuring clear communication. It is important to have a smooth communication plan that sets the context for the change with the employees, how it will affect them, and their role in its successful implementation. The communication must evolve as the change management program is implemented. Dining roles and responsibilities is another way to educate the staff (Crosby, 2020). It is important to clearly define the roles and responsibilities for everyone involved to avoid the confusion and frustration that comes with no clear guidance and direction.
Encouraging collaboration is another way of educating the staff on the importance of the change plan proposal and implementation (Rosca, 2020). For successful training of employees for change management, they should be allowed to be part of the entire change management process. This will result in a positive embrace of the change plan and they can even enrich it with their perspectives, insights, and inputs. Being empathetic is also important to employees in the process of change as they can be able to openly express their concerns when they arise. Continuously listening to them will create a sense of confidence and help them navigate through the changes in a way that makes sense to them. Choosing the right change management training solutions plays a big role in educating the staff as at the moment training programs can now be accessed online, allowing employees to undertake the training anytime, anywhere, and on the device of choice. (Saleem et al., 2019). These programs can also be packaged using a complete range of digital media to immerse the learners into the course content and achieve great learner outcomes.
Resistance to New Process
There are several ways to overcome resistance and effectively implement change in an organization. These include; effectively engaging employees. Actively engaging employees in the decisions that relate to changes taking place in the organization is very important as they are the ones making sure that all clients are happy and that work gets done. Introducing an employee engagement survey is a great first step (Crosby, 2020). Their answers can be used to change the plan where needed and show employees that their ideas are valued. Implementing changes in several stages is also another way to prevent resistance of the staff to change. The changes to be made should be done in stages and not all at once, this will ensure everything is falling into place as needed. Communicating change effectively is another way. Using a blend of formal and informal communication ensures that all the staff receives the news about the change in time. Structuring the team to maximize its potential can aid in fostering the adaptation of the staff to the changes so that good health services may be delivered. Setting challenging, achievable and engaging targets will also enhance the adaptation of the staff to the implementation of the new changes. Empowering innovation and creativity is also another way in which the staff can be challenged to adapt to the changes that have taken place in the healthcare organization.
Addressing and Overcoming Barriers
Barriers to changes in healthcare include; lack of leadership support, resistance or skepticism from staff, hesitancy to invest time and money, shortage of internal resources to lead change initiatives, and uncertain roles or lack of accountability (Rosca, 2020). The ways of addressing barriers to change in healthcare include; creating a culture of listening, having an open and transparent evaluation, making communication a necessity, encouraging conflict resolution, considering a flatter hierarchy, and putting systems in place to improve communication. Ways of overcoming barriers in the change process include; leading staff through the change, communicating with staff and stakeholders about the change, involving all levels of staff in the change process and sustaining the change, and embedding it as part of the new norm (Nagelkerk, 2005).
Evaluation method of education
There are five evaluation methods to evaluate staff training results. The first one is satisfaction and participant reaction. The most basic evaluation of training measures satisfaction. The staff is usually handed out a survey, mostly an electronic survey to measure satisfaction rates with the change processes taking place in the healthcare organization. Knowledge acquisition is the second evaluation method. A valid and reliable examination following training can help determine if the content was learned or not. This way of evaluation can help ensure that any gaps in knowledge can be quickly sown up so that participants can be given adequate information about everything again (Saleem et al., 2019). Behavioral application is another way of evaluation; this more than anything can demonstrate the degree to which participants apply their knowledge learned in day-to-day organizational activities (Nagelkerk, 2005). Measurable organizational improvement is also another way of evaluation as an improvement in the healthcare delivery of services overall will indicate that the staff embraced and implemented the change.
The success of the implementation
Successful plan implementation helps leaders modernize their organizational workflow, and it prevents critical care functions from remaining stagnant over the years. The success of the implementation of change in healthcare results in high-quality services being delivered to all. High-quality healthcare prevents diseases and improves the quality of life. Implementation of change in healthcare is also prone to lead to care that is safe, timely, effective, equitable, and patient-centered (Rosca, 2020). This will improve patient satisfaction with healthcare quality services. A fundamental goal of healthcare transformation is to enhance patient and provider experience by allowing a flexible bidirectional healthcare exchange (Nagelkerk, 2005). Success lies in an organization’s ability to create health interactions that place patients and providers on top of mind.
Conclusion
Lewin’s change management theory helps account for both the uncertainty and resistance to change that can be experienced at all staff levels within an organization. The change management theory follows an efficient method that doesn’t impact business continuity. Effective communication is also an important factor in the whole process of change and its implementation as it ensures proper staff education on the organization’s plan of change at different stages.
Reference
Burnes, B. (2020). The origins of Lewin’s three-step model of change. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 56(1), 32-59.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0021886319892685
Roşca, V. I. (2020, July). Implications of Lewin’s field theory on social change. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence (Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 617-625).
https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/picbe-2020-0058
Crosby, G. (2020). Planned change: Why Kurt Lewin’s social science is still best practice for business results, change management, and human progress. Productivity Press.
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003082491/planned-change-gilmore-crosby
Saleem, S., Sehar, S., Afzal, M., Jamil, A., & Gilani, S. A. (2019). Accreditation: Application of Kurt Lewin’s Theory on Private Health Care Organizational Change. Saudi Journal of Nursing and Health Care, 2, 12.
https://saudijournals.com/media/articles/SJNHC_212_412-415.pdf
Nagelkerk, J. (2005). Leadership and nursing care management. Elsevier Health Sciences(5th ed)
https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Bv11dHC72S8C&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=leadership+and+nursing+care+management+&ots=vmvor2TZXV&sig=bN-1J2y3DElrnqOpfLTVc5qLVbI