Role of leadership in the workplace change
Leadership is the act and practical skills someone possesses of guiding and leading individual, organization or an institution to achieve a particular set goal (Northouse, 2015). Managers and Directors act as leaders in an organization do things right and influence their surroundings, by this it is important for them to understand their environment and people reaction on change (Lewis & Leeder, 2009). It is important for leaders to effectively learn the people around them and come up with ways on how they can introduce changes to the workplace. Change is an overarching term referring to the process or result of becoming different. It is a transformation of happenings and is always part of our lives; its impact is felt widely on our daily basis socially, personally and even in career wise. This requires us to acquire and develop critical skills to face daily challenges. Changes in the workplace may affect the organization development and its capacity for a healthy workforce (Conway, McMillan & Becker, 2006). For change to be fully effective, it must be in someone’s mind, followed by proper channels of communication to convince others of the viability of the change toward improving the organization’s effectiveness. Adaptability and flexibility are the key issues for a transformational organization (Janamian, Upham, Crossland & Jackson, 2016). This paper aims at discussing the role of leadership in organizational performance, the importance of vision, mission and strategic planning in organizational change, change theory in planning and implementation of change, performance improvement, the role of leadership, the implications of capacity building, workplace culture and sustainable change as well as the facilitators and barriers of organizational change in Australian health sector.
Organizations such as hospitals are becoming complex and dynamic hence the need for change for to compete efficiently and meet the expected outcomes in the society (Baillien & De Witte 2009). With the healthcare professionals getting highly educated, specializing in their roles and various innovations in the information systems, the health sector has been adversely affected. Change is not usually seen as an initiative but as a continuous cycle of progressions and improvements. The impacts of change are often felt by all sectors including personal, social and professional sector. Therefore, decision making is paramount to its success (Ridoutt, Schoo & Santos-Wise, 2006).
Under the organizational theory, the role of leadership in the change in the workplace is to ensure that they plan and set standards for skills to match the work and ensure there is close supervision in getting the work done. Leaders also provide change under this theory by giving punishments and rewards and at the same time increasing productivity.
Capacity Building
In relation to health ,capacity building refers to the approach towards the development of viable skills, organizational structure and resources targeted towards enhancing the quality of services offered by the various health care centers such as hospitals and hence improving the quality of life .understanding capacity building will enable the senior clinicians, clinical teams, health leaders and others to build on their leadership skills aimed towards improving the health care services to the community (Gerritsen, 2008).
Capacity building deals with various aspects of an organization such as individual development in terms of knowledge and skills through intensive job training, technical skills training, mentor support among others thus improving their ability to promote adequate health care and also provide for flexibility and adaptability to continuous change , development of organizational structure through looking into ways to improve institutional leadership (for examples in wards where it will experience improved management skills, enhanced teamwork, and communication by the various leaders) , networking with different sectors and organizations and also building relationships within various sectors within the organization, developing the community through its delivery of efficient and reliable health care services and which will improve the community’s quality of life (Hawe, 2000).
Given the above, capacity building helps organizations to have the ability and know how to deliver specific purposes, address specific problems, flexibly adapt to the continuous changes and also enable them to respond to complex and unfamiliar circumstances (Huber, 2013). It also ensures organizations meet the demands and needs of consumers while motivating health- care professionals in their work.
Change is the shifting approach of teams, individuals, and organizations to a future state which is reliable. Organizational change entails many factors which include technological, operational and strategic change which can come from the inside of an organization. Outside changes can include factors emanating from outside of an organization, such as new legislations, globalization and perhaps microeconomics. Inside changes include management and restructuring of an organization. For change to be effective, it starts from preparation, which is timely and comes from the point of knowledge; so that external and internal factors adapt to the organizational potential (Kezar & Eckel, 2002).
Culture affects how organizations adapt to change. Culture includes policies, a system of beliefs and ideologies which are practiced in a given organization. Culture affects how employees treat each other and give the organization a state of direction. The culture of the workplace affects how employees become united in the workplace. Several aspects of culture hinder how change takes place in an organization. Firstly, Individuality affects how one contributes to the workplace culture (Kezar & Eckel, 2002). The mentalities, interests and attitudes of employees affect the culture in an organization. An excellent example is the hiring process for individuals to join the army; cultural factors are considered to ensure that young people are recruited so as to promote healthy competition.
Work Place Culture and How It Affects Change
The sexual orientation of the employee will also affect the culture of an organization, and ultimately how the change will be effected. In organizations where males are more dominant than the females, there is late sitting as a standard practice. Also, such organizations have an element of aggressiveness as compared to organizations where the women dominate, where there is a touch of softened practices, which are less aggressive. Another cultural aspect which affects change in the organization is the organizational culture. Corporate culture includes the standard beliefs and practices of a given organization. Introducing change can be difficult due to the general culture, where the employees can find it difficult to adjust (Colquitt, Lepine & Wesson, 2011). The culture of an organization involves the interaction between the employees and the employees with the organization. This includes the culture of how employees behave about each other and people from outside. Employees make individual policies and follow certain procedures as part of their mutual understanding and convenience. Hence such culture will affect how new policies and interactions can be implemented.
Organizational goals and objectives also affect the culture of an organization. Such targets are targets of a given organization, thus changing the culture, and ultimately how changes could be implemented in an organization. Finally, the management style also affects the culture and change. This is because, how the management handles the employees, shapes them to how they ought to carry out business in the organization. Therefore, the employees create a culture of looking for direction from management thus making them carry out duties in a certain manner. When employees are used to making decisions of their own, and change is effected demanding that the management will start making such decisions, will be problematic for such employees (Colquitt, Lepine & Wesson, 2011).
Given the above, one can arguably say that an organization with strong cultural practices can realize many benefits. Such benefits include efficient decision-making, fewer conflicts in the place of work, shared understanding, open communication and perhaps informal controls on employees. Therefore, when change is being implemented, culture cannot be ignored. Cultural issues need to be addressed before proposed changes are implemented. Proposed changes need to be consistent with the organizational culture. Leaders will have to live with the consequences of failure if they do not want to consider culture as part of the change (Kezar & Eckel, 2002).
The vision and the mission statements usually play three essential roles which include; development of measurable goals as well as the objectives that are used to measure the success levels of the organization’s strategy, informing the strategy development and communicating the purpose of the organization to the various stakeholders (David, 2011). The vision, mission and strategic planning are crucial to the organizational change as they usually provide a good working environment and treats every employee with dignity and respect. The strategic plan of the organization refers to the corporate activities that are used in setting up of the priorities, focusing the energy and the resources, strengthening the operations, making sure that the workers and other stakeholders of the organization are all working towards common goals in response to the changing environment.
Strategic planning ensures diversity which is an essential component of the organization’s operations. It also ensures that all the stakeholders are involved in the planning of the organizational change. Vision, mission and strategic planning ensure a positive contribution to the community and the environment. The mission and vision of an organization act as a communication vehicle for communicating the organization’s values and purpose to all the key stakeholders to ensure effective organizational change. The better the stakeholders understand the organization’s purpose via the vision and mission, the more they can understand the strategic planning involved in the implementation of the organizational change. The mission and vision of an organization usually create a target for the strategy development. The mission and the vision of any organization provides a high-level direction for the strategic planning of the organization (David, 2011).
The organizational change is seen as a constant part of every organization for the parties that expect to maintain and retain a continuous competitive advantage. The change theory in planning and implementing change helps the organization’s successful navigation as well as facilitating growth (Jones, 2007).The theory states that the selling change, as well as its benefits to the organization, should begin at the top. Change agents usually operate in all the levels of an organization. The components of the change theory include selling of the change strategy, planning for change, implementing change, monitoring for compliance, provision of feedback and evaluating the effects of change. The theory treats organizational readiness as a common and shared psychological state in which the stakeholders of the organization feels committed to implementing the organizational change as well as having confidence in their joint abilities to do so. The theory suggests that there is no specific way to increase the organizational readiness for change. The organizational readiness for change is an important precursor to the effective implementation of the complex changes in the healthcare sector (Johnson, 2009).
There are various facilitators of change in the healthcare systems in Australia which include; advancement in technology, favorable business cultures, organizational factors, managerial factors, organizational behavior, power and politics and strategy (NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, n.d.).
The program contains the relevant mission statement with measurable objectives and also identifies the stakeholders. By this leaders can come up with appropriate steps to achieve the set goals of the organization. Innovative working plans are usually considered when the changes in the workplace are met as seen in various successful organizations in Australia (Bryson & Alston, 2011).
A suitable administrative structure of the organization helps in facilitating organizational change. The administrative factors include structural leadership and leadership inspiration. Structural leadership ensures involvement of all the leaders for a joint mission and objective. This enables everyone in the organization to communicate efficiently and achieve the primary mission of the organization. Inspirational leadership is a major factor (Laschinger, Duffield & Read, 2014). The leader’s ability to motivate, empower, influence and engage his/her fellow workers is essential for effective change. A leader can influence others either positively or negatively, he/she can accept or resist change and through his/her ability to be influential may convince others to back his/her decisions. Most leaders focus on their relation with fellow workers unlike managers and therefore will always try to engage, empower and fellow advise colleagues about the organization’s goals, vision, missions and policies (Price, 2007).
The organizational behavior involves the study of the various ways in which people interact within the different groups in the organization. The organizational behavior helps in the creation of a more efficient business organization. The study of the organizational behavior which is a scientific approach is used in the management of the employees. A favorable organizational behavior facilitates change in the health care sector in Australia (Staron, 2008).
Communication is essential if any change plan is to succeed. Effective communication between the organizational management and the employees as well with the other stakeholders serves as a facilitator of change since information, mission and vision of the organization can be communicated effectively (NCETA, 2017). Communication also facilitates the decision-making process hence facilitating the needed change. The respective leader should try and convince his/her colleagues on the necessity of the modification .this can be done through, Kick off meetings where plans of actions are discussed to ensure each worker understands and acknowledges the change to be implemented. Also, repetition using various mediums such as posters and articles could help the employees understand and keep reminding them about the expected outcomes as a result of the change.
Complimentary business cultures which include diversity in selection and hiring, proper employee training, employee welfare and efficient decision making procedures ensures employee motivation and improvement in performance as well as facilitating change within the organization. Various workers in the organization should receive proper training about the core values and missions of the organization. This will assist them in identifying their strengths and weaknesses about the same (Turró, Urbano & Peris-Ortiz, 2014). The weaknesses are therefore to be worked on to avoid any poor performance in the organization as well as facilitate the necessary change.
With technology forming the backbone of evolution in the world, there is a great need for the health sector to keep on continuously changing in order to accommodate this changes which are aimed at enhancing the condition of life in addition to the effectiveness of the respective sector. This involves things to do with x-ray machines, radiotherapy among others .with such advancements various medical doctors would have to receive the proper training of how to use such gadgets and hence actually changing the organizational structure and resource preferences (Turró, Urbano & Peris-Ortiz, 2014).
The driving force of the modification must be defined inclusive of its benefits. The affected parties and their responses towards the change should be considered. Assessment of the organization’s culture should also be looked into, whether it supports the change and its ability to adjust to the new conditions that are to be put in place (Turró, Urbano & Peris-Ortiz, 2014). The plan toward accomplishing the change should be spelled out including the necessary steps to take toward implementing the change.
There are various barriers to change that face the healthcare sector in Australia. These barriers include; demographic changes, workforce issues, and financial challenges. The shifting demographics, as well as the aging population, hinder changes in the healthcare system. Workforce shortages strain the Australian health system and inhibit the necessary organizational changes in the health sector (Australian government health workforce Australia, n.d).
The limited financial resources limits the ability of healthcare providers to effectively respond to the rising levels of healthcare demands as well as affects the ability of the healthcare professionals to maintain the current levels of service, profitability as well as quality hence hindering the change that is needed in the health system in Australia (Australian Government health workforce Australia, n.d).
This involves the change in workforce demographics about age, size, and ethnicity. Healthcare center is always forced to change to meet the consumer requirement and specifications.Therefore, they must change for example if most of their patients are aging then they require partnership and ensure they have specialist to deal with things to do with chronic diseases and experts who can deal with end-life diseases (NHS Service Delivery and Organisation R&D Programme, n.d).
This mainly faces the private health sectors where they must be flexible and adaptive to the continuous changes experienced in the industry to meet the customers’ demands and their effectiveness regarding being competitive in the area of health with other health organizations (Australian government health workforce Australia, n.d).
Global forces.
This includes things such as natural occurring disasters migration among others. Which affect the health sector since for example a community is faced with drug abuse, the community health center will be forced to change and offer rehabilitation programs about the same (Pruitt & Eping-Jordan, 2005).
Leadership plays a core role for transformation implementation (Bolden, 2005). Health centers require leaders who offer person-centered care, and those who look into ways for continuous improvements and advancement in the sector. A great leader should have the ability to innovate and come up with changes to meet the challenges they are currently facing. Some of the major roles of a transformational leader are as follows: A transformational leader looks into the future; he/she looks into the current problems and tries to look into them to ensure continuous advancement and improvement about the task at hand (Bolden, 2005). He /she can see where others cannot and hence drives the organization to ensure its continuous productivity, effectiveness, and flexibility to the ever changing world.
A transformational leader has high expectations and is always ready to bear the risks to meet his/her organization’s expectations, goals and missions. Through his /her positions he/she drives the colleagues to their maximum to ensure they are highly productive and meet the expected outcomes. A transformational leader is influential, he/she has the power to influence others on whether to acknowledge or resist change (Marquis & Huston, 2015). The leader also can motivate others, empower and engage the fellow workers toward attaining the organization’s missions and set objectives. The significant difference between a leader and a manager is his/her flexibility; a manager tends always to do what he/she has been told without questioning, unlike a leader. A transformation manager is always adaptive, innovative and flexible to any circumstance in the job environment. In the health sector, it is expected that a leader would instantly come up with a solution whenever a challenge arises, provide for other alternatives that might be used to improve the quality of output offered by the labor force which is aimed at customer satisfaction (Bolden, 2005).
Conclusion
The organizational environment is dynamic and keeps changing. Therefore, all the organizations should be flexible and embrace change. The change in an organization can include aspects of the vision mission and the strategic planning in an organization, organizational performance, changes in the workplace culture, performance improvement, changes in the management and leadership styles and capacity building that results in sustainable change. To be able to understand organizational changes fully, this paper has illustrated the change theory and the organizational theory in the explanation of the changes involved in the organization culture in Australia. The article has discussed the many facilitators of change in the healthcare systems in Australia that include; advancement in technology, favorable business cultures, organizational factors, managerial factors, organizational behavior, power and politics and strategy (NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, n.d.). Various barriers to change among them demographic changes, workforce issues and financial challenges have also been elaborated.
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