HCS/587 Read Me First
Read Me First
Week Six
Introduction
The key concept for this week is refreezing. Change often must occur and must be pushed through at a rapid rate. One critical element that must be considered at the end of the process is whether the change is real. Has the change obtained the desired goals and is the change sustainable? If not, considerable organizational time, money, and energy have been wasted.
An organization must also realize that change never stops. Small corrections are continually necessary to prevent massive disruption that major change efforts may cause in the work place.
This week’s reading explores how to know when a successful change has occurred, the leadership skills necessary to drive and maintain change, and the ability to assess when change is needed again.
This week in relationship to the course and the program
This is the final week of the course. So far, this course has reviewed how to assess the need for change, how to implement a successful change, the factors that help implement change, the barriers to change, and an evaluation of the final product. Now it is time to refreeze. How does an organization make the change permanent and an integral part of the organizational culture? How might backsliding to the old way be prevented? Only when the change has been fully solidified, or the refreezing process completed, may the change be viewed as a success.
Much of the material for this week is a review of the past five. However, instead of looking forward to the final product of the change, it is a look backward into the process itself. It is critical to note how all the pieces of the puzzle have been put into place. Are they all correct? Have any of them been forced? Are we really getting the end result envisioned at the beginning of the change process?
Leadership plays a pivotal role in assuring a successful change and a successful refreeze. Principles of leadership are stressed in every course, but in none are they more important than in affecting change. The right leader with the right traits at the right time will be the deciding factor between the achievement or failure of organization goals. Such leadership may indeed decide the ultimate outcome of the entire organization.
Once the change has been validated and the process for continuity ensured, the project may be closed. However, change may never be considered as complete. Every successful cycle of change only signals the start of the next.
Hints for a reading strategy of the assigned materials
For years, Dynamic Industry has been a major leader in the production of biomedical devices. Their cardiac monitoring equipment has long been the industry standard in innovation and accuracy. Because the demand for their products has been so high, there has been little need to focus on service.
In the past 5 years, things have changed. The technology has not significantly advanced. This has allowed competitors to catch-up. There is now little difference among producers in the actual monitor being produced and sold. The selling points have become price and service. Dynamic has been able to compete with price, but their service record has not meet that of the competition.
The leaders at Dynamic have been in a massive 18-month change process to improve customer service. They brought in a high-powered organizational development firm and have engaged all the employees in mandatory retraining. In the last 6 months, they have directed a major share of their advertising dollars to promoting the new “Dynamic Culture of Service.” The sales results are in. Whereas they show no marked increase, it looks like the new program has halted the decline. Dynamic has received no new customers, but the old ones have stopped defecting. Not all the employees of Dynamic appreciate this shift in the focus of the organization. They still believe the success of the company lies with developing a new and improved monitor.
As you read, ask yourself:
Where is Dynamic in the change process?
Has this change been successful?
Has the refreezing process occurred?
Some questions to ask as you hone your critical thinking
The ability to evaluate refreeze is the key element for this week. Last week, the focus was on evaluating the process. Evaluation was the last step before starting to refreeze. Refreeze means making permanent the change that was started at the beginning of the process. By this point, the questions of selecting the correct tools and measuring the correct data must already have been answered. Now the questions that must be asked are how do you determine if
1. the change may be sustainable?
2. the change may become part of the fabric of the corporate culture?
3. key leaders may support and champion the change?
4. staff have internalized the change?
5. small corrective measures may be taken to allow for continuous improvement?
Summary
Of all fields of business, health care is the field that most frequently needs to change. New medications, procedures, and treatments are discovered every day. Old killers such as heart disease are replaced by new ones like obesity. Old contagious diseases are eradicated by antibiotics or vaccines only to be replaced by new. Demographics change and economics play an integral part in the delivery of health care. Both are highly volatile factors.
To be a successful health care leader you must be able to master the art of change. By the end of this week, you should have all the tools to do so.
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