Planning and Implementation of a Change Process

PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A CHANGE PROCESS
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION CASE STUDY
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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction................................................................................................................................4
2.0 Change path required by WHO.................................................................................................5
2.1 Organization level changes/ Decentralization.......................................................................6
2.2 Human resource reforms........................................................................................................7
2.3 Administrative efficiency and competency...........................................................................8
2.3 Information Technology (IT) investment..............................................................................8
2.4 Accountability and transparency...........................................................................................9
3.0 Change process management at WHO......................................................................................9
3.1 External Consultations...........................................................................................................9
3.2 Listening and learning phase.................................................................................................9
3.3 Strategic planning................................................................................................................10
3.4 Delegation of responsibilities..............................................................................................11
3.5 Crystallization of changes....................................................................................................11
3.6 Change management model implementation.......................................................................11
4.0 Dr. Brundtland changes at WHO.............................................................................................12
4.1 Dr. Brundtland first unsuccessful attempt...........................................................................13
4.1.1 Resistance from the employees....................................................................................13
4.1.2 Poor Leadership skills...................................................................................................14
4.1.3 Poor managerial change................................................................................................15
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5.0 Future challenges facing Dr. Lee and his transition team.......................................................15
5.1 Organization culture............................................................................................................15
5.2 Virtual teams’ utilization.....................................................................................................16
5.3 Employees motivation and satisfaction...............................................................................16
6.0 Conclusion...............................................................................................................................17
References......................................................................................................................................18
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1.0 Introduction
Health problems have increasingly become a major concern globally. Numerous people in the
world are suffering from various diseases that need immediate attention. Both communicable and
non-communicable diseases affect both young children and adults alike. Due to these concerns,
World Health Organization (WHO), was established with a goal of improving health conditions
in the whole world (Petersen 2003). Additionally, WHO aims in promoting healthy lifestyles,
reducing health risks as well as responding to various underlying factors and the determinants of
health. WHO operates under several objectives; It aims in developing and implementing various
multi-sectoral healthy policies for the general public. It also applies integrated approaches which
are age- and gender-sensitive for community empowerment hence improving self-care, health
promotion, and health protection.
WHO was established in the year 1948 on April 7. It’s one of the specialized agencies of United
Nations (UN) and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. WHO consists of three major bodies;
the Executive Board, the Secretariat and the World Health Assembly (WHA). WHA is usually
concerned with the decision-making process of the entire organization.
Figure 1: Structure of WHO
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World Health Organization
World Health
Assembly
The Executive
Board
The Secretariat

Due to the rapidly changing world especially in the health sector, it is crucial for WHO and other
organizations concerned with health to adapt to these changes by implementing sustainable
strategies. As such directors of the WHO have a mandate of ensuring the organization adapts to
the rapid health changes experienced globally (Jong-Wook 2003). This paper, therefore,
discusses change process and the planning and implementation strategies that can be adopted.
Special focus will be on the case study involving Dr. Lee who was appointed the Director-
General (DG) of WHO in 2003.
2.0 Change path required by WHO
The world is rapidly changing with the emergence of new diseases every day. Diseases such as
HIV/AIDS, Ebola, Malaria, Tuberculosis and other communicable diseases and viruses pose a
significant threat to the wellbeing of individuals (Heymann et al. 2015). WHO is, therefore,
faced with a challenge of ensuring the changes occurring in the health sector are contained. Other
difficulties experienced by WHO include; decreased governmental financial support, lack of
interest by the society on health issues, competition for the limited funds and resources, and
poverty especially in the developing countries. Due to these challenges, every Director General
(DG) of WHO has a huge role to play in ensuring the prevailing situation is contained. Dr. Lee
Jong-Wook was one director who brought such significant changes in the organization during his
era (Lidén 2014). His main agenda during his term was to develop a sustainable approach to the
ever-changing world of public health. To effect this, he first brought together a core change team
that was to analyze the changes and determine the way forward. It was, therefore, crucial for the
organization to undergo various changes to gain back their power in improving the health sector
throughout the world. Change path which is taken by WHO include;
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2.1 Organization level changes/ Decentralization
Dr. Lee mission was to bring WHO back to its roots by making it a result-oriented and flexible
organization. Before Dr. Lee was elected as the DG of WHO, the WHO headquarters had the
mandate of overseeing all the operations of the organization. It used to set targets, goals, and
priorities for the organization, distribute human, and financial resources as well as determine the
overall organization in both county and regional offices. Due to this, WHO was therefore known
as a hierarchic, top-down organization (Cassels et al. 2014). The lack of confidence in these
county and regional offices made it difficult for the organization to perform their work
effectively. Dr. Lee believed that the skepticism shown by the management that the county and
regional offices could not deliver on their own brought about the centralization of the finances
and resources. Therefore, this made the organization to underperform since only the headquarters
had the mandate of overseeing the entire operations of the organization.
Organization structure can either be centralized or decentralized. In a centralized organization,
the decisions of the entire union, as well as the power and authority, are in the hands of the top
management (Goldthau 2014). It means that only the top management can control the operations
of the organization since the lower levels cannot decide on their own. On the other hand, all the
levels of the organization are given powers and authority to effect any changes they deem fit in a
decentralized structure. Dr. Lee understood the demerits of centralization, and that’s why he
pushed for decentralization of the WHO. The disadvantages are; loss of agility, organization size
involvement, lack of personal involvement by the junior employees, and lack of ownership.
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