Leading and Managing Organizational Change Case Study - EMU Hospital

This case study analyzes the challenges faced by the General Surgery Unit at Eastern Massachusetts University Hospital (EMU) under the new nurse manager, Barbara Norris. The unit struggles with several human resource issues, including a negative work culture, lack of performance management, inadequate workforce planning, and absence of training and development programs. The analysis identifies key problems such as poor communication, lack of trust, and low employee morale. Recommendations include improving workforce planning to address labor shortages, implementing performance management systems, fostering a positive workplace culture, and establishing regular training and development programs. These measures aim to improve employee engagement, enhance service quality, and ensure the long-term success of the surgery unit. The case emphasizes the importance of prioritizing human resources for organizational effectiveness and competitive advantage.

Leading and Managing Organizational Change
LEADING AND MANAGING
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE –
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Leading and Managing Organizational Change
Table of Contents
Introduction.......................................................................................................................3
Problems in the General Surgery Unit................................................................................3
Recommendations for Problem Solving..............................................................................5
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................6
Bibliography......................................................................................................................8
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Leading and Managing Organizational Change
Introduction
The report discusses the case of the General Surgery Unit at the Eastern Massachusetts
University Hospital (EMU). The unit has been facing a number of problems with respect to
its human resources. Barbara Norris has recently been appointed as the nurse manager of the
General Surgery Unit after she completed a masters course in Nursing and Healthcare
Administration. Barbara Norris had been promoted to a higher job position after the
completion of her course once her predecessor had announced her retirement.
Barbara Norris had an idea about the conditions that were prevailing in the unit but she took
up the challenge to turn things around but to her surprise, the situation was worse than what
she had expected. In this report, we will discuss the problems that are surrounding the surgery
unit at EMU and make necessary recommendations that would help Barbara Norris in making
the surgery unit a better place to work at.
Problems in the General Surgery Unit
The problems prevailing in the surgery unit at EMU are mostly related to the management of
human resources. If these problems remain unchecked, it can be stated without a doubt that
the surgery unit would ultimately fail to function properly and EMU would fail to provide
healthcare services to its patients as a result of it. The problems that are prevailing in the
surgery unit are discussed below:
Cultural problems:
First of all, the work culture in the surgery unit has grown negative over a period of time.
There is a lack of communication and trust amongst the staff members of the surgery unit and
they have been blaming each other for most of the things, rather than working as a team and
taking responsibilities collectively. The senior level management itself is fostering a negative
workplace culture by giving a greater priority to profitability as compared to the quality of
healthcare services offered to the customers. There is a clear lack of communication between
the leaders and the employees as the employees receive indirect negative feedback about their
work from different sources. Some of the surgery unit staff members also reported that
relationships are given a greater priority while allocating assignments rather than checking
considering the competencies of the employees (Manley, Sanders, Cardiff, & Webster, 2011).
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Leading and Managing Organizational Change
If the cultural problem in the unit remains unchecked, it would worsen the condition for all
staff members and the turnover rates might increase beyond expectations.
Performance management:
Performance management and appraisals are totally absent in the surgery unit of EMU.
According to the majority of the staff members, there is no clear system of performance
assessment or appraisals in the unit. The staff members feel that they receive little or no
feedback about their performance, which adversely affects their job engagement and
commitment levels. They also feel that all of them receive a similar hike in their annual
salaries every year, without taking their performance levels into considerations (van der Geer,
van Tuijl, & Rutte, 2009). Further, the company has no system of appraising its employees or
recognising the efforts that they put in every day.
Workforce planning:
A major issue prevailing in the surgery unit of EMU is a lack of a proper workforce planning
strategy. Workforce planning allows business organizations to forecast labour demands of
their departments in the near future and identifying methods that can be used to fulfil the
labour demands. At EMU, labour turnover rates are extremely high and the surgery staff is
already experiencing labour shortages. The effect of labour shortages is being experienced by
the existing staff, who are forced to work over-time without even being compensated for the
extra efforts that they are putting in (Behan, Condon, Milicevic, & Shally, 2009). Ultimately,
it is bringing down the morale levels of the employees and they are becoming dissatisfied
with their jobs.
Training and development:
Training and development programs are nowhere even in the discussions at EMU. The
management pays no attention to the needs of the employees for attaining new skills and
competencies. As a result, a number of employees in the surgery unit feel that they lack skills
or competencies that could have enabled them to perform their job duties and responsibilities
in a better manner.
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Leading and Managing Organizational Change
Recommendations for Problem Solving
The surgery unit of EMU is not the first department that has been facing these problems. The
contemporary business world is highly competitive and business organizations are required to
evolve continuously in order to survive in the market. The failure of an organisation to
recognize the problems existing in the workplace and implementing workplace changes to
deal with the problems can prove to be a cause that can lead to the failure of the organisation.
As a result, it is important for senior level management at EMU to identify the issues
discussed above and make necessary workplace changes to deal with them. Certain
recommendations that can help the management at EMU in dealing with its workplace issues
are discussed below:
First of all, the management needs to understand the importance of workforce planning and
the need to keep its departments adequately staffed. Putting a full stop on the recruitment
drives, even when labour turnover rates are high, can only worsen the overall situation. The
human resource management department of the healthcare organization should actively work
to identify the human resource requirements of the surgery unit and take necessary steps to
hire new candidates so that the workforce does not have to feel burdened with an extra
amount of work. Healthcare sector requires additional workforce because the shift timings for
employees can increase beyond the minimum working hours in emergency situations (Lopes,
Almeida, & Almada-Lobo, 2015). Therefore, staffing the unit adequately will help the
organisation in managing employee stress levels and in keeping them engaged.
Secondly, the management needs to implement well-designed performance management and
appraisal systems, such as Management By Objectives or a 360-degree feedback system.
Such systems of performance management will set out clear, measurable, time-bound,
achievable and acceptable performance goals for the employees, which will prove to be a
great way to keep each one of them engaged in their job. Such performance management
systems also allow business organizations to provide better feedback to the employees about
their performance levels. Further, the performance information obtained and shared using
these techniques are more reliable and authentic (Waddell, Creed, Cummings, & Worley,
2018). Providing the workforce with reviews on their performance levels and offering them
incentives and benefits on the basis of it will ensure that they remain motivated to
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Leading and Managing Organizational Change
demonstrate higher performance levels and achieve recognition for themselves in the
organisation.
Thirdly, the management needs to understand the importance of positive workplace culture
and foster a culture where employees and the quality of services offered are given a greater
value than profitability. The management of the healthcare organisation needs to organise
team-building activities that can promote team work in the surgery unit. Arranging on-the-job
and off-the-job social activities can help the staff members in getting comfortable with each
other and communicating openly with their co-workers (Jones & Kelly, 2014). Further, the
competencies and skills of an employee should form the basis of the work given to them and
favouritism will have to be completely done with. By fostering such a culture, the employees
working in the surgery unit will become more open towards working with each other and
would communicate openly with each other, which would help in spreading positivity
amongst them.
Lastly, training and development programs will have to be implemented at regular intervals
as they would not only help the staff members in achieving higher sets of skills and
competencies but will also enable the organisation in offering higher quality healthcare
services to their patients. Training and development opportunities will help in keeping the
employees engaged and committed to their jobs (Weaver, Dy, & Rosen, 2014). They would
also provide the employees with career development opportunities, which would reduce their
tendency to quit the organisation.
It is important for senior level management at the Eastern Massachusetts University Hospital
to realise the importance of its human resources and consider them as the most important
asset. It is through the proper management of the human resources alone that the organisation
would be able to outperform its competitors in the long run and survive an era of neck-to-
neck competition (Shantz, Alfes, & Arevshatian, 2016). Therefore, the above-mentioned
recommendations should definitely be implemented as soon as possible so that the work
conditions for the employees working in the surgery unit can be improved and better
healthcare services to the patients can be delivered.
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Leading and Managing Organizational Change
Conclusion
Without a doubt, Barbara Norris is one employee that every business organisation in the
contemporary world is looking for. The amount of dedication and hard work that she has
been putting in to help her company in turning around the situation of its surgery unit is
beyond regular. Therefore, it is important for the senior level management to support the
initiatives taken by her and introduce necessary changes that can help in improving the work
conditions for the surgery unit employees.
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Leading and Managing Organizational Change
Bibliography
Behan, J., Condon, N., Milicevic, I., & Shally, C. (2009). A quantitative tool for workforce
planning in healthcare: example simulations. Dublin: The Skills and Labour Market
Research Unit (FÁS) on behalf of the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs.
Jones, A., & Kelly, D. (2014). Whistle‐blowing and workplace culture in older peoples' care:
qualitative insights from the healthcare and social care workforce. Sociology of health
& illness, 36(7), 986-1002.
Lopes, M. A., Almeida, Á. S., & Almada-Lobo, B. (2015). Handling healthcare workforce
planning with care: where do we stand?. Human resources for health, 13(1), 38.
Manley, K., Sanders, K., Cardiff, S., & Webster, J. (2011). Effective workplace culture: the
attributes, enabling factors and consequences of a new concept. International
Practice Development Journal, 1(2), 1-29., 1(2), 1-29.
Shantz, A., Alfes, K., & Arevshatian, L. (2016). HRM in healthcare: the role of work
engagement. Personnel Review, 45(2), 274-295.
van der Geer, E., van Tuijl, H. F., & Rutte, C. G. (2009). Performance management in
healthcare: performance indicator development, task uncertainty, and types of
performance indicators. Social science & medicine, 69(10), 1523-1530.
Waddell, D., Creed, A., Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2018). Organisational Change,
Development and Transformation (Vol. 6). Cengage.
Weaver, S. J., Dy, S. M., & Rosen, M. A. (2014). Team-training in healthcare: a narrative
synthesis of the literature. BMJ Qual Saf, 23(5), 359-372.
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