The Federal government of the United States has a number of agencies. These agencies are in different departments of the government. An example is the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). AHRQ together with other 12 agencies are found within the Department of Human and Health Services (HHS) in the US (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2014). As part of HHS, AHRQ is aimed at developing scientific evidence that will enable decision and policy makers in healthcare and those who buy and manage healthcare services to come up with up-to-date choices in healthcare. It supports scientific research to improve the effectiveness, efficiency and quality of healthcare for all citizens.
AHRQ was created as the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) in December, 1989 and was commissioned with making recommendations in healthcare. Nevertheless, a good number of guidelines produced were meant to decrease medical procedures and medical drugs. For instance, the ophthalmologists and pharmacists had to voice their concerns over the cataract guidelines and reduction in drug use respectively. On December 6, 1999, AHCPR was reauthorized to AHRQ after a lobby group lead by congressmen who had undergone back surgery, did away with the guidelines program and gave the agency a new name. This turn of events was brought about by the fact that AHCPR had produced a guideline that resolved that back pain surgery was pointless and unsafe.
Human resource program/policy/process/procedure/initiative is a system of collated decisions created to promote administrative personnel functions, resource planning, employee relations and performance management in an organization. Different organizations have unique conditions and, therefore, develop a distinct set of human resource initiatives.An effective HR program helps the organization to demonstrate that it fulfills requirements for training, variety and morals. It also shows how dedicated the organization is in relation to guidelines and corporate authority of its workers. For instance, for a worker to be fired, an organization needs to put into consideration a number of factors. These include employment requirements, contracts and mutual bargaining arrangements. Moreover, the HR program clearly spells out the code of behavior and disciplinary procedures, and it promotes desired organizational behavior. An effective HR program should be one that is clearly understood by everyone, put down in writing to preserve it, revised from time to time, balanced with the reputation of the organization, fulfills the interests of all the parties available, promotes two-way communication system between the administration and employees and should be in line with public policies.
The eight stages of change can be addressed in a number of ways. To create a sense of urgency, the entire organization needs to be sensitized on the need to embrace change by emphasizing on the importance of the underlying benefits associated with the intended change. However, it is noteworthy that not everyone will be ready to act towards the change. It is, therefore, important to identify the like-minded parties within the organization to facilitate the implementation of the change. This calls for formation of strong coalition driven by common vision (Kotter, 2009)
Communication remains a powerful tool for driving the vision and empowering everyone in the organization to adopt broad-based actions aimed at achieving the desired changes. The role of motivation is significant while, on the verge of pursuing long-term gains, short-term wins should be shared and celebrated to steer the efforts. John Kotter (2009) suggests that the only way to keep people moving is to help them realize the benefits of their contribution. Caution must; however, be taken that the short-term gains should not overshadow the long-term goals. Constantly, try to assess the initiatives and change those that are not in line with the vision of the organizational change. Also, strengthen the change process with updated themes and projects. Finally, to realize success of the change, the organization needs to clearly outline the relations that exist between the success of the organization and the new behaviors.
There are potential barriers and challenges to organizational change. These barriers are experienced at both the personal and organizational levels. Inadequate communication. Insufficient communication between the managers and employees and between the organization and suppliers and consumers can lead to devastating consequences when changes in the organization are effected. Poor leadership or lack of it; bad leaders cannot implement the changes in their organizations. They can show their employees the way and lead them to the ultimate goal.
Financial limits. Inadequate capital in an organization can hinder it from implementing the new changes. Lack of clearly defined objectives and goals; organizations that do not continually clarify on their goals, objectives, roles and standards of performance should prepare for a big shock when introducing changes in the organizations.
Poor resource allocation and lack of it; shortage of resources marks an onset of financial challenges in an organization. Poor resource allocation is, as a result, of poor decisions made by the managers. Failure to arrange for new roles. Ignoring preparation for new roles may result to resistance for change. Organizational culture: employees may resist change, as a result, of being too conservative to the way things are done in an organization. Employees may oppose change as they avoid new duties and obligations and fear new technology.
These barriers can be overcome through several of ways. Adopt two way communications. Managers should update their employees, suppliers and customers from time to time on the plans of the organization. Managers should also encourage their employees to voice their concerns. Moreover, excellent leadership is also important in dealing with the barriers. Organizations should get leaders who are up to their task and serve as an example to others. Another way of addressing the challenges is by setting a contingency fund. This fund is meant to take care of unexpected changes in demand, economic recessions and increased competition. Also clarifying goals and objectives is important. Well defined goals and objectives help in clearing possibilities of conflicts. It is also important lay emphasis on planning. Explaining new roles to employees will help stifle resistance.
Communication strategies are procedures set by administrators of organizations for passing across information related to a change in their organizations. An organization can employ a number of communication strategies to overcome resistance to organizational change, but the three major ones are face-to-face communication strategy, mass communication strategy and interactive communication strategy. Face-to-face strategy promotes personal communication between the managers and the employees where managers have the opportunity to clearly state how the change will affect all the stakeholders. It facilitates live question and answer session where the administration can exhaustively answer their employees’ questions pertaining the expected changes in an organization. It also aids administrators when reinforcing the importance of the change. Mass communication strategy is efficient, cost effective and scalable as the information can be communicated to a large number of workers at once such as intranet postings and newsletters. Interactive communication gives employee chances to ask questions anonymously. They can express their views on the imminent changes without the fear of being victimized. It facilitates feedback and two-way communication between the managers and the employees. Through online chats website pages dedicated to question and answer forums, both the administration and the workers are able to get instant feedback to their queries. Also, through discussion boards, more people can be communicated to at the same time.
Organizations employ different diagnostic tools when coming up with effective and successful organizational changes. These diagnostic tools help an organization in determining its readiness for change. These tools include change preferences tool and organizational change readiness tool. The Change Preferences Tool discloses how the entire organization deals with change. It states the numerous preferences of workers in the impending change assisting managers in facilitating change. Organizational Change Readiness Tool enables organizations to assess the workers’ perceptions of the organization and their readiness for change.
There are a number of strategies will help an organization to sustain their new initiatives. The Sustain-it Strategy guarantees that the policy is continually monitored and respects the time-constraints of stakeholders. The Success strategy ensures that goals of the organizational change are constantly spelt out. It also integrates the new performance requirements into the current system.
Precisely, organizational change is a deliberate effort to create a difference in how work is performed in an organization. The change affects the entire organization, and it requires the corporation of all stakeholders involved. The change in the structure and operations of the organization is dynamic and encompasses a number of dimensions. It includes change is the size, workforce, management styles and scope of work in an organization. Change is primarily aimed at improving service provision in the organization and ensuring better working environment.
References
Kotter, J. (2009). Kotter's 8-Step Change Model: Implementing Change Powerfully and Successfully. Harvard Business Journal, 34(5), 12-27.
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2014, April 13). AHRQ Evidence Reports. Retrieved from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality : http://www.guideline.gov/resources/ahrq-evidence-reports.aspx
