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UTA NURS4455 Nursing Leadership and Management Module 2 Assignment

UTA NURS 4455 Nursing Leadership and Management Module 2 Assignment

Module 2 Assignment 1

Organizational Analysis–Shadowing Plan

The major assignment for this course is analysis of an organization. You will study and report on its structure, processes, and nurse leaders. To get a glimpse of the roles and responsibilities of a nurse leader, meet with a BSN nurse leaderat least two levels above your current position in your organization and request opportunities to observe some of the tasks the nurse leader directs.

Healthcare is continually changing, growing, improving, and nurses are also growing. It is essential strategic planning provides the structure to make day-to-day decisions that follow a larger vision, create a direction for your practice, and maximize your options for influencing your environment (Pract, 2009). Strategic planning occurs in a nurse’s day-to-day activities and sets short to long-term goals. For example, a nurse must plan their routine to ensure each patient is taken care of each day. Applying strategic planning skills is the cornerstone of a leadership or management position, it can be described as the conceptual framework of looking into the future and strategically planning the approach for what the future will look like in the short term and in the long term (Whitney, 2018). As a staple of strategic planning, SWOT analysis uses a mix of quantitative and qualitative information, most of which should be gathered and analyzed before the planning meeting (Pract, 2009). SWOT analysis is a tool used to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. All healthcare team members should be included in the process of developing strategic planning. Good communication is essential for strategic planning success because all the healthcare team needs to be involved.

If you are unable to observe these tasks you may interview the nurse leader/manager as an alternative. Obviously, there are situations in which you will not be able to observe or participate in meetings or other events or tasks, but you should be able to work with the nurse leader to schedule an interview and at least three specific leadership tasks to discuss.

Complete this assignment to describe which organizational leader you will interview and the plans for the experience. For verification of plans and scheduling, provide contact information of the leader with whom you will be working.

If you are unable to shadow or interview a nurse leader, you may shadow or interview a leader or manager in a non-healthcare related field. You will need to notify your coach.

Objectives

•             Explain how organizations function.

•             Compare and contrast characteristics of leadership and management.

•             Apply trends, issues, theories, and evidence as guidelines for management decisions.

•             Evaluate effectiveness of communications patterns using specific management situations.

 

NURS4455 Nursing Leadership and Management

Module 2 Assignment 2

Change Theory

Change TheoriesProject

Note:YouwillcreateaPowerPointslidepresentation (not an APA paper) for this assignment. Submit your assignmentthrough Canvas for grading for this module. If you do not submit a PowerPoint slide presentation you will not receive credit for this assignment.

Overview: Change TheoriesProject

Each student will produce a plan for implementing a change project in nursingdepartments throughout theorganization.You will beginby selecting oneoftheoptionsprovidedin module oneandproposeachange to solve the problem. If you do not select one of the provided options you will not receive credit for this assignment. Then you will select one of the change theories you have studiedthat modelshowyouwant toimplementtheproposedchange. Youwillconducta SWOTanalysisanddevelop a comprehensive action plan.

You will create a PowerPoint presentation of your planwith a“script”intheNotessectionbelow each slide, asifyouarepresentingthistoanaudience.Your script must be in the Notes section that is below each slide within your PowerPoint presentation. See the Resource tab for examples. These will be your speaker notes as if you are presenting your PowerPoint to an audience. You MUST have a notes section for your slides. There will be a 50 point deduction if your notes are not below each slide.

Duringandafteryourwork,youwillexaminethetypesofcommunications,decision-making processes,andprocessesyouuse,andcommentuponthoseinthelastpartofthe“script.”

Objectives

1.            Select and utilize a change theory model to implement the proposedchange (chapter 5)

2.            Analyzetheleadershiprolesandmanagementskillsnecessarytoimplementanewprogram.

3.            Identify your decision-makingprocess.

4.            Demonstrate the elements of the changeprocess.

 

Lewin’s Change Theory

Kurt Lewin’s change theory, also known as Lewin’s force field model, was developed in 1947. It is a classic theory that is still valuable to consider when planning projects that introduce change in health care organizations. Lewin’s change theory is easily understood and may seem simple at first glance: It is when one must consider all of the factors that can affect the change that it becomes more complicated. Lewin purported that there are three stages to change: unfreezing, moving (or changing), and refreezing. In other words, before change can be introduced, one must be willing to change the current state of how it is being done; one must unfreeze one’s way of doing something. Second, one must adopt the new way of doing something, and then, one must finally make the new process his or her standard process or refreeze one’s patterns to the change.

Health care organizations are dynamic entities, and the process of change, guided by Lewin’s three stages, is not linear. It is important to note that, in the moving phase, several iterations of change may occur before finding the solution that truly works. Therefore, when applying Lewin’s theory to process changes in health care, nurses must expect to spend quite a bit of time and more than one attempt during this phase.

There are forces in the health care environment that influence the success or failure of a change. Driving forces push employees toward the desired change. Restraining forces push employees in the opposite direction and inhibit change. Driving forces and restraining forces can have a push–pull effect on the process of change (Finkleman, 2016).

The following diagram illustrates Lewin’s change theory:

Study.com, n.d.)

Another way to look at Lewin’s theory is to think about the analogy of an ice cube. In the unfreezing stage, the ice cube starts out as frozen and then begins to melt. In the moving (or changing) stage, the ice is melted, and change can occur. In the refreezing stage, the ice cube is solid again.

Click on the following link to read a recent, peer-reviewed journal article that describes how Lewin’s change theory was used as a framework to implement a change in bedside reporting in a busy 152-bed rehabilitation facility:

One aspect of change in health care organizations, which the previous article highlighted, is the involvement of the interdisciplinary team members in changing and implementing a new bedside report.

Another important aspect of change is the need for change to be deliberate, planned, and systematic. When considering any change in a health care organization, regardless of whether the change impacts one unit or the entire facility, nurses need to be cognizant of how this change impacts all stakeholders—the patient, family, community, and other members of the interdisciplinary team.

Rogers’ Change Theory

Everett Rogers developed two well-known change theories. The first theory that Rogers developed expounded on Lewin’s change theory, expanding the three stages to five. This theory, known as the innovation-decision process, helps to define change from the point when the need for a change is discovered up to the creation and final adoption of the change. Rogers’ stages when expressed in the simplest terms are the following (Mitchell, 2013):

  1. Awareness
  2. Interest
  3. Evaluation
  4. Trial
  5. Adoption

The formalized version of Rogers’ change theory expresses the five stages in detail, as follows:

  1. Knowledge: Identify the reason for the change.
  2. Persuasion: Persuade employees to accept the change.
  3. Decision: Decide whether to adopt the change.
  4. Implementation: Implement the change.
  5. Confirmation: Confirm adoption of the change.

 

Rogers was also interested in how change is spread once it is introduced. This interest is what led to his research and the development of his second well-known theory—the diffusion of innovation. In this theory, Rogers proposed that change is adopted along the lines of a bell curve. The following are five types of change adopters (Moore, 2014):

  • Innovators: These people are on the early end of the adoption of change. They can be those who participate in the development of innovative solutions.
  • Early adopters: These people like to be among the first to try something new. Early adopters are typically well-known and respected by their colleagues, and this helps to drive the curve toward the next stage—early majority.
  • Early majority: Characteristics of the early majority include a willingness to adopt innovation once it has been shown to add benefit. These people tend to follow the early adopters and therefore adopt what is recommended by them.
  • Late majority: This is the group of people who are skeptical of change and will opt out of adopting change if given the choice.
  • Laggards: These people are traditionalists. They do not trust change and are very wary of new ideas.
  • The Center for Creative Emergence, as cited in Michelle, 2012)
  • Click on the following link to read a brief journal article that explains Rogers’ change theory in detail. As you read this article, pay particular attention to Rogers’ five-stage adoption process and to the section that discusses “Innovation Characteristics.” The article’s author, an informatics nurse, asserts that the innovation characteristics in Rogers’ theory could be used as an evaluation list for a proposed technology project.

As with most theories, the opportunity exists to adapt the diffusion of innovation and apply it to one’s area of focus. For example, the following diagram illustrates how the roles of change agents (based on Rogers’ theory) can be adapted:

 

Note the different categories of individuals in an organization and their willingness to accept or adapt to change. Innovators are ready for change and embrace the change. On the opposite side of the spectrum are the laggards, who are the most resistant to chang

Spradley’s Change Theory

Spradley’s change theory is an eight-step model that is based on Lewin’s change theory, as follows:

  1. Recognize the symptoms.
  2. Diagnose the problem.
  3. Analyze alternative solutions.
  4. Select the change.
  5. Plan the change.
  6. Implement the change.
  7. Evaluate the change.
  8. Stabilize the change.

 

In examining the eight steps in Spradley’s model, you may see some parallels to the nursing process, in terms of assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation. In health care organizations, you may see more than one change theory being used to guide a planned change in patient-care processes.

Click on the following link to read a peer-reviewed journal article that describes the use of both Lewin’s change theory and Spradley’s change theory to implement change in handover procedures in an inpatient gynecology unit. The linked article provides a clear overview of the change process that the gynecology unit experienced, along with a case example of how both Lewin’s change theory and Spradley’s change theory were combined to contribute to the success of this change.