Dimensions of Change Victoria Hospital

¶ … Dimensions of change

Victoria Hospital - Change Initiative and the Four Dimensions of Change

The approach to the four dimensions of change, strategies resources, systems and culture, is vital moreover when "organizations define a change project by developing an appropriate strategy and then manage that initiative on a daily basis by utilizing resources, systems and culture to enable the organization to accomplish its goals and objectives" (Four Dimensions of Change).

The strategic component refers to the total change decisions taken and implies a constant process of adaptation. The strategies must be designed in full accordance with corporate capabilities and requirements and must be adequately implemented. The resource component revolves around the company's necessities in implementing the change initiative and may refer to staff or financial requirements. The systems used within the organization must be highly efficient to ensure a rapid communication within and outside the company as well as support the decision making process. The corporate culture must support the occurring changes and embrace diversity and improvement.

Victoria Hospital is an organization which decided to address the matter of change initiative in order to increase their adaptability to the outside environment but also the increase the quality of their services. These changes were required even more when economic shortfalls were foreseen for the years to come and hospitals had to reduce costs and increase efficiency off al services and corporate resources.

2. Application Analysis

The initiator of the change was Dr. Linden Frelick, President and Chief Executive Officer at Victoria Hospital. His plan was initially met with resistance, but its efficiency was beneficial on the long run. The restructuring of the hospital was to be done through the replacement of "traditional hierarchical structures of function-specific groups with a flat structure of streamlined interdisciplinary and self-managed clinical teams" (Fryday-Field).

The scope of the plan was to restructure the hospital in order to retrieve cost reduction, improvement of patient care and the utilization of employees' full potential. In developing and implementing the process of organizational change, the four dimensions were taken into consideration.

Strategies

Since massive downsizes are only a short-term solution to reduce costs, with disastrous long-term effects, Dr. Frelick came up with three separate courses of action. The first strategy implied the alignment of organizational structures with the way the hospital cared for its patients. The second strategy revolved around the redesign of hospital affairs to meet resource constraints, technological requirements and patients' needs. Finally, the third strategy required the development and implementation of entrepreneurial strategies to support the achievement of the stated goals (Fryday-Field).

Resources

In regard to the hospital's human resource, Victoria employs a total of 4,000 individuals who commit their lives to their patients. The management benefits of the employees' full support in the matter of improving health care conditions. However, personnel changes are also required, in the form of increased efficiency, self-managing and hierarchical restructuring, leaning towards horizontal in the detriment of vertical structures.

The financial resources represented a significant problem, moreover in the context of foreseen economic shortfalls. A main target was that of reducing costs; and the lay offs would displease the hospital's employees and would not represent a beneficial long-term strategy.

Systems

Until only recently, the communications system used by Victoria Hospital encompassed the traditional forms of communication, such as telephone devices or fax machines. Information Technology tools were only used to preserve personnel related data. The change initiative however brought about the implementation of it within health care operations. As such, the hospital now uses advanced technologies to keep records and develop statistics about patients and their health status. In addition, Dr. Frelick's strategies also lead to an increased efficiency of data processing and also offered patients the possibility to retrieve the desired information and make better informed medical decisions.

Culture

The corporate culture at Victoria Hospital was an undoubted supporter of the change strategy. As the hospital and its members were committed to offering their patients the best care available and also forming the best medical doctors for the future, an improvement in the conditions presented by the hospital was welcome and supported by the organizations' mission statement: