Human Resource Management Change Management

Human Resource Management

Change Management and the Human Resources Department

Change management is one of the areas that human resource (HR) departments are involved in. To find out what role HR departments play in change management, Teresa Perry of Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago was interviewed. Teresa is a personnel officer at the hospital. Working directly with the HR Manager, Teresa acted as a strategic partner to the administration when a new system of standard operating procedures for nurses was introduced. The following paper will describe the actions of the HR department and analyze the outcomes of those actions.

In the situation, a new system of standard operating procedures was being introduced describing required actions of nurses. The new procedures had been created based on a need both to increase efficiency and to ensure consistent patient care. The new procedures were more demanding than previous requirements and represented significant changes. The new procedures had also been created with little consultation with the nurses. The administration were concerned that employees would react to the changes and asked the HR department to assist with implementation, with the aim of allowing a smooth transition.

The first action the HR department took was to create a plan for implementation. Via analysis of the situation, the department predicted likely problems and especially attempted to identify the likely issues that nurses would have with the changes. This was completed by speaking to nurses about the situation. The plan developed provided specific actions designed to reduce problems and increase acceptance of the changes. The HR department presented the plan to the administration. After it was accepted, the HR department acted as project managers to administration.

The first step of the plan was to involve nurses in the changes. The HR department recognized that a problem existed because administration developed the new procedures without gaining feedback from nurses. The general feeling among the nurses was that their opinion was not valued and that administration was making decisions without an understanding of actual working conditions. Many of the nurses were particularly concerned that the changes would be impractical and would make doing their jobs more difficult. To solve these problems, the HR department divided the nurses into groups and held feedback meetings with them. The HR manager chaired the meeting and acted as change agent. A member of administration was present to answer questions and represent administration. At the meetings, the HR manager first explained the need for the changes. This was done by emphasizing that the changes were being introduced based on the needs of the industry and did not represent that there was any type of problem with how nurses were performing. This was done to reduce fears and suspicions regarding the changes. After this, the new procedures were presented to nurses. Nurses were asked to read through them over the next two weeks and note any problems or suggestions for improvement. After this, the process was described where continual meetings would be held before implementation and after implementation. This was designed to reduce the uncertainty surrounding the changes, to involve the nurses in the changes, and to give the nurses a suitable method for voicing their concerns.

After this meeting, nurses did not initially respond well. The nurses continued to discuss issues and voiced various concerns, but they only did this amongst themselves and did not approach management. In response, Teresa spoke informally to nurses individually to ask them if they had any questions or concerns. In these one-on-one conversations, Teresa focused on the importance of offering the benefits of their experience and encouraged the nurses to provide feedback and suggestions on the procedures. This caused a greater level of involvement and the two-week review meetings were successful, with issues being raised. The review process continued, with the HR department acting as mediator between the nurses and administration. This resulted in changes to many of the procedures and the nurses also accepted the changes.

To maintain consistency, meetings continued to be held after the changes were introduced. This gave nurses the opportunity to raise any issues. This was successful and in cases where there were problems, they were identified and fixed. There was a certain level of disruption and some questioning of the value of the changes at this point, but the nurses continued to persevere and worked on making the changes work. After five months, the meetings were reduced to being held bimonthly. The administration considered the change management successful.