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.
In analyzing the change management process, one of the...
Daft (1997, p. 399) notes that a top-down change "needs to incorporate education and participation to succeed." The HR department provided education by keeping nurses informed and also allowed for participation for keeping nurses as involved as possible. The use of education and participation are the two major reasons that the changes were implemented so smoothly. Another key factor is that the HR department recognized that successful implementation would require ongoing attention. As Rashford and Coghlan (1989, p. 21) note, "A break in the process anywhere can stop the change." The plan designed by the HR department provided the ongoing attention needed so that the implementation did not stall. This included a lag occurring on initial implementation that was managed by providing one-on-one attention. This shows how a long-term plan that covers the entire process is beneficial to achieving successful change.
The change management process and the HR department's role in the process have now been described. This shows the kinds of activities that HR departments are involved in and the important role they can play. Analysis of the situations also shows the aspects of the HR department's actions that helped ensure a successful change management process.
References
Daft, R.L. (1997). Management. Fort Worth, TX: The Dryden Press.
Rashford, N.S., & Coghlan, D. (1989). Phases and levels of organizational change. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 4(3), 17-22.
