Application Leadership Concept

Assignment: Application: Leadership Concept 
Analysis Group Paper

Walden University

Assignment: Application: Leadership Concept 


Analysis Group Paper

Everything is in a constant stage of change, whether being noticed or not. Healthcare is always developing around us whether it be standard of care, equipment, or our patients’ condition. So why do some people have a hard time with change? In this paper, we will discuss resistance to change including the importance, application to nursing, leadership’s positive and negative impact of the modification.

Significance of the Change

While change is constantly happening around us, some still have a hard time accepting change. According to Marquis & Huston (2015), conflict and resistance almost always accompany change. Change is scary and makes us uncomfortable; it causes us to step out of our routine or approach a subject from a different angle. While change is painful and can be hard to accept, change is necessary and needed. Without modification, nurses and leaders cannot grow and in return cannot deliver the highest quality of care to their patients. As leaders and managers within a group, we must identify the reason for the resistance. For example, education level, culture, beliefs, or subordinate? Through the identification of the cause of resistance, managers and leaders can appropriately develop a plan of action for the change. If the modification is necessary to improve the quality of care and the change is evidence-based, then education can reduce the resistance to the change.

Review of the Literature Related to the Concept

To find data concerning the subject of resistance to change, we used the Walden Library Database and Internet. We searched for articles based on the topic resistance to change in the Nursing Databases – CINAHL & MEDLINE. We filtered by searching the period from 2011 to date. We screened the literature by reviewing titles and abstracts for relevance. We subsequently examined and analyzed the items we selected in full.

Negative Impact of Leadership During Change

The first article we think is relevant to our topic is titled “Professional Discourses and Resistance to Change.” In this paper, the authors talk about some negative things which leaders do or fail to do to elicit resistance. Pieterse, Caniëls, & Homan, 2012, tells us that misunderstanding about the need for change causes resistance, particularly if people believe the current way of doing things is the best and they have used it for many years. The authors further tell us that management failure to consult employees before the change also causes resistance. People want to know what is going and about changes that affect their work. They feel valued as part of the organization when they know about changes ahead of time (Pieterse, et al. 2012).

In the second article, the authors suggest that poor communication and mistrust leads to resistance. When there is a coming change, the management should give clear, sufficient information. In this document, the authors also stress that it is crucial for leaders to build trust and rapport with subordinates so that when change comes mistrust does not manifest itself into resistance to change (Choi, 2011).

Impact of Positive Leadership and Current Best Practices

The last article emphasizes that leadership style significantly has a correlation with lower resistance to changes. Oreg, & Berson, (2011) states that change can be positive if the management articulates it correctly. First, the management should think about who will be affected and what will be the reaction. Understanding the reasons why people react helps to create a plan of action for a smoother implementation of change. In this article, the authors identify the transformational leadership as the most suitable leader to facilitate change. Transformational leadership also focuses on building relationships and motivating staff members through a shared vision and mission. Transformational leaders communicate the vision in a meaningful, exciting manner, and with confidence that inspires others. Transformational leaders can motivate performance by letting the team know they are important. They are also masters at helping people do things they weren’t sure they could do by giving encouragement and praise (Oreg, & Berson, 2011). We believe that change in healthcare needs guidance from active leadership and the transformational leadership seem to be established as the leadership style that facilitates change resistance is a natural reaction which applies to nursing practice.

Application to Nursing: Implications or Consequences for Nursing Leaders

Resistance to change is the action taken by individuals and groups when they perceive that a change is occurring as a threat to them. In nursing, there is always change around the corner; evidence-based practice changes are implemented to effect change in the workplace. Things such as changes in policy and procedure to increase safety and efficiency of the workflow, changes in management and leadership to promote new ideas and a different outlook on the way work should flow.

In a case study of change management in aged care, we examined literature regarding the implementation of research into practice management process of improving practice. The research discusses the differences between planned and new approaches to change management. The literature explored the concepts of resistance and attractors concerning our experiences of managing the change process in this initiative. The authors also highlighted the importance of the interpersonal interactions that were involved in facilitating the change process.

The article also presented an example and recommendations offered for dealing with change management processes in clinical environments. To understand staff responses to the recommended changes, the project team explored the research literature on change management and, more specifically, the literature on the concept of resistance to change and added strategies to the original plan. The additional strategies included:

• Convening small group forums of staff and management

• Providing an experiential learning exercise in which staff were invited to experience being restrained

• Providing staff with opportunities to visit a facility that had successfully implemented restraint minimization within existing staffing levels

• Providing increased staff education, provided by the Aged Psychiatry Nursing Education Team, addressing the issue of meeting the needs of residents exhibiting behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (Oreg & Sverdlik, 2011).

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Conclusion

All in all, change is happening all around us. Nurse leaders must identify and implement it in a positive way to prevent the resistance. By understanding the possibilities and reasons that change must occur such as evidence-based practice, nurse leaders are more likely to experience a lower resistance to the change. Utilizing strategies, providing time and preparation, education, and support during times of change allow for a smoother transition. After all, the only constant thing in healthcare is change.

References

Choi, M. (2011). “Employee’s attitudes towards organizational change: A literature review”, Human Resource Management, Vol. 50(4), 479-500.Retrieved from Walden Database.

Marquis, B. L., & Huston, C. J. (2015). Leadership roles and management functions in nursing: Theory and application (8th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins.

Oreg, S., & Berson, Y. (2013). Leadership and employees’ reactions to change: The role of leaders’ personal attributes and transformational leadership style. Personnel Psychology, 64(17), 627-659. Retrieved from Walden Database.

Oreg, S., & Sverdlik, N. (2011). Ambivalence toward imposed change: The conflict between

dispositional resistance to change and the orientation toward the change agent. Journal of Applied Psychology96(2), 337-349. doi:10.1037/a0021100

Pieterse, J. H., Caniëls, M. C. J., & Homan, T. (2012). Professional discourses and resistance to change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 25(15), 798- 818. Retrieved from Walden Database.

Siviter, B. (2011). Overcoming resistance to change. Primary Health Care, 21(10), 11-12

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