Change Management in Healthcare
The Health Care Manager
Volume 27, Number 1, pp. 23–39
Copyright # 2008 Wolters Kluwer Health |
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Change Management in Health Care
Robert James Campbell, EdD
This article introduces health care managers to the theories and philosophies of John Kotter and
William Bridges, 2 leaders in the evolving field of change management. For Kotter, change has both an emotional and situational component, and methods for managing each are expressed in his 8-step model (developing urgency, building a guiding team, creating a vision, communicating for buy-in, enabling action, creating short-term wins, don’t let up, and making it stick). Bridges deals with change at a more granular, individual level, suggesting that change within a health care organization means that individuals must transition from one identity to a new identity when they are involved in a process of change. According to Bridges, transitions occur in 3 steps: endings, the neutral zone, and beginnings. The major steps and important concepts within the models of each are addressed, and examples are provided to demonstrate how health care managers can actualize the models within their health care organizations. Key words: change management, information technology, transitions
If your time to you
Is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’
(Bob Dylan)
ODAY’S HEALTH CARE manager occupies an extremely challenging position: how to maintain a competitive edge in the health care market while leading an organization through constant change. Rapid change is occurring as health care organizations (HCOs) strive to adopt new technology such as the electronic health record (EHR), implement quality improvement initiatives, and institute pay-for-performance plans. To deal with this change and help employees transition to new ways of doing things, managers need an edge.
Providing this edge are the
Volume 27, Number 1, pp. 23–39
Copyright # 2008 Wolters Kluwer Health |
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Change Management in Health Care
Robert James Campbell, EdD
This article introduces health care managers to the theories and philosophies of John Kotter and
William Bridges, 2 leaders in the evolving field of change management. For Kotter, change has both an emotional and situational component, and methods for managing each are expressed in his 8-step model (developing urgency, building a guiding team, creating a vision, communicating for buy-in, enabling action, creating short-term wins, don’t let up, and making it stick). Bridges deals with change at a more granular, individual level, suggesting that change within a health care organization means that individuals must transition from one identity to a new identity when they are involved in a process of change. According to Bridges, transitions occur in 3 steps: endings, the neutral zone, and beginnings. The major steps and important concepts within the models of each are addressed, and examples are provided to demonstrate how health care managers can actualize the models within their health care organizations. Key words: change management, information technology, transitions
If your time to you
Is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’
(Bob Dylan)
ODAY’S HEALTH CARE manager occupies an extremely challenging position: how to maintain a competitive edge in the health care market while leading an organization through constant change. Rapid change is occurring as health care organizations (HCOs) strive to adopt new technology such as the electronic health record (EHR), implement quality improvement initiatives, and institute pay-for-performance plans. To deal with this change and help employees transition to new ways of doing things, managers need an edge.
Providing this edge are the
References: 2. Landro L. Patients, families take up the cause of hospital safety. Wall Street Journal. May 30, 2007: D1. Med Inform Assoc. 2002;9:16-24.