Culture and Readiness Level Assignment Paper

Culture and Readiness Level Assignment Paper

Culture and Readiness Level Assignment Paper

Change is part of organizational growth, and forward-thinking health care organizations should embrace positive change. However, organizational change is not straightforward. It faces numerous obstacles hence the need for preparedness and maximum support. The organization’s culture should be inclined towards progressive improvement in results and innovation for change to thrive. Leaders and staff members should support innovations through evidence-based practice (EBP) projects and other interventions. The purpose of this paper is to assess the organizational culture and its readiness for change.

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The Organization’s Culture and Supporting Change

Among many drivers, the organization’s culture plays an instrumental role in supporting or hampering change. The organization’s culture is dominantly adhocracy. Besides encouraging participatory decision-making, the management encourages innovation (external inquiries), independence, and risk-taking, which are dominant elements of adhocracy in health care organizations (Alsaqqa & Akyürek, 2021). Responsibilities are also clearly defined and implemented. Due to the emphasis on innovation and autonomy, it is right to deduce that the culture supports change maximally. Change thrives where innovation is encouraged since organizational members are uncomfortable with the status quo (Cho et al., 2021). They understand the need for change and support it maximally, provided that it enhances outcomes.

Several factors further illustrate the organization’s culture and the chances of successful change. Leaders usually involve the staff in decision-making, denoting participatory leadership despite the hierarchical structure. The organization is committed to providing the best services possible to its clients and values healthy relationships to support this critical goal. Employees are supported through support groups, mentorship, and in-service training programs. Other characteristics instrumental for organizational growth include interprofessional collaboration, horizontal communication, and recognizing employees as major stakeholders and key organizational members.

Organizational Readiness Tool

An organization may have the right people and resources, but change will always fail if it is not ready. Before proposing any change in an organization, change proponents should assess its readiness to determine whether it is the right time for a change. The TeamSTEPPS organizational readiness assessment tool was used to assess organizational readiness. The tool evaluates the readiness for change from four dimensions: i) defined need, ii) readiness for change in culture, iii) time, resources, and personnel, and iv) the organization’s ability to sustain change (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), 2021). Twelve questions are answered, and the institution is considered ready for change if the NO responses are not more than three (Appendix 1). Since the organization’s score was 10/12, it can be deduced that it is a good time to implement the evidence-based practice project.

A detailed analysis of the factors characterizing a culture ready for change shows that the culture will support and sustain an evidence-based practice change fully. The need for change is clear, implying that the possibility of resistance is low. Resistance is among the leading barriers to change, and overcoming it is a huge step toward achieving the desired outcomes. The proposed change is not also competing with other major changes. Hence, it will enjoy the time, resources, and personnel commitment.

Health Care Process and System for Improving Quality, Safety, and Cost-Effectiveness

Various health care processes and systems can help to enhance clinical outcomes. The most appropriate process is embracing informatics in health care delivery. Through informatics, health care professionals analyze data trends to give patients the best quality care possible (Dash et al., 2019). They also respond to health care problems promptly to save costs. Appropriate systems for the organizations include technology systems for supporting remote care. For instance, smartphone apps are currently used for mental health support for COVID-19 patients (Iyengar et al., 2020). Reducing physical visits to the organization, preventive care, and prompt response to patient needs can improve quality, safety, and cost-effectiveness significantly.

Strategies to Better Facilitate Organizational Readiness

Despite the organization readiness assessment demonstrating an organization ready for change, several strategies can help to facilitate readiness better. The most appropriate strategy is to meet stakeholders or influential leaders and present the evidence-based practice project. Leaders influence their subjects, and the same concept is expected to work in this scenario. Organizational leaders will influence the staff to support the project as they commit the necessary resources to achieve the desired goal. The organization should also continue supporting innovation to ensure that employees support projects with beneficial impacts.

Stakeholders and Team Members

EBP projects require material, financial, and human support. The extent of need varies with the project’s type, scope, and implementation period. Stakeholders and team members provide the appropriate support hence the need for change proponents to establish a healthy relationship with them. One of the key stakeholders is the organization’s management. Its role is to provide the appropriate resources for the project’s implementation. It will also help create the appropriate climate for implementing the EBP project without significant hurdles. The other vital stakeholder group is nurse leaders. They are needed for human support and influencing the staff to support the project.

Information and Communication Technologies

The team involved in implementing the project requires seamless and continuous communication. It also needs to track the project’s progress against the timeline. Given this, computers, mobile phones, appropriate communication apps, and project management technologies are needed. Computers and mobile phones are needed to enable the team to communicate without being limited by physical space. Project management tools such as Gantt charts will help track the project and communicate whether any changes are required (Sipes, 2020). These technologies will help to implement the project successfully. Doing so implies addressing a clinical problem, which improves nursing practice and the care offered to people and populations.

Conclusion

Change is an important part of organizational growth. To benefit from a progressive change, health care organizations should have a culture that embraces change and is ready for it. As discussed in this paper, the organization’s adhocracy culture supports innovation. The readiness assessment demonstrates an organization ready for change. Overall, the EBP project will receive the support needed for full implementation since it benefits the organization.

References

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2021). TeamSTEPPS. https://www.ahrq.gov/teamstepps/index.html

Alsaqqa, H. H., & Akyürek, Ç. E. (2021). Assessment of organizational culture types, leadership styles and their relationships within governmental and non-governmental hospitals in Gaza Strip of Palestine. BMC Health Services Research, 21(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-021-06351-1

Cho, Y., Kim, M., & Choi, M. (2021). Factors associated with nurses’ user resistance to change of electronic health record systems. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 21(1), 218. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12911-021-01581-z

Dash, S., Shakyawar, S. K., Sharma, M., & Kaushik, S. (2019). Big data in healthcare: management, analysis and future prospects. Journal of Big Data, 6(1), 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40537-019-0217-0

Iyengar, K., Upadhyaya, G. K., Vaishya, R., & Jain, V. (2020). COVID-19 and applications of smartphone technology in the current pandemic. Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome, 14(5), 733–737. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsx.2020.05.033

Sipes, C. (2020). Project management for the advanced practice nurse (2nd ed.). Springer Publishing.

 Appendices

Appendix 1: Organizational Readiness Assessment Checklist

Record your responses to the questions below:

Question	Response
Defined Need
1. Have you clearly defined the need that is driving your institution to consider implementing TeamSTEPPS?	Yes     No
2. Is building a stronger teamwork and safety culture an appropriate strategy to address your institution’s need?	Yes     No
Readiness for Change in Culture
3. Is now the right time for implementing a culture change (i.e., it will not compete with other major changes currently being made at your institution)?	Yes     No
4. Is a culture change that emphasizes the importance of teamwork and safety feasible and acceptable?	Yes     No
5. Will your institution’s leaders support culture change and the effort required to implement and sustain the TeamSTEPPS initiative?	Yes     No
Time, Resources, Personnel
6. Will your institution provide sufficient staff with the necessary characteristics and attitudes to serve as instructors?	Yes     No
7. Will your institution provide sufficient staff with the necessary characteristics and attitudes to serve as coaches?	Yes     No
8. Will your institution allow time to prepare the instructors and coaches for their role?	Yes     No
9. Will your institution allow time for personnel to attend training?	Yes     No
10. Will your institution allow time for instructors to potentially customize the course?	Yes     No
Sustainment of the change
11. Will your institution be willing to measure and assess progress and continuously improve processes??	Yes     No
12. Will your institution be able to reinforce and reward positive teamwork behaviors and improvements in processes?	Yes     No
Score	10/12

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In order to successfully implement a change within an organization, the change agent must assess the organization’s culture and readiness for change. In 750-1,000 words, analyze the culture and level of readiness of the organization for which your evidence-based practice project is proposed. You will use the assessment of the organization’s culture and readiness in the Topic 8 assignment, during which you will synthesize the various aspects of your project into a final paper detailing your evidence-based practice project proposal.

Include the following:

Describe the organization’s culture and explain to what degree the culture supports change. Consider organizational and leadership structure, mission and values, interprofessional collaboration/team engagement, communication, perception of the organization by employees, etc.
Select an organizational readiness tool and assess the level or readiness for change within your organization. Identify the readiness tool and summarize the survey results. Discuss the degree to which the culture will support and sustain an evidence-based practice change. Consider strengths and weaknesses, potential barriers, stakeholder support, timing of the proposal, and resources. Provide rationale.
Discuss what health care process and systems you would recommend for improving quality, safety, and cost-effectiveness for the organization.
Propose strategies to better facilitate the readiness of the organization.
Identify the stakeholders and team members for the project. Include what their duties will be in the evidence-based practice project proposal.
Explain what information and communication technologies are needed for the implementation and how they will be integrated in the setting by the internal stakeholders. Explain how these will help improve nursing practice and care delivery for individuals and populations for your intervention.
Refer to the “Evidence-Based Practice Project Proposal – Assignment Overview” document for an overview of the evidence-based practice project proposal assignments.

You are required to cite a minimum four peer-reviewed sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years and appropriate for the assignment criteria and nursing content.