Challenges of an Organization Adapting to Change

I. Introduction
A. Identify the organization
1. Brief overview of the organization
The organization that will be the topic of discussion in my final project is Piedmont Heart Institute. Building on more than a century of experience, they employ more than 85 prominent cardiovascular physicians therefore forming one of the premier cardiac centers in the region by bringing together three of the largest cardiology practices in the region. Piedmont Heart Institute was formed so they could provide patients with a new and innovative place for care. Like many healthcare facilities, Piedmont Heart Institute went through a big lay off in 2010 and not only was locations shut down. They went from being a stand-alone company to now being a part of a larger entity Piedmont Hospital.

With the layoff’s, Piedmont Heart Institute lost a lot of employees that were highly valuable and cannot be replaced which means jobs are getting dropped by the way side. As an entity operating under the umbrella of Piedmont Hospital, Piedmont Heart Institute has pledge to become the number 1 hospital (In Florida) in 10 years and they are well on their way to do so. They have hired some of the top physicians from all over the country to add to the already excellent physicians on staff. The cutting edge services that they are offering to the patient’s range from Cardiac care, Heart transplant services, Heart cauterization, EP (Electrophysiological) services just to name a few.

2. Identify your role within organization
Currently I work as a Medical Assistant III/Scheduler in the Surgical Department at the Piedmont Heart Institute. I see patients in the clinic, schedule appointments and surgeries in the operating room and the colander of one physician. I started with them back in January of 2008 when I relocated here from New York. I have been through at least two layoffs with this organization and being there when the layoffs were going on it was not a good thing. Even today people are still talking about it because it was so difficult to see people you have worked with for so long leave. As employees we felt we did not have a say in anything that was taking place and just had to go with the flow.

3. Identify issues, events, and actions that contributed to problem being discussed The organizational problem that I will research and resolve would be to analyze the changes that was made when the three cardiology practices came together to form one. I will discuss what went wrong, what went well if anything and then provide solutions to what should have happened to make this a success. This was not an easy task and caused numerous problems from the confusion of the patients to the packing in of employees. There was the lack of communication of everything that was taking place until the last minute. This had employees in fear of what was to come. To the employees it felt like the managers cared more about their jobs than the employees. Prior to combing these three groups, there were representation from each of the groups involved trying to make sure the best interest of the employees were taken into considerations. There was a time when more than one person were doing the same jobs; you had employees not knowing who to report to and even physicians getting frustrated about everything that was taking place.

II. Identify the problem you will discuss in your paper
Define the problem.
What steps are necessary to propel Piedmont from its’ current position at number 2 to being in the number 1 hospital in the state of Florida by the end of 2015? Piedmont Heart Institute’s mission is to be the number 1in Florida. What kind of possibilities they can face when three groups will combine? What they can create and deliver care by eliminating barriers when working together closely and then have a platform where leadership is shared? How they enhance the care and services given to the community? A. To whom is it a problem?

The problem in question is to the employees who do not feel secure in their job. Prior to the integration of the three groups each entity practiced as a private practice and so they were able to employ as much as they wanted to and so once the integration took place they had to get rid of some of these employees because they would not be able to accommodate them all within the new group. This is also a problem for the higher-ups because they now have to come up with a way to solve this problem. This could also be a potential problem for the community because they are expecting to receive a certain amount of care and might end up not receiving it. To what extent is it a problem? The extent of which this is a problem is failure on the part of the organization if everything is not pulled together.

There is also the fact that if employees do not feel secure in their jobs then they will tend to migrate elsewhere. Employees also have to adapt to being a part of a new organization with new set of rules and guidelines to follow. We are in a perilous time and what the managers should see and understand is that their employees will view any form of adaptivity as an arguable skill. The one thing that they can use to address this issue is to look at the success-fail factor of the organization and what it means to them. How an organization develops, recruits, appreciates and shows encouragement towards its employees will encourage adaptivity because this is a 100 percent functionality of the work environment. Is it part of a larger problem or are there related problems? These are all related problems because without the employees the work will not get done and they will not be achieve their goal of being the top 10 in 10 years.

It is also related to the fact that prior to this implementation the employees where not a part of any decision that was made and is still being made. If the employees are not willing to adapt to the change the organization is trying to implement then failure is what it is up against. B. Show it is not a symptom of another, more fundamental problem. This is not a symptom of another problem because my research showed that each of the organizations was doing well on their own prior to forming this one entity. All three entities already were making a name for themselves with the physicians that they had. What they had set out to accomplish was to be the best of the best and to be force to be reckoned with. III. Literature Review – the foundation of your paper

A. Identification of sources and uses of information
1. Scholarly sources used to support my claim of the problem and how? The following scholarly sources will be used to support my claim of the problem in question because they will help to prove without a doubt that the employees of an organization should have a voice in developmental and departmental changes. The articles that I would be using will be Exploring the Process of Leadership: The mediating Role of Employee Voice and Psychological Ownership, Benevolent Leadership: Conceptualization and Construct Development and Leadership and Change: The Case for Greater Ethical Clarity.

2. Scholarly sources that support my analysis and how
The sources that will support my analysis will be, Raising the Standard, Adaptive Organization and Resources for Change: the relationship of Organizational Inducements and Psychological Resilience to Employees Attitudes and Behaviors toward Organizational Change. These articles will help to show that the organization has to raise their standards and adapt to changes in order to succeed. IV. Analysis of Problem

Causes of problem
Direct cause: Formation of Piedmont Heart Institute
Description of cause
Whenever you have any form of change in an organization there will always be a resistance to change. These changes are considered intrusive and disruptive of the routines of the organization by the employees. The combination of three groups was not an easy tasked for the employees because it caused the employees to be packed together in small areas. Employees have gone from working in a vast amount of space to barely having some place to work. Other causes would be the employees being given additional assignment which is increasing their workloads; they have to adjust to new working relationship with physicians and other employees alike they are not familiar with. Direct cause: Organization wanted to form an entity that would be the best in the nation.

Description of cause: With Piedmont Heart Institute wanting to be the top 1 in 10 years they went about it all wrong when they combined these three large Cardiology practices. The planning was not done appropriately nor was it effective. There were questions that were unanswered because they were not asked. The executives took it upon themselves to make all decisions without consulting with the employees who this would affect. They needed to change the scope of the business but did not consult any of the employees about what they thought. Not only did they encounter changes in their roles and responsibility but they had new people to report to, the name of the organization changed and modifications had to be done they had to contend with. V. Possible Solutions

Form a center of excellence (COE)
Steps and actions to take: Form centers of excellence.
This would separate the departments by specialties and make it so that the employees would have a specific department they support. Form teams that would work with each center of excellence. This will allow for the physicians to know who they can go to whenever they need to have something done. Each center of excellence should be responsible for its own expertise and knowledge resources so that in turn workers can and will help each other throughout the organization to solve any problem that might arise and to improve upon them for the future. Tools give great service to patients.

A big part of staying healthy is staying connected — removing the barriers that keep patients from their medical information and the doctors and professionals that care for them. To provide better access, we offer digital tools that make it easy for patients to connect with Piedmont doctors through a safe and secure environment: NextMD and

MyChart.

While Institute are still utilizing NextMD in some of our practices, as Piedmont transitions to Epic,  a new electronic medical record and  practice management system, doctors will be moving patients to MyChart With MyChart you can:

Stay in touch with your doctor:
Send a secure email right to your doctor
Ask for medication refills
Find general medical advice for non-urgent questions
See your discharge instructions or plan for managing your health (exercise, nutrition, treatments)

Manage your appointments:
Request or cancel* an appointment online
See your appointment history and upcoming appointments
Check appointment details like location and which physician you will see

Link to your family records:
Connect your family’s MyChart (and others whose healthcare you manage) to yours to access all appointments, immunization records, growth charts and other health information

Update your personal information and preferences:
Change your email address, physical address and password. Also, set your notification choices – what kind of messages you receive and how often. Other preferences include scheduling, “address me as,” religion and caregiver information. Tracking health issues

With Mychart you can track and review
Current health issues,
Medications,
Allergies and immunizations.
Receive preventative care reminders,
Browse health topics
Even email your doctor directly — all from a single, online portal.
Piedmont Healthcare has ranked among the top quintile in the nation according to a recent study by Thompson Reuters, which uses independent and objective research to guide hospital and health system performance. Piedmont Healthcare is one of 57 systems in the United States and the only Georgia healthcare system to rank in the top 20 percent of the 285 health systems evaluated nationwide as part of the 10 Top Health Systems Study. May be in between November – December 2015, piedmont heart Institute achieve its goal.

VI. Conclusion
Piedmont Heart Institute has a long way to go before they achieve the goals that they have set in place for themselves of being the number 1. Implement the changes that I have suggested based on my research will help them to achieve this. They must however remember that putting the employees first is what will get the job done because they are the driving force of the organization and without them the organization will not have an opportunity to succeed.

References
Benevolent Leadership: Conceptualization and Construct Development. Full Text Available By: Karakas, Fahri; Sarigollu, Emine. Journal of Business Ethics. Aug2012, Vol. 108 Issue 4, p537-553. 17p. 5 Charts. DOI:
10.1007/s10551-011-1109-1. Resources for Change: the Relationships of Organizational Inducements and Psychological Resilience to Employees’ Attitudes and Behaviors toward Organizational Change. Full Text Available By: Shin, Jiseon; Taylor, M. Susan; Seo, Myeong-Gu. Academy of Management Journal. Jun2012, Vol. 55 Issue 3, p727-748. 22p. Adaptive Organization. Full Text Available By: Peters, Tom. Leadership Excellence. Jun2012, Vol. 29 Issue 6, p3-4. 2p. 1 Color Photograph. Raising the standard. Full Text Available By: Herbert, Ian; Bryan, Kerrine. Management Services. Summer2012, Vol. 56 Issue 2, p30-34. 5p. 2 Color Photographs, 2 Diagrams.

Exploring the Process of Ethical Leadership: The Mediating Role of Employee Voice and Psychological Ownership. Full Text Available By: Avey, James; Wernsing, Tara; Palanski, Michael. Journal of Business Ethics. Apr2012, Vol. 107 Issue 1, p21-34. 14p. 2 Diagrams, 3 Charts. DOI: 10.1007/s10551-012-1298-2. Leadership and Change: The Case for Greater Ethical Clarity. Full Text Available By: Burnes, Bernard; By, Rune. Journal of Business Ethics. Jul2012, Vol. 108 Issue 2, p239-252. 14p. 2 Diagrams. DOI: 10.1007/s10551-011-1088-2.