Significance of Resistance to Change

Resistance to Change
Student’s Name
Institution
Resistance to Change
Introduction
Change is inevitable in the modern healthcare setting that constantly calls for improvements in responsiveness, quality, and efficiency. With technology advancing at an unprecedented rate, health care organizations have to implement new changes in order to stay competitive and meet the demands of various stakeholders. While changes may be beneficial for the organization, they are not always welcome by its members. Employs react differently to change; while others see an opportunity for learning and growth, others may anticipate frustration from new systems. Resistance to change may be detrimental for the organization if not managed well. It is important for health care leaders to understand how resistance to change plays out in the healthcare setting and how they can minimize it. This paper examines the significance of resistance to change and its implications in the healthcare setting.
Significance of Resistance to Change
Resistance to change is significantly important in the healthcare setting. This is particularly because health care organizations are hard to change (Edwards & Saltman, 2017). Therefore, it is imperative that leaders in healthcare understand the dynamics of resistance to change. Resistance to change is significant because it impacts organizational commitment and effectiveness. According to Jones and Van de Ven (2016), resistance to change can reduce the commitment of the employee to the organization. Members of the organization who are against change are less likely to be committed towards the goals of the organization. Without a commitment to the organization, their input is likely to be reduced and consequently the performance of the organization negatively affected. In this context, resistance to change emerges as a key factor that impacts the performance of an organization. Jones and Van de Ven (2016) also point out that resistance to change affects the perceived effectiveness of the organization. In this case, it is important to note that the way employees perceive an organization is a key organizational performance indicator (Jones & Van de Ven, 2016). Given that resistance to change affects the effectiveness and consequently the performance of an organization, it is important that leaders in healthcare understand its dynamics.
Resistance to change may also have positive outcomes for the patient. Ethical resistance may protect patients' privacy, integrity, autonomy, quality of care, and safety. According to Nilsen, Dugstad, Eide, Gullslett, and Eide (2016) resistance to change may occur if the proposed changes appear unethical to members of the organization. In this case, resistance to change can be said to be important because it upholds ethical standards in the health care organization.
Review of Literature
One of the best practices in addressing resistance to change is delivering a behaviorally and emotionally intelligent style of leadership. In this case, the leader is supposed to take into account the behavioral needs of the members of t...