Change Initiative: Creating Vision

Sample Answer for Change Initiative: Creating Vision Included After Question

Assessment Description

In a written paper of 1,250-1,500 words, evaluate the current forces driving change in your field or industry. As a leader, or considering the role of a leader, assess your organization and evaluate how well it is responding to the forces, and identify where there is a need for change. Develop a vision to inspire this change. Include the following:

  1. Describe your organization, include the organization’s mission, and identify the various stakeholders.
  2. Identify the external and internal forces that drive organizational change in your field or industry. Explain the origin or reason for these internal or external driving forces. Explain how these forces directly affect the viability of your organization.
  3. Choose one of the driving forces. Describe the specific issues this driving force creates, or will potentially create, for your organization or department.
  4. Propose the steps needed for your organization or department to respond to this driving force.
  5. Predict how employees at various levels in the organization will respond to your proposed change initiative.
  6. Develop a vision for change. Describe how this vision correlates with the organization’s mission, and how you will present this vision to internal stakeholders.
  7. Predict how you think your vision will assist internal stakeholders in supporting the change initiative. Identify potential considerations posed by stakeholders, and discuss how you will respond.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.

A Sample Answer For the Assignment: Change Initiative: Creating Vision

Title: Change Initiative: Creating Vision

Health organizations in the modern world operate in highly dynamic and complex environments. They have to embrace change and innovative interventions to ensure their sustained performance and competitiveness in their markets. Health organizations also have to understand the actual and potential needs of their consumers to provide appropriate services for their competitive edge. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore change in the organization that I work with as a nurse. The paper explores topics that include internal and external forces driving change, interventions that the organization can adopt to address the selected force, and vision for the organization.

Description of the Organization

I work with the VA Healthcare System. VA Healthcare System is an institution that was developed to address the care needs of the veterans. The healthcare system has 1293 health care facilities that include 171 VA Medical Centers and 1112 outpatient clinics. The VA Healthcare System provides a wide range of services to its stakeholders that include dermatology, vision care, audiology and speech pathology, dental, podiatry, and neurology care. It also provides services such as organ transplant as well as plastic surgeries. The mission of the VA Healthcare System is fulfill the promise of President Lincoln promise of caring for those who have borne the battle and suffered its effects by serving and honoring them as the Veterans of America. Values that include commitment, respect, advocacy, integrity and excellence drive the organization (Va.gov, n.d.). The stakeholders of the VA Healthcare System comprises mainly of the veterans and healthcare providers.

External and Internal Forces Driving Change

Internal and external factors drive change in the VA Healthcare System. Culture is the first internal factor that drives change in the organization. Culture refers to the manner in which organizational stakeholders that include healthcare providers act, decide, and respond to situations. It encompasses the values, beliefs and practices the provision of patient care in the organization. Enabling culture characterized by teamwork, effective leadership, innovation, and open communication is important for organizational excellence (Valenzuela et al., 2020). VA Healthcare System should consider the above cultural aspects to achieve its performance targets and standards.

The other internal factor driving change in VA Healthcare System is leadership. Organizational leadership is important for the realization of the desired goals and objectives. The leaders of VA Healthcare System have the responsibility of ensuring that the employees are motivated to adopt behaviors that align with the mission of the organization. They also empower the healthcare providers to patient-centered models of care that respond to the current and emerging needs of the patients (Sfantou et al., 2017). The leadership therefore ensures the effective implementation of change in the organization by ensuring that innovative interventions are utilized to achieve the mission and vision of the organization.

The external factor that is driving change in VA Healthcare System is legislation. VA Healthcare System is a government institution that provides care to veterans in the state. The organization operates in alignment with the legal provisions that guide healthcare organizations. It has to embrace change initiatives that align with legal requirements such as HIPAA for the utilization of health information systems. The organization also has to ensure that it protects the rights of its stakeholders in providing its care services (Ali et al., 2021). For instance, it must ensure that patients have access to high quality, safe and efficient care. It also has to transform its systems and processes to ensure that it is responsive to the current and emerging needs in healthcare. Therefore, legislation is a critical external force that contributes to change in the VA Healthcare System.

Technology is the other external force that drives change in the VA Healthcare System. Health organizations in the modern world largely utilize health technologies to achieve their performance objectives. Health technologies are associated with benefits that include enhanced safety, efficiency and quality. VA Healthcare System has to adopt modern technologies to lead in the provision of patient-centered care. It has to utilize systems such as telehealth to enhance care coordination in providing services to its stakeholders. It also has to remain up-to-date with the current technological advances in healthcare to ensure its performance and competitiveness (Christensen, 2018). Therefore, VA Healthcare System has to constantly explore evolving technologies to provide appropriate services to its populations, hence, acting as a source of change.

Change Initiative Creating Vision
Change Initiative Creating Vision

Selected Force

The selected force that drives change in the organization is culture. As noted initially, culture refers to the ways in which things are done in an organization. Culture is created with a number of issues in the organization. Firstly, it increases the need for the provision of culturally appropriate care to veterans by the healthcare providers. Healthcare providers have to ensure that the care that patients receive aligns with their values, needs, beliefs, and preferences. Culture also creates conflicts and misunderstandings among the healthcare providers. VA Healthcare System has healthcare providers from different backgrounds. The diversity implies that the risk for cultural conflicts and misunderstandings on the interpretation of needs exists. The conflicts may hinder the efficiency of teamwork and collaboration strategies utilized to achieve the desired care outcomes in the organization (Arefin et al., 2020). Therefore, as a driving force for change, the organization has to be sensitive in the strategies it utilizes to ensure their cultural appropriateness.

Steps for the Organization

VA Healthcare System is required to embrace a number of steps to respond effectively to cultural needs of the different stakeholders in healthcare. One of the steps is the provision of patient-centered care. The care given to patients in VA Healthcare System should target the unique needs of the veterans. The values, beliefs, preferences, and practices of the veterans should be incorporated into the care process. The needs of the veterans should be prioritized in decision-making (McCalman et al., 2017). The utilization of patient-centered interventions contributes to cultural competency since patients are empowered to play an active role in the care process.

The other step that should be considered in VA Healthcare System is offering training on culture-related issues to healthcare providers. Regular training opportunities are needed to raise the knowledge and skills of the healthcare providers on offering culturally appropriate care. Training also builds their competence on ways in which organizational systems and processes can be transformed to support the provision of culturally sensitive care. The other step is providing care that addresses barriers to care. An example is focusing on the use of interventions such as interpreters and decision aids to eliminate communication barriers in VA care. Community workers can also be involved in the provision of care to veterans to enhance care coordination. Addressing barriers to access to care will improve patient satisfaction with care, adherence to treatment and enhance their quality of life (Abrishami, 2018). The additional steps that are needed for the organization include the incorporation of culturally appropriate values and attitudes into tools of health promotion, including family members in decision-making and expanding linguistic competency beyond the patient encounter in the clinical settings.

Prediction of Employee Response

The employees in the organization will support the above interventions to ensure cultural competence in the organization. Cultural competence is a critical skill for healthcare providers to offer appropriate care to diverse populations. The cultural needs of patients often change, increasing the need for cultural awareness among the healthcare providers. The healthcare providers in the institution understand that culturally appropriate care contributes to outcomes such as patient satisfaction, empowerment and involvement in the care process. Therefore, the employees in all the levels of the organization are likely to support the implementation of the above interventions to promote patient care.

Vision for Change

The employees in VA Healthcare System do not appear to behave in accordance with the mission of the institution. The employees have a negative attitude towards the use of culturally appropriate interventions to meet the vision of the organization. Therefore, my vision of change is to create an organization where the employees understand the importance of cultural competence in contributing to the realization of the organizational mission.

How the Vision will assist Internal Stakeholders

The vision will assist internal stakeholders in supporting the change initiative. The vision will help the employees learn about culturally appropriate behaviors in the provision of patient care. They will also learn about the strategies needed to promote the creation of a culturally inclusive environment in the organization. Lastly, the vision will help internal stakeholders to learn effective strategies for sustaining culturally appropriate interventions in patient care. Some of the potential considerations that the stakeholders may pose include cost and benefit analysis of the interventions, sustainability strategies and ways of ensuring that the healthcare providers support the intervention. I will respond to them using evidence-based data about the importance of the interventions and providing training for the healthcare providers.

Change Initiative: Creating Vision Conclusion

In summary, change is important for organizational success. Change enables health organizations to embrace innovative strategies to address current and unidentified needs. Internal and external factors drive change in VA Healthcare System. VA Healthcare System should embrace interventions that ensure culturally appropriate care is offered to the stakeholders. Through it, the needs of the patients and other stakeholders will be addressed effectively.

 

Change Initiative: Creating Vision References

Abrishami, D. (2018). The Need for Cultural Competency in Health Care. Radiologic Technology, 89(5), 441–448.

Ali, A., Iqbal, S., Haider, S. A., Tehseen, S., Anwar, B., Sohail, M., & Rehman, K. (2021). Does Governance in Information Technology Matter When It Comes to Organizational Performance in Pakistani Public Sector Organizations? Mediating Effect of Innovation. SAGE Open, 11(2), 21582440211016556. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211016557

Arefin, Md. S., Hoque, Md. R., & Rasul, T. (2020). Organizational learning culture and business intelligence systems of health-care organizations in an emerging economy. Journal of Knowledge Management, 25(3), 573–594. https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-09-2019-0517

Christensen, J. K. B. (2018). The Emergence and Unfolding of Telemonitoring Practices in Different Healthcare Organizations. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(1), 61. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15010061

McCalman, J., Jongen, C., & Bainbridge, R. (2017). Organisational systems’ approaches to improving cultural competence in healthcare: A systematic scoping review of the literature. International Journal for Equity in Health, 16(1), 78. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-017-0571-5

Sfantou, D. F., Laliotis, A., Patelarou, A. E., Sifaki- Pistolla, D., Matalliotakis, M., & Patelarou, E. (2017). Importance of Leadership Style towards Quality of Care Measures in Healthcare Settings: A Systematic Review. Healthcare, 5(4), 73. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare5040073

Va.gov. (n.d.). About VA [Homepage]. Retrieved from https://www.va.gov/ABOUT_VA/index.asp

Valenzuela, M. A., Flinchbaugh, C., & Rogers, S. E. (2020). Can organizations help adjust?: The effect of perceived organizational climate on immigrants’ acculturation and consequent effect on perceived fit. Journal of International Management, 26(3), 100775. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intman.2020.100775

Lopes Write Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to Lopes Write, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.

Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.

Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?

Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.

Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.

If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.

I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.

As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

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Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:

Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.

Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

Important information for writing discussion questions and participation

Welcome to class

Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to

I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.

Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.

If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.

Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.

Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.

I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

Hi Class,

Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Important information on Writing a Discussion Question

  • Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
  • There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
  • Include in-text citations in your response
  • Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
  • Follow APA-7th edition
  • Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor

  • A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
  • Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
  • Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
  • Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
  • Follow APA 7th edition
  • Points will be deducted if the above is not followed
  • Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
  • Here are some helpful links
  • Student paper example
  • Citing Sources
  • The Writing Center is a great resource

As we begin this session, I would like to take this opportunity to clarify my expectations for this course:

Please note that GCU Online weeks run from Thursday (Day 1) through Wednesday (Day 7).

 

Course Room Etiquette:

  • It is my expectation that all learners will respect the thoughts and ideas presented in the discussions.
  • All postings should be presented in a respectful, professional manner. Remember – different points of view add richness and depth to the course!

 

Office Hours:

  • My office hours vary so feel free to shoot me an email at Kelly.[email protected] or my office phone is 602.639.6517 and I will get back to you within one business day or as soon as possible.
  • Phone appointments can be scheduled as well. Send me an email and the best time to call you, along with your phone number to make an appointment.
  • I welcome all inquiries and questions as we spend this term together. My preference is that everyone utilizes the Questions to Instructor forum. In the event your question is of a personal nature, please feel free to post in the Individual Questions for Instructor forum I will respond to all posts or emails within 24 or sooner.

 

Late Policy and Grading Policy

Discussion questions:

  • I do not mark off for late DQ’s.
  •  I would rather you take the time to read the materials and respond to the DQ’s in a scholarly way, demonstrating your understanding of the materials.
  • I will not accept any DQ submissions after day 7, 11:59 PM (AZ Time) of the week.
  • Individual written assignments – due by 11:59 PM AZ Time Zone on the due dates indicated for each class deliverable.

Assignments:

  • Assignments turned in after their specified due dates are subject to a late penalty of -10%, each day late, of the available credit. Please refer to the student academic handbook and GCU policy.
  • Any activity or assignment submitted after the due date will be subject to GCU’s late policy
  • Extenuating circumstances may justify exceptions, which are at my sole discretion. If an extenuating circumstance should arise, please contact me privately as soon as possible.
  • No assignments can be accepted for grading after midnight on the final day of class.
  • All assignments will be graded in accordance with the Assignment Grading Rubrics

Participation

  • Participation in each week’s Discussion Board forum accounts for a large percentage of your final grade in this course.
  • Please review the Course Syllabus for a comprehensive overview of course deliverables and the value associated with each.
  • It is my expectation that each of you will substantially contribute to the course discussion forums and respond to the posts of at least three other learners.
  • substantive post should be at least 200 words. Responses such as “great posts” or “I agree” do not meet the active engagement expectation.
  • Please feel free to draw on personal examples as you develop your responses to the Discussion Questions but you do need to demonstrate your understanding of the materials.
  • I do expect outside sources as well as class materials to formulate your post.
  • APA format is not necessary for DQ responses, but I do expect a proper citation for references.
  • Please use peer-related journals found through the GCU library and/or class materials to formulate your answers. Do not try to “Google” DQ’s as I am looking for class materials and examples from the weekly materials.
  • will not accept responses that are from Wikipedia, Business dictionary.com, or other popular business websites. You will not receive credit for generic web searches – this does not demonstrate graduate-level research.
  • Stay away from the use of personal pronouns when writing. As a graduate student, you are expected to write based on research and gathering of facts. Demonstrating your understanding of the materials is what you will be graded on. You will be marked down for lack of evidence to support your ideas.

Plagiarism

  • Plagiarism is the act of claiming credit for another’s work, accomplishments, or ideas without appropriate acknowledgment of the source of the information by including in-text citations and references.
  • This course requires the utilization of APA format for all course deliverables as noted in the course syllabus.
  • Whether this happens deliberately or inadvertently, whenever plagiarism has occurred, you have committed a Code of Conduct violation.
  • Please review your LopesWrite report prior to final submission.
  • Every act of plagiarism, no matter the severity, must be reported to the GCU administration (this includes your DQ’s, posts to your peers, and your papers).

Plagiarism includes:

  • Representing the ideas, expressions, or materials of another without due credit.
  • Paraphrasing or condensing ideas from another person’s work without proper citation and referencing.
  • Failing to document direct quotations without proper citation and referencing.
  • Depending upon the amount, severity, and frequency of the plagiarism that is committed, students may receive in-class penalties that range from coaching (for a minor omission), -20% grade penalties for resubmission, or zero credit for a specific assignment. University-level penalties may also occur, including suspension or even expulsion from the University.
  • If you are at all uncertain about what constitutes plagiarism, you should review the resources available in the Student Success Center. Also, please review the University’s policies about plagiarism which are covered in more detail in the GCU Catalog and the Student Handbook.
  • We will be utilizing the GCU APA Style Guide 7th edition located in the Student Success Center > The Writing Center for all course deliverables.

LopesWrite

  • All course assignments must be uploaded to the specific Module Assignment Drop Box, and also submitted to LopesWrite every week.
  • Please ensure that your assignment is uploaded to both locations under the Assignments DropBox. Detailed instructions for using LopesWrite are located in the Student Success Center.

Assignment Submissions

  • Please note that Microsoft Office is the software requirement at GCU.
  • I can open Word files or any file that is saved with a .rtf (Rich Text Format) extension. I am unable to open .wps files.
  • If you are using a “.wps” word processor, please save your files using the .rtf extension that is available from the drop-down box before uploading your files to the Assignment Drop Box.

Grade of Incomplete

  • The final grade of Incomplete is granted at the discretion of the instructor; however, students must meet certain specific criteria before this grade accommodation is even possible to consider.
  • The grade of Incomplete is reserved for times when students experience a serious extenuating circumstance or a crisis during the last week of class which prevents the completion of course requirements before the close of the grading period. Students also must pass the course at the time the request is made.
  • Please contact me personally if you are having difficulties in meeting course requirements or class deadlines during our time together. In addition, if you are experiencing personal challenges or difficulties, it is best to contact the Academic Counselor so that you can discuss the options that might be available to you, as well as each option’s academic and financial repercussions.

Grade Disputes

  • If you have any questions about a grade you have earned on an individual assignment or activity, please get in touch with me personally for further clarification.
  • While I have made every attempt to grade you fairly, on occasion a misunderstanding may occur, so please allow me the opportunity to learn your perspective if you believe this has occurred. Together, we should be able to resolve grading issues on individual assignments.
  • However, after we have discussed individual assignments’ point scores, if you still believe that the final grade you have earned at the end of the course is not commensurate with the quality of work you produced for this class, there is a formal Grade Grievance procedure which is outlined in the GCU Catalog and Student Handbook.