Rethinking organizational change in the COVID-19 era

Abstract

Planned organizational change has a long history in formal organizations of all types. A model of planned organizational change from the existing literature can be used to identify a set of principles which can be offered for use during the current COVID-19 crisis, but this traditional model may not be fully adequate during this especially challenging period. A relatively new model from the field of complexity theory for organizations, Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS), offers promise for addressing the unique crisis conditions facing hospitals in the COVID-19 era. These conditions require constant assessment; ongoing high levels of communication; and iterative cycles of experimentation, reflection and learning, which can be better addressed in a CAS framework. Healthcare providers are experiencing periods of relative calm and interspersed crisis, which need to be proactively recognized and managed through sustained, "big picture" changes using timely combinations of traditional methods, complexity approaches, with the flexibility and ethical considerations of crisis management strategies built in. Successful crisis management requires leadership skills of those involved in decision-making at the local level, with a preference for the use of inclusive and adaptive leadership styles. Innovative strategies, teamwork, and crisis management models that have recently emerged may enable deeper systemic change in the long term. Any hospital or program in a healthcare system should be able to use this material to address a significant organizational change need.

Who Cares What the Doctor Feels: The Responsibility of Health Politics for Burnout in the Pandemic

“…Many doctors would have preferred to avoid involvement in politics altogether, but that is no longer possible in the pandemic. Burnout is directly related to political decisions, organization, work structure, and the ability to face up to and deal with stressful factors at work [7].…”

Impact of role stress, job burnout and job insecurity on job performance during pandemic COVID-19 among private hospital employees in Surakarta, Indonesia

“…A few investigations have recorded adverse consequences of occupation weakness on the emotional well-being of impacted representatives, including a more elevated level of burnout [42] and mental distress [25]. Individual staff limit with respect to change streams from authoritative preparation factors during the Coronavirus pandemic time, including staff capacity to bear vagueness [2], which might increment when the change makes workers have an unreliable outlook on their positions. Frailty at work significantly affects job burnout [43] on the grounds that representatives experiencing burnout have exhausted mental and actual energy [44].…”

“…This study has several limitations: (1) this study administered the questionnaire to the respondents directly, the answered questionnaire describes respondent's perception; (2) This study asked the employees to answer questions related to their own performance, which is prone to bias. To avoid bias, future studies are recommended to (1) involve supervisors and executives to answer questions related to employee performance (2). Future studies are recommended to investigate other service industries, such as banking or educational institutions.…”

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has become a controversial issue that forces people to change their lifestyles to survive. COVID-19 crisis requires organizations to engage with immediate, holistic changes, notably healthcare institution that needs quick, broad, and deep services from the frontline employees to attain the goal [2]. The problems faced by management in organizations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic can definitely affect employee behaviour.…”

Organizational Changes Needed in Disasters and Public Health Emergencies: A Qualitative Study among Managers at a Major Hospital

“…The current COVID-19 pandemic might act as a good example, demonstrating both an emerging hazard and the inability of the current contingency systems to provide proper management (Goniewicz et al 2020). Nevertheless, although plans and systems may have failed to stop the spread of COVID-19, they are still beneficial for other emergencies, since identified changes and acquired awareness of the varying risks and hazards can be used to alter existing plans and organizations (WHO 2019;Choflet et al 2021).…”