Explain why nurses have the opportunity to be change agents.
Key Terms Change Change agent Driving forces
1. Explain why nurses have the opportunity to be change agents.
2. Describe how different theorists explain change.
3. Discuss how the change process is similar to the nursing process.
4. Differentiate among change strategies. 5. Discuss how to handle resistance to
change. 6. Describe the nurse’s role in change.
Learning Outcomes After completing this chapter, you will be able to:
Empirical–rational model Normative–reeducative
strategies
Power-coercive strategies Restraining forces Transitions
56 PART 1 • UNDERSTANDING NURSING MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONS
Why Change? Change is inevitable, if not always welcome. Organizational change is essential for adaptation; creative change is mandatory for growth (Heath & Heath, 2010). Change, though, is a continu- ally unfolding process rather than an either/or event. The process begins with the present state, is disrupted, moves through a transition period, and ultimately comes to a desired state. Once the desired state has been reached, however, the process begins again.
Leading change is never needed more in today’s rapidly evolving system of health care. Those who initiate and manage change often encounter resistance. Even when planned, it can be threatening and a source of conflict because change is the process of making something different from what it was. There is a sense of loss of the familiar, the status quo. This is particu- larly true when change is unplanned or beyond human control. Even when change is expected and valued, a grief reaction still may occur.