What can we do that is different from and better than what our competitors do?
\Start by asking the right questions, such as:
1. Where are we now? What is unique about us? What should our business be?
2. What can we do that is different from and better than what our competitors do?
3. What is the driving stimulus in our organization? What determines how we make our final decisions?
4. What prevents us from moving in the direction we wish to go?
5. What kind of change is required?
This last question generates integrative thinking on the potential effect of change on the system. Organizational change involves modifications in the system’s interacting components: technology, structure, and people.
Introducing new technology changes the structure of the organization. The physical plant may be altered if new services are added and then relationships among the people who work in the system change when the structure is changed. Surveillance cameras, cell phones, mag- netic entry cards, bar codes, and communication technology, including social media, have al- tered the care environment as much as they’ve changed our personal world. New rules and regulations, new authority structures, and new budgeting methods may emerge. They, in turn, change staffing needs, requiring people with different skills, knowledge bases, attitudes, and motivations.