A taste of our quality: our experience with reengineering, developing and introducing new technology, and...

As recipient of the 1995 CLMA Quality Management Award, MDS Ontario Laboratory Division (MDS) has the great opportunity to share with the CLMR readers, through this article, highlights of our change process. These highlights have proven to be valuable learning experiences to us as an organization in health care that has undergone and continues to undergo significant change. In the course of our 5-year journey, MDS has undertaken two main change processes: restructuring and Renewal. Restructuring was a result of financial pressures placed on the organization by our single payer of service, the Ontario Government. Restructuring achieved the required results of reducing the operating expenses of the Ontario Laboratory Division. It was foreseen that one of the greatest challenges at the end of the Restructuring process would be restoring employee morale. The Renewal process began with a leaner, more flexible organization. We needed to address employee morale, and focus the organization on the future and the opportunities that it holds for the employees and the organization. Thus, we began "Building Our Future Together." The key learnings that have enabled us to transform the division successfully are based on the five principles of change: context, communication, commitment, culture, and celebration. These principles have provided the foundation from which our renewed organization will move forward.