A practitioner's view on managing change

Change will take place whether an organization plans for it or not. Change can be helpful or harmful to an individual and an organization. One can cause change, accept change, reject or fight change, or try to ignore change. The outcome from all of these actions is likely to be different. Properly managed change can benefit the individual and the organization. Dr. Atchison has provided the theory of intangible and tangible elements of an organization, examples of how two organizations developed strategies for change, and how one can measure influences in the process of motivating individuals. These theories can come alive in an organization and bring forth positive results. Changes will continue to occur at a much more rapid pace in the healthcare industry, and many internal changes will be caused by forthcoming changes in the external environment made by regulatory agencies. The voluntary nature of our healthcare industry affords our leaders the opportunity to use vision and foresight to cause and manage change for the continued improvement and further development in the delivery of healthcare. If we fail to accept this challenge and opportunity, we may only have a chance to react to the change imposed on the healthcare industry.