Lippitt’s Theory of Change
Change theories bring out predictable outcomes through implementation of events so that goals set for the achievement of the planned changes realize. It is essential to retain nurses in the organization so that the remaining nurses are not exhausted. The retention ensures that the care provides in equally distributed, readily available, safe and effective. The retention of new nurses is done through promoting a civil workplace environment. The plan realizes through educating the nurses about their collaborative roles in linking care provision, feedback and efficient communication. The paper evaluates the SWOT analysis of promoting a civil workplace environment based on Lippitt’s theory of change.
Lippitt’s Theory of Change
Lippit’s theory advocates for an external agent to plan and effect the change. Therefore, the nurse leader is the external agent who identifies the problem and calls for a meeting to make known of the problem and decide on the effective ways of mitigating the problem. Once the organization collectively agrees o the existence of the problem, which is the retention of the new nurses, the leader assesses the need for the change for the affected parties. The leaders address the issues encountered through motivations. The change agent is then brought in trough selecting a qualified individual with proficient skills in realizing the success of the change.
Moreover, the leader defines a comprehensive plan that accurately sets the deadline of the change, responsibilities of members of the organization, towards the implementation of the change, strategies used, and outcomes expected. The next step then involves the definition of the roles of the change agent. The agent has to identify their position so that resentments and misunderstandings are evaded. The change agent has to be progressive, easy to talk to and flexible. The last stage awards the organization the mandative role of creating policies that define the change proposed for implementation. In this point, the change agent is let go so that the organization can live up to the expectations set. Therefore, the theory identified the need for hiring human resource and workplace educators to educate the nurses on the benefits of a positive and healthy work environment.
The Retention of New Nurses
Retaining new nurses has become a significant problem in the organization. The question to be addressed is increasing nurse turnover. The pain is experienced when new nurses experience an overwhelming workflow, mandatory overtime, and incremental over time. New nurses are vulnerable because they are leaning to work in different sectors within the organization and triggers to unsatisfied health practices are infinite. Therefore, the new nurses experience workload, new relationships, new policies and regulations that may seem overwhelming. Such problems result in poor communication and collaborations within the organization that may result in conflicts. Nurses unable to address the challenges opt to resign from their duties.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths of the Proposed Change
Promoting workplace civility is vital in realizing nurse retention and reduced nurse turnover rates. Through the change agent, medical practitioners will be educated on communication skills that accurately define the collaboration of healthcare providers within the scope of care. The education will also reduce the medication errors brought about by strained relationships between nurses. New nurses should be able to ask for help without being judged so that they can also confirm their skills through mentorship by existing nurses. The change will also increase patient satisfaction because a positive environment reflects on patient outcomes and experiences.
Weaknesses of the Proposed Change based on the Organization
The organization has to evaluate its policies in determining how it affects collaboration by nurses. The leadership recognizes the efficiency of the system in creating a sustainable bridge of collaborative care approaches. The change may fail if the organization fails to hire a professional change agent with enough skill and experience to integrate the change for implementation. Additionally, the organization has to initialize the performance of the change through ensuring that the staff identify the existence of the problem. Once the problem is identified, addressing it for change is quick.
Opportunities for Improved Outcomes
The opportunities that arise with the implementation of the SWOT analysis include knowledge sharing and mentorship programs. It is sufficient to mentor the new nurses in their quest for expertise. The nurses develop different skills, including efficient communication, time management, and collaboration. The change will institute policies that require medical practitioners to work together towards a common goal. Therefore, the organization develops motivational mentorship programs. The programs will help sustain workplace relationships both personally and professionally so that new nurses have a choice to stay.
Internal and External Threats of the Proposed Change
Threats limit the success of a proposal because challenges presumed to be experienced a lot. In the organization, there might be exaggerated goals set by the leaders that may take a longer time than expected to be realized. Additionally, the policies that the organization may change may be limited to inexperience. The proposed policies have to be evidence-based. The guidelines have to follow through with regulatory bodies so that they do not coincide with the autonomy of medical practitioners and their respective responsibilities. The external threats depend on the beliefs about nursing as a profession. The profession is rumoured to be critical in overtime schedules. The nurses fear the resulted in fatigue expected from the work. These threats limit the successful implementation of the change. Another danger posed is the assumptions made by the change agent about the organization. The image of the organization in terms of success orientation and implementation may limit the proposed change.
Conclusion
There are a lot of challenges that new nurses experience in an organization. The challenges limit their ability to perform routine tasks and relate with professional peers. Therefore, the unhealthy relationship determines the mentorship expected for their professional growth. In the implementation of the change in workplace civility, the SWOT analysis links the success and limitations of the change. The change agent has to specifically draw in the strengths of the plan, while at the same time understand some of the forces that limit the change implementation. The initiation of the change is a step at a time, to maintain an inclusive change catering for diverse stakeholders of the organization.