Adaptable organizations, that are capable of changing and successfully evolving, are like gardens Essay Example

Adaptable organizations, that are capable of changing and successfully evolving, are like gardens Essay Example Adaptable organizations, that are capable of changing and successfully evolving, are like gardens Paper Adaptable organizations, that are capable of changing and successfully evolving, are like gardens Paper Senge, (1998), in attributing the characteristics of a garden to adaptable organizations, is indeed true and can be asserted since a number of researchers (Anson, 2000; Bass, 2000; Lebrasseur, Whissell, Ojha, 2002; Mclagan, 2002; Higdon, 2003; Fried, Bruce 2006) support this view. An organization, like a garden, needs to be improved, maintained, and developed in order to become sustainable and capable of attracting customers that contribute to their success. Many organizations aimed at becoming more adaptable and flexible in their management approaches and strategies that goes along transformational change, which requires redesigning organizational culture, beliefs and norms in which effective decisions and actions are based (Anson, 2000, p. 24; Mclagan, 2002, p. 47). Adaptable organizations are more likely to gain competitive advantage if they are able to effectively manage change and continuously evolve to meet the challenges of increased competition in the marketplace. For instance, hospitals have recognized the need for technological innovation and management of change in order to cater to the changing needs of patients and demands of the healthcare industry and its environment (Fennell Alexander, 1993). Technological innovation is another important factor that contributes to organization’s change initiative. Information technology (IT) is capable of creating powerful actors in the global business world but it can also lead to a dramatic failure if companies lack skills in managing both internal and external influences, application and maintenance expertise, and change capability. Therefore, it should be combined with other innovations to create intangible assets like intellectual property and to increase organizations’ responsive capacity for long term benefits and better business process outcome (Laudeman, 2005). Â  IT innovation has helped organizations to overcome operation problems and revolutionize knowledge and information (Barry Slater 2005). For example, hospitals invested on advanced technology to provide access to data and information, strengthen initiatives in community activities and program implementation, reduce the patients’ waiting time, promote wise expenditures, devise better means of accommodating new patients, develop effective budgetary schemes, and improve performance-based human resource (HR) management (Fried 2006, p. 154). Collaboration, information-intensity, high standards, productivity, effective time management, sufficient financial resources, exceptional technical skills, competitiveness, and reflexivity should be readily available when adopting technological innovation since technology alone does not guarantee success (Laudeman, 2005). In addition managers must also deal with HR management, population ecology, institutional theory, and strategic choice to enhance organizational performance (Fennell Alexander, 1993, p. 90). The evolution of organizations in the healthcare industry has showed changes, especially in restructuring the patient-care delivery. HR professionals have moved to strategic roles and become partners and agents for culture change that enabled hospitals to ensure continued growth and financial stability (Anson 2000, p. 33). Healthcare organizations, in general, have evolved and they actually continue to evolve since the last half of the twentieth century due to the necessity of shifting from individualized system or patient-physician relationships to providing care by the organization itself, focusing on the role of medical professionals and practitioners, identifying ways to ensure performance, and observing federal and state regulations (Fennell and Alexander 1993, p. 90). In conclusion, organizations’ success in all industries depends on their capacity to evolve and adapt to the different challenges of the factors that affect business processes brought by inevitable change. Organizations have to undergo change and innovation to adapt to their environment and internal aspect just as gardens have to be improved to attract more people. References Anson, B. R. (2000). Taking Charge of Change in a Volatile Healthcare Marketplace. Human Resource Planning 23(4), 21-36. Barry, A. Slater, D. (eds.) (2005). The Technological Economy. New York: Routledge, 10, 158. Bass, B. M. (2000). The Future of Leadership in Learning Organizations. Journal of Leadership Studies 7(3), 18. Fennell, M. L. and Alexander, J. A. (1993). Perspectives on Organizational Change in the US Medical Care Sector. Annual Review of Sociology 19, 89-103. Fried, B. J. (2006). Prescription for Excellence: How Innovation Is Saving Canadas Healthcare System. American Review of Canadian Studies 36(1), 152-155. Higdon, L. I. Jr. (2003). Change from Within: The Challenge of Shaping the Institutional Culture. Liberal Education 89(1), 64-66. Laudeman, G. (2005). Information Technology and Community-Level Socio-Economic Development. Â  Journal of the Community Development Society 36(1), 41+. Lebrasseur, R., Whissell, R., Ojha, A. (2002). Organisational Learning, Transformational Leadership and Implementation of Continuous Quality Improvement in Canadian Hospitals. Australian Journal of Management 27(2), 141-162. Mclagan, P. A. (2002). Success with Change. TD 56(12) (December), 44-54.