{"id":2820,"date":"2021-08-31T16:15:28","date_gmt":"2021-08-31T06:15:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?p=2820"},"modified":"2021-08-05T16:18:20","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T06:18:20","slug":"combatting-resistance-to-change-in-veterinary-organisations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?p=2820","title":{"rendered":"Combatting resistance to change in veterinary organisations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>As we step\nover the halfway point of the calendar year it is obvious that change remains a\nmajor topic. The COVID pandemic has prompted new biosecurity protocols such as\nsocial distancing and telehealth, which have to be managed alongside the soaring\ndemand on veterinary services. It has been eye-opening to study Organisational\nBehaviour whilst working as a casual veterinarian and experiencing how\ndifferent clinics have been implementing change, both successfully and\ndisastrously, in a COVID-affected world. Anecdotally it would seem that the increased\npressure on veterinary clinics has amplified cracks in pre-COVID veterinary protocols,\nprompting managers to instigate change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Resistance to\nchange is a major issue for clinic leaders and supervisors however veterinary\nschools fall short of teaching leadership skills as a core part of the\ncurriculum. With change and progress in any team being a part working life, knowing\nhow to manage change in organisations is a skill that is increasingly in demand.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Managers and\nleaders in organisations can lead change in many ways. A small clinic may have\na centralised power structure with a head veterinarian and head nurse who make changes\nwithout discussing with other staff. In contrast a leader of a multi-vet\npractice may raise an issue at a meeting for all team members to voice their\nopinion and solve the problem together in a broader, inclusive team building\nstrategy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wherever there\nis change it is human nature that resistance will follow. For some people,\nresistance is an obstacle to be overcome with full force, a \u2018take it or leave\nit\u2019 approach, though considering the veterinary shortage in Australia this knee\njerk reaction is a poorly thought-out strategy. When working with people it is\nimportant to remember that everyone will have an opinion. If you are the\ndecision maker for change in your practice you should be aware that whilst not\neveryone will agree, using the right methods you can achieve the desired\noutcome without too many hiccups. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No doubt every individual reading this has been in a\nsituation where someone at the top has made a decision without consulting\nstaff. Individuals taken by surprise routinely react with panic and immediately\nbegin to imagine all the ways in which things will go wrong. When change is resisted\nthrough this panic it is important for individuals driving change to focus on\nthe resistance as task conflict (problems with the task itself) rather than\nrelationship conflict (blaming the person resisting as having negative personal\ncharacteristics such as being lazy or irrational). Focusing on the task at\nhand, not personal qualities, helps avoid escalation of the conflict. A task\nconflict perspective also allows managers to consider that employees have not\nbeen sufficiently prepared for the change and take steps to address the\ndiscrepancy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Employees may resist change based on many different factors\nincluding:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Personal values and beliefs.<\/li><li>Not understanding the need for change or urgency.<\/li><li>Lack of confidence to be able to change or\nbelieving that the change will have negative outcomes such as poorer working\nconditions or lower pay.<\/li><li>Fear of the unknown. If employees don\u2019t understand\nthe likelihood of positive or negative outcomes from proposed changes, they are\nmuch more likely to imagine the worst. Uncertainty over future job security and\nchanging job responsibilities generates negative emotions such as worry,\ncompared to the present where risks are known and controllable. The veterinary\nindustry ranks high on uncertainty avoidance and is very risk averse, therefore\nstaff should be expected to be uncomfortable with an unknown outcome.\nVeterinarians in general like to know in minute detail how a day is going to\nrun and be prepared for any variation which may compromise patient care. &nbsp;<\/li><li>Incongruent organisational systems. If changes will\nimpact rewards, information systems, patterns of authority and career paths negatively\nthen employees are less likely to want to push ahead. For example, if the\nproposed changes will make it difficult for an employee to progress in their\ndesired career direction, then the motivation for that employee will drop\ndramatically in moving towards that change goal. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Change, based on Lewin\u2019s force field analysis model in the\nOrganisational Behaviour literature, is largely driven by increasing the forces\nfor change and weakening the restraining forces which are preventing change. At\nthe end of this period when change has been implemented, the change is \u2018frozen\u2019\nso that the organisation stops rolling forward. Driving forces to cause change\ninclude motivating employees through reward or punishment, however punishment\nalone is typically unsuccessful as it leads to an equal and opposing increase\nin restraining forces preventing the change from occurring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Six of the main strategies for weakening restraining forces\nand reducing resistance to change are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Communication<\/strong>. This is the highest valued\ntool in change management. If the organisation cannot communicate the specific\nchanges to be made and why they need to be made resistance will always be\nencountered. Fear of the unknown and perceived negative outcomes are powerful\ncomponents of resistance to change and need to be addressed from the very\noutset of a change process. Communicating strong reasons for change can\ngenerate the urgency to transition so that employees understand why the change\nis needed. In addition, leaders can motivate employees by being upfront and\ntransparent about external threats and opportunities which make the change\nessential. Teams who receive orders from above and are kept in the dark about\nwhy change is needed are more than likely to feel isolated and undervalued when\nmanagement makes changes that will directly affect them. The largest amount of\nresistance occurs when management makes changes and teams are forced to accept\nthe outcome, without prior consideration. Teams may feel sidelined and\ndistanced from the organisation instead of coming together and holding strong\nin times of uncertainty. It unfortunately still remains more common for staff\nto be notified of a change strategy after it has been selected and begun to be\nimplemented, instead of being involved in the very beginning. <\/li><li><strong>Learning<\/strong>. If the change involves\nemployees taking on different roles or completing different tasks it is\nimperative that training is provided to increase employee confidence to be able\nto perform better after implementation. Knowledge can increase employee self-efficacy\nand their ability to function effectively after the change, making them more\nlikely to accept and commit. <\/li><li><strong>Employee involvement<\/strong>. Employees who take\npart in the decision-making process feel more personal commitment and\nresponsibility to making changes succeed as they are a part of the team building\nit. When employees feel as if a decision has been made regardless of their\nopinion they can easily become disinterested in the outcome or its successful\nimplementation. Another benefit of involving employees at the beginning of the\nchange management process is that more people may provide a greater number of\ncreative alternatives to choose from. <\/li><li><strong>Stress management<\/strong>. Any change in the\nrunning of a veterinary clinic is a stressful endeavour. Uncertainty about the\nfuture can lead to high levels of anxiety and a preference to interpret\nproblems as clear signals that the change will never be successful. Chronic\nstress has clear negative effects on staff health and wellbeing. Communication,\nemployee involvement and learning have all been shown to decrease stress during\nthe change process &nbsp;however it is not\nenough. Stress management practices should be also be implemented, such as the\nprovision of support networks for employees or fostering skills in resilience\nprior to and during the change itself. &nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Negotiation<\/strong>. Where resistance is strongly\nheld, management may try to negotiate or promise certain rewards in exchange\nfor compliance with the proposed plan. This tactic can be used for individuals\nwho will otherwise be disadvantaged from the change and require some type of\nbenefit to move forward. This agreement, however, indicates only compliance\nwith and not commitment to, the change itself. Therefore, in the long term may\nbe susceptible to reverting to non-compliance.&nbsp;\n<\/li><li><strong>Coercion<\/strong>. Coercion can involve employee\npunishment such as and threatening dismissal, frequent checking of behaviour to\nmonitor compliance and repetitive reminders of obligations. This method is only\nto be used as a last resort when speed is necessary and other methods have\nproved ineffective. In a veterinary context, especially in the current\nveterinary shortage it would be an oversight to fire employees if appropriate\nreplacements are not able to be hired. The dismissal of staff is also likely to\ncause dramatic decreases in staff morale and workplace productivity if the\nchanges are not widely supported. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>These strategies for working through resistance can be\napplied to any group of people, regardless of the size of the veterinary\nbusiness. I would like to again underline the importance of communication; lack\nof vertical communication, from management to subordinates, or horizontal\ncommunication, across different levels of staff, can do enormous damage to a\nclinic or organisation even if the most effective change management strategy is\nproduced. Change is inevitable however successful change is highly dependent on\na deeper understanding of human behaviour.&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Nicole Hart BSc, DVM<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nicole Hart is a 2016 DVM graduate veterinarian working in Melbourne. She has returned to study sociology and positive psychology at the University of Melbourne and looks forward to bringing another perspective to the veterinary profession.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Source: McShane SL, Olekalns M, Newman AH, Martin\nA.&nbsp;<\/em>Organisational Behaviour\u202f: Emerging Knowledge, Global Insights. 6e<em>,\nAsia-Pacific edition. ed. McGraw-Hill Education; 2019.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As we step over the halfway point of the calendar year it is obvious that change remains a major topic. The COVID pandemic has prompted new biosecurity protocols such as social distancing and telehealth, which have to be managed alongside the soaring demand on veterinary services. It has been eye-opening to study Organisational Behaviour whilst [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[2203,2204,85,2206,2205],"class_list":["post-2820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-change","tag-nicole-hart","tag-opinion-2","tag-perspective","tag-veterinary-industries"],"rise-blocks_total_comments":0,"rise-blocks_categories":[{"term_id":82,"name":"Opinion","slug":"opinion","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":83,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":94,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":82,"category_count":94,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Opinion","category_nicename":"opinion","category_parent":0}],"rise-blocks_excerpt":"As we step over the halfway point of the calendar year it is obvious that change remains a major topic. The COVID pandemic has prompted new biosecurity protocols such as social distancing and telehealth, which have to be managed alongside the soaring demand on veterinary services. It has been eye-opening to study Organisational Behaviour whilst working as a casual veterinarian..","blog_post_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","full":""},"categories_names":{"82":{"name":"Opinion","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?cat=82"}},"tags_names":{"2203":{"name":"change","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=change"},"2204":{"name":"Nicole Hart","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=nicole-hart"},"85":{"name":"opinion","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=opinion-2"},"2206":{"name":"perspective","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=perspective"},"2205":{"name":"veterinary industries","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=veterinary-industries"}},"comments_number":"0","wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","cvmm-medium":"","cvmm-medium-plus":"","cvmm-portrait":"","cvmm-medium-square":"","cvmm-large":"","cvmm-small":"","full":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2820"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2821,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2820\/revisions\/2821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}