Benchmark: Employee Benefits Change Initiative

Benchmark: Employee Benefits Change Initiative

Every organization needs employeeswho are ready to work towards the set objectives, which means they must be happy with the benefits allocated to them. The realization of goals depends on the effectiveness motivation approaches. At the organization, employee claim that the management is self-serving and is not responsive to employee needs and interests. There is no evidence of a system that targets workforce development, thus hindering the performance of duties. The problem with workforce is overconcentration on profits through increased working time with lower compensation. While the structure outlines employee expectations, it does not sufficiently consider employee welfare. The employees feel left out characterized by negative attitude and not all align with organization vision.

Factors Contributing to Employee Discontent

From the establishment of the establishment of the institution, the job description defines employee expectation and compensation, but does not take care of future welfare needs that aid employee performance. The top management appears to concentrate on structural development but leaves out the labor. Employees would like to have better welfare packages that include health coverage, safety and education loans and grants.Employees welfare stands out as one of the most crucial aspect of leadership in every organization. The employee also claims that some of the services offered by the hospital come at higher prices, which reduces their expendable income; most employees would opt for health insurance services at a lower cost. A poor employee welfare system contributes to delays in theprovision of medical services. Employees need to feel that their own healthcare needs are well taken care of by their organization so that they maybe in a position to provide the same medical services.

According to Kouzes & Posner (2012), there are numerous benefits that come with offering employees’ healthcare benefits. These authors are of the perception that medical benefits attract and also retain the most qualified employees in an organization. Retaining the most competent professionals in an organization plays a crucial role in steering the organization towards achieving their daily objectives. Furthermore, legislations such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act demands that every organizations with more than 50 full-time employees should provide health adequate health coverage. Failure to do so can lead to the organization being subjected to assessment especially if the employees buy their own insurance through premium tax credits. This mandate was effected back in 2015; hence, one can argue that offering employees health benefits helps an organization avoid care reform assessments. Kouzes & Posner (2012), are of the perception that offering employees healthcare benefits offers them group purchasing power. They argue that even though an organization may not contribute directly into its employee’s health insurance, it can offer them the opportunity to obtain significant group rates. This also leads to another advantage that comes with offering employees’ medication benefits; ensuring the wellness of the entire workforce.

From this information, it is evident that there are a lot of advantages that come with offering employees’ healthcare benefits. These advantages play a significant role towards ensuring that an organization achieves its set objectives. Bolman& Deal (2013), are of the perception that the attitude of a workforce goes a long way towards creating a good work environment in an organization. It also promotes good work relationship as well as hard work among the work force.

From the provided information, one can argue that the separation or human resource development from other employment target is working against the goals of the organization and need alignment with the organization development agenda. To change the situation, leadership must adopt an alternative perception of the need for employee development; thedecision regarding employee welfare should emerge from consultations with the affected workforce.

Stakeholders

The stakeholders involved include allemployee, top management, and the human resource department. The human resource department administrator and management have a role to play in the realization of the organization goals. The boards of thedirector must also play a role in outlining expectation and what they would receive in reward; it must define the level of benefits essential to keep employee job satisfaction level work for the organization.

Role of the Leader in Effecting Change

An organization change cannot take place unless the leaders play their role as the key driver of change. Change arise from the leader as human resources, in this case, the focus is on the use of human elements to effect change, and this may call for training, staff development, and empowerment and employee adaptation to the required status. The leader is symbolic, in this theory, a leader maximize on the belief that people have a particular value (Bolman& Deal, 2013). Whichever the method used, change is possible. However, the leader must make sure that the approach rhymes with the intended outcome. The type of leadership need to effect change must be facilitative. According to behavioral theories, people often define their roles and expectation from others, rewards makes employee express their best behaviors, the task of role employee benefits falls in the hands of the interacting parties and in doing they choose a position of privilege (Bolman& Deal, 2013). Thus, thedepartment may free them of responsibility to employees. A leader must be in a position to align the expectations ofemployee and compensation; this calls for adebate between the concerned parties in coming up with a better working formula.

Change Agents

The most critical change agent in the case is leadership since the leader is responsible for the behavior of the employee and well as their compensation. Human resources departmental leaders are therefore critical to the change. The object of change is achievable when employee compensation scheme is in harmony organization goals. The leader focuses on the external that affects the employee expectation, thus, they must place emphasis on the overall organization interest, building agood working relationship and negotiating for better benefit schemes.

Application of Change Model

The change model targets to implement a better employee benefits scheme, the success of the project depends on leadership roles, Thus, the model is relevant to the organization since it provides a new dimension in the leadership and improves the leadership capability of the individuals in the organization. The change will require the board to define the roles of each department and expectation in terms of correspondence. By using the model, it is possible to come up with a working framework. Additionally, the change model will also lead to the execution of better implementation of changes in the organization. The change model will also lead to the continuous improvement of the changes in the organization. The change model is relevant for the organization since it leads to the changes in the organizational culture. Contrary to the current situation in which each department have different perceptions of their role, the change will result in a culture of the organization. Leaders will have to operate in synchrony by following well-defined roles; this will be effective in the realization of organization goals. In order to achieve effective organizational change, the model would have diverse effects to the leadership.

The organizational change model will provide a coherent approach in determining how leadership works at the organization.  Additionally, the organizational will also assist in identifying leadership actions that leaders should undertake when facing changes in the organization (Fawcett &Desanto-Madeya, 2012). The change model is essential for the organization since it enables the organization to restructure the organizational culture during the change. According toBolman& Deal, (2013), the organization will be in a position to confirm their vision, values, and behaviors during the change. Moreover, the change model enables the organization to realign the visions and values according to the new changes.

The change model is also critical for the organization since it enables the employees to change their individual values and improve their capacity to handle the changes that happen in the organization. Finally, it has implications on the individual leadership actions of the organization. The change model has critical implications for the organization. The impact of the changes to the organization is holistic. Therefore, the organization change model will enable the organization to develop an operative model to respond to the various changes affecting the organization. The change model will also help in the realignment of the roles of the employees to effectively improve theperformance of the employees despite the changes in the organization. The change model will also improve governance of the organization when responding to the changes affecting the organization. New quality standards in healthcare services require theorganization to be vigilant and responsive thus calling a change.

 

Overcoming Barriers to Change

The success of a change project depends on the characteristics and the perception of the stakeholders to the change, particularly the management and the employees (Lai, 2009). Stakeholder in the organization must have the same opinion with reference to the change. While a change can bring positive inputs into the organization, the management may pose resistance to a change that increases expenditures, the normal benefit schemes may have to change. The project will rely on understanding among all stakeholders on the reasons why such a change in essential for the success of the organization. One approach to overcoming barriers will be increasing management awareness of the need to a satisfied employee population. Since the organization works towards a common objective, the level of resistance expected will be minimal. Leaders must be part of thechange; thus, they need to be aware of their roles in the change process.

Evaluation of Success

The success of the change will reflect on stakeholder perception of the outcomes. To assess the outcome, the project will conduct afull assessment of the actual condition and compares the result of the assessment with the deliverables set at the beginning of the project. Realization of the deliverables will mean a good direction for the organization. The stakeholder will judge the change by rating the level of achievement of each deliverable on a scale of 1 to 5. Positive response implies realization of the set objectives indicating that employee are satisfied with employment benefit and a positive change in input will mean progress, otherwise, there will be a need to revise the project.

 

Anchoring Change

To ensure that the change becomes a permanent part of the organization. The management must regularly monitor its application to check for areas of deviation and correct. Without regular monitoring, the organization can swing back to its traditional ways thus hindering theachievement of the organization objectives. Since the change is at the management levels, it will be easy to assess. The leadership position allows the agents to exercise change as a duty, this may transform into an organization-wide culture. The change can become a culture of the organization; thus, will remaining persistent and aligned with organization mission.

Relevance of Change to Organization Goals/Mission

For change to happen, an organization must adapt a model that matches the needed change. The gives an outline the different direction through which an organization can take to effect change. One of the model approaches in considering the organization structure, the focus is the structural elements such as organization strategy, adoption, and implementation of the system. A change will be effective if it aligns with the organization goals and vision. The organization aims to provide quality health services; thus, it desires to have anemployee willing to work with the current benefits. Thus, the project aligns with organization-wide goals and will be easy to implement.

 

References

Bolman, L & Deal, T. (2013). Reframing Organizations (1st ed.). San Francisco, California: Jossey-Bass.

Fawcett, J &Desanto-Madeya, S. (2012).Contemporary nursing knowledge: Analysis and evaluation of nursing models and theories. FA Davis.

Hayes, J. (2014). The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave Macmillan.

Kouzes, M & Posner, B. (2012). The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations. New York: Jossey-Bass.

Pentland, B. T., Feldman, M. S., Becker, M. C., & Liu, P. (2012). Dynamics of organizational routines: A generative model. Journal of Management Studies, 49(8), 1484-1508.