Case study discussion - B7

The preparation for week 8 consisted of reading four different case studies and then answering the questions in the form of presentation on one of the given case studies. My groups’ case study was about the employee absenteeism in the care home for elderly. Other case studies dealt with different issues like primary care in India, working in a dairy production company and effectiveness of orthopaedic care.

The concept of the lecture was for each of the four groups to present their suggestions which would then be discussed in class and afterwards compared with the actual results. Some of the groups offered their conclusions without the involvement of certain models of change and other groups mainly used Kotter’s 8 step model of change. These presentations and case studies helped me realise that problems that occurred were mostly based on inefficiency or inability to meet certain production standards. Either care was forgone due to the lack of staff or due to bad planning and complexity. But, for this blog, I would like to leave themes of the case studies behind and focus more on the layout of the lecture.

This was one of the few times that we had a chance to compare our own ideas to the ideas of experts in given fields. After each presentation, we were able to see what was actually conducted and what the outcomes were. I find this approach to be really useful because it helped me see that change can be long lasting and uncertain. In the case of the dairy production company, some changes did not take place until a couple of years after initial implementation. Also, I realised that external consultants sometimes work from a better position because they operate without bias and can be determined enough to make big changes. Additionally, we saw that the culture and indeterminacy of labour have a big influence on the overall performance of the organisation. Technology and problems that can arise with it were also brought forward which showed that numerous factors need to align in order for the business to be able to yield beneficial results. All these factors were covered by only four case studies offering valuable insights into problems that companies face when change is needed.

Therefore, I would argue that companies that consist of different departments could find this approach beneficial. I believe that because when the problem occurs there is a high chance that someone external to the department knows how to solve it. It is hard to know what other companies have done in similar situations unless they have shared it with everybody and thus, neighbouring departments may prove to be a fruitful source of information. If companies’ management organised occasional meetings where departments could share their experience and approach to change, it could help other departments tailor their change plan for the future. It would create some form of free semi-external consultancy allowing the company to reuse good ideas and keep their processes secret from competitors. Sometimes people can get carried away and become incapable of seeing out of the box. In this situation, a small stimulant as story sharing or reflection on somebody else’s work can indeed be a game changer.

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