Change Management

Through this module, students will develop an understanding of the challenges and opportunities presented by changes in science, technology, society and organizations. Popular narratives related to the disciplines of science and technology, such as improvements to how we do things because of technological advancements, or benefits to health because of scientific development, often frame these disciplines as both providing and based upon absolute truth, and formed through singular evolutions. Such narratives present current advancements in science and technology as unproblematic and inevitable processes of evolution. These narratives often fail to take into account alternative narratives and social, political and cultural reasons for the changes, and as such present the reader a view that is, at best, static, and at worst, prejudiced. In recent years, scholars have repeatedly demonstrated that science and technology are as fluid and malleable as the people who produce them.
Through a focus on three themes of “Social Change”, “Organizational Change” and “Individual Change”, students will develop an understanding of how change occurs, why it occurs, and what we can do to anticipate, encourage and manage change, contextualized to healthcare and social care. Students will think about and discuss a range of benefits that managing and understanding change may contribute to their lives, the organizations in which they work, and society as a whole. 

Organizational change theories, and concepts regarding resistance to change will be introduced and discussed. Students will also develop knowledge of individual change. Through exploring their individual strengths and concepts of occupational identity, students will identify individual coping mechanisms and mindsets that may be employed when dealing with change. Students will discuss the potential ways of becoming both a change recipient and agent for an organization and society.