Master of Health Studies/
Master of Nursing (MHST/NURS) 621

Introduction

Change is the one element consistent across all types of organizations that affects people at all levels within each type of organization. Change is a constant we all, no matter what our discipline, must learn how to thrive within. As successful health care leaders, the affect of change on the humans within our organizations becomes one of our priorities. Yet, for something so common, our general understanding of change is often limited.

This course provides us with the opportunity to study organizational change in depth maintaining the focus on how change affects people and how we can help others, and ourselves, to survive and thrive in a constantly changing work environment.

Course Goals

By the conclusion of this course students will be able to:

1. evaluate the multi-dimensional nature of organizational change,
2. explain political, economic, technological, and sociocultural influences on organizational change,
3. appraise the influence of overt and covert aspects of organizational life on change,
4. apply hard and soft systems models of organizational change to real-life case situations,
5. summarize key trends that may prompt micro and macro level organizational change in the future, and
6. debate the influence of ethics on organizational change.

Course Materials

Course Textbook

Online Materials

Course readings are located online and are accessible through individual Web addresses (URLs) - I also encourage you to find and read one extra article each week. Please share the addresses with the rest of the class during discussion

Course Outline

NURS 621 consists of the following 10 units

Unit 1: Orientation and Overview: Organizations and Their Changing Environments
Unit 2: Types of Change
Unit 3: Organizational Structure, Design and Change
Unit 4: Culture and Organizational Change
Unit 5: Politics and Organizational Change
Unit 6: Leadership and Organizational Change
Unit 7: Hard Systems Models of Change
Unit 8: Soft Systems Models for Change
Unit 9: Collaborative Group Projects
Unit 10: Future Directions and Challenges