Assignment 2: LASA—Identifying Issues of Ethics and Employee Fear/Uncertainty

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Running head: MANAGING CHANGE

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MANAGING CHANGE

Managing Change

Christopher Walters

Argosy University

Introduction

For organizations to remain effective, it is crucial that they become flexible and innovative so that they can be able to adapt in time. However, organizations are like living organisms whose performance is affected by both the external and internal environment. Its ability to innovate and change is therefore largely affected by internal and external environments. The department of veteran’s affairs has been accused of being too bureaucratic and rigid making it ineffective to meet its needs. As a result, President Trump signed the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act into law so as to make employees in the department to be accountable for their performance or lack of it (Clancy, & Atkins, 2018). This paper will examine the challenges the department of veteran’s affairs is facing, use an organization behavior theory to manage employee behavior so as to bring about positive change within the organization.

The problem

As noted above, critics have accused the department of veteran affairs as being too bureaucratic and inflexible for it to meet the needs of veterans. Indeed, veterans have had to wait for long to receive care at VA hospitals while it also takes long to have their claims and benefits processed. In addition, their vast budget seems to be ever ballooning at a time when the country needs fiscal prudence (Congressional Budget Office, 2016). This would on the surface indicate that the department is poorly run and that its employee’s performance is below par. Indeed, this is the current administrations view of the department and that is why Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act was enacted and signed into law. The act is meant to improve accountability of employees at the department. Since the law has been in place till June 2018, 2743 employees have been fired. In addition, because of the law, there has been a limit on union activities with union officials being mandated not to use more than 25% of their official working time on union activities down from 100% of their time (Clancy, & Atkins, 2018).

However, the problem at the department runs far deeper than that. Indeed, the inflexibility of the department and the delayed services are not because the department has bad employees but because of a number of factors being discussed below:

· Resource limitation: While the number of veterans requiring the departments services had been declining, September 11th changed that and with a 17-year war in Afghanistan and Iraq still running, the number of veterans has dramatically increased over these years. This means that the infrastructure that the department had before the war can no longer sustain the needs of the veterans today. In addition, advances in medicine and psychological care means that there are more veterans who need complex care after sustaining serious injuries while more veterans are seeking help for psychological challenges developed during the war (Hussey, et al, 2016).

Furthermore, the department’s healthcare program has been receiving less generous funding than private healthcare organizations have. The consequence is that care givers in VA facilities are paid less and this makes it harder for the department to hold on to the best care givers.

· Secondly, most of the VA hospitals were built after WWII and others during the Vietnam War. These facilities were built where there were large veteran communities. Unfortunately, over the years, like many Americans, most of the veteran community has moved to the Midwest. This has made it difficult for the veterans to get to facilities where they can get the help needed (Hussey, et al, 2016).

Organization behavior theory used

McGregor’s Theory X and theory Y could indeed explain how the administration has viewed the problem at the department and how it has tried to solve it. Specifically, the theory X approach was taken to settle the problems of the VA. Theory X argues that employees generally dislike their work and have little motivation and as a result, micro management has to be done to ensure that people do their work effectively (Uhl-Bien, & Osborn, 2013). It is because of this view that the most obvious answer is to blame the problems of the VA on a lethargic workforce and thus passed a bill that would ensure closer supervision of their performance. However, because the problem is in fact not a lethargic workforce, then the challenges that veterans face will continue if not grow worse for some time because now they will be facing unmotivated employees of the association.

On the other hand, the theory Y approach should be taken to tray and address the problem. Theory Y argues that employees see work as a challenge and take pride in what they do (Uhl-Bien, & Osborn, 2013). Because of the current economic climate, the department may not be able to get all the resources that they require. The only way to bridge this gap is by coming up with and implementing innovative ideas. This can only be achieved by a highly motivated staff. In turn a highly motivated human resource can be built even if they earn less by creating a positive working environment free of intimidation and making them to be part of the decision-making process.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that the Department of Veterans Affairs is facing challenges and changes need to be made to ensure that it meets the needs of veterans. However, employees of the organization need to be viewed as part of the solution to the problem and not a problem. By adopting the theory X approach, employees are bound to be demoralized making a bad situation worse. However, if a theory Y approach is taken, then it is possible to motivate these employees so that they do come up with innovative solutions even in the face of scarce resources.

References

Clancy, C. & Atkins, D. (2018)Veterans' Health Care: When Oversimplification Undermines Choice. The American Journal of Medicine ,130 (6): 626 – 62

Congressional Budget Office. (2018). Comparing the Costs of the Veterans' Health Care System with Private-Sector Costs. Congressional Budget Office, Washington, DC.

Hussey, P. S., Ringel, J. S., Ahluwalia, S., Price, R. A., Buttorff, C., Concannon, T. W., Lovejoy, S. L., Martsolf, G. R., Rudin, R. S., Schultz, D., Sloss, E. M., Watkins, K. E., Waxman, D., Bauman, M., Briscombe, B., Broyles, J. R., Burns, R. M., Chen, E. K., DeSantis, A. S., Ecola, L., Fischer, S. H., Friedberg, M. W., Gidengil, C. A., Ginsburg, P. B., Gulden, T., Gutierrez, C. I., Hirshman, S., Huang, C. Y., Kandrack, R., Kress, A., Leuschner, K. J., MacCarthy, S., Maksabedian, E. J., Mann, S., Matthews, L. J., May, L. W., Mishra, N., Miyashiro, L., Muchow, A. N., Nelson, J., Naranjo, D., O'Hanlon, C. E., Pillemer, F., Predmore, Z., Ross, R., Ruder, T., Rutter, C. M., Uscher-Pines, L., Vaiana, M. E., Vesely, J. V., Hosek, S. D., … Farmer, C. M. (2016). Resources and Capabilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs to Provide Timely and Accessible Care to Veterans. Rand health quarterly, 5(4), 14.

Uhl-Bien, M., & Osborn, S. (2013). ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR (13th ed.). Place of publication not identified: John Wiley.