HLSC662 - Leading Change in Health Services

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Unit rationale, description and aim

This capstone unit builds on previous units in the course that focused on organisational culture and management (HLSC603), quality and safety in health care (HLSC604), leadership (HLSC605) and resource management (HLSC606). These are critical aspects for effective leadership in a healthcare environment. Understanding organisational culture is essential for leading staff in managing resources for innovative practice improvement and implementing change processes.

In this unit students will be supported to create strategies for organisational change founded on critical application of change theory, collaborative communication, workforce management and effective leadership. This unit is required by students who will, as leaders in driving change, need to predict potential outcomes of change and the impact on workforce, organisational performance and safety and quality improvement.

The aim of this unit is to develop health care leaders who will demonstrate competencies necessary to address health service challenges and lead staff in opportunities for capacity building and quality improvement in a complex, evolving environment from both a national and international perspective.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

Demonstrate an understanding of how effective leadership can achieve quality improvement in a health care setting through appraisal of an integrative health service approach (GA1, GA2, GA4, GA9);

Critically analyse principles of effective governance in leading change from a national and international perspective (GA1, GA2, GA3, GA4);

Apply change management and effective leadership techniques aimed at successfully leading staff through accreditation, management of a sentinel event, disaster/crisis response or other identified change process (GA1, GA2, GA3, GA4, GA9, GA10);

Create a strategic, ethically-based health service delivery plan underpinned by organisational values that has the potential to improve organisational performance (GA1, GA2, GA3, GA4, GA9).

Graduate attributes

GA1 - demonstrate respect for the dignity of each individual and for human diversity 

GA2 - recognise their responsibility to the common good, the environment and society 

GA3 - apply ethical perspectives in informed decision making

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

GA9 - demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media 

GA10 - utilise information and communication and other relevant technologies effectively.

Content

Topics will include:

• Theoretical underpinnings
• Leadership theory

• Leading Change
• Developing leadership self-awareness
• Strategic thinking
• Effective communication
• Appraising political, social, technological and economic factors that influence health service delivery

• Leadership in Action
• Leadership processes
• Strategic workforce management
• Leading and managing change processes (for example, accreditation, sentinel events, disaster/crisis
• Balancing supply and demand in equitable resource allocation
• Decision-making models and application to healthcare environment
• Developing intra and intersectoral alliances
• Organisational ethics and corporate social responsibility

• Evaluating Change
• Evaluation of the relationship between governance, organisational culture and impact on organisational performance and quality improvement 

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

In this capstone unit, an active learning approach is utilised whereby students will be supported to reflect on and analyse how effective leadership can drive change that results in optimal health outcomes in a variety of health care settings. Students will be required to understand the value of assessing organisational culture, managing workforce effectively and of conducting and analysing an environmental scan in order to apply knowledge and skill in leading evidence-based change in health service delivery.

This unit is provided through LEO, the online learning platform, which is utilised for assessment submission and results, online readings, lecture notes and slides. This approach offers flexibility and inclusivity to students. The teaching and learning strategies will support students in meeting the aim, learning outcomes and graduate attributes of the unit and the broader course learning outcomes.

Learning and teaching strategies will reflect respect for the individual as an independent learner. Students will be expected to take responsibility for their learning and to participate actively with peers.

Multi-mode

Located in the second year of the program, this unit includes significant face-to-face interactions with lecturers and peers to assist students in linking theory with application of knowledge and skill. Lectures are utilised to convey content while collaboration with peers in face-to-face mode will support students in applying leadership techniques aimed at successfully leading staff through a change process such as accreditation, a sentinel event, a potential disaster/crisis or other identified change that requires effective strategic leadership to achieve optimal outcomes. There is potential for interaction with industry practitioners and/or site visits.

Online mode

Located in the second year of the program, this ‘virtual’ unit is founded on self-directed, self-paced learning whereby students will be supported to link theory with application of knowledge and skill. Online lectures are utilised to convey content while collaboration with peers through online media such as Padlet, Wikis, Discussion Forums, will support students in applying leadership techniques aimed at successfully leading staff through a change process such as accreditation, a sentinel event, a potential disaster/crisis or other identified change that requires effective strategic leadership to achieve optimal outcomes

Assessment strategy and rationale

In order to pass this unit, students are expected to submit three graded assessment tasks. In addition, students must achieve a cumulative grade of at least 50% across all assessments. In order to reward students for engagement and performance, a final graded result will be awarded. 

In this unit, to support students in being able to demonstrate unit learning outcomes and develop graduate attributes, a standards-based assessment is utilised, consistent with University assessment requirements. The assessment strategy allows for the progressive development of knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for the student to be able to demonstrate an understanding of leadership theory and the requisite skills necessary to achieve optimal outcomes when leading staff through change in health service delivery. These assessments are required to build student knowledge, skills and attitudes to graduate as a healthcare professional who can effectively lead staff through organisational change processes.

Multi-mode

A range of assessment strategies are used including assessing students’ ability to: (i) reflect on the ethical implications and effectiveness of strategic decision making in health service delivery through a written reflection; (ii) demonstrate the leadership skills necessary to effectively lead staff through a significant change process through group work and collaborative seminar presentation (iii) to apply knowledge and skill in leadership to develop a draft health service delivery report. 

Overview of assessments

Multi-mode;

Online mode 

A range of assessment strategies are used including assessing students’ ability to: (i) reflect on the ethical implications and effectiveness of strategic decision making in health service delivery through a written reflection; (ii) demonstrate the leadership skills necessary to effectively lead staff through a significant change process through group work and collaborative seminar presentation (iii) to apply knowledge and skill in leadership to develop a draft health service delivery report.

Online mode

A range of assessment strategies are used including assessing students’ ability to: (i) reflect on the ethical implications and effectiveness of strategic decision making in health service delivery through a written reflection; (ii) demonstrate the leadership skills necessary to effectively lead staff through a significant change process through online group work and collaborative presentation/discussion (iii) to apply knowledge and skill in leadership to develop a draft health service delivery report.

Representative texts and references

Barr, J., & Dowding, L. (2016). Leadership in health care (3rd ed.). London: Sage.

Clegg, S., Kornberger, M., & Pitsis, T. S. (2016). Managing & organizations: An introduction to theory and practice (4th ed.). London: Sage Publications.

Kouzes, J. M. & Posner, B. Z. (2017). The leadership challenge: How to make extraordinary things happen in organizations (6th ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

 Lussier, R. N., & Achua, C. F. (2016). Leadership: Theory, application, & skill development (6th ed.). Boston, MA: South-Western/Cengage Learning.

 Nel, P., Werner, A., Du Plessis, A, Fazey, M., Millett, B., Du Plessis, A., … & Suseno, Y. (2017). Human resource management in Australia and New Zealand, (2nd Ed.). South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Northouse, P. G. (2015). Leadership: Theory and practice. U.S.: Sage Publications

Wood, J., Zeffane, R., Fromholtz, M. Wiesner, R., Morrison, R., Factor, A., … & J., Osborn, R. (2016). Organisational behaviour: Core concepts and applications. (4th Australasian ed.). Milton, Qld.: Wiley.