Research paperHealthcare leadership

HCA 545 Module 1 Assignment Strategic Management and Organizational Change

The brief distinguishes the concept of change from the processes of changing, and then asks you to differentiate organizational from transformational change. Both distinctions carry marks.

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Last reviewed · August 23, 2026

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Maren Caldwell

MSN, RN, CNE

Medical-surgical nursing, pharmacology and NCLEX preparation

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Dr. Tessa Redmond

DNP, RN, CNE

Evidence-based practice and clinical education

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Two distinctions carry the marks in HCA 545 Module 1

The brief contains two distinctions and both are worth marks, but they are easy to slide past. The first is between the concept of change necessary for growth and the processes of changing, which is the difference between deciding what must be different and managing how an organisation gets there. A strategic management model has to do both, and organisations routinely fail at the second while being confident about the first, which is why a strategy document and an implementation plan are not the same object. The second distinction is between organisational and transformational change, and the honest version is a matter of depth: organisational change alters structures, processes and reporting lines, while transformational change alters the assumptions, culture and mission underneath them. Asking which of the two a proposed initiative actually is turns out to be a useful test, because much of what organisations call transformation is a reporting-line change.

Start with the structures, because the first task asks how each type affects the process of change and that is a concrete question. Functional structures concentrate expertise and slow cross-cutting change because every department must be persuaded separately. Divisional structures move faster within a service line and duplicate effort across them. Matrix structures are common in health care and produce the specific failure of two managers pulling one clinician in opposite directions during a change. Flat and team-based structures move quickly and scale badly. For the last two tasks, be specific rather than gestural: examples of successful leadership models come from the peer-reviewed literature, professional bodies and recognition programmes such as magnet designation, and leadership effectiveness is assessed with named tools including three-hundred-and-sixty-degree feedback, engagement surveys, turnover and vacancy data and unit-level quality outcomes. Name the instrument and say what it measures, since a metric with no target is not an assessment.

Likely learning objectives

Separate the substance of a change from the process of changing.
Distinguish organisational from transformational change by depth.
Relate specific organisational structures to specific change difficulties.
Name tools used to assess leadership effectiveness.

Assignment instructions

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Details: 1) Write a paper (1,000-1,250 words) that addresses types of health care organizational structure and how each type of structure impacts the process and effectiveness of change. Address the following: a) Why it is necessary for a health care organization to develop a strategic management model that addresses both the concept of change necessary for the growth and sustainability of the organization, and the processes of changing, that is, how does the organization go about accomplishing change? b) Differentiate between organizational change and transformational change. c) Where might an organization obtain examples of leadership models that have proven successful in today’s health care environment? d) Identify and explain tools and advice that can be utilized to assess leadership effectiveness. 2) Prepare this assignment according to the APA guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required. 3) This assignment uses a grading rubric. Instructors will be using the rubric to grade the assignment; therefore, students should review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the assignment criteria and expectations for successful completion of the assignment.

Course-wide instructions that accompany this question

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS Discussion Questions (DQ) Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. HCA 545 Module 1 Assignment Strategic Management and Organizational Change One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses. Weekly Participation Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. APA Format and Writing Quality Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition. Use of Direct Quotes I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source. LopesWrite Policy For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. Late Policy The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading. Communication Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

What Module 1 requires

01A paper of 1,000-1,250 words in APA format.
02Types of health care organizational structure and how each impacts change.
03Why a strategic management model must address both change and the processes of changing.
04A differentiation between organizational change and transformational change.
05Where examples of successful leadership models may be obtained.
06Tools and advice for assessing leadership effectiveness.