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Delivery mode: Paced/home-study online
Credits: 3 - Applied Studies
Centre: Centre for Nursing and Health Studies
Change within organizations has become the norm. As an ancient Greek philosopher said, “You can’t step into the same river twice.” Sometimes as the changes bombard you from all sides it feels as if you will be swept away in that very river! Think of your own organization. How many changes did you deal with today?
The answer to that question probably surprised you. We are all confronted with changes in our organization on a daily basis. Many times we are juggling planning for a change, initiating a second change, facilitating a third, while we “cement in” yet another change. At the same time we are coaching, leading and guiding those who have been traumatized by one or all of these changes, calming the fearful, reassuring the confused and disheartened, and unsticking the resistant. As organizational leaders we set off to work each day with the vision of transforming the “swamps” in our organization to virtual “oasis”! No wonder we often go home with our heads spinning! How do we take care of ourselves in this world of chaos and confusion while helping those in our organizations to thrive? During this course we will uncover some answers to these questions.
There are skills and strategies that you already use successfully to coach and lead the human side of change. Begin to think of some of these and prepare to share your expertise with all of us. By working together we will have a meaningful learning experience.
By the conclusion of this course students will be able to:
Bridges, W. (1991). Managing transitions: Making the most of change. Don Mills: ON. Addison-Wesley.
Senge, P, Kleiner, A., Roberts, C., Ross, R., Roth, G., & Smith, B. (1999). The dance of change: The challenges to sustaining momentum in learning organizations. Toronto, ON: Doubleday.
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.
This is an asynchronous online course. This means that there is no established time when you must log on, however, I would like to hear from each of you at least twice a week throughout the course. Each Monday, I will make an online presentation relating to the topic of the week. This presentation will set the tone for the online discussion.
The presentation will be organized into three parts, a “warm-up,” a “work-out,” and a “cool-down” section. The warm-up will be an activity or story that will get you thinking about the topic. The work-out is the main stimulus for your posting on the topic. It may be a series of questions to answer or a case to discuss or a debate topic to consider. The cool-down will be a short summary or thought-evoking statement about the current topic. The purpose of my weekly input is to keep us all on the same topic.
There is no advantage (in fact, it is a disadvantage) to try and go ahead of the group (except perhaps in the reading and web surfing). Once my presentation is “posted” you may add to the discussion at any time. You must logon at least twice a week and submit two different substantive comments at a minimum. Logging on several times a week is desirable so that the discussion freely continues back and forth. Please try to align your comments with the topic of the week and post comments on a specific topic in the forum for that unit. You will find the forums in a drop-down menu at the top of the conference page.
On the website you will find a button (icon) for live chat. This can be used by any two or more students who choose, for whatever purpose, to have a discussion. It can be used for group course work as well. Please note that the chat tool is an optional activity as this tool is not always accessible for all students.
In the course conference you will find a coffee room forum. Course participants have used this opportunity in engage in more personal exchanges such as discussions of family or workplace issues. This allows the posting in the conference to focus on the course content. Some students have even used the coffee room option to post photos of themselves which helped to personalize the course. Try an online coffee break!
There is a live chat button (icon) on the website. This can be used by any two or more students who choose, for whatever purpose, to have a discussion. It can be used for group course work as well.
In order to successfully complete this course, you must own or have ready access to certain computer hardware and software programs. For complete and up-to-date information on the minimum computer requirements required to complete the graduate nursing courses, visit the Centre for Nursing and Health Studies technical site.
MHST/NURS 621 consists of the following 11 units
Unit 1: Orientation and Overview
It isn't the changes that do you in, it's the transitions. (Bridges).
Unit 2: Initiating Change
Every beginning is a consequence. Every beginning ends something. (Valery)
Unit 3: aunching a New Beginning
Sometimes telling and selling is less effective than showing and growing.
Unit 4: Moving Through Change
It takes nine months to have a baby no matter how many people you put on the job.
Unit 5: Cementing the Change
It is a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead and find no one there. (Roosevelt)
Unit 6: Dealing With Non-Stop Change
The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order. (Whitehead)
Unit 7: Constrained Change
Just because everything is different does not mean that anything has changed. (Peter)
Unit 8: Catalysts for Profound Change
Our moral responsibility is not to stop the future, but to shape it . . . to channel our destiny in humane directions and to ease the trauma of transition. (Toffler)
Unit 9: Organizational Culture and Change
An organization's culture is its operating system. It guides what people value and how they think, act, feel, and work.
Unit 10: Collaborative Group Projects
Group projects on change themes
Unit 11: Wrap-Up
To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly. (Bergson)
Case Study Document | 20% |
Case Study Analysis | 30% |
Group Presentation | 30% |
Participation | 20% |
Total | 100% |
Grading will be based on:
Grammar, Spelling, Format, and Editorials
Grading will be based on:
Grading will be based on:
Grading will be based on:
The assessment structure for MHST/NURS 621 indicates that 20% of your final grade will be determined by your participation in the course. To score full marks on class participation students are asked to post meaningful comments at least twice per week (on the topic of the week). Comments most highly evaluated are those that are relevant to the topic, that expand our understanding of the topic by challenging something that has been said (in an humanizing way!), by posing thought-evoking questions, by providing examples of a concept being discussed, or by providing additional references or resources that will assist classmates in deepening their understanding of a concept under discussion. Participation that has a positive tone and that is shared in a supportive and respectful way is most desired.