Strategies for Entrepreneurship and Change Management

Strategies for Entrepreneurship and Change Management Raama Gabionza Entrepreneurship takes an important role in innovation. It is an agent of change. It involves creating new products, services, technologies, and businesses. It is about economic development and generating wealth for investors. It is also about developing business to address social problems and environmental issues. In the world of health, entrepreneurship also play a vital role. It corresponds with the revolution and changes in the state of health of the population and of the society. Like for an example, our world today suffers from distinct inevitable crisis like epidemiologic incidences and other uncommon situations affecting health of the economy. It is a threat to the population that could shake the health of every individual thus will lead to high rates in morbidity and mortality. Early detection and treatment of these illnesses or diseases are vital ways to decrease its incidences as well as morbidity and mortality rates. Invention and creation of medical treatment and therapi es as well as immunizations could lessen the possibility of acquiring the ailment. These interventions are brought by entrepreneurship which is an agent of change to both private and public health sectors. It provides interventions that are more developed, new, updated and better. It also provides more effective and efficient procedures, surgeries, and any other ways of treating specific threats to health. Entrepreneurship is essential in any situation as it could help in promoting and improving the well-being of the person and of the society as the whole. However, entrepreneurship may not always be successful as what anyone may think of it. There are major criticisms against entrepreneurship within the public and private health and social care sector. One example of this is the fear of change. People are afraid to change as it may be less effective and could lead to failure. They are afraid to loss their expertise and can’t adopt to the change. Like in surgeries, when new type of procedure is introduced, medical practitioners are afraid to change their usual practice into new procedure as it may cause danger and hazard both to the patient and the practitioners themselves. Another criticism against entrepreneurship is the quest for profits. People might think that the only reason why new services are being introduced because entrepreneurs always think about gaining profit. There could be uncertainty of services. People might doubt whether the service is really essential and necessary or not. They might feel that their ignorance are being taken for granted by the entrepreneurs presenting and introducing the new product or services. In addition, consumers may need to be aware that not all entrepreneurs are profit oriented. Entrepreneurs can be classified as either business entrepreneur or social entrepreneur. To clearly understand the difference between the two types of entrepreneurs, Abu-Saifan (2012), identified their unique characteristics. To start with, business entrepreneurs or the so called the profit oriented are characterized as the value creator. They provide value of the commodity or product and services being introduced. While social entrepreneurs or the non-profit, are social value creator. They provide what is beneficial to the society not for the benefit of their pockets. As for being a leader, they are opinion leaders. They consider the opinion of the society before they introduce the new product or services. They are also like the managers. They first look for the problems before they fix. Like for an example in the case of diabetes, they first assess the situation. They look for the cause of pr oblem and focus on repairing them before moving on to the treatment itself. They assess what could be the cause of the problem, may it be the diet of the person or their genetics or other factors. They see the problems first before they put things right. Unlike the business entrepreneur, they will just fix what is needed to be fixed. They often miss to foresee what is really the reason and cause of the problem. This is why they are characterized as the organizer. They just organize things. They are also strategic thinkers that they choose what strategy is best for them not considering the opinion of the population or of the society. They only aim for the best of their profit and interest. They focus on their goals and on what they wanted to reach. They are high achievers. They are the exact opposite of social entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurs focus on their mission for the change beneficial to the society not for their pocket or to gain profit and interest which business entrepren eurs do. Moreover, in entrepreneurship, there are three strategies presented by Chin Benne, (1969) as general strategies effecting changes in human systems. These strategies could be helpful for the management in choosing who to employ to their organization considering changes as inevitable. This could also be helpful to the organization on how to manage and how to present or introduce changes to its people. The first strategy is the empirical or rational. In this strategy, people can be persuaded to change based on communication of information and by giving and offering them incentives. They have their reasons to comply to change being presented. Successful change is in accordance to logic and reasons that could be beneficial to organization and to the people. The change in this strategy centers on the balance of incentives and risk management. The second strategy is the normative or re-educative. This type of people are those that adhere to cultural norms and values. They normally go with the flow, conforming to what is being practiced, advertised or introduced by the management or by the organization. Redefining the present culture, norms, and values, and making commitments to new ones may initiate people to change. The strategy to encourage these people to change is to consider their culture, beliefs and their ways. People who are normative or re-educative are mostly willing to adapt to change as long as they see that their cultural values are respected and are in favor to the new system or product and services. Third is the power or coercive. In this strategy, the leader or the boss of an organization coerce people to change or to do new things. People are submissive and will do what they are told to do. This type of management is often used when there is a crisis in an organization or institution where change is a must. It could also be used when change should be done as soon as possible or as it is needed. People will usually adhere to change and will just follo w what the leader ought them to do. Furthermore, any type of management strategy may be used by the organization in handling changes. All of those strategies can be helpful in making changes successful but it may also be harmful when it is not properly addressed to the people’s need. Like for an example in the use of power or coercive strategy, it is good to be used in an emergency situations or crisis because according to Chin Benne (1969) it is assumed that people will do what they are told. Like in my own experience working as a health practitioner, there was an instance when our area was affected by typhoon. Some of us who are staying nearby the building of the institution were told by the management to do double shifts at work in order to make up the shifts of other employers who are affected by the typhoon and cannot make it to work. It was an order by the management that we, as an employers are ought to do. Considering the situation and the crisis happening, we have no other choice but to do the double s hifts. It might be shocking to us but we have to do it because it is an emergency and it was the only way that could ease the situation. Another strategy by Chin Benne (1969) is the normative or re-educative wherein people adopt to change when they see that the change conforms to their norms, values and culture. For example, in my home country, most of the people are Roman Catholic. When family planning was introduced in a catholic institution, like the use of contraceptives, not all members of team agree with the change. Roman Catholic are against with contraception. It is important for this people to consider their beliefs specially their religion and culture. In order for the change to be successful, leaders of the institution introducing contraception in the practice of health, addresses the opinions of the members of the team and people. It was agreed to make the change possible by pursuing the use of contraceptives by health education to the people but not forcing every indiv idual to do so or to comply. At least in that way, little by little, the change was made. In change management, there are four segments classified that could be present in an organization or in any group of people. These segments are the campaigners, initiators, opponents, and neutrals. These are important factors that could have direct or indirect effect in the system of change. In order to address properly these expected impact to the system of change, it would be helpful to identify the differences and similarities of these factors and at the same time, it would also help the manager or the leader on how to effectively deal with the different points of view and perspectives of every member of the team. Like for an example the introduction of the use of computer system in the health care facilities instead of the use of older method, paper documentations. People who advertise and advocate the computer system are called the campaigners. They see the new system as beneficial and that they will gain something positive from it. They are enthusiastic about change and they wi ll help to drive the change through. These people facilitate and give support to the trainings and education in order to promote change or the new system. Initiators, are those who would take the first step to change. They can be the creator or the designer. They are the prime movers and the ones who will take action to make the use of computer system possible. They are those who will make the change attainable. In order to initiate change, they educate the team about the computer system being introduced. They also facilitate, support and encourage participation and involvement of the team members to the trainings and teachings in relation to the system of change. On the other hand, some team members might disagree or oppose to the proposed system of change or the use of computer system. They are called as the opponents. They are the antagonists or the activists. They are those who are not convinced for the need of change and don’t see any justification for change. Education, negotiation and sometimes coercion are the effective way to communicate to these group of people. The fourth segment identified in change management is the neutral. Neutrals are the unbiased ones. They belong to neither side of the proposed change. They just go with the flow to change or not to change. It would be helpful communicate to these group of people by setting them what is really the vision of change, why it would be beneficial to change or not to change. They should also be involved to trainings and support groups in order for them to have a clear understanding of the change being introduced and for them to have an individualized decision as a member of the team. References: Abu-Saifan, S. (2012). Social Entrepreneurship: Definition and Boundaries. Technology Innovation Management Review, February 2013:22-27 Barton, J. (1991). Defining Entrepreneurship. Retrieved on 20 February 2015 from file:///C:/Users/raama.gabionza/Downloads/artikkeli_2.pdf Di-Masi, P. (n.d). Defining Entrepreneurship. Retrieved on 22 February 2015 from http://www.gdrc.org/icm/micro/define-micro.html Nickols, F. (2010). Four Change Management Strategies. Retrieved on 26 February 2015 from http://www.nickols.us/four_strategies.pdf Rouse, M. (n.d). Change Management. Retrieved on 25 February 2015 from http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/change-management Rubin, D. (2013). What is Entrepreneurship? Retrieved on 22 February 2015 from http://pinchot.edu/what-is-entrepreneurship/