BUSM 1139

ELIZABETH HEALTH

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  INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this assignment is to analyze the case study of Elizabeth Health,
realizing why it failed in several areas. Elizabeth health is a community health and
welfare organization in a disadvantaged area of a large city. The organization
consisted of 350 employees; child protection officers, administrative staff, etc.
Elizabeth Health has gone through several restructuring which resulted in dismissal of
most administrative staff. However, the restructuring does not indicate that the
organization is in a better position. In fact, the organization obtains much protest from
the staffs and also from the government. The failure is most likely resulted from
Elizabeth Health bad strategy management. It is common that a company fail to
manage its strategies, therefore, an intervention is needed to make things right.
Elizabeth Health and its HRD situation will be discussed thoroughly by following 4
HRD processes. Furthermore, this essay will also discuss the results of the staff
survey and government report for Elizabeth Health. Lastly, a detailed HRD
intervention will be designed to solve those problems existing in Elizabeth Health.

 CRITICAL UNDERLYING ISSUES INVESTIGATION

By examining the staff survey and government report, there are several key issues in
this scenario. The first point is that the CEO have a bad strategy management. This is
shown by the number of restructuring occurs in a short amount of time, which
reduced the amount of staff extremely. This event leads to the second point, which is
Overworked staffs. The number of staff available is far from enough to handle all the
work, as the results, current staffs become pressured because they have to handle all
the cases. Government report further strengthen this point as it states that Elizabeth
health have slow response and systematic follow up in several areas. The restructuring
also raises staffs concern about the CEO understanding in Medical and health sector
as he originally comes from financial sector. Government report also leads us to the
Third issues where the staff development is lacking. There is an absence of staff
development chances especially in legislative areas and how to deal with complex
cases. Therefore, it is not absurd that the staff is relatively slower in areas like child
protection and dementia services.

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From these issues mentioned above, Bad strategy management is considered the most
crucial as it causes most of the issues in Elizabeth Health, including overworked staffs
and absence of staff’s development opportunities. Based on the case study, it can be
seen that the staff reported the senior managers as the one who negatively affecting
them due to their decisions in the last 5 years. Therefore, to solve those issues, a HRD
interventions need to be established. The intervention should be focused on the CEO,
as if he can functions effectively and efficiently the staffs will be affected and
functions properly too. In order to fully support the HRD intervention, 4 stages of
HRD is needed, these four stages are; need analysis, design, implementation, and
evaluation.

 NEED INVESTIGATION

I will do a need investigation for Elizabeth Health, as I am the head of the HRD
Department and due to the instructions from the CEO. Based on my previous
experience in a large critical care hospital, I am committed to provide better services
at community level to reduce the number of people admitted to critical care services.
Hence, this needs investigation is done due to the issues identified in the survey and
government report.

The investigative method I will use to gather information is interview. Survey result is
provided from the staff survey done previously, however, it still need to be
investigated whether the survey speaks the truth. Therefore, interview is the best
method since it is more personal and able to trigger information out of someone,
especially controversial information and feelings related opinion.

There are some people I would like to interview. One of them is the head of HR
department, Patricia Wang. Patricia is the one who design the survey; therefore, she
needs to be interviewed, as we need to determine the basis of the survey questions,
and to identify the relationship between the staffs and the CEO. Another person I
would like to interview is the CEO himself. I would like to interview them to see if he
agrees to the survey results, whether he is controversial with the results or he admitted
that he has failed in strategy planning which causing those issues. Based on the

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interview results I would be able to determine the truth of the issues. I will then use
the result as a source to conduct the HRDNI.

Assuming the CEO admits his mistakes in strategy management, the target learner
would be him. The objective here is to teach the CEO new strategy in managing
Elizabeth Health. However, as stated in the case study, it might be difficult to teach
him new strategy as he has been managing the company by utilizing old strategy for
years.

The organization can help its CEO to accept change by applying several strategies.
The first strategy is by explaining the need for change, why he have to change his
way, and why the new approach is better. Another strategies would be continuous
support after implementation. After the implementation of new approach, continuous
guidance must be demonstrated to prevent further mistakes in the future. SMART
(Specific, measurable, accurate, realistic, and timely) also should be used to determine
the learning objective. In the end, the learning objective would be the CEO is able to
apply the new strategy for Elizabeth health and solve the issues that currently shown.

 DESIGN

The objective of this section is to design a learning program for Elizabeth health. To
design an effective learning style we must first understand 2 learning theories;
andragogy and pedagogy. Andragogy is the art and science of helping adults learn
(Pew 2007). In this model, there are several assertions such as letting learners know
why something is important to learn, showing learners how to direct themselves
through information, and relating the topic to the learner’s experiences. In addition,
people will not learn until they are ready and motivated to learn. Contrasting with
andragogy, pedagogy is defined as “a schoolteacher” (Pedagogue 2007). In this
model, teachers assume responsibility about what is learned, and how and when
something will be learned, or simply defined as teacher-directed or teacher-centered.

To design an effective training program, learning principles must be incorporated to

prevent failure in the design program. First, training must begin at current level of

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CEO knowledge. This statement is supported by Hole (1853), “To raise the working
man we must take hold of him where he is, not where he is not”.

Afterwards, the CEO readiness to learn must be assessed. According to andragogy

characteristics, adults will not learn until they are ready and motivated to learn.
Therefore, as stated in the needs investigation, the reason for change must be
explained to him so he can accept the learning. Thorndike’s law of readiness (1913)
further states that when an individual is ready to learn, he/she will find the experience
to be more satisfying. Therefore, it is advisable to assess the readiness of the CEO
first to achieve an effective learning program.

Then, part learning should be applied in the training. Part learning focuses on dividing
the learning program into several small parts so it is easier to be absorbed. Part
learning usually further associated to spaced learning, where the learner is given some
time between the learning sessions, although too much space will trigger the
forgetting process. To reduce the possibility of forgetting process, active learning and
multiple sense learning can be incorporated as it provide experiences that is more
difficult to forget; debates, utilization of visual aids.

Lastly, accessibility of feedback should be ensured. Feedback is essential as it can

assess what the learner has learned, what are they good at and what part needs further
improvement. Feedback will then become the learner basis for improving their
knowledge.

The next step would be establishment of curriculum design. Resources such as

budget, trainers and training venue should be considered. It is predicted that the
budget will be high, as Elizabeth Health would need to hire expert trainer from 3rd
party. Elizabeth Health would also need a training venue, outside of the hospital,
since there may not be any venue available in their facility.

Kolb’s theory of learning style should also be considered in curriculum design.

Through Kolb’s theory, we can decide which learning styles suit the learner best. We
can assume the CEO is a diverger. Divergers greatest strength lies on their
imaginative skills, and viewing concrete situation from many viewpoints (Kolb 1986).

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Generally they prefer to have information offered to them in a detailed, systematic,
reasoned manner. In the case this is shown when the senior managers enquire me to
design and ensure that the HRD interventions is supported by relevant academic
information. Thus, the best learning styles that suit them are lecture, brainstorming,
and hands-on exploration. Choosing the right learning method will ease the learner to
learn and absorb the information.

In conclusion, for curriculum design we should first understand andragogy and

pedagogy. By understanding those we can then apply a combination of learning
principles while considering Kolb’s learning styles theory to design an effective
learning program for the CEO.

 IMPLEMENTATION

Elizabeth health is under the pressure for change because of the staff survey and
government report. To solve this crisis, The CEO need to undergo some training for
strategy design so he can create a better strategy for managing a health organization
and staff development program. In curriculum design, we are assuming that the CEO
is a diverger, he is suitable to lecture, brainstorming, and hands-on exploration.
Therefore, the training program I have chosen for the CEO are case study and action
learning.

Before starting the training program, internalization should be considered.

Internalization plays a big part, especially in “learning by doing” which includes both
case study and action learning. Internalization involves converting explicit knowledge
obtained from trainers into tacit knowledge. The learner must be able to transform the
measurable and communicated knowledge into tacit knowledge, which will gradually
be planted in their mind. Internalization can further helps the learners with the
training program, increase the success percentage of the program and improve their
range of skills.

Prior to case study, a training program that provides the CEO with the appropriate
explicit knowledge, such as lecture should be utilized. Lectures are one of the most

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common training methods; it is useful for conveying large quantities of information,
easy to organize and cost a little (Exely & Dennick 2009). However, there is an
absence of activity in lectures and therefore, trainers implement case study to payoff
that absence.

Case study is an effective program to be applied in the learning program as case study
can be created to reflect real life situation, the exact situation can be presented on the
case study then we can train the CEO so he is accustomed to the case. A certain
benefit of case study is that it can reflect issues and situations within a specific
context of organization (Tovey & Lawler 2008).

Some learning principles will also be incorporated into the case study to ensure its
success. Spaced learning will be applied to give time for the CEO to read and
understand the case. Multiple sense learning will be applied to provide a clearer view
of the case by presenting visual aids; video, graphs. Case study also automatically
applied active learning as it includes discussions, debates and problem solving using
real data.

Action learning is defined and created as a self-directed process for developing

managers (Revans 1980). The purpose of action learning is to take action, therefore
by applying this in the training, HRD will continuously encouraging the CEO to take
action, ask questions, reflect on experiences, ask more questions and so on.

I believe that action learning is an effective program as it contains several benefits.

Firstly, it encourages the CEO to take effective action rather than just analyzing the
situation. The CEO is expected to take effective actions on the issues after the
training. Second, the CEO can learn to identify important questions to ask when
confronting a problem. By identifying the right questions, the CEO would be able to
tackle the problem more effectively. Lastly, the action learning is expected to change
the CEO’s perceptions of what they are doing in the past and learn to design a better
strategy.

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  EVALUATION

Evaluation is an important factor in determining whether the training program is a

success. Evaluation can assist in measuring the learner’s current level of knowledge
after training. It can be further used to decide if the learner has to undergo more
training session or able to advance and apply the training results into the real-life
situation. For Elizabeth Health, I will use both formative and summative methods. I
will apply skill tests during the training then subjective written tests and performance
tests after the training.

Skill testing is used for procedural skills and is the most direct form of testing that
straightforwardly follows the learning objective (Delahaye 2011). This activity
enables the learner to demonstrate their competence within the time frame given.

Subjective written test will consist of essay questions. There is no right or wrong in
this test, the test objective is to see if the learner actually learns from the training and
applying the knowledge in the essay. Performance tests will be done to see whether
the learner able to apply the knowledge and skills given in training effectively during
job performance.

It is best to include Kirkpatrick’s four level of training evaluation to get an accurate

evaluation results. Two of the four levels that should be used in evaluating the CEO in
Elizabeth Health are learning and behavior. Learning evaluation is measurement of
increase in knowledge before and after training. This is important to see how much
the learner has learnt from the training.
Thus, behavior evaluation is the degree to which the learner applied the learning and
changed their behavior. In this case we can see if the CEO has successfully changed
and applied the new strategy after the training.

Financial statement can also be another method to evaluate training program.

Therefore, cost-benefit analysis should be established. The logic of this analysis is
identifying the cost and benefits of learning experience in dollar terms, by which the
benefits must outweigh the cost incurred for the training. However, most benefits
obtained from learning experience are difficult to convert into monetary value. For

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instance, if the training is successfully done, the CEO may be able to functions more
effectively, and therefore, eliminating training cost.

 CONCLUSION

By producing the four stages of HRD we can finally see how to solve the problems
currently shown in Elizabeth Health. From Need investigation we understand the
problems and decide the target learners as the CEO. We concluded that if the CEO are
trained the staffs will functions effectively and properly under their command. By
doing curriculum design we decided the best learning styles that suits the CEO.
Deciding the right learning styles will help us to design an effective training for the
CEO. When the learning style has been decided, we start to think about the
implementation. In implementation I have chosen the best training program that suits
the CEO based on the curriculum design. Case study and action learning is chosen
based on the suitability to the CEO learning style and the benefits. Lastly, I applied
evaluation techniques to evaluate the results of the training. I used both formative and
summative techniques to see the results of the training while its ongoing and when its
finished. I also incorporated Kirkpatrick’s four level of training evaluation to produce
accurate results for evaluation. Using the evaluation methods, I can then decide
whether the CEO need to undergo further training or it is the time for them to
graduate from the training. In conclusion, HRD four stages have played its part in
constructing the best training program for the CEO. Hopefully by applying those four
stages the CEO’s knowledge will be improved and the issues at Elizabeth Health can
be solved.

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  REFERENCES

Pew, S 2007, ‘Andragogy and Pedagogy as Foundational Theory for Student

Motivation in Higher Education’, InSight: A Collection of Faculty Scholarship, Vol.
2, p.14-25, viewed 4 September 2014, RMIT University Library.

Pedagogue, 2007, Merriam Webster Online Dictionary, viewed 4 September 2014, <
http://www.merriam-webster.com>

Thorndike, EL 1913, The Psychology of Learning, Teacher’s College, New York.

Tovey, MD & Lawler, DR 2008, Training in Australia, 3rd edn, Pearson Education
Australia, Frenchs Forrest, NSW.

Delahaye, B 2011, Human Resource Development; Managing Learning and

Knowledge Capital, 3rd edn, Tilde University Press, Adelaide.

Revans, RW 1980, Action Learning, London: Blond and Briggs

Kolb, DA 1986, ‘The learning style inventory: Technical manual’, viewed 2

September 2014, <http://www.psytech.com/wp-
content/uploads/2013/04/LSIMan.pdf>

Businessballs.com, n.d., Kirkpatrick’s Learning and Training Evolution Theory,

Businessballs.com, viewed 4 September 2014, <
http://www.businessballs.com/kirkpatricklearningevaluationmodel.htm>

Exely, K & Dennick, R 2009, Giving a lecture: From presenting to teaching,

Routledge, New York.

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