Sustainability in Healthcare Organization
Health care leaders must embrace a lifestyle of change in order to create the culture of a learning organization that is amenable to and supportive of innovation, adaptation, and change. Rogers’ diffusion of innovation theory can be used to create a significant conceptual framework for change. In this assignment, you will describe how health care leaders can use Rogers’ theory to create the culture of a learning organization.
Write a paper (1,000-1,250 words) that describes how Rogers’ diffusion of innovation theory can be applied to a health care organization to create within it the culture of a learning organization. Include the following in your paper:
1.An overview of Rogers’ diffusion of innovation theory.
2.A discussion of one other theory that could be used to guide an organization toward becoming a learning organization.
3.A description of the characteristics and attitudes required for a health care organization to be considered a learning organization. What attitude should a learning organization take toward change?
4.A discussion of which of the two theories discussed above may best guide the creation of the culture of a learning organization in a health care organization.
Sample Solution
Sustainability in Healthcare Organization
Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) Theory, developed by E.M. Rogers in 1962, is one of the oldest social science theories. It originated in communication to explain how, over time, an idea or product gains momentum and diffuses (or spreads) through a specific population or social system. The end results of this diffusion is that people, as part of a social system, adopt a new idea, behavior, or product. This theory has been used in many fields including public health. In public health, Diffusion of Innovation Theory is used to accelerate the adoption of important public health programs that typically aim to change the behavior of a social system. For example, an intervention to address a public health problem is developed, and the intervention is promoted to people in a social system with the goal of adoption. The most successful adoption of a public health program results from understanding the target population and the factors influencing their rate of adoption.
