LDR 615 What is “disruptive change,” and how is this different from “incremental change?”
LDR 615 What is “disruptive change,” and how is this different from “incremental change?”
LDR 615 What is “disruptive change,” and how is this different from “incremental change?”
Disruptive change is a non-localized future irreversible and change in the organization that affects a portion of the healthcare industry/organization that does not affect a localized area but rather the entire valued network/organization (Smith, 2014). Disruptive change is one that is powerful, abrupt, and can lead to concerns when an organization does not choose to follow suit, and in result they may be left behind (Day, n.d.). The response of how the organization handles the disruptive change will affect the team members involved within the unprepared abrupt changes that are occurring.
Incremental change is when change occurs at a slower pace over time, less drastic and gradually develops changes/plans within the organization (Day, n.d.). Incremental change can improve efficiency, gives understanding, and build stronger rapport and moral within the organization.
Disruptive changes occur every day in our lives; however, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused an increase in disruption. The Covid-19 pandemic placed disruptive change, crisis mode, on many aspects of my organization from available resources, chain supply, staff, visitor policies, technology, and elective surgical cases being canceled, to list a few. With the changes that have occurred within my organization will/has affected the whole organization. An example of disruptive change that is currently occurring at my organization is the need to have to cancel elective surgeries either the night before, morning of, and in some cases when the patient arrives at the hospital due to not having enough hospital beds and/or staff at that very moment. With my hospital needing to cancel elective surgeries and if other hospitals are not needing to, it can cause our organization to lose patients to another organization especially when they are being canceled on the spot of arrival. Another example of disruptive change during the pandemic is technology and the use of telehealth/telemedicine visits. This has been a challenge for many patients since many may not have the technology tools to complete these visits, not educated clearly on how to use the tools and/or financially unable. Abrupt technology has caused patients difficulty in accessing their electronic health record portals and communicating to their provider through them. “A lot of the changes are so gradual that they don’t even qualify as news, or even as interesting: they’re so mundane that we just take them for granted. But history shows that it’s the mundane changes that are more important than the dramatic ‘newsworthy’ events”-Robert D Kaplan (Fingerprint for Success, n.d.).
References
Day, J. (n.d.). Incremental change vs disruptive innovation: What’s the difference? https://ideascale.com/what-is-the-difference-between-an-incremental-change-and-disruption/
Fingerprint for Success. (n.d.). Incremental change. https://www.fingerprintforsuccess.com/traits/incremental-change
Smith, C. (2014). Meeting the challenge of disruptive change. https://change.walkme.com/meeting-the-challenge-of-disruptive-change/
Click here to ORDER an A++ paper from our Verified MASTERS and DOCTORATE WRITERS LDR 615 What is “disruptive change,” and how is this different from “incremental change?”:
Incremental change refers to improved efficiency and sustainability in a manufacturing environment, transactions, and supply chains, all while remaining within the operating model. Incremental change that leads to increased sustainability efficiency is necessary, but it is not sufficient. The incremental change that leads to sustainability efficiency is a necessary but not sufficient condition (AEEN, 2021). Well this is true, at least if the goal is to create a long term sustainable financial structure with a positive net impact on society’s natural resources. Leaders, on the other hand, have entrepreneurship and innovation through beginning and organization with a strong, with the former being the implementers of projects and the other being the usual integrators of such initiatives in the field.

Disruptive change, on the other hand, occurs when value creation are intrinsically threatened, altered, or reinvented. Leaders will need to explore and invent for disruptive change, which means that organizations will face many unknowns and high risks. Very often, neither the end goal nor the solution path is known in advance. This is a challenge for any organization involved in fostering disruptive change in corporate sustainability. The most difficult aspect of disruptive innovation is not coming up with new ideas (Hoehn, 2018). There are already many ideas; the real challenge is to put them into action and make them work. These are and will remain an important, but they must be accompanied by procedures that encourage disruptive change. However, in sequence for a change to be disruptive, leaders must investigate, put in a lot of effort and work, exploring and implementing new investment and manufacturing models that they do not actually understand how they will work, because there are many unknowns to somehow be solved or even too high risks to take, especially in the early stages of any organization on the value chain.
AEEN. (2021, August 14). Disruption vs. incremental changes. AEEN. https://www.aeen.org/disruption-vs-incremental-changes/
Hoehn, R. (2018, November 21). The Value of Disruptive Innovation vs. the Value of Incremental Innovation. Innovation Management. https://innovationmanagement.se/2016/11/21/disruptive-innovation-vs-incremental-innovation/
Our discussions regarding the role of leaders during change initiatives and the organizational impact of disruptive change were deeply enlightening! I believe the following quote by Christensen and Overdorf (2000) provides an excellent summary of Topic 3:
Despite beliefs spawned by popular change-management and reengineering programs, processes are not nearly as flexible or adaptable as resources are and values are even less so. So whether addressing sustaining or disruptive innovations, when an organization needs new processes and values – because it needs new capabilities – managers must create a new organizational space where those capabilities can be developed (pg. 72).
The solutions offered by Christensen and Overdorf (2000) include creating new boundaries for existing organizational structures which facilitate new and enhanced processes or acquiring a new organization altogether which better facilitates new processes as a result of the change. Notice that their solutions are mostly process focused and not people-centered. In our discussions, we also brought up the importance of not losing sight of “people” and employee buy-in during times of change as well.
References
Christensen, C. M., & Overdorf, M. (2000). Meeting the Challenge of Disruptive Change. (cover story). Harvard Business Review, 78 (2), 66-76.
Disruptive change happens due to innovation in the industry, change in the structure or transformation in business models. These changes affect the way a business conducts business causing disruption. (Kaushik, 2020) Incremental change has efficient and sustainable improvements in a company’s processes, operations and supply chain staying within the current business model. (Loetscher, 2017) Incremental change has a slower pace and more control whereas disruptive change creates a difficult challenge causing uncomfortable change.
Disruptive change must focus on the factors which are resources, processes, and values. We live in era where change is happening frequently and is more normal. In is important to know what challenges are affecting the sudden change so you can cope and thrive. This is how you work on transforming the organization as it will help prove that managing in these situations are successful. It is important to teach the employees that change processes will help them manage their resources and organizational processes effectively.
An example of disruptive change that has happened in the healthcare industry is telemedicine. Through the pandemic there was panic, fear and stress as there was so much uncertainty about the transmission of the disease. With advancements in technology physicians were able to still see patients through an online video chat appointment known as telehealth. This worked for some but not for all as some people don’t have access to electronics with video capability. Doctor offices had to adjust schedules to manage time for patients that still came into the office and for those doing telehealth. This change caused disruption amongst both the providers and the patients, but the enhancements of this service has been creating positive changes for many organizations.
Kaushik, K. (2020, October 5). Disruptive Change: How 70% of the organizations fail. Retrieved from: https://www.apty.io/blog/disruptive-change
Loetscher, S. (2017, Jan. 8) Incremental cs. Disruptive change in corporate sustainability. Retrieved from: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/incremental-vs-disruptive-change-corporate-sabine-loetscher-ehrler
Thank you for your post. I agree with you that COVID-19 brought panic, fear, uncertainty, and stress throughout the world and the healthcare industry. Healthcare had to drastically change and meet the demands of patients. Virtual care and telehealth are proof of what transpired from disruptive change. Telehealth provided health care clinicians the capability to assist and provide quality healthcare to many patients during the Pandemic. Many patients were afraid or apprehensive to seek out healthcare during the pandemic due to the possibility of contracting the virus. Many patients and their families took advantage of technology by reaching their healthcare professionals through the My Chart portal. They were able to schedule appointments with their healthcare providers and see their providers through their phones, iPads, laptops, or computers and have one on one consultations. Patients were able to refill their medications and have them directly deliver them to their homes instead of going to the pharmacy. 2020 was the year where virtual care and telehealth evolved creating new ways for patients to obtain care and healthcare workers keep contact and provide care to their patients. In hospice care many of our patients and their families received virtual support from their hospice md, nurse, physical therapist, occupational therapist, chaplain, volunteers, and social worker. At first it was a strange concept to provide care virtually to someone on hospice care, but it was necessary to be able to provide the necessary care, provide support, and continue with the plan of care. Nurses were able to educate families and caregivers on how to provide care by providing instruction and guiding them virtually. Although, it was hard not to be able to give the in-person care to the patients at least there was a feeling of satisfaction one felt knowing that you were able to guide them virtually.
According to the Medical News Today there are many benefits to virtual care and telehealth technologies such as lowering the costs. Those that seek telehealth care are most likely going to spend less time in the hospital and lowering hospital admissions. Disabled patients and elderly patients who might be geographically isolated will be better able to access telehealth with less complications. Telemedicine has proven to help patients with preventative care and improve outcomes. Patients find it more convenient and comfortable to access telemedicine in the privacy of their own home. The convenience of not needing to take time away from work reduces the stress of finding a baby-sitter or caregiver to care for their loved ones. Telehealth also reduces the spread of infections from coming to the hospital or doctor’s office and being exposed to sick patients. Healthcare professionals’ benefit from virtual care and telehealth technologies by reducing overhead expenses, additional revenue streams by caring for more patients virtually, less exposure to illness and infections, and patient satisfaction.
According to Harvard Health Medical School there are disadvantages in using virtual telehealth care which include, that not all visits can be done virtually but require the patient to come in and be access in person. Patients still need to come to the lab to have blood drawn and imaging tests performed. There is still a security risk of personal health data being transmitted. Although many insurance companies have covered virtual telehealth visits during COVID-19 some services might not be covered, and the patient still has the responsibility to pay the out-of-pocket expenses.
References
Harvard Health Medical School. (n.d.). Telehealth: the advantages and disadvantages. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/telehealth-the-advantages-and-disadvantages
Medicine News Today. (2020). Telemedicine benefits: for patients and professionals. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/telemedicine-benefits