Date of Submission
7-1-2019
Document Type
Dissertation/Thesis
Degree
Doctor of Education
Department
Education
Keywords
Community Pharmacy Practice, Organizational Change, Transactional Leadership, Leader-Member Exchange
Abstract
Community pharmacy practice in Ontario is undergoing a paradigm shift, moving from a product-centered to a patient-centered orientation. As a result of increased demands on Ontario’s healthcare system, the provincial government enacted legislation that expanded the scope of practice for pharmacists, authorizing them to deliver clinical services in a pharmacy setting. The provincial government also introduced a regulated pharmacy support staff role, the Pharmacy Technician (PT) to assist pharmacists in managing the resulting higher demands on them. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) seeks to address performance concerns in an organization that operates two community pharmacies that arose as a result of these legislative changes. The OIP advocates for a comprehensive approach to organizational change that focuses on both external and internal organizational factors that contributed to the problem of practice. The OIP champions a leadership approach that emphasizes both structural and relational elements of leadership. Through a patient education initiative, the OIP attempts to counter misperceptions that patients may have regarding the roles that different pharmacy team members play. The OIP also proposes redesigning the pharmacy workflow process in order to better integrate PTs, enable pharmacists to improve the delivery of clinical services, and achieve efficiencies within the pharmacy. These changes are introduced in the OIP through a detailed leadership-driven implementation plan which is complemented by a change process monitoring and evaluation strategy and a change communication plan. While this OIP was tailored specifically to the needs of one organization, this problem of practice is not unique to it. As such, the analysis that was performed, the proposed leadership approach, and the change plan that was devised can provide important insights to other community pharmacies within Ontario, across Canada, as well as in other countries where similar legislation has been introduced.
Recommended Citation
Nasra, R. (2019). Enabling Organizational Change in Community Pharmacy Practice. The Organizational Improvement Plan at Western University, 107. Retrieved from https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/oip/107