Read the paper below and convert it into one paragraph:

Communication Change at BlueCross BlueShield

Blue Cross Blue Shield is an insurance company that engages in provision of health insurance policies industry in the US. Remarkably, the insurance industry in the US is characterized with high competition which is posed by seasoned companies as well as new entrants such as Nevada health insurance Inc. However, Blue Cross Blue Shield has adopted several strategies such as expansion of its product line, acquisitions and investment in the contemporary technology as a way of wedging this increased competition.

Despite this positive statistics, the company has been experiencing challenges in initiating new changes in the organization. For instance, with poor communication between the management, employees and client, the company gradually lost its appeal in the market. This is based on the fact that some decisions have been made without consulting all stakeholders. In other circumstances the information takes relatively long time to reach the junior employees and when it reaches them it is distorted. However, previous efforts such as reducing the chain of communication to improve the situation have been received with mixed reaction with some conservative stakeholders resisting the change holding that it is costly and will impact the old way of doing things in the organization. However, some have been apt to embrace the changes. This paper therefore seeks to provide an elaborate discussion of the need of communication organizational change at BlueCross Blue shield. To ensure that the change is addressed to finality, the paper will utilize Kotter’s eight-stage model.

Problem Identification

There is no doubt that communication plays a central role in streamlining operations in organizations. According to Schlesinger (2013) efficient communication serves as a platform on which several stakeholders in an organization are able to work as a unit which yields a synergy that yields improved performance. Nevertheless at BlueCross BlueShield communication between various stakeholders has been one of the core challenges that the health organization has been battling with for pretty long time now. Notably, this communication problem presents itself in different dimension. For instance, some of the changes are initiated in the organization without consulting all the stakeholders’ especially junior employees whom despite being affected by some changes are sidelined in consultation process. This scenario has therefore leaded them to resist some of the changes initiated by the management. Secondly, communication regarding specific strategies or changes that the organization wants to embrace is done late and this does not provide adequate time for the concerned stakeholders to evaluate a specific change. This therefore results to a feeling of being duped with the affected employees resisting to embrace the changes. Indeed, these obstacles have been holding the company stakeholders from working as unit. Therefore, adopting a change model which can streamline communication and allow employees to work as a unit is core to enabling BlueCross BlueShield compete favorably in the highly fluid health insurance industry.

Initiating Communication Change at BlueCross BlueShield according To Kotter’s Eight Stage Framework

Creating a Sense of Urgency

Ability to create a sense of agency is paramount in order to influence the target audience into embracing changes that the organization aspires to adopt (kotter, 2008). Primarily, to ensure that change in communication is streamlined at BlueCross Blue shield in such way that each of the stakeholders does not develop a feeling of being sidelined, the management of the organization will be required to demonstrate to the audience the importance the proposed change will have to the organization. Specifically, change in communication will ensure that communication is done on time, instructions are properly detailed and all stakeholders are a brought on board before making decisions. Equally, embracing communication changes will lead to streamlined communication which will ensure that the company is able to attract and retain customers, boost its market share which is gradually shrinking, among other metrics which have in the past few years played to the disadvantage of the organization.

Building a Guiding Coalition

To be able to execute successfully the intended communication change at BlueCross Blue shield building a guiding coalition is central. Here the management will be required to identify true change leaders in the organization and seek to earn their influence into initiating the intended change and getting the rest of the target stakeholders onboard. Remarkably, Schlesinger ( 2013) holds that during the selection process, team members ought not to be selected in respect to hierarchy of management; instead the coalition should be made of team of members whose influential power comes from a range of sources such as expertise, political importance among others levels of influence. In light of this observation, leaders of departments, employee representatives and client’s representatives will be brought onboard to inspire the rest of stakeholders into buying the idea of bringing communication changes at organization. Notably, these individuals will be asked for their emotional commitment and an evaluation of their strengths and weakness will be conducted in order to realize a good mix of strengths.

Communicating the Vision

To ensure that the intended change in communication is well managed, the management will be required to communicate frequently and powerfully. Specifically, at BlueCross BlueShield organization communication will be conducted through organizing meeting and workshops where the need of holding to the vision. Besides these forums the management will be required to use informal meeting to remind the concerned stakeholders of the importance of the vision and how to realize it. During the meeting stakeholders concerns will be addressed openly and honestly in order to earn their confidence. Finally, the vision of the organization will be applied in a range of levels such as training, to performing reviews.

Removing Obstacles

Achieving change in an organization is no mean chore but a process which requires vehement effort and an alert mind with a capacity to place a structure for change and continually check for barriers. Particularly at BlueCross BlueShield organization the management will be required to hire change leaders whose main objective will be to deliver the intended communication change. Secondly, the management will be required to align the organization structure, job descriptions and performance compensation to the target communication change. Equally, the organization will be required to reward individuals whose effort result to the realization of the intended change. On the other hand, those who resist the change will be identified and convinced on the need to have the identified communication changes at BlueCross BlueShield organization.

Creating Short Term Wins

Providing an organization with an opportunity of having a taste of the short victories is essential in motivating them to work towards attaining the long term change objective (kotter, 2008). At BlueCross BlueShield organization the short term goals of the organizations will be to ensure that interdepartmental communication is streamlined before rolling it to the entire organization. Secondly, the management will be required to embrace efficient communication at the organization level before challenging other employees in lower ranks to embrace it. Equally, individuals who will help the organization meet the set short objectives will be rewarded as a means of encouraging them to work towards achieving long term communication change goals.

Building on the Change

According to Schlesinger (2013) changes in projects fail since victory is declared too early. Schlesinger holds that real change runs deep and the short term wins are merely what need to be done to achieve the long term goals. In light of Schlesinger (2013) argument, initiating communication changes at Schlesinger demands that after the short term wins have been achieved the management will have to analyze what went right and what need to be improved. Equally, each success will have to be build on through keeping ideas fresh and bringing onboard new change agents to the coalition.

Anchoring the changes to the corporate culture

Finally, to ensure that the achieved communication change is sustained, it will be incorporated into the organization culture. Basically, the coalition members will be required to ensure that the change is evidenced in every part of the organization in order to have it become part of the organization culture. Additionally the team will be required to talk broadly of the progress they have achieved in any forum that they deems fit. Finally, change idea and values will have to be used as criteria when hiring and training employees and plans will be required to be made to replace key members in the coalition as they move on. This practice will be fundamental in ensuring that legacy is not forgotten.