NURS 6053 Week 7 Discussion Workplace Environment Assessment

NURS 6053 Week 7 Discussion Workplace Environment Assessment

How healthy is your workplace?

You may think your current organization operates seamlessly, or you may feel it has many issues. You may experience or even observe things that give you pause. Yet, much as you wouldn’t try to determine the health of a patient through mere observation, you should not attempt to gauge the health of your work environment based on observation and opinion. Often, there are issues you perceive as problems that others do not; similarly, issues may run much deeper than leadership recognizes.

There are many factors and measures that may impact organizational health. Among these is civility. While an organization can institute policies designed to promote such things as civility, how can it be sure these are managed effectively? In this Discussion, you will examine the use of tools in measuring workplace civility.

To Prepare:

• Review the Resources and examine the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory, found on page 20 of Clark (2015).
• Review and complete the Work Environment Assessment Template in the Resources.

By Day 3 of Week 7

• Post a brief description of the results of your Work Environment Assessment. Based on the results, how civil is your workplace? Explain why your workplace is or is not civil. Then, describe a situation where you have experienced incivility in the workplace. How was this addressed? Be specific and provide examples.

By Day 6 of Week 7

• Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days by sharing ideas for how shortcomings discovered in their evaluations and/or their examples of incivility could have been managed more effectively.

Submission and Grading Information

Work Environment Assessment Sample Paper

A sustainable business environment is a critical factor in the management of business organizations. The health of an organization is measured by the level of civility. Civility is gauged by parameters such as teamwork, the level of employee engagement, communication, and other best management practices (Clark et al., 2011). Organizations must from time to time assess the work environment to measure the level of civility. 

Theory or concept presented in the article selected.

Hofstede’s theory of management is based on certain dimensions upon which cultural values can be evaluated or analyzed to gauge how civil an organization is. Hofstede’s original theory was based on four parameters such as individualism and collectivity, avoidance and uncertainty, masculinity and femininity, and power distance (Prabowo et al., 2018) There have been some amendments to Hofstede’s original theory, however; his work remains one of the most important models for studying cross-cultural management in organizations. Critical parameters that Hofstede talks about in his model to cross-cultural management are the importance of international communication especially in organizations such as apple which have many employees from different cultural backgrounds. 

Hofstede asserts that communication is usually one of the most challenging factors in an organization and that the issue is further compounded in organizations that have many employees from different backgrounds. According to Hofstede, the challenge in communication in a cross-cultural organization lies in the fact that an organization must take into consideration cross-cultural differences (Silva et al., 2018). 

Just like in communication, cross-cultural organizations also experience problems when it comes to management because cross-culture impacts decision-making. For example, Apple, which has for some time made China its second home, must consider the country’s customs and values when making decisions (Xian, 2020). Even in the United States where Apple is headquartered, the company has many employees from different backgrounds culturally which it has to be careful of in many ways so that all employees are considered at the organization.

Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory

Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory is a critical assessment tool of the workplace. This tool measures critical parameters such as whether the members of an organization share their organizations, mission, vision, trust, and respect based on a collective effort (Rosen et al., 2018). This tool also measures whether there is a good level of trust between employees of all cadres-from top management to the lowest level. Communication is also an important parameter in evaluating the level of an organization’s civility level. Broken communication means that an organization is facing challenges whereas positive communication means that there is a good level of trust, transparency, and respect. 

Things that Surprised Me

One of the things I found surprising from the results is that many healthcare facilities put more emphasis on profitability instead of their worker’s welfare. Poor employee engagement directly affects patient outcomes. I work for a private healthcare facility that cares mostly about how many patients are treated daily, the more the better because of profitability. This system means that nurses work overtime and work under a lot of pressure to meet the demands of all patients. This factor has strained the working relationship between the nurses and the management leading to incivility. 

How My Organization Can Apply the Theory in the Selected Article

To promote civility, my organization must adopt the approach of balancing its needs with the needs of the workers. Just like profits is important to the organization, so is personal growth and fair treatment is to employees. Fair treatment and a conducive work environment boost the level of civility in organizations (Clark, 2015). Motivation is essential in getting quality work from employees, increasing employee productivity, and enhancing their speed of productivity. Effective leadership works hand in hand with motivation. 

Where there is poor leadership, employees become confused, demotivated, and ‘directionless.’ Similarly, without proper motivation, employees cannot give their best, resulting in low and reduced productivity. Effective leaders motivate their employees by creating a friendly work environment, encouraging positive communication, and promoting creativity (Prabowo, Noermijati, & Irawanto, 2018, p. 171). Based on this analogy, my organization should increase the level of employee motivation to improve workplace civility. 

My organization should also promote communication between workers. Teamwork and individual behavior can make healthcare safer for patients as it improves the quality of care given to patients. As mentioned above, members of staff that are in good communication with each other are not only motivated but are also likely to avoid many errors when dealing with patients (Rosen, et al., 2018, p. 433). Effective communication boosts the morale of the staff making them highly productive. 

A healthcare organization that has an effective communication structure in place is likely to be more successful with regards to patient outcomes and safety compared to one with poor communication structures. Moreover, effective communication promotes efficiency leading to improved outcomes both for the organization and the employees.

Conclusion

Civility is a critical factor in the management of health organizations. Organizations can measure civility by conducting a workplace assessment. Such assessments are aimed at finding the level of employee engagement, employee satisfaction, communication, teamwork, and other practices that boost civility in the workplace.  

References

• Prabowo, T. S., Noermijati, N., & Irawanto, D. W. (2018). The influence of transformational leadership and work motivation on employee performance mediated by job satisfaction. Jurnal Aplikasi Manajemen, 16(1), 171-178. http://dx.doi.org/10.21776/ub.jam.2018.016.01.20
• Clark, C. M. (2015). Conversations to inspire and promote a more civil workplace. American Nurse Today, 10(11), 18–23. Retrieved from https://www.americannursetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/ant11-CE-Civility-1023.pdf
• Clark, C. M., Olender, L., Cardoni, C., Kenski, D. (2011). Fostering civility in nursing education and practice. The Journal of Nursing Administration, 41(7/8), 324–330.
• Rosen, M. A., DiazGranados, D., Dietz, A. S., Benishek, L. E., Thompson, D., Pronovost, P. J., & Weaver, S. J. (2018). Teamwork in healthcare: Key discoveries enabling safer, high-quality care. American Psychologist, 73(4), 433-450. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000298
• Silva, S. D., & Mendis, B. A. K. M. (2017). Relationship between transformational, transaction and laissez-faire leadership styles and employee commitment. European Journal of Business and Management, 9(7), 13-21. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334494910
• Xian, J., Li, B., & Huang, H. (2020). Transformational Leadership and Employees’ Thriving at Work: The Mediating Roles of Challenge-Hindrance Stressors. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1400. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01400