Workplace Environment Assessment
Part 1: Review of Work Environment Assessment
The results of the assessment indicate that the staff members in the organization shared the mission and vision of the organization based on such attributes as collegiality, respect, and leadership. moreover, the organization ensured that communication was done in a respectful, direct, and transparent manner across all levels, and the management was keen to celebrate and publicize the individual and collective achievements in an equitable way. The organization has established strategies that promote employee morale, engagement, and satisfaction, which is associated with an effective organizational culture that is constantly assessed and improved. Other aspects that show that the organization is a very healthy workplace include a high level of collaboration and teamwork, increased comprehensive mentoring programs, emphasis on self-care and wellness of staff members, adequate resources for professional growth, fair and respectful treatment of employees, and fair distribution of workload.
However, the organization was not very perfect in terms of perceiving the employees as valued partners and assets, as well as being effective in the active engagement of employees in joint-decision-making, share governance, as well as in matters of developing, reviewing, and revising policies. These are two areas that the organization needs to look at as a way of optimizing the expectations of the employees. Notably, the organization performed exceptionally well in conflict resolution and addressing disagreements in a responsible and respectful manner, and greatly encouraged free expression of ideas. The salaries and other types of benefits were very competitive, with employees granted sufficient opportunities for career development and promotion. Employee retention was quite impressive, and this explains why the employees consider is as a great place to work.
One of the surprising things about the results is how some employees would not feel to be perceived as valued partners and assets of the organization. The results indicate that the organization tremendously acknowledges the efforts of the employees whereby their achievements are celebrated and publicized, and that they are rewarded competitively in terms of compensation and other benefits. This alone may indicate that the employees are considered to be important assets and partners of the organization. It was also surprising to note that the organization was almost perfect in all the various attributes that provide a conducive environment for the employees to work in. Before conducting the assessment, I had a belief that collaboration and teamwork was at the core of the organization’s healthy workplace, which was perfectly confirmed following the assessment.
The results of the assessment reveal that the civility and health of the organization is excellent. The organization has embraced civility as a norm, which has made the workplace to be an integral source of inspiration and energy for all the employees. To this end, all the workers in the organization from the management to the junior healthcare providers have embraced civility, which has tremendously lowered the likelihood of quitting jobs and experiences of work burnout and bullying. This can be attributed to the established relationships that are based on consideration, respect, and courtesy, which has created a win-win situation for all workers.
Part 2: Reviewing the Literature
The article selected is “Fostering Civility in Nursing Education and Practice”. The concept emphasized in the article is the issue of incivility in nursing practice. The article notes that disruptive behavior and incivility in healthcare education and practice setting has significantly increased in the recent past but it has been ignored (Clark et al., 2011). Research evidence indicates that the incivility can be attributed to such attributes as student entitlement, faculty arrogance, high-stake testing, and stress. The article points out that the increase in the strategies towards reducing stressors may prove to be an important step in the establishment of a civility culture. Such strategies including enhancing initiatives for self-care, education, and policy and procedure (Clark et al., 2011). More importantly, the article emphasizes on the need to develop and implement non-punitive, well-defined, and comprehensive procedures and policies that would improve civility.
The concept of civility is based on the tenets of authentic respect for others, which requires willingness, presence, and time towards engaging in genuine conversation as well as seeking a common ground. The results of the assessment indicate that the organization embraces civility, with everyone, including the management, treating the other with great respect. More importantly, the organization portrays a greater degree of effective communication, establishment of a work community, and creation of teams that are highly-performing (Clark et al., 2011). The high level of score on the health of the workplace is an indication that civility is part of the organization’s culture. Without the dominating civility, the organization may suffer in terms of missed opportunities as no one would listen and understand the perspectives of others on important matters affecting the workplace as a whole.
The assessment results reveal that the organization exhibits civility to a greater extent, but there is surely a room for improvement. Embracing civility implies improved cohesiveness, collaboration, and communication. The organization can apply the civility concept in a number of ways. Firstly, there is a need to pay more attention in terms of observing and considering others as a way of ensuring that they feel appreciated and valued. Being aware of those around may help understand the wellness of others. Civility can also be enhanced through acknowledging others. This can be realized through recognizing others through congratulating a team or even remembering someone’s name. More importantly, the organization may be more inclusive whereby no employee would feel left out. When someone is unintentionally excluded somewhere, it is important to remain honest regarding the mistake and appropriately apologize. It is also critical to respect the time sacrificed by others. Nobody should pose as if their time is more important whereby s/he may demand immediate attention calling or showing up without a prior communication. This calls for giving others a say in picking the most appropriate time for a meeting while remaining aware of effective time management and avoid the creation of emergencies for other people.
Part 3: Strategies to Create High-Performance Interprofessional Teams
The results of the survey indicate that some employees expressed displeasure in terms of whether the organization views them as valued partners and assets. In order to eliminate the doubts, the recommendation is provided for the organization to provide its employees with individualized benefits. Research indicates that benefits that are designed towards the individual needs are associated with conveying a strong message that the organization positively values its employees (Eisenberger, Malone & Presson, 2016). In this regard, the benefits tailored towards helping the workers in balancing their family and work responsibilities has a positive correlation with perceived organizational support. Because this strategy may be considered to be selective and thus leading to disharmony among employees, the organization should ensure provision of individualized benefits that are sensitive to the particular needs of a significant employee diversity (Eisenberger, Malone & Presson, 2016).
The other identifiable shortcoming from the assessment relates to active engagement of employees in joint decision-making, shared governance, and development, review, and revision of policies. The strategy recommended is to offer sufficient support to the subordinates. Research evidence indicates that the supervisors with supportive groups are capable of being inclines towards treating their teams more favorably. In this case, the subordinates would rate their leaders to provide a leadership that is more caring whereby there are involved in decision-making processes and other critical policies influencing the organization. The organization should consider offering training to the employees on the importance of offering support to their team leaders, which promotes a virtuous support cycle between supervisors and their subordinates.
One of the successful practices revealed through the assessment is the greater emphasis on employee wellness and self-care. However, it is recommended that the organization may improve employee wellness through providing incentives to be healthy. This can be realized through the combination of the employee wellness program with a program for employee incentives (Rucker, 2017). This can be realized financially whereby part of the employees’ premium insurance is covered when specific milestones such as low blood pressure or a healthy Body Mass Index (BMI) are passed.
Another notable practice in the organization relates to respectful, direct, and transparent communication at all levels in the organization. For the communication to be more effective, research indicates that there is a need to ensure that communication is kept constant whereby employees are kept updated on the developments in the organization (Lionis et al., 2016). It is also essential to create a platform that caters for anonymous feedback. This ensures that all employees are able to share their feelings without being victimized. More importantly, research indicates the effective communication can be tremendously enhanced through asking for employee feedback (Lionis et al., 2016). This means that the organization should avoid one-way traffic communication from top-down.
References
Clark, C. M., Olender, L., Cardoni, C., & Kenski, D. (2011). Fostering civility in nursing education and practice: Nurse leader perspectives. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 41(7/8), 324-330.
Eisenberger, R., Malone, G. P., & Presson, W. D. (2016). Optimizing perceived organizational support to enhance employee engagement. Society for Human Resource Management and Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 2-22.
Lionis, C., Papadakaki, M., Saridaki, A., Dowrick, C., O'Donnell, C. A., Mair, F. S., ... & van Weel-Baumgarten, E. (2016). Engaging migrants and other stakeholders to improve communication in cross-cultural consultation in primary care: a theoretically informed participatory study. BMJ open, 6(7), e010822.
Rucker, M. R. (2017). Workplace wellness strategies for small businesses. International Journal of Workplace Health Management, 10(1), 55-68.
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