NURA 6063 Workplace Environment Assessment Essay

NURA 6063 Workplace Environment Assessment Essay

NURA 6063 Workplace Environment Assessment Essay

Work Environment Assessment  

The health of a workplace has a significant effect on employee performance and productivity. A work environment assessment was done on my practice site using the Clarks Healthy Workplace Inventory. The organization scored 54, which translates into an unhealthy organization as per Clarks Healthy Workplace Inventory assessment. The organization’s score in of the assessment items were somewhat untrue and neutral.  

Some things surprised me about the results of the work environment assessment. One of them is the organization’s score. I believed that most of the staff in the organization perceived it a healthy workplace. The leadership and management pride themselves in implementing staff-centered interventions that contribute to their empowerment and performance. However, it appears that the staff have contrary opinions and experiences about these interventions. The other thing that surprised me from the assessment is that most of the employees reported that they have low level of job satisfaction, morale, and engagement. Employee job satisfaction is a crucial ingredient for the delivery of high-quality, safe, and efficient care in healthcare (Giménez Lozano et al., 2021). However, it was surprising that most employees reported being demotivated yet the organization’s statistics such as turnover rates and adverse events have been low over the past years.  

One of the ideas that I believed before conducting the assessment and was confirmed is the lack of transparent and direct communication at all the organization’s level. The communication environment in the organization is one-way. The management makes decisions to be imposed on the staff without the consideration of their views. As a result, most of the staff express dissatisfaction with the manner in which the management undertakes its functions (Hashish, 2020). This was confirmed by most of the staff who reported that the statement on communication being transparent, direct, and respectful being completely untrue. As noted initially, the results of the assessment mean that the organization is not a safe workplace. It does not prioritize the needs of its staff in the implementation of different strategies, hence, having the potential of affecting performance and competitiveness of the organization. 

NURA 6063 Workplace Environment Assessment Essay
NURA 6063 Workplace Environment Assessment Essay

 

NURA 6063 Workplace Environment Assessment Essay References 

Giménez Lozano, J. M., Martínez Ramón, J. P., & Morales Rodríguez, F. M. (2021). Doctors and Nurses: A Systematic Review of the Risk and Protective Factors in Workplace Violence and Burnout. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(6), Article 6. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18063280 

Hashish, E. A. A. (2020). Nurses’ perception of organizational justice and its relationship to their workplace deviance. Nursing Ethics, 27(1), 273–288. https://doi.org/10.1177/0969733019834978 

 

Clearly, diagnosis is a critical aspect of healthcare. However, the ultimate purpose of a diagnosis is the development and application of a series of treatments or protocols. Isolated recognition of a health issue does little to resolve it.

In this module’s Discussion, you applied the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory to diagnose potential problems with the civility of your organization. In this Portfolio Assignment, you will continue to analyze the results and apply published research to the development of a proposed treatment for any issues uncovered by the assessment.

To Prepare:

  • Review the Resources and examine the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory, found on page 20 of Clark (2015).
  • Review the Work Environment Assessment Template.
  • Reflect on the output of your Discussion post regarding your evaluation of workplace civility and the feedback received from colleagues.
  • Select and review one or more of the following articles found in the Resources:
    • Clark, Olender, Cardoni, and Kenski (2011)
    • Clark (2018)
    • Clark (2015)
    • Griffin and Clark (2014)

The Assignment (3-6 pages total):

Part 1: Work Environment Assessment (1-2 pages)

  • Review the Work Environment Assessment Template you completed for this Module’s Discussion.
  • Describe the results of the Work Environment Assessment you completed on your workplace.
  • Identify two things that surprised you about the results and one idea you believed prior to conducting the Assessment that was confirmed.
  • Explain what the results of the Assessment suggest about the health and civility of your workplace.

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The Clark Healthy Workplace Environment results revealed that my work environment is moderately healthy, with a score of 88. These results showed that members of my organization live by a shared vision and mission based on collegiality, respect, and trust. Also, members of my organization have transparent, direct, and respectful communication among themselves. The employees also reported high satisfaction and increased morale when working in the organization. Furthermore, the employees showed that there was a high level of teamwork and collaboration as employees reported working in teams and collaborating with inter-professional peers when delivering care. The results also indicated that the employees felt like the organization’s assets and they felt like valued partners within the organization. Also, the work environment is healthy, as the results showed that employees’ individual and team achievements were publicized and celebrated in an equitable manner. Nevertheless, the results showed that members of the organization were actively engaged in shared governance, policy development, and joint decision-making. Also, results showed that the organization had a comprehensive mentoring program for all employees. The results also showed that employees are treated in a fair and respectful manner, and their wellness and self-care are emphasized. Lastly, the results showed that the employees would recommend the organization as a great place to work as there are sufficient opportunities for promotion and career development, competitive salaries, compensations, benefits, and free expression of ideas; hence, it retains the best employees.

The two ideas that surprised me are that most of the employees had low trust in the formal leadership and other members of the organization, and some employees felt that the workload was high (most from the night shift). One idea that I believed prior to conducting the assessment that was confirmed is that the organization’s biggest aspect that contributes to it being healthy is the value of employees. The organization values the employees and considers them as its biggest assets. Thus, employees are involved in making organizational decisions and policy development. Hence, this helps to improve employee satisfaction at work.

The results suggest that my organization is moderately health and has civility with a score of 88. Hence, it has room for improvement to be very healthy. The major areas that need to improve are employees’ trust in their leaders and employees on the night shift who feels like the workload is unreasonable. Employee trust is crucial as it enables employees to be vulnerable and take risks in workplaces (Men et al., 2021). Also, through trust, employees are more willing to rely on their leaders in different situations, like when making a decision, supervising work, and leading (Men et al., 2021). On the other hand, employees’ perceptions of increased workload also need to be addressed. Inegbedion et al. (2020) stressed that organizational members who perceive that they have a high workload develop disaffection. As a result, this reduces employee morale at work.

The article selected explains the theory of leader-member exchange (LME) theory to improve the health of the work environment. The LME theory focuses on supervisor-subordinate relationships as it suggests that managers should encourage positive interactions between leaders and employees (Tran et al., 2018). As a result, these relationships improve in quality, respect, obligation, and internal motivation among organizational members (Tran et al., 2018). Lastly, these employees are more likely to receive support from their leaders. The LME theory relates to the results of my Work Environment Assessment. The assessment showed that my organization is moderately healthy due to organizational members living by a shared mission and vision based on collegiality, respect and trust, transparent communication, teamwork, collaboration, and shared decision-making among organizational members. Therefore, this shows that the organization has an effective supervisor-subordinate relationship.

My organization can apply the theory (LME theory) to improve organizational health and greater stronger work teams. For example, LME theory will help to promote employees’ relationships with their leaders. As a result, this will address the issue of employees lacking trust in their formal leaders. Also, LME encourages employees to have a positive relationship with their superiors since they receive valued opportunities and support from the employees (Tran et al., 2018). Thus, this theory could be used to show how employees who perceive increased workload can communicate their concerns to their leaders through positive leadership. A healthy workplace environment is crucial for the civility of an organization. Hence, it is essential to ensure that the workplace environment is healthy.

 

 

References

Inegbedion, H., Inegbedion, E., Peter, A., & Harry, L. (2020). Perception of workload balance and employee job satisfaction in work organisations. Heliyon, 6(1), e03160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e03160

Men, L. R., Qin, Y. S., & Jin, J. (2021). Fostering employee trust via effective supervisory communication during the COVID-19 pandemic: Through the lens of motivating language theory. International Journal of Business Communication, 59(2), 193–218. https://doi.org/10.1177/23294884211020491

Tran, K., Nguyen, P., Dang, T., & Ton, T. (2018). The impacts of the high-quality workplace relationships on job performance: A perspective on staff nurses in Vietnam. Behavioral Sciences, 8(12), 109. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs8120109

Part 2: Reviewing the Literature (1-2 pages)

  • Briefly describe the theory or concept presented in the article(s) you selected.
  • Explain how the theory or concept presented in the article(s) relates to the results of your Work Environment Assessment.
  • Explain how your organization could apply the theory highlighted in your selected article(s) to improve organizational health and/or create stronger work teams. Be specific and provide examples.

Part 3: Evidence-Based Strategies to Create High-Performance Interprofessional Teams (1–2 pages)

  • Recommend at least two strategies, supported in the literature, that can be implemented to address any shortcomings revealed in your Work Environment Assessment.
  • Recommend at least two strategies that can be implemented to bolster successful practices revealed in your Work Environment Assessment.

By Day 7 of Week 9

Submit your Workplace Environment Assessment Assignment.

Submission and Grading Information

To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following:

  • Please save your Assignment using the naming convention “WK9Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name.
  • Click the Week 9 Assignment Rubric to review the Grading Criteria for the Assignment.
  • Click the Week 9 Assignment link. You will also be able to “View Rubric” for grading criteria from this area.
  • Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computer button. Find the document you saved as “WK9Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click Open.
  • If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global Reference Database.
  • Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.

NURA 6063 Workplace Environment Assessment Essay Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:

Week 9 Assignment Rubric

 

Check Your Assignment Draft for Authenticity

To check your Assignment Draft for Authenticity:

Submit your Week 9 Assignment draft and review the originality report

 

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Workplace Environment Assessment

Healthcare professionals should work in environments that support interprofessional collaboration, protect them from bullying and other uncivil behaviors, and sustain individual development. Due to their critical role in primary care, nurses require guidance, mentorship, and active engagement in decision-making. However, not all workplaces provide nurses with a healthy and safe environment to provide optimal patient care and optimize personal development. Incivility is typical in many institutions, and its magnitude depends on leadership, employee empowerment programs, and behavior management policies, among other factors. A workplace diagnosis helps assess the incivility level and interventions required to promote civility. The purpose of this paper is to describe the workplace environment assessment results, concept/theory, and strategies for creating high-performance interprofessional teams.

Work Environment Assessment

Assessments reveal the health status of an organization. They evaluate many aspects, and the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory diagnoses potential problems regarding civility in an organization. The organization scored 59 on the inventory and one’s impression. The score demonstrates low performance on critical organizational factors that promote a healthy workplace, including the organizational culture and environment. Multiple factors contribute to such a score, and the chances of interprofessional collaboration and organizational development are usually low.

The facility also lacks appropriate preceptorship plans for new workers. The lack of orientation exposes them to confusion and bullying, among other features of uncivil workplaces. Other contributing factors include the lack of mentorship for current employees’ culture evaluation programs. The situation would have been better if the organization had assessed its culture regularly and responded effectively. The institution also lacks adequate resources to promote career progression, which impedes professional development. Consequently, it is challenging to retain experienced and top nurses. The other factor to blame for the discouraging score is a leadership model that excludes employees in decision-making.

The two surprising outcomes are the organization’s ill state and its unchanged culture. Considering how the organizational environment and workplace relationships profoundly affect patient care, healthcare institutions should avoid uncivil behaviors and invest heavily in positive cultures. Among the dominant organizational perspectives, the institution does not regard employees as valuable participants in decision-making and organizational growth. After checking numerous “totally untrue boxes” scale components, the overall result confirmed the same. This implies ineffective organizational governance. The other major worry was employee appreciation, which was lacking since employees are not regarded as valuable assets. According to Flynn et al. (2021), employee appreciation helps employees feel more secure and satisfied, motivating them to continue their work. Such motivation ensures that employees are more inclined to healthy behaviors and avoid uncivil acts.

The results confirmed the need for transformative change, a view held before conducting the review. A leadership that does not revere employee participation is retrogressive and hampers civility in the workplace. From the findings, current leadership styles are ineffective, and a shift is inevitable for the organization to achieve its vision and goals. A practical way to achieve these goals is to advocate for and practice transformative leadership, whose central tenet is inspiration and working together to achieve the desired vision (Seljemo et al., 2020). The organization, through its leader, must also ensure the satisfaction of both workers and patients.

Generally, the score (59) reveals an unhealthy and uncivil workplace. Incivility hampers nurses’ mental health and reduces overall productivity (Kile et al., 2018). The situation is worse in workplaces where the leadership has not implemented robust policies for preventing incivility and promoting healthy relationships. Unhealthy and uncivil workplaces are also associated with patient safety concerns, implying low patient satisfaction. Due to such outcomes, immediate, practical interventions are necessary. The situation should be addressed before reaching unmanageable levels.

Reviewing the Literature

Nursing literature has explored workplace incivility in-depth and recommended multiple interventions for understanding and addressing the problem. Cognitive rehearsal is among the widely explored concepts. According to Griffin and Clark (2014), cognitive rehearsal is an effective behavioral strategy for addressing incivility and lateral violence in the workplace. It has three interrelated components. The first component is participating in informative instruction regarding incivility and lateral violence. Secondly, those vulnerable to workplace incivility are taught to identify and rehearse specific phrases for addressing incivility. The third component is practicing the phrases to be more familiar with their application in real-life situations.

Cognitive rehearsal empowers nurses to identify and respond effectively to uncivil behaviors. Since their probability is high, organizational management should embrace cognitive rehearsal as a behavioral intervention strategy for current and new nurses. Griffin and Clark (2014) analyzed the effectiveness of cognitive rehearsal for newly licensed nurses. They found that cognitive rehearsal enabled new nurses to stop uncivil behaviors against them completely. Kile et al. (2018) found cognitive rehearsal highly effective in improving nurses’ confidence to defend themselves against incivility. They were also better positioned to recognize workplace incivility and report related behaviors.

Regarding the relationship between the concept (cognitive rehearsal) and the work environment assessment, nurses and other healthcare workers may be trained to overcome workplace incivility through the cognitive rehearsal approach. Currently, it is challenging to achieve the desired vision and purpose without reviewing and changing the organizational culture. A crucial part of the required review is empowering nurses and healthcare workers in recognizing and reacting to distressing behaviors and remarks from leaders or colleagues. Cognitive rehearsal training should be part of the organizational policies for improving its health. The management should also continually measure employee satisfaction and engagement, purposing to empower its workforce and enhance civility.

Cognitive rehearsal can improve the overall organizational health and play a critical role in creating stronger teams. Currently, the organization does not promote a learning culture to help employees advance their careers. Healthcare organizations should consider on-the-job training to strengthen nurses’ interprofessional abilities. Cognitive rehearsal training should be among the central components of on-the-job training. Through cognitive rehearsal, nurses learn what workplace incivility entails and how to promote a civil workplace. They further learn to associate with like-minded colleagues who do not participate in uncivil behaviors. Kile et al. (2018) and Clark (2019) further recommended healthcare facilities invest in education programs that teach cognitive rehearsal to improve their health and staff collaboration. The education team should also provide continuing leadership development programs that include mental tests to assess nurses’ ability to cope with stressful situations.

 

Evidence-Based Strategies to Create High-Performance Interprofessional Teams

An organization’s progressive growth depends on its strategies to address its shortcomings. Leading causes of incivility, as the workplace assessment revealed, include lack of employee orientation and employee appreciation programs. In response, a robust nurse orientation program is necessary. Such a program introduces new employees to the organizational policies, culture, and workforce. Nurses feel more positive about the organization when they understand its structure and people. Nurse orientation programs are a critical part of the enculturation that helps produce competent nurses ready to provide quality patient care (Church et al., 2020). Besides orientation, employee recognition and reward programs should be part of the interventions for organizational development. The work environment assessment revealed that the leaders rarely appreciate employees and do not consider them in decision-making. Employees’ appreciation is necessary to strengthen the leaders-employees bond. Appreciation also makes employees feel valued and a pivotal part of the organization. Such appreciation encourages them to collaborate and engage positively as crucial members of the healthcare team.

The organization can also implement several strategies to bolster successful practices revealed in the work environment assessment. The focus should be on nurse retention, which the leaders try, but it is not up to the expected levels. Employee recognition through rewards is among the most effective nurse retention programs. Recognition improves the nurses’ mental connection with the facility since it makes them feel more valued (Flynn et al., 2021). The other effective strategy is the leaders to ensure adequate nurse-to-patient staffing ratios. Adequate staffing prevents nurse burnout, a leading cause of nurse turnover in healthcare organizations (Kelly et al., 2021). These strategies can be used independently or interchangeably as situations prompt.

NURA 6063 Workplace Environment Assessment Essay Conclusion

The healthcare staff should always be mentally, physically, and emotionally ready to provide patient care and collaborate with colleagues. A practical way of ensuring they are ready is by preventing workplace incivility. The work environment assessment revealed an unhealthy and uncivil workplace where the leaders rarely engage and appreciate employees. Due to the far-reaching effects of such workplaces on patient care, practical interventions are necessary. Cognitive rehearsal is a highly effective approach for empowering nurses to recognize and respond to workplace incivility.

 

NURA 6063 Workplace Environment Assessment Essay References

Church, C. D., White, M., & Cosme, S. (2020). Helping students identify a healthy transition-to-practice work environment. Nurse Educator, 45(4), 174-176. doi: 10.1097/NNE.0000000000000751

Clark, C. M. (2019). Fostering a culture of civility and respect in nursing. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 10(1), 44–52. doi:10.1016/s2155-8256(19)30082-1

Flynn, W. J., Valentine, S. R., & Meglich, P. (2021). Healthcare human resource management. Cengage Learning.

Griffin, M., & Clark, C. M. (2014). Revisiting cognitive rehearsal as an intervention against incivility and lateral violence in nursing: 10 years later. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 45(12), 535-542. doi:10.3928/00220124-20141122-02

Kelly, L. A., Gee, P. M., & Butler, R. J. (2021). Impact of nurse burnout on organizational and position turnover. Nursing outlook, 69(1), 96-102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2020.06.008

Kile, D., Eaton, M., deValpine, M., & Gilbert, R. (2018). The effectiveness of education and cognitive rehearsal in managing nurse‐to‐nurse incivility: A pilot study. Journal of Nursing Management, 27(3), 543–552. doi:10.1111/jonm.12709

Seljemo, C., Viksveen, P., & Ree, E. (2020). The role of transformational leadership, job demands and job resources for patient safety culture in Norwegian nursing homes: A cross-sectional study. BMC Health Services Research, 20(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-05671-y

The results of the work environment assessment on the Clarkhealthy workplace inventory were 68, indicating that the organization I work for can barely be described as a healthy workplace. Several attributes contributed to this finding. One of these is the fact that there is an apparent disconnect between the organization’s vision and mission, which are to be employed in the delivery of services to our beneficiaries. To date, the organization’s leadership has been unable to spell out the vision and mission of the organization and how the employees should be working towards attaining these elements. The dismal support employees further highlight this feeling they receive from the leadership, an attribute that has adversely affected job satisfaction and overall commitment meant to the mission and vision. The second element that accounts for this score is the lack of lack between the different levels of the organization, predominantly between the top leadership y and the employees. There are numerous instances whereby the leadership has overlooked the issues raised by employees as adversely affectingtheir productivity. This is compounded by the feeling that the leadership does not respect the employees, thus creating a culture of distrust, with the employees always looking for alternative organizations to seek employment. Employees cannot voice their issues with any concerns they raise being ignored. The leadership, however, expects that whatever decision they make relating to the workplace be complied with without question, even though no consultation took place and its impact on employees is not considered.

These attributes have contributed to the need for a common purpose between the top leadership and employees, with each faction feeling that they are being undermined by the other. For instance, employees will come to work and find that waste pitchers have been taken away, or removal of IV therapy as a cut-budget measure made without prior notice to the nurses. The idea of decentralization highlighted by Rizany et al. (2019), whereby adopting a flat design would contribute to the decentralization of the organization, does not exist. All decisions come from the top, with the lower employees expected to comply without questioning.

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The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.

Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.

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Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:

Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.

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Important information for writing discussion questions and participation

Welcome to class

Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to

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Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.

Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.

I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

Hi Class,

Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Important information on Writing a Discussion Question

  • Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
  • There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
  • Include in-text citations in your response
  • Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
  • Follow APA-7th edition
  • Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor

  • A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
  • Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
  • Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
  • Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
  • Follow APA 7th edition
  • Points will be deducted if the above is not followed
  • Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
  • Here are some helpful links
  • Student paper example
  • Citing Sources
  • The Writing Center is a great resource