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.
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.
Incivility at the workplace is common in nursing education and clinical practice (Clark, Olender, Cardoni, & Kenski, 2011). Workplace incivility can be defined as repeated offensive, disrespectful, or discouraging behavior, misuse of power, or unfair punishments that make the receiver distressed and feel shamed; creating strain; and decreasing the employee’s self-confidence (Warner, Sommers, Zappa, & Thornlow, 2016). Uncivil behaviors can appear in different forms and may cause profound effects on their recipients.
The work environment assessment of my workplace resulted in a score 35. According to Clark (2015), a score below 50 in the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory indicates a very unhealthy work environment. It is surprising that two statements where the organization scored the highest were those that stated individuals and collective achievements are celebrated and publicized ; and that use of effective conflicts resolution skills, (Clark, 2015). The publicity and celebration of individual and collective achievements is a new thing that has just been initiated and we are going strong with it. The staffs are vastly knowledgeable on conflicts resolutions. The organization is neutral on communication, living by shared vision and employee are treated in fair and respectful manner. Somewhat untrue about communication. The organization scored low in all other aspect of the assessment.
Going by this score form Workplace assessment, I will say the organization is a very unhealthy place. We discuss this almost every day with other staff in my department. Unhealthy place is not safe for both staff and even patients Communication is very poor. Nobody has the idea of when decisions are made which means staffs are excluded from decision making. The staff feels that Patient’s acuity is not put into consideration before staffing is made which made the workload voluminous and makes the environment unsafe. Staff from other departments with no basic knowledge of crisis prevention intervention are been thrown to the psychiatry units. The staff doesn’t feel supported by the management. The organization is not able to retain staff because the salary is not competitive enough and are not true to their words in terms of benefits, so there is very high turnover of staff. Only few staff has stayed for more than 2 years. Most new staff leaves between 2 weeks and 6 months.
One occasion of incivility that I have experienced was when the supervisor spoke to me in a disrespectful manner because one unidentified person called from ER and asked if we had an extra mental health worker and I responded no. She said I was being unfair and there is a reason while they called for a help. I requested to speak to her in the staff room with one other staff that was with me when the call came in . She apologized after I had expressed myself because we were never staff with an extra staff. I couldn’t have sent any staff to ER because I have an agency staff working with me who does know these patients. I could have created an unsafe place for patient and the staffs when we were already short staff and an agency staff?.
To create a high-performance team, implementation of strategies to improve work environment safety is necessary . To create an even stronger work team, it is vital that establishing excellent communication between employees be present in the organization. Respect and professional communication in a healthcare organization produces improved outcomes for patients and more civil employees (Griffin & Clark, 2014).
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