NURS 6053 Module 4 Week 8 Assignment: Workplace Environment Assessment Essay

NURS 6053 Module 4 Week 8 Assignment: Workplace Environment Assessment Essay

Module 4: Workplace Environment Assessment

Workplace incivility is an aspect of an unhealthy workplace environment that significantly impedes performance and teamwork. According to Gui, Bai & Wang (2022), workplace incivility emanates from “low-intensity negative behaviors of colleagues who have ambiguous intentions to inflict harm and violate mutual respect principles” (p. 2). These behaviors include bullying, derogatory or condescending comments, dismissive body language, and interrupting others. The consequences of uncivil behaviors include depression, anxiety, sickness absence, physical injuries, and poor performance (Holm, Torkelson & Bäckström, 2022). Organizations should assess workplace environments to identify low-intensity deviant behaviors contributing to incivility. Therefore, this paper elaborates on the results of the workplace environment assessment completed for my workplace and recommends evidence-based strategies for creating high-performance interprofessional teams and bolstering successful practices.

Work Environment Assessment

My workplace scored 75/100 on the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory, which contains 20 items that underpin elements of a healthy workplace environment. Examples of these items are shared vision and mission, transparent, direct, and respectful communication; the view of employees as assets, the celebration of individual and collective efforts; teamwork and collaboration; comprehensive monitoring of employees; reasonable workload; and the organizational ability to attract “the best and brightest” (Clark, 2015). A score of 75 points indicates that my workplace’s environment is ‘mildly’ healthy. In this case, my organization scored high in various aspects, including the element of a shared vision and mission based on trust, respect, and collegiality, the availability of a clear and discernible level of trust, transparent communication at all levels, the celebration of individual and collective achievements, a high level of employee satisfaction, and shared governance, joint decision-making, and policy development. Other items that signified a mildly healthy workplace environment were; an emphasis on employee wellness and self-care, effective conflict resolution skills, competitive salaries, compensations and rewards, and talent attraction and retention.

Despite performing well in various items of the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory, results indicated multiple areas of improvement. For instance, the organization scored fair in fair workload distribution, teamwork and collaboration, employee satisfaction and engagement, sufficient resources for professional growth and development, assessment of organizational culture based on quality improvement measures, and comprehensive employee monitoring programs. A neutral score in these themes indicates that the organization is yet to achieve all the thresholds for a healthy workplace environment. Therefore, there is a need to implement evidence-based interventions to address shortcomings and bolster successful practices consistent with these areas of improvement.

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Literature Review

The current scholarly literature explores the underlying causes of workplace incivility and provides recommendations for addressing low-intensity deviant behaviors. In a scholarly article, “Combining cognitive rehearsal, simulation, and Evidence-based Scripting to address incivility.” Clark (2018) presents incivility as a workplace issue that provokes uncertainty, weakens self-confidence, and compromises critical thinking. According to Clark (2018), the failure to manage or address incivility can result in multiple adverse outcomes, including life-threatening mistakes, harm, preventable complications, and the death of a patient. From employees’ perspective, incivility can lead to anxiety, stress-related complaints, suicidal ideation, sickness absence, and other complications associated with workplace stress (Holm, Torkelson & Bäckström, 2022). Based on these adverse effects of workplace incivility, organizations should implement proven interventions for cultivating a civil workplace culture and eliminating elements of uncivil behaviors like bullying, condescending comments, and dismissive body language.

Clark (2015) recommends appropriate staffing, authentic leadership, effective communication, civility conversations across all levels of the organization, and a shared vision, values, and team norms as ideal strategies for cultivating a healthy workplace environment. On the other hand, Landy et al. (2022) propose stress appraisal and problem-focused coping as ideal approaches for dealing with workplace stress. These coping strategies align with Lazarus and Folkman’s Transactional Theory of Stress and Coping. They emphasize the evaluation of potential stressors based on their centrality, uncontrollability, and threats, as well as evaluating the plausibility of the available coping options (Landy et al., 2022). Finally, Clark (2018) suggests that cognitive rehearsal can enable employees to prepare for and cope with a stressful situation. Cognitive rehearsal (CR) encompasses various profound elements, including briefing and prior learning, identifying and describing uncivil scenarios for simulation, using deliberate practice to repeat the simulated scenarios, applying evidence-based approaches to rehearse responses, and debriefing simulated contexts of uncivil encounters. These components of cognitive rehearsal enable employees to eliminate the stress associated with uncivil encounters and communicate expectations for appropriate behaviors.

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Evidence-Based Strategic to Create High-Performance Interprofessional Teams

Strategies for Addressing Shortcomings in My Work Environment Assessment

The work environment assessment practice revealed that my organization needs to improve workload distribution, collaboration and teamwork, employee satisfaction and engagement, and allocation of resources for professional growth and development. Scholarly literature provides insights into evidence-based strategies for addressing these shortcomings. Griffiths et al. (2019) recommend that organizations manage unfairly-distributed workloads by enacting value-based interventions, including evaluating the patient-nurse ratio and adopting prospective and retrospective employment policies. Clark (2015) proposes effective communication, pursuing a shared vision, values, and team norms, and effective leadership as effective approaches for creating a healthy workplace environment. These interventions can address shortcomings in collaboration and teamwork and employee satisfaction and engagement.

Strategies to Bolster Successful Practices

Amidst the identified areas of improvement, the organization can implement various strategies to bolster successful practices. According to Broome & Marshall (2021), an organization can promote a culture of excellence by ensuring structural empowerment, knowledge and innovation improvements, transformational leadership, and exemplary professional practice. Other interventions for improving organizational practices include encouraging team-based decision-making processes, improving interprofessional collaboration, and strategically aligning leadership activities with staff and patient advocacy (Broome & Marshall, 2021). These interventions can improve employee engagement, enhance creativity and innovation, and enable the organization to achieve objectives and desired outcomes.

Conclusion

Workplace incivility can perpetuate adverse consequences that affect employee performance, patient safety, and job satisfaction. A comprehensive healthy workplace environment assessment allows institutions to identify elements of workplace incivility and address low-intensity deviant behaviors. Also, it enables organizations to identify and solve shortcomings in workplace cultures. Based on the information from the healthy workplace environment assessment, organizations can unearth areas of improvement and implement evidence-based strategies for addressing shortcomings and bolstering successful practices.

References

Broome, M., & Marshall, E. S. (2021). Transformational leadership in nursing: From expert clinician to influential leader (3rd ed.). Springer

Clark, C. M. (2015). Conversations to inspire and promote a more civil workplace. American Nurse Today, 10(11), 18–23. https://www.americannursetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/ant11-CE-Civility-1023.pdf

Clark, C. M. (2018). Combining cognitive rehearsal, simulation, and evidence-based scripting to address incivility. Nurse Educator, 44(2), 64–68. https://doi.org/10.1097/nne.0000000000000563

Griffiths, P., Saville, C., Ball, J., Jones, J., Pattison, N., & Monks, T. (2019). Nursing workload, nurse staffing methodologies & tools: A systematic scoping review & discussion. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 103(1), 103487. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2019.103487

Gui, W., Bai, Q., & Wang, L. (2022). Workplace incivility and employees’ personal initiative: A moderated mediation model of emotional exhaustion and meaningful work. SAGE Open, 12(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440221079899

Holm, K., Torkelson, E., & Bäckström, M. (2022). Workplace incivility as a risk factor for workplace bullying and psychological well-being: A longitudinal study of targets and bystanders in a sample of Swedish engineers. BMC Psychology, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-022-00996-1

Landy, J. F., Shigeto, A., Laxman, D. J., & Scheier, L. M. (2022). Typologies of stress appraisal and problem-focused coping: Associations with compliance with public health recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMC Public Health, 22(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-13161-5

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Module 4 Assignment

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.

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.

Submit your Workplace Environment Assessment Assignment.

Note: “completed in the Week 7 discussion should not be submitted with this assignment but will send it to you in case u need it”

        Learning Resources for this Assignment

• Broome, M., & Marshall, E. S. (2021). Transformational leadership in nursing: From expert clinician to influential leader(3rd ed.). New York, NY: Springer.
  • Chapter 5, “Collaborative Leadership Contexts: It Is All About Working Together (pp. 155–178)
  • Chapter 8, “Creating and Shaping the Organizational Environment and Culture to Support Practice Excellence” (pp. 237–272)
  • Chapter 7, “Building Cohesive and Effective Teams” (pp. 212–231)

                  ****Select at least ONE of the following:

• Clark, C. M., Olender, L., Cardoni, C., Kenski, D. (2011). Fostering civility in nursing education and practiceLinks to an external site.. The Journal of Nursing Administration, 41(7/8), 324–330.
• Clark, C. M. (2018). Combining cognitive rehearsal, simulation, and evidence-based scripting to address incivility. Nurse EducatorLinks to an external site..
• Clark, C. M. (2015). Conversations to inspire and promote a more civil workplace. American Nurse Today, 10 Links to an external site.(11), 18–23. Retrieved from https://www.americannursetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/ant11-CE-Civility-1023.pdf
• Griffin, M., & Clark, C. M. (2014). Revisiting cognitive rehearsal as an intervention against incivility and lateral violence in nursing: 10 years laterLinks to an external site.. Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 45(12), 535–542.
• Document:Work Environment Assessment Template (Word document)

                 Required Media for this assignment as needed

• (2017, April). Jody Hoffer Gittell: The power of a simple ideaLinks to an external site.[Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7nL5RC5kdE
• Walden University, LLC. (Producer). (2009a). Working with Groups and Teams[Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.