NURS 6053 Assignment: Workplace Environment Assessment Assignment: Workplace Environment Assessment

NURS 6053 Assignment: Workplace Environment Assessment Assignment: Workplace Environment Assessment

Like many other workplaces, healthcare organizations have employees diverse in races, genders, ages, and beliefs, among other factors. Such variations affect their everyday work and their relationship with colleagues and leaders. Leadership approaches and problem-solving strategies also determine the workplace climate. It can be civil or uncivil. To enhance productivity, a detailed diagnosis of the workplace environment is essential. Such a diagnosis assesses the civility level and causes of incivility. The results help nurse leaders and other involved stakeholders to implement appropriate interventions. The purpose of this paper is to describe my workplace environment assessment results, a concept related to the assessment, and appropriate strategies from literature for addressing shortcomings.

Workplace Environment Assessment Results

Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory is an effective tool for assessing the workplace climate as far as civility is concerned. The Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory scores revealed that my workplace is moderately healthy. Generally, most of the scores ranged between 3 and 4, giving a total of 87. Oppel et al. (2019) emphasized the need for teamwork and collaboration in the workplace as critical components of civility. However, several areas require massive improvement, with the increased level of confusion among workers regarding their expectations leading in the areas that need to be addressed. The confusion stems from poor and unclear communication from team leaders.

The workplace inventory results were characterized with surprises, albeit confirming some expectations. One of the surprises was somewhat strange results. For instance, the overall assessment outcome still displayed a score implying a moderately healthy working environment despite getting a score of 3 in employee engagement in decision making. I perceive my workplace to be mildly healthy. The other surprising outcome was that a score of 87 implies that only 3 points are missing to achieve a very healthy organization. Here, the implication is that the difference between uncivil and civil workplace is narrow and may confuse employees despite their working environment not being standard.

I believed in various ideas before conducting the assessment, and one was confirmed. In agreement with Clark and Ritter (2018), transparent communication is critical to enhancing organizational performance besides employee engagement. Before conducting the assessment, I believed that implementing employee mentorship programs are crucial in promoting engagement and communication. The assessment confirmed this idea since engagement and communication were confirmed as vital tools for enhancing organizational performance.

Regarding what the assessment results suggest about the health of my workplace, a score of 87 indicates that the working environment is not civil. Although the scores show a moderately healthy environment, poor communication between supervisors and practitioners is prevalent. Communication problems reveal a relationship gap undermining civility in the organization. I have experienced several instances of communication breakdown, suggesting the need for addressing this area adequately. For instance, there was a time when our supervisor did not give comprehensive directions regarding how nurses should conduct ward rounds and who to cover specific shifts. The instance caused confusion and burnout, which is detrimental to patient care. Poor communication also causes discomfort and negative attitudes towards work.

Reviewing the Literature

Communication gaps, workplace incivility, and other issues detrimental to patient care have been explored from various dimensions in health care research. Clark (2019) primarily focuses on the attributes of civility in healthcare settings for nurses, and the roles leaders play in fostering civil behavior within the organization. The article illustrates the connection between effective leadership and a civil workplace. Clark (2019) demonstrates how the PEAK and self-reflection concept helps develop a healthy and civil working environment. The main idea behind the concept is individual assessment of strengths and weaknesses among nurses as the foundation of healthy attributes within the work environment.

Besides the PEAK and self-reflection concept, Clark (2019) suggests the need for servant leadership in promoting communication and engagement as critical tools for a civil working environment. From a practice viewpoint, servant leadership is characterized by sharing knowledge and power and commitment to creating environments that promote employee’s growth. Nurse leaders usually shelve their desires to better their followers (Maglione & Neville, 2021). It is among the dominant leadership styles for empowering nurses and improving communication.