NURS 6053 Assignment: Workplace Environment Assessment
Walden University Assignment: Workplace Environment Assessment– Step-By-Step Guide
This guide will demonstrate how to complete the Walden University Assignment: Workplace Environment Assessment assignment based on general principles of academic writing. Here, we will show you the A, B, Cs of completing an academic paper, irrespective of the instructions. After guiding you through what to do, the guide will leave one or two sample essays at the end to highlight the various sections discussed below.
How to Research and Prepare for Assignment: Workplace Environment Assessment
Whether one passes or fails an academic assignment such as the Walden University Assignment: Workplace Environment Assessment depends on the preparation done beforehand. The first thing to do once you receive an assignment is to quickly skim through the requirements. Once that is done, start going through the instructions one by one to clearly understand what the instructor wants. The most important thing here is to understand the required format—whether it is APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.
After understanding the requirements of the paper, the next phase is to gather relevant materials. The first place to start the research process is the weekly resources. Go through the resources provided in the instructions to determine which ones fit the assignment. After reviewing the provided resources, use the university library to search for additional resources. After gathering sufficient and necessary resources, you are now ready to start drafting your paper.
How to Write the Introduction for Assignment: Workplace Environment Assessment
The introduction for the Walden University Assignment: Workplace Environment Assessment is where you tell the instructor what your paper will encompass. In three to four statements, highlight the important points that will form the basis of your paper. Here, you can include statistics to show the importance of the topic you will be discussing. At the end of the introduction, write a clear purpose statement outlining what exactly will be contained in the paper. This statement will start with “The purpose of this paper…” and then proceed to outline the various sections of the instructions.
How to Write the Body for Assignment: Workplace Environment Assessment
After the introduction, move into the main part of the Assignment: Workplace Environment Assessment assignment, which is the body. Given that the paper you will be writing is not experimental, the way you organize the headings and subheadings of your paper is critically important. In some cases, you might have to use more subheadings to properly organize the assignment. The organization will depend on the rubric provided. Carefully examine the rubric, as it will contain all the detailed requirements of the assignment. Sometimes, the rubric will have information that the normal instructions lack.
Another important factor to consider at this point is how to do citations. In-text citations are fundamental as they support the arguments and points you make in the paper. At this point, the resources gathered at the beginning will come in handy. Integrating the ideas of the authors with your own will ensure that you produce a comprehensive paper. Also, follow the given citation format. In most cases, APA 7 is the preferred format for nursing assignments.
How to Write the Conclusion for Assignment: Workplace Environment Assessment
After completing the main sections, write the conclusion of your paper. The conclusion is a summary of the main points you made in your paper. However, you need to rewrite the points and not simply copy and paste them. By restating the points from each subheading, you will provide a nuanced overview of the assignment to the reader.
How to Format the References List for Assignment: Workplace Environment Assessment
The very last part of your paper involves listing the sources used in your paper. These sources should be listed in alphabetical order and double-spaced. Additionally, use a hanging indent for each source that appears in this list. Lastly, only the sources cited within the body of the paper should appear here.
Stuck? Let Us Help You
Completing assignments can sometimes be overwhelming, especially with the multitude of academic and personal responsibilities you may have. If you find yourself stuck or unsure at any point in the process, don’t hesitate to reach out for professional assistance. Our assignment writing services are designed to help you achieve your academic goals with ease.
Our team of experienced writers is well-versed in academic writing and familiar with the specific requirements of the Assignment: Workplace Environment Assessment assignment. We can provide you with personalized support, ensuring your assignment is well-researched, properly formatted, and thoroughly edited. Get a feel of the quality we guarantee – ORDER NOW.
Sample Answer for 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.
Regarding the relationship between the concept presented in the article and my work environment assessment, the PEAK and self-reflection concept impacted the assessment outcomes. My organization has adopted the concept, and awareness of individual strengths and weaknesses leads to moderately healthy organizations (Clark, 2019). However, the organization has not fully implemented servant leadership despite its massive gains. Servant leadership prevents workplace bullying and reduces incivility and ostracism. Failure to adopt servant leadership is manifested by poor communication among nurses and supervisors. Poor communication also hampers cohesion and attitudes to routine practice.
The organization can benefit immensely by implementing servant leadership. Implementing it would build healthy and more robust teams to enhance productivity. Adopting servant leadership can help to promote good communication and a healthy relationship between nurse leaders and employees. Servant leadership’s central tenet is leaders and team members collaborating in decision making to promote a synergistic relationship across different levels instead of dictatorial rule. It focuses on employees’ empowerment by eliminating barriers that hamper healthy leaders-employee’s relationships. As a result, nurses can work together with their supervisors to select tasks, set goals, and make decisions (Oppel et al., 2019). Effective communication implies clear instructions, reducing conflicts in turn. It further increases focus, hence enhancing performance. Through servant leadership, nurses would be freer to discuss a particular task when assigned with their supervisors. Employees’ strengths and weaknesses would be assessed comprehensively to ensure that the assigned roles match an employee’s capabilities. Doing so would be integral in promoting safety and quality of care besides improving civility through better leader-employee relationships.
Evidence-Based Strategies to Create High-Performance Interprofessional Teams
Health care organizations apply different strategies to address workplace problems depending on the problems’ scope and type. They also excel in some areas where strategies’ improvement leads to better outcomes. A work assessment reveals gaps and successful practices. From the assessment, the main issue undermining performance and detrimental to workplace civility is poor communication. Therefore, interventions to address shortcomings should focus on communication. Regarding successful practices, collaboration and teamwork should be bolstered to create high-performance interprofessional teams.
Strategies to Address Shortcomings
Regardless of the size, mission, and type of an organization, leaders should create an environment of cohesiveness to succeed in their mandate. As aforementioned, servant leadership is an effective way of improving communication since it removes hierarchical barriers. However, healthy organizations cannot rely on a single approach to address communication problems. It should combine strategies and adopt a multifaceted approach.
One of the most effective ways of improving workplace communication is creating an open environment. As Kwame and Petrucka (2020) posited, employees should feel comfortable among their leaders and speak to them. Such comfort ensures that employees report a problem, ask questions, and seek support. Furthermore, leaders should make it clear to their team how and when they can reach them. Communication barriers that limit physical communication, such as distances, can be overcome by utilizing technologies such as videoconferencing. Opening up the flow of communication would be a suitable strategy for making employees to open up too.
Besides facilitating open communication, leaders should do away with one-way communication. Sibiya (2018) found one-way communication a significant barrier since it hampers the self-expression and dynamism needed when intercultural teams communicate. For a long-time, the organization has relied on the top-down approach. Despite being a classical approach, top-down communication cannot effectively work in today’s multicultural organizations. It is an outdated approach as organizations integrate technologies in communication. Accordingly, leaders should consider other approaches that encourage communication, such as a social media presence, interaction dashboards, and mobile apps. Employees should also be encouraged and supported to communicate anonymously to raise issues without limitations.
Strategies to Bolster Successful Practices
Teamwork and collaboration were evident during the work environment assessment and should be bolstered to achieve a more civil and healthy workplace. A suitable way of strengthening teamwork and collaboration is to create a supportive work environment. According to Maassen et al. (2021), a supportive work environment for healthcare providers should be safe, free from bullying, and promote inclusion. In such environments, diversity is embraced, and employees can share their ideas freely without being ridiculed. Each employee’s contributions are appreciated as leaders create avenues for interaction and healthy engagements.
Besides creating a supportive work environment, leaders can foster collaboration and teamwork by working with employees’ strengths. In this case, the organization should continue using the PEAK and self-reflection tool to understand employees’ strengths and weaknesses. Other tools such as personality tests can also be integrated into the assessment process to ensure that employees’ behavior traits are understood. Understanding employees’ behaviors and strengths enables leaders to assign them roles and group them according to abilities. It is a strategy of promoting specialization, improving productivity since employees work according to their strengths (Borkowski & Meese, 2021). Ability grouping also increases employees’ motivation to work and complete tasks quickly and conveniently.
Strategies focusing on employees’ empowerment effectively improve communication, collaboration, and teamwork. Besides, leaders should also adopt robust workplace policies and cultures to deal with discrimination and oppression, among other issues that hamper healthy relationships. A suitable example of such interventions is zero-tolerance policies to workplace incivility. Uncivil acts should be severely punished to discourage their perpetrators. Leaders should also promote a culture of reporting. According to Chakravorty (2019), half of the workplace incivility cases are unreported, making it difficult for leaders to address them effectively. A reporting culture is crucial to ensure that all issues are reported and managed appropriately.
Conclusion
Workplace incivility is among the issues in healthcare organizations detrimental to interprofessional collaboration and quality patient care. Accordingly, healthcare organizations should assess their civility levels to ensure employees work in healthy environments. Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory is an effective tool for giving insights regarding shortcomings and successful practices. My work environment assessment gave a score of 87, revealing a moderately healthy workplace. Poor communication between employees and supervisors is the main problem that should be addressed to promote civility.
References
Borkowski, N., & Meese, K. A. (2021). Organizational behavior, theory, and design in health care. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Chakravorty, I. (2019). Incivility in healthcare. Sushruta Journal of Health Policy & Opinion, 12(1), 17-19. https://doi.org/10.38192/12.1.9
Clark, C. M. (2019). Fostering a culture of civility and respect in nursing. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 10(1), 44-52. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2155-8256(19)30082-1
Clark, C. M., & Ritter, K. (2018). Policy to foster civility and support a healthy academic work environment. Journal of Nursing Education, 57(6), 325-331. https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20180522-02
Kwame, A., & Petrucka, P. M. (2020). Communication in nurse-patient interaction in healthcare settings in sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review. International Journal of Africa Nursing Sciences, 12, 100198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijans.2020.100198
Maassen, S. M., van Oostveen, C., Vermeulen, H., & Weggelaar, A. M. (2021). Defining a positive work environment for hospital healthcare professionals: A Delphi study. Plos One, 16(2), e0247530. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247530
Maglione, J. L., & Neville, K. (2021). Servant leadership and spirituality among undergraduate and graduate nursing students. Journal of Religion and Health, 60(6), 4435–4450. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-021-01311-9
Oppel, E. M., Mohr, D. C., & Benzer, J. K. (2019). Let’s be civil: Elaborating the link between civility climate and hospital performance. Health Care Management Review, 44(3), 196-205. https://doi.org/10.1097/HMR.0000000000000178.
Sibiya, M. N. (2018). Effective communication in nursing. Nursing, 19. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.74995
Sample Answer 2 for Assignment: Workplace Environment Assessment
Thanks DrS, for this insight, I examined all the individual/team items in the assessment tool, but luckily, I have witnessed all the items in my work environment.
Working in a community-focused teaching hospital committed to enhancing the health of the County’s most vulnerable residents by providing high-quality, coordinated care and education provides job satisfaction. My workplace is a healthcare organization whose vision is to become the nation’s leading public teaching hospital that values quality and provides fulfillment to healthcare workers. My workplace is moderately healthy according to the Clark’s assessment tool. Working here provides fulfillment of professional development to staff, explores staff skills and training needs, and has equitable pay raises and outstanding managerial attributes. It is a workplace with a “Just and Accountable culture”. A just culture strongly emphasizes managing behavioral choices and creating secure processes. It also entails modifying employee expectations and behaviors to help identify environmental risks, report errors and hazards, contribute to the design of safe systems, and make safe decisions, such as adhering to protocol and making decisions consistent with corporate values (Harrishealth, n.d.).
My workplace’s organizational culture is why I have remained working here. The culture encourages employee growth behavioral choices that align with organizational growth. While addressing the importance of nurturing s civil and collaborative workplace culture, Clark (2015) states that organizations that nurture a collaborative culture synthesize unique strengths that healthcare workers of all disciplines bring to the workplace, thereby making the workplace a civil place.
As per the individual items on this assessment tool, all the items listed in the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory occur in my workplace environment. Though we scored an 80% in the inventory assessment, it is not because some of the items in the assessment tool have never occurred in my work environment. This score creates an opportunity for workplace continuous improvement. 80% in the assessment tool is a healthy assessment score and shows the area of strength, while the 20% lagging creates room for improvement.
References
Clark, C. M. (2015). Conversations to inspire and promote a more civil workplace Let’s end the silence that surrounds incivility. American Nurse. Retrieved July 13, 2023, from https://www.myamericannurse.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/ant11-CE-Civility-1023.pdf
Harris Health. (n.d.). Just and accountable culture. harrishealth.org. Retrieved July 13, 2023, from https://www.harrishealth.org/about-us/who-we-are
Sample Answer 3 for Assignment: Workplace Environment Assessment
Our organization has monthly town hall meetings where staff are welcome to share their views and ask questions. The team tried to attend these meetings when this was initially rolled out in the first couple of months; however, the numbers soon dwindled. As you rightly mentioned in your post, employees feel ignored; furthermore, they fear being reprimanded, proving the point Clark (2015) mentions how employees sometimes think they are not valuable partners in the organization. All this leads to a poor, unhealthy work environment and low morale, leaving staff with poor job satisfaction and creating room for uncivil behavior among staff which could potentially affect patient care, increase costs, cause medical errors and negligence, finally leading to poor satisfaction surveys which hamper the growth of the individual and the organization (Shoorideh et al., 2021).
References.
Clark, C. (2015). Conversations to inspire and promote a more civil workplace. American Nurse Today, 10(11), 18–23.
Shoorideh, F. A., Moosavi, S., & Balouchi, A. (2021). Incivility toward nurses: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Medical Ethics & History of Medicine, 14(15), 1–25.