Module 4 Assignment: Work Environment Assessment – NURS 6501: Interprofessional Organizational and Systems Leadership Module 4 Assignment: Work Environment Assessment

Workplace incivility, which is described as repetitive, low-intensity unacceptable social behaviors, is a common occurrence in nursing practice (Armstrong, 2018). Uncivil conducts range from passive aggression and sexual harassment to nonverbal and verbal abuse and are predominantly intended to undermine and scare another group or an individual (Bambi et al., 2018) Assignment: Workplace Environment Assessment. In nursing settings, incivility aimed at colleagues represents a form of harassment that possibly contributes to physical and psychological anguish in victims, which, in turn, adversely influence the quality of nursing care delivered (Armstrong, 2018). The present assignment aims at analyzing the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory results from my workplace and applying evidence from published pieces of literature in formulating interventions to address cases of uncivil behaviors discovered during the assessment. The three-part assignment entails a summary of the Work Environment Assessment, theory or concept discussed in the assignment articles, and evidence-based strategies for creating high-performance inter-professional teams.

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Part 1: Work Environment Assessment

My workplace scored 83 on the Clark Health Workplace Inventory indicating that it is moderately healthy. The highest scores were recorded on members sharing a collective vision and mission that is grounded on trust, respect, and collegiality. Our nurse leaders recognize that being on the same page with all the patient’s clinical care providers is at the crux of patient-centered, evidence-based, and outcome-oriented care delivery and effective leadership (Martin et al., 2017). In my view, a shared vision reinforced by teamwork and broadening clinical scopes of nurses has led to shared care in my workplace as the collective vision has provided the path for change and inspired individuals to focus their energies on the core mission of fostering a healthy environment that guarantees patient safety (Martin et al., 2017). For instance, the shared vision provides a strong purpose and clear orientation to the nurse manager and team members of the L&D unit, which enables them to set priorities accordingly and stay on track, thereby leaving no room for uncivil behaviors. Other factors that have led to the moderate healthy workplace environment in our worksite include the use of effective communication, evident teamwork and collaboration, provision of competitive remunerations, and availability of adequate resources for professional growth and development.

Our hospital CEO and nurse manager strive to promote a healthy workplace that reflects a high degree of team involvement in decision-making as well as positive patient outcomes (Clark et al., 2016). Thus, I would rate my workplace environment as somewhat civil, since there have been seldom cases of incivility that threatened inter-professional collaboration, especially between nurses and clinicians (Shoorideh et al., 2021). From the available literature, power dynamics particularly between managers and junior staff is a primary recipe for uncivil behaviors, mainly verbal abuse including hostility, overt scolds or convert criticisms, sarcastic reactions, and impoliteness (Abdollahzadeh et al., 2017; Shoorideh et al., 2021). It was surprising, however, that the nurse leaders in our workplace were unlikely to direct incivility toward their subordinates. Covert uncivil conduct occurred among nurses with colleagues showing mutual disrespect during clinical rounds. Second, the frequency of reported cases of incivility is non-existent due to its covert nature, implying that cases remain undocumented and unaddressed. An idea I believed before the work environment assessment was that the unit and hospital leadership proactively investigated cases of incivility Assignment: Workplace Environment Assessment. However, the results indicated that while there is a perceived moderate healthy environment, interventions are needed to expose and prevent covert incidences of uncivil conduct amongst clinicians.

Part 2: Reviewing the Literature

I analyzed Clark’s (2019) and Clark’s (2015) articles highlighting the concept of cognitive rehearsal, an evidence-based technique proposed for employment in tackling discourteousness and disrespect during difficult dialogues. The technique is at the crux of Bandura’s social learning theory, whereby persons work with an experienced facilitator to deliberate and rehearse effective approaches to tackling a certain social issue or problem (Clark, 2019). It entails mentally practicing desired reactions to situations involving conducts frequently allied to workplace incivility like physical violence, verbal disrespect, subversi