Work Environment Assessment Template
Use this document to complete the Module 4 Workplace Environment Assessment.
Introduction
The creation of a healthy work environment is a collective effort that requires the participation of each stakeholder. Job satisfaction is attained by ensuring that each person’s happiness is achieved by making sure that employees are listened to, and their desires met and the inclusion of other paraphernalia like team building, continuous medical education, seminars, and utilization of evidence-based interventions in a quality improvement process (Munro and Hope, 2020). AACN (2016) identified six healthy work environment standards, which have become the cornerstone for determining job satisfaction and quality of service delivery in healthcare. These standards include authentic leadership, skilled communication, appropriate staffing and retention, meaningful recognition, effective decision-making, and teamwork. Reports provided by AACN (2016) indicate that organizations that utilize the standards often outperform those that do not exist in many ways. The best way of knowing the existent shortcoming in an organization is by utilizing assessment tools that help guide the areas to focus on improvements and identification of evidence-based interventions. This paper will review the findings obtained from filling Clark’s workplace inventory assessment tool and provide the elaborations in an assessment template. The template will also identify the assumptions that have hampered workplace environment improvement as well as identify theories in selected articles that can be beneficial in changing the environment of my workplace.
The Assessment Table
Summary of Results – Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory
The core value of the assessment was 74. This is an indicator that the work environment is moderately healthy and requires
few adjustments that will increase employee satisfaction, productivity, and personal/ organizational growth. Some notable drawbacks of the assessment include the complete absence or promotion of teamwork and collaboration among employees and the absence of an organizational mentoring system. The other aspects are above average, but they still require modification. According to the assessment, the organization is very good at ensuring a shared vision and mission with trust, respect, and collegiality among the staff and leaders. Similarly, the organization conducts commendable methods of celebrating publicizing the achievements of each individual or working group. Furthermore, the organization is extremely good at encouraging the staff’s expression of ideas without discrimination or biases.
To maintain the desirable qualities and improve the less satisfactory score of each aspect, there is a need for a quality improvement process that will encourage change with the inclusion of every stakeholder within the organization.
Identify two things that surprised you about the results. Also identify one idea that you believed prior to conducting the Assessment that was confirmed.
The first thing that surprised me was the absence of teamwork in the organization. This is so because I expected that the existence of free conversation and the desire to deliver quality care to the patient within a safe work environment could enhance teamwork within the organization. I also realized that the organization does not promote cooperation but instead creates a competitive environment with reward schemes that majorly target individuals rather than groups for an excellent performance. The second surprising thing is that despite the employees’ desire for career growth, there was no existent mentorship program. This has hampered the pace of career growth and overall productivity among the nurses. It clearly states why it takes longer for people to be promoted.
Before conducting the assessment, I believed that all employees are satisfied with how the operations are performed. Their hard work majorly targets the delivery of quality care for patient satisfaction. I did not expect that the desire for reward majorly motivated them to work tirelessly with little concern for collaboration.
Work Environment Assessment Template
What do the results of the Assessment suggest about the health and civility of your workplace?
The results suggest that the health and civility of the organization are moderately good. This is a good thing, but nothing is preventing the need for improvement. The is a need to include evidence-based practice interventions that will see a change of the health and civility of the organization to a score of 90-100. This should be involved in a continuous and multidimensional quality improvement process, i.e., involving every employee and allowing free expression in ways that will not affect their emotions. The results also show the existence of a communication gap in the organization. However, most aspects are well controlled, so it is now essential to identify the interventions and execute them accordingly with timely conduction of similar assessments every year.
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.
According to Leonard et al. (2004) in the article “The human factor: the critical importance of effective teamwork and communication in providing safe care,” communication is vital in the healthcare industry. Not only does it promote an excellent working condition, but it also prevents the occurrence of errors, thus improve the quality of care. The article indicates that communication is a skill that can be learned and requires continuous training, mentorship, and teamwork for mastery of the skills. The need for mastery of communication and collaboration is facilitated by the existent complexity of medical care and human performance limitation. Communication also helps people express their concerns early to prevent incidences like conflict, job dissatisfaction, and segregation. This article’s concept demonstrates that in my organization and as per the assessment, there is a need for including a training session to help each person learn communication skills and become team players.
Yudo et al. (2010), in the article, “Enhancing work motivation for Japanese female nurses in small to medium-sized private hospitals by analyzing job satisfaction,” there is a need for the creation of a proper work environment. The article demonstrates that nurses are not motivated by money, but they are entitled to their duty to provide quality care to patients. As such, providing a safe and proper work environment is critical in enhancing nurses’ satisfaction. As per the article, my organization needs to significantly improve the work environment scores to a value above 90 to attain the mentioned motivational level of the nurses and other care providers in the organization.
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. The organization can employ skilled consultants to provide training services to the care practitioners on communication skills to include role-plays. The training pieces should also relay information on the importance of teamwork and the existence of variable strengths among individuals. This should be done regularly within the year with the involvement of a quality improvement process to test the intervention’s success and make necessary changes. Similarly, the organization can enhance teamwork by developing a reward scheme that targets both individuals and teams.
According to Yudo et al. (2010), the application of environment improvement includes the inclusion of a mentorship program, teamwork, and collaborative efforts. It also includes good leadership and recognition of performance. Generally speaking, the organization can change the less performing aspects of mentorship and teamwork by enhancing highly skilled employees to train and mentor their juniors with feedback from both parties and ensuring that projects and other responsibilities are assigned to teams rather than individuals.
General Notes/Comments
The work environment is critical for employee satisfaction and the delivery of quality care. Monetary gain is not the driving force of better service delivery in healthcare. A right working environment requires a multi-dimensional corporation with increased communication and teamwork from the employees. However, it is only through assessments that the organization can identify the failures. It is necessary for the organization to continuously use evidence-based inventories like the Clarks inventory (2015) in identifying key areas to improve. Communication is never the endpoint, but it should include identifying interventions and execution with feedback from stakeholders.
Conclusion
Assessment is quite crucial in every organization. It is the tool that helps identify the existent gaps and aspects that have been neglected, assumed, or underperforming. Therefore, each organization must incorporate frequent and timely assessments in its quality improvement process. Similarly, the assessment should involve the identification of evidence-based interventions with the involvement of each staff. Feedback of incorporation of the intervention should also be taken seriously. The small changes applied continuously on every assessment will finally increase each employee’s job satisfaction and the eventual quality of care delivered to patients.
Work Environment Assessment Template
References
American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN). (2016). Healthy Work Environment. Retrieved fromhttps://www.aacn.org/nursing-excellence/healthy-work-environments
Clark, C.M. (November, 2015). Conversations to inspire and promote a more civil workplace: Let’s end the silence that surrounds incivility, American Nurse Today, 10(11), 18-23.
Kudo, Y., Kido, S., Shahzad, M. T., Shida, K., Satoh, T., & Aizawa, Y. (2010). Enhancing work motivation for Japanese female nurses in small to medium-sized private hospitals by analyzing job satisfaction. The Tohoku journal of experimental medicine, 220(3), 237–245. https://doi.org/10.1620/tjem.220.237
Leonard, M., Graham, S., & Bonacum, D. (2004). The human factor: the critical importance of effective teamwork and communication in providing safe care. Quality & safety in health care, 13 Suppl 1(Suppl 1), i85– i90. https://doi.org/10.1136/qhc.13.suppl_1.i85
Munro, L. & Hope, A. (2020). Healthy work environment: Resolutions for 2020. American Journal of Critical Care, 29(1),4–6. Retrieved from https://aacnjournals.org/ajcconline/article/29/1/4/30615/Healthy-Work-Environment-Resolutions-for-2020
Question
Work Environment Assessment Template
Use this document to complete the Module 4 Workplace Environment Assessment.
Summary of Results – Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory
Identify two things that surprised you about the results. Also identify one idea that you believed prior to conducting the Assessment that was confirmed.
What do the results of the Assessment suggest about the health and civility of your workplace?
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.
General Notes/Comments
Work Environment Assessment Template