Order Number |
538393092 |
Type of Project |
ESSAY |
Writer Level |
PHD VERIFIED |
Format |
APA |
Academic Sources |
10 |
Page Count |
3-12 PAGES |
Discussion: Creating a Drama-Free Workplace
The ways in which managers deal with—or fail to deal with—drama and negativity in the workplace have far-reaching effects on the overall organizational culture. The average professional spends a significant portion of their lives in the workplace, so it would be sensible to ensure that it is as enjoyable an experience as possible. Although many people “put up with” toxic work environments, they also frequently leave those environments to be treated better. For those who stay, it can be expected that they would be less committed and connected to their job. Instead of thinking of ways to innovate or cut costs, they might spend their mental energy imagining what they will be doing on their next vacation. Leaders who strive to create a drama-free workplace do their part to avoid that outcome.
In this Discussion, you will recall an instance of workplace drama or negativity you’ve observed or experienced. You will then analyze the manager’s role in the experience and develop specific, behavioral suggestions for ways that same manager could have responded to foster a more positive overall environment.
To prepare for this Discussion:
Review this week’s Learning Resources, especially:
Assignment:
Respond to two or more of your colleagues’ posts in one or more of the following ways:
1st Colleague – Nicole Strauss
Nicole Strauss
RE: Discussion – Week 3
Top of Form
Week 3 Discussion post
There have been several instances over the last 18 months where I have witnessed workplace negativity within my current organization and department. Our hospice team has worked tirelessly during our COVID pandemic caring for patients and their families during the end-of-life journey. The team’s work is not easy yet necessary and heavily regulated by Medicare or federal regulations. The Medicare regulatory guidelines are required for a hospice organization to remain licensed to provide care to patients. In October 2020, Medicare introduced a new rule regarding hospices being more transparent with patients and their families regarding the hospice’s items, services, and medications. This new regulatory requirement proved to add time to our initial admission appointments for the nurses. The regulation is necessary in-line with the rule for hospices to be more transparent in the things they will cover under the Medicare hospice benefit, ensuring that Medicare beneficiaries and their families fully understand their benefits while receiving hospice care.
This new regulation sparks a large amount of frustration among the hospice admission nurse team, as they bared the initial burden of reviewing all these items during the hospice admission visit. Our team had multiple meetings and in-services to learn about the new regulation and process our organization adapted to meet the requirement for Medicare. The admission nurse team was dissatisfied with the new regulatory requirements and needed to start hospice admission. There were several occasions during our meetings when the group expressed their dissatisfaction and raised the issue often. This negativity grossly impacted our morale and job satisfaction for the team. As the department director, I assisted the Admission Managers in educating the team on the importance of the regulations, and our hospice organization’s compliance was not negotiable. The drama continued to infect the team’s morale and led to a few staff members’ resignations with the new workflow and added time for admission appointments. As the team leader, I allowed the staff to complain and cultivate the negativity around the new process. According to Wakeman (2018), I enabled the negativity by not addressing it at the moment and stopping the “meeting after the meeting” when I overheard staff complaining outside of a staff meeting. As a leader within the organization, I should have confronted and addressed this behavior immediately.
I could have handled the negatively differently on the team by facilitating the team to see the regulation differently and with less emotion. As a leader, I should have pointed out that the group blamed the circumstance instead of looking for ways to improve the process to meet the regulation. The team needed to be more culturally adaptive to the change at hand.
Our leadership team failed our admission staff by creating a process to accommodate the new regulation without including any of the Admission Nurses in those meetings. The organization’s leadership team formed a commitment for the new rule that would develop the new workflow for the team. Unfortunately, the team did not include any of the employees affected by the new workflow/process. The team decided to use a paper form versus an electronic version, which would have saved the admission team valuable time during their initial appointments with patients. In the future, our leadership team should ask for volunteers from the group to create the new workflows to meet the new Medicare requirements.
This week’s learning resources gave me valuable insight and tools on handling workplace drama and negativity. I will work to incorporate the S.B.A.R approach that Cy Wakeman discussed in her video of “Identifying where drama comes from why.”
S=situation presented neutrally without drama
B=background that is relevant
A=analysis of facts
R= recommendations to handle the situation
The S.B.A.R process is a valuable tool in healthcare for assessing patients, and I have learned it can help eliminate workplace drama.
References:
Wakeman, C. (2018, June 13). Identifying where drama comes from and why [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uX2ZG1SIHk
Reality-Based Leadership. (2017, March 16). What is drama in the workplace? [Video]. YouTube. https://youtube.com/watch?v=4_57nBiOldw
2nd Colleague – Chaylynne Jones
Chalynne Jones
RE: Discussion – Week 3
Top of Form
A situation in which involved workplace drama or negativity was when I worked at a preschool. When I first began working at the school, it was a nice environment. The management was good, as well as the people that I worked with. Eventually the company was brought out by a separate company, and it seemed like the beginning of the downwards spiral. The new management was really negative in a sense that it brought the environment down. There were times when you would come into work and the management had things changed without talking with the staff and led to the parents coming to the staff for answers we did not know the answers to. There were times when you could be an opener coming in and instead of being the first out each day, the management would go to their favorites first and allow them to leave, which was not fair. This caused a lot of tension in the workplace as well as employees to begin to search for other jobs.
The manager’s role in fueling the drama and negativity was high. Dr. Agarwal stressed the importance of creating an inclusive work environment. (Agarwal, P., 2018.) An inclusive workplace was one where the employees felt valued and supported by management. Management should be working to make sure that all employees are treated equally as well as working in a trusting environment. Dr. Agarwal also talked about fostering collaboration and communication. Frequently the management failed to communicate not just effectively but communicating in its entirety with the staff. Things like this fueled the tensions between the two and ultimately led to the loss of a lot of their good employees.
The manager might have behaved differently by actually listening to their employees. Bourke and Titus talked about effective collaboration. (Bourke & Espedido, 2020) Effective collaboration is important with realizing that employees matter. It is important for managers to listen to their employees and do things that will help the organization as a whole. When employees feel valued and listened to, that helps the employees stay with the company and helps with the retention. Creating a drama-free work environment is important for the organization to succeed. When employees see that the organization is able to retain employees, keep customers happy, as well as keep up with the demand and relationships with their employees, which makes a difference.
References:
Agarwal, P. (2018, August 29). How to create a positive workplace culture. https://www.forbes.com/sites/pragyaagarwaleurope/2018/08/29/how-to-create-a-positive-work-place-culture/#c535bb542727
Bourke, J., & Espedido, A. (2020, March 6). The key to inclusive leadership. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, 2–5. http://hbr.org