Strategies to Increase Teamwork among Nurses - Essay Example

?Strategies to increase teamwork among nurses Introduction Teamwork refers to an operational strategy in which the employees in anorganization undertake her tasks collectively thereby improving the efficiency and rate of service delivery. The management of every institution strives to create a work force that operates efficiently and collectively since such safeguards the profitability of the organization. Nurses just as any other group of employees require specific attention in order to promote teamwork among them. Nurses just as any other category of human resource requires appropriate motivation in order to encourage productivity. Nurses are important in improving the quality and fidelity of medical services (Mu?ller, 2010). The fact that they interact with humans makes their services vital for the growth and sustenance off the society. This implies that they require appropriate management in order to encourage productivity thus the improvement of the quality of health services. Key among the motivational factors employable to nurses is teamwork as discussed in the essay below. Teamwork is a scenario in which all the employees works as a completely unified entity, in situations where people work as a team, every individual undertakes specific tasks that complements the work of the other. This way, the entire organization becomes a system in which the efforts of every individual results in the unified good and efficient service delivery. Depending on the size of a health facility, the number of nurses would vary. However, the teamwork concept would help develop a formidable and efficient team of nurses who deliver high quality services to their patients. This makes teamwork an essential asset to managers of health facilities. By developing such a staff, a manger rests assured of an efficiently functioning heath facility as every nurse would complete their assignment in time and show concern for each other in the organization. While such sounds ideal and desirable by every manager, the daunting tasks is the creation and sustenance of teamwork among a group of nurses. Key among the most efficient ways of developing effective team works in a group of nurses in a health facility is the development of effective management. The management of an organization is always the pace setter in the organization. They develop the nature of the work place often building specific organizational cultures that influence the productivity of the rest of the staff. This makes the management of a health facility fundamental in the development of teamwork and a group of nurses at the organization (Thomas, 2009). The management acts as a motivational factor thus influencing the development of the staff. Additionally, an effective management apportions every department appropriate resources thus determining the nature of the work place for most of the nurses thereby influencing their ability to work efficiently as a team. A staff that functions as a team operates efficiently and undertakes all their tasks within the appropriate time. Team building is an integral part of management. A key step in developing a team among the staff members is the elevation of the work environment. Nurses require specific work environments. The management must influence the nature of the organization in order to improve the suitability of the work place. The development of teamwork is a management responsibility that involves the determination of the best management features that will endear to the nurses thereby making them love both their jobs and their colleagues. This implies that teamwork is attitudinal and the management must appeal and influence the attitudes of the nurses in order to develop teamwork in the health facilities. Communication leadership is one way of facilitating the development of teamwork in health facilities among the nurses. The management of the facilities must exhibit competence leadership thereby determining appropriate ways of communication at the facilities. This compels the management to heed the wishes of the nurses and address their concerns most of which include the provision of protective gear such as appropriate uniforms and gloves. Additionally, the hospitals must reduce congestion thus making both the halls and the walls spacious enough to limit the chances of injuries and accidents. This way, the work environment becomes safe and therefore encourages productivity (Painter, 2012). Besides the safety precautions taken by the management, the management must also safeguard the safety of the employees. In case of an exposure, the health facility must prioritize the safety of the nurses by placing them on appropriate treatment programs in order to reverse the effects of such diseases. This way, the nurses will not only feel appreciated but will also stay productive for longer. A management that employs effective leadership communication methods will manage to develop a competitive workforce for the nurses. This way, the work environment becomes conducive for operation as the nurses enjoy an opportunity to advance their careers. Competitiveness will not only improve the teamwork of the employees but will also facilitate faster completion of assignments thus improving the efficiency of the health facility. Among the features that make a work place competitive, include employee promotions based on merit and the provision of incentives to deserving employee. This implies that the management of the health facility must carry out periodic evaluation of the nurses and reward productiveness. This motivates employees to work harder and achieve more success. Most organizations encourage on job trainings. On job trainings provide the nurses with the important technical knowhow require in their daily operations and update them with the new scientific discoveries. By keeping their technical knowhow in sync with the developments in the industry, the nurses will maintain high quality service delivery thus developing a desirable reputation for the health facility. The nurses must share the vision of the hospital. Sharing the vision is a management role which ensures that every employee appreciate the aspirations of the organization and therefore strives to achieve such. The management achieves this by providing the nurses with on job training promotions. After the completion of an on job-training program, the management must evaluate the position of the nurses and often promote the deserving nurses based on both their performance and merit. This way, the management encourages professionalism besides the evident competitiveness of the work place. While all the above factors will make the work, environment safer and more conducive, remuneration is yet another factor that motivates employees thus encouraging their appreciation of their roles at the facility. The health facility must remunerate its employees effectively. Remuneration must always be commensurate to the work that an employer undertakes in the facility. Nurses worker longer and in very dangerous environments, they sacrifice most of their times and personal obligations to tend to the patients. The health facility must therefore remunerate them accordingly. The remuneration must appreciate their roles and hectic lifestyle. This way, they feel compensated enough for their troubles (Chin, 2008). The vision of the hospital is a projector statement of the future of the facility. After developing a strategic projection of the facility, the management must strive towards achieving such goals and visions. The determination and fidelity exhibited by the management in the attainment of the vision unites the nurses who will also strive to improve their quality through teamwork. After the development of such a desirable work place in which every nurse feels appreciated by their employer, it becomes imperative for the management to consider the nature of interactions among the employees. Mangers also serve as leaders in their organization owing t the huge number of human resources they coordinate and plan in order to achieve the objectives of the organization. The development of teamwork in an organization relies on the leadership skills exhibited by the managers but as leaders in their organizations. The management must unite the employees and achieve a level of respect and obedience from the employees that compel the employees to execute assignments as precisely as directed by the management. The management is always a motivation; employees emulate the spirit of their managers. This implies that the management of health facilities must exhibit the workmanship that they would wish the nurses to develop among themselves. As role models in the organization, the management inspires their employees. The management must therefore operate as a team in order to influence the nurses to adopt such operational features. The health facility must appreciate the nurses. Appreciation of nurses is an easy yet fundamental operational feature of the management that helps improve the productivity in the organization (Dimond, 2008). Most organizations organize periodic employee retreats and vacations in order to provide the employees with appropriate opportunity to unwind and relax. A health facility must appreciate its employees by organizing such fun fairs in order to encourage employees. Such parties provide the nurses with an opportunity to understand each other and develop close working relationship with others. Additionally, it is an appropriate opportunity for the nurses to increase their social lives by acquiring new friends and even settle their interpersonal differences. End year parties, staff get together and provision of payable leave to employees are ways of appreciating the nurses thus motivating them to work together at the health facility. As stated earlier, vision is a management tool used relatively in the development of teamwork at the organization. Managers must develop an effectively structured organization in which every feature operates as a part of the system for the attentinmnet of the overall good. This encourages the development of teamwork as the nurses enjoy great efficiency and faster flow of services at the facility. Managers must therefore plan and strategize their operations and the operations of the nurses in an order that sustains the periodic evaluation and appreciation of the nurses. Departmentalization is a method of improving accountability of employees. This way, an organization develops various departments that must undertake specific duties independently. The successful and timely completion of the assignments by every department does not only amount to the departmental success but also contributes to the success of the entire organization. A health facility should also adopt such a method through which the management will easily monitor the best performing departments and therefore analyze the ways of improving productivity in other departments. Professionalism improves the efficiency of teamwork. The development of departments encourages professionalism in an organization. Additionally, it improves leadership as the management uses such opportunities to encourage and develop leaders in the organization. Every departments would require a head to oversee and organize the nurses in order to undertake specific roles (McLaughlin & Kaluzny, 2006). By developing various departments, the organization creates additional opportunities to use as motivational factors as it promotes diligent nurses. Additionally, the departments encourage the competitive nature of the health facilities. Through the departments, the management of the health facility easily motivates productivity by analyzing the best performing departments and rewarding such with parties and employee get together. Such internal motivational factors encourage the nurses in the various departments to work together in order to improve their productivity and to improve their ratings at the annual employees’ assessments (Hopkins, 1986). Communication is an equally important operational determinant. The communication channels that the management employs improve the productivity of the organizations. The management must portray versatility in order to work with various types of employees. A versatile management accommodates every unique employee in the organization and develops the best personalities out of such cases. Communication is therefore an important aspect of management since it permits the organization to obtain the concerns of the nurses and act on such appropriately. The management must therefore employ appropriate communication models that encourage every employee to speak freely and suggest changes in the organizations. Such features contribute to the organizational cultures. An organizational culture determines the productivity of the employees at the organization. A culture of consultations and inclusiveness requires appropriate the management to employ various tactful management features such as the development of free communication channels through which every nurses communicates their concerns to the next authority. A health facility should develop an effective structure through the various departments for the nurses to address their concerns. The nurses should for example address their concerns to their head of departments who should in turn have a limitless access of the management and raise such concerns with their immediate mangers as soon as they come up. After raising such concerns, the management must give feedback through the same clear channels in order to ensure that the feedbacks reach the appropriate parties. This way, every nurse at the health facility feels appreciated and essential in the management of the facility. Additionally, in developing such a clear channel of communication, the management of the facility must consider other interpersonal factors and differences that may exist among the various stages of management and the nurses. Such interpersonal differences may impair the productivity of the departments (Fargus, 2000). The management of the health facilities must determine the nature of addressing such by providing the employees with appropriate ways of addressing their concerns to the appropriate authorities without impairing the functionality of the organization. The organization must therefore have an appropriate authority to address grievances and provide such auxiliary services as counselling to the employees. The facility must provide the nurses with an opportunity to access every office and raise their concerns owing the ability of the impairments arising from the various interpersonal differences. Additionally, the provision of such auxiliary services as guidance and counseling helps the employees address the operational problems that may arise from the interpersonal differences. Additionally, counseling services help nurses overcome traumas (Radcliffe, 2000). Either job related or personal traumas affect the productivity of nurses at the facility. This therefore validates the provision of the counselling services in order to help mitigate on the extent of the problems that the nurses may face either at the facility or in their private affairs. In retrospect, teamwork is a sure way of improving productivity at an organization. However, team building is a hectic process that requires the analysis of the various operational features and the size of the organization in order to understand the employees had better thus develop programs that complement their efforts thus improving their cohesiveness. The development of a cohesive staff is a primary role of the management owing to their planning and resource allocation role. Employees as the human resource are among the most fundamental resources in the organization and therefore require appropriate planning and allocation in the organization in order to improve their productivity. References Chin, P,L. (2008). Integrated theory and knowledge developing in nursing. St. Luis, MO: Mosby. Dimond, B. (2008). Legal aspects of nursing. Harlow, England: Pearson Education. Fargus, P. (2000). Measuring and improving employee motivation. London: Financial Times Prentice Hall. Hopkins, D. (1986). Inservice training and educational development: An international survey. London: Croom Helm. McLaughlin, C. P., & Kaluzny, A. D. (2006). Continuous quality improvement in health care. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett. Mu?ller, C. (2010). Employee motivation an incentives at Apple: Do incentives really help to motivate employees?. Norderstedt: GRIN Verlag. Painter, R. et all. (2012). Cases and Materials on Employment law, Oxford, Oxford University Press. Radcliffe, M. (2000). Doctors and Nurses: new game same result. London: British medical association. Thomas, K. W. (2009). Intrinsic motivation at work: What really drives employee engagement. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Read More