Managing Staff Nurses - Assignment Example

Managing Staff Nurses Maternity Unit Manager XYZ Hospital This paper aims at delineating an action plan for the manager of the maternity unit of the hospital to administer a work conducive atmosphere and a pleasant relationship between the manager and his unit staff as well as among the members of the staff. The paper is an attempt to ensure a healthy, peaceful and professional environment which takes into account the problem solving strategies, setting goals for employees, conflict resolution to preparing an effective code of conduct and performance scale to attain. I as a manager of this unit have to facilitate a professional environment with a physically and mentally comfortable working conditions for the employees In order to ensure this some key objectives have to be achieved which is: 1 An objective analysis of the given working conditions 2 Understanding my employees, in this case my staff nurses 3 The responsibilities delegated to them viz a viz their seniority and capabilities. So to begin with the working conditions of the unit has to be explored in order to establish its favorability for the employees in question. This may include the furniture, seating arrangement, necessary facilities, working hours etc. All this directly affects employee's behavior, their output and commitment to work. Understanding my staff is second most important facet of the plan. A competent manager needs to know his staff inside out. Because this helps in determining the cause of a certain problem behavior of a staff member. This includes their family background, their sources of income other than this job, their overall personalities and age group. Young workers tend to show more committeemen to work. Sometimes those who have more than two or three sources of income in I as a manager of this unit have to facilitate a professional environment with a physically and mentally comfortable working conditions for the employees In order to ensure this some key objectives have to be achieved which are: 1 An objective analysis of the given working conditions 2 Understanding my employees, in this case my staff nurses 3 The responsibilities delegated to them viz a viz their seniority and capabilities. So to begin with the working conditions of the unit has to be explored in order to establish its favorability for the household show a little care free attitude towards work. This is just an assumption based to general observation and is therefore not a verdict. All this need an objective analysis based on realities on ground. Moreover, the injustice in delegation of work responsibilities bears a great significance in establishing the output of a staff member. Therefore, I will ensure a fair dealing with all staff nurses in this regard. Apart from this, it is also important to lay out a plan, in case a problem arises between two or more staff members. This requires an effective code of conduct to be written in order to contain such issues from happening and guarantee a peaceful atmosphere in the unit. The code of conduct constitutes a list of behavior patterns in terms of the dos and don'ts to be strictly observed. It will include: 1 be honest 2 be friendly 3 show professional approach 4 Respect each other's dignity and space. 5 Mind one's own business The Don'ts include 1 don't be irritable 2 don't be careless 3 don't back bite 4 don't be a gossip monger If one or more of the staff members found violating any of these, they will either be warned and next time a recurrence of such behavior will cost them a heavy penalty or even their job depending on the severity of the matter. However, sometimes a problem occurs which has nothing to do with a code of conduct; instead it happens between two staff members which require the manager to intervene and resolve the issue to both party's satisfaction. This requires an effective problem solving strategy. In this regard I have read different material on issue resolving skills, one of which is worth mentioning. Janet E, Davidson, Robert J.Sternberg in their book "problem solving cycle" suggested what they called a 'problem solving cycle'. The cycle according to them should constitute certain stages where the problem solver must: 1 Recognize or identify the problem 2 Define and represent the problem mentally 3 Develop a solution strategy 4 Organize his knowledge about the problem 5 Allocate mental and physical resources for solving the problem 6 Monitor his progress towards the goal 7 Evaluate the solution for accuracy and effectiveness (Davidson & Sternberg, 2003) Of course one needs to allow as much variation in the given cycle as required according to situation at hand. However, the basics like identification of problem are a very important step and any solution strategy should begin with that. Thus, if a situation arises I would require an independent and un biased source of information about the issue as well about the parties involved. Similarly it is also pivotal to create a mental picture of the problem i.e. an understanding of the specific problem, a focus on issue and not just the personalities involved. Yet I realize that there are cases where a certain staff member creates a problem recurrently and there in that case I will have to handle not only the problem but more importantly the problem behavior. This requires an identification of the root cause of such behavior. Furthermore, it is extremely important to monitor the relative effectiveness of the approach towards the conflict resolution adopted. This monitoring ought to take a closer look at the outcome of the resolution, feedback of the parties involved and the result of the reuse of the same strategy in a similar situation. All this however, is a cyclical process which means that I will have to go back and forth in this process and make changes if need be. I also believe that while managing employees or staff members I must know each one's capabilities, strengths and weaknesses while I have to encourage those who perform well, I Also need to motivate those who have weaknesses in certain areas, help them improve and if they are unable to perform I have to discuss their performances privately and not publically. They should not at any stage feel humiliated. At last, I would like to sum up with the ideas of LEE Roy Beach presented in ''The Human Element: Understanding and Managing Employees Behavior' that a manager needs to coordinate his own and the employees' expectations in order to facilitate successful implementation of the plan he said '' make sure everyone is "ready off the same page" (Beach,2007). Bibliography Janet E,D and Robert J. sternberg (2003) The psychology of Problem Solving ( 3-4) Beach, R.L (2007) The Human Element: Understanding and Managing Employee Behavior (13) Read More