Introduction
Without trust between workers, management, and their clients, it is impossible to establish a healthy work environment, which is one of the key points in achieving the best possible outcome in service-providing institutions. The results can be drastic, ranging from a simple disappointment or argument to life-threatening mistakes due to misunderstanding, disobeying, or a stressful atmosphere. In healthcare providing services, a positive attitude reduces clinical errors and improves patient safety.
Teamwork and collaboration is crucial step in providing a better service, which is unachievable without credibility between all employees. Multiple strategies have been developed to help with this issue. A study by Sevilla-Zeigen (2016) has determined the following “factors that improve a work environment: a lot of support from managers, respect, a good workflow, knowing other workers, and having a good workplace” (p. 46). It clearly shows how much credibility contributes to a productive workflow.
Personal experience
However, during my work experience, I had to encounter various situations in which one or more of these factors were missing, which lead to conflicts and distrust among co-workers. Due to insufficiency in nursing staff, my superior had to call my charge nurse from her “day off”, lying to her that she would not be working for short staff. The superior had to lie to somehow compensate for a lack of medical personnel, but he described it as a necessity so the patients’ lives would not be put at risk.
Ethical behavior is critical in one’s credibility, but in nursing practices sometimes such situations are unavoidable. Despite a significant hit to his trustworthiness and a disrespectful attitude toward the nurse, the manager took the risk. To dispel this negativity, I helped with wound care and discharges and bought breakfast for the staff of the unit. I felt that I could freely express my integrity at work and have a positive influence on the situation by showing compassion and empathy. Knowing the staff personally helped me with this decision and this gesture alleviated some stress from overworking.
When I was employed at a former hotel as their new pastry chef, I have met with another instance of lacking vertical integration. The conflict between the staff and an executive chef arose from the fact that he excluded them from important decision-making. He added a goal of “cleaning house”, disregarding their concerns and without any additional discussion. I believed that I could successfully work with them and expressed this to my boss, but was accused of taking sides with the staff against management. Despite my attempt to lead by example, my main shortcoming was an overenthusiastic attitude.
Credibility includes having everyone’s best interests at heart, being open to input, and fairness in decision making; therefore, organizational trust is one of the critical conditions in strengthening work engagement (Engelbrecht, 2017). A proper leader would want to empower and support their employees rather than belittle them and leave their concerns unheard, and situations like this undermine a leader’s reputation.
Conclusion
Credibility is directly associated with integrity, benevolence, and ethical behavior of the person one puts his/her trust in. Any gaps created by inequality, disrespect among workers and their superiors, and lack of teamwork should not be overlooked. In nursing, a healthy work environment directly affects the patients’ wellbeing and nurses’ commitment, therefore maximizing the quality of healthcare. Service providers are responsible for its creation and upholding, only then productivity will rise.
References
Engelbrecht, A.S. (2017). Integrity, ethical leadership, trust and work engagement. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 38(3), 368-379. Web.
Sevilla-Zeigen, N. (2016). A grounded theory approach to healthy work environment: Its impact on nurses, patient safety, and significance in healthcare settings (Doctoral dissertation). Web.