Nursing requires constant communication with people, including medical staff and patients. Therefore, nurses should be ready for some disrupting situations that may affect their work. However, there should be regulations and work ethics that ensure effective interaction of nurses with each other. Team respect is a crucial aspect of the work, and it should not be neglected by the administration. In the case of Tina, there was a serious violation of work ethic, and the human resources department could not create a safe and friendly environment at the workplace for her. This paper examines how Tina’s situation can be managed and addresses team management strategies.
To begin with, it is essential to understand how to identify if someone is bullied in a workplace or not. It would be evident if an individual that previously did not show some negative feelings started to express them or if they act completely differently as compared to previous their behavior. Due to such notices, bullying can be recognized. During the work as a team, it is critical to establish team members’ respect, value, and security. By this, each member would be comfortable with their work conditions and know how to treat others. Nurses can be irritated due to their hard work and be easily manipulated to act aggressive or provoking.
As such, leaders should be aware of how to reduce stress and make communication between nurses as much smooth as possible. To do this, there is a need for several team sessions where medical staff would be introduced to value, respect, and security concepts. This can help members to understand the importance of work ethic and learn how to apply it. Despite the sessions, a medical team can divide to sub-units and learn how to operate within a smaller group first (Barton et al., 2018). Such practice may provide a clear picture of what is missing in a team’s function and what members think about each other. Here, open communication is key for a successful team and productive work of medical workers, especially that of nurses.
To establish safe and caring culture, employees should know that hospitals or other medical institutions have zero tolerance for violence and any form of bullying. The most effective strategy to ensure safety is to communicate openly with team members and discuss all issues that bother each member. Moreover, there is a need for a therapist who can consult nurses whenever they ask for it during their work. The mental health of nurses is important in their work and should be maintained by proper control. The work of a therapist can also reduce any form of violence as they can share what they feel angry about and how they can solve it. Furthermore, leaders can engage team members together to create a friendly atmosphere in a workplace. For example, team building is an effective strategy that is often used by managers to make their teams cooperate and support each other (Dias-Silveira et al., 2017). Such activities can promote safe environment, motivating people to work upon a common goal.
The case of Tina shows that nurses who spread information regarding Tina’s error do not know about the impact of rumors. They may even do not know that sharing such information is not allowed and that it may harm people. Therefore, leaders have to provide work ethic and regulations to nurses and any other staff member to avoid such situations. If everyone who comes to the work knows about what they can do and what they cannot, there would be a healthy working environment. Such an environment also can be created by leaders who facilitate teamwork via team building activities and casual communication with workers. They may also provide support for nurses and be on their side if it is necessary for them. In the case of Tina, leaders have to communicate with her and ask about her feelings regarding the situation. By this, Tina can share what she is going through and mitigate the issue with the help of leaders or the human resources team.
However, aside from leaders, there should be engagement from other medical workers in the creation of a healthy working environment. Cooperation, support, and a friendly attitude should be the main attributes of team members who want to preserve good working conditions. Each team member has to work to develop the team loyalty and be responsible for their actions. Only a team that knows all regulations at the workplace and understands how to work as a single unit can be sure that it would reach nicely operating staff.
As such, there are three leadership interventions that should have occurred in Tina’s case. Firstly, people who noticed that personal information of a nurse was spread needed to inform the higher medical staff about the incident. This could prevent the worsening of the situation and stop the flow of information so that Tina might not leave the workplace. Medical workers, who were listing to the information about Tina, had to stop it if they were aware of team respect and value.
Secondly, leaders might punish George and even fire him from the work as he was bullying Tina and violating xero tolerance for bullying rule. Such action towards one nurse can lead to newer cases that would have negative effects on the work of a whole medical team. Thirdly, Tina could be supported by leaders. Although she made a crucial mistake, it is not a reason to condemn and punish her for this. Therefore, after being bullied by other employees, leaders should give her support and recognition, comforting Tina and making sure that she will not do anything irrational. Victims of bullies often feel depressed and anxious, so leaders could give her a vacation and pay an individual therapist for her. Managers should mitigate such cases of collective bullying otherwise all employees would feel uncomfortable while working and this will affect their performance.
To conclude, Tina’s case is a demonstration that violation of work ethic and regulations may end up with serious consequences for some employees. People should be careful about what they are doing at the workplace and how they interact with their colleagues. There is a need for better leadership strategies to ensure effective team management and ensure that team members can rely on each other and be supportive for every member. Tina is also a great example to show that bullying appears in different situations and that no one is ready for it. The strategies that would help to improve leadership management are to communicate, punish and support the ones who were involved in the spread of Tina’s case.
References
Barton, G., Bruce, A., & Schreiber, R. (2018). Teaching nurses teamwork: Integrative review of competency-based team training in nursing education. Nurse Education in Practice, 32, 129-137.
Dias-Silveira, C., Teixeira-de-Bessa, A. T., Oroski-Paes, G., & Conceição-Stipp, M. A. (2017). Nursing team management: factors associated with job satisfaction. Enfermería Global, 16(3), 224-239.