Organizational Culture

1. Organizational Culture Name: Course:

2. Introduction • Organizational culture describes a system of shared values, beliefs, and assumptions • Governs people’s behavior at the workplace • Shared values significantly influence people’s action, and job performance • Every organization has a unique culture to guide behaviors of its members

3. Organizational values and nurse engagement • Organizational values significantly impact nurses, depending on how they align to individual values • Values that that support nurses’ values will influence them positively (Gershon et al., 2004) • Values that contradict each other will have negative outcomes • Organizational values can enhance nurse engagement • Work engagement refers to a positive affective motivational state of fulfillment (Van et al., 2014)

4. Organizational values and nurse engagement, cont’d • Can be manifested as dedication, absorption, and vigor • Motivated nurses commit themselves to organizational objectives • Nursing engagement is linked to improved patient safety and outcomes • Committed nurses provide quality care services to patients • Collaborate effectively with each other to ensure delivery of quality health care services (Benson & Dundis, 2003) • Respect enables nurses to work effectively if their organizations promote such values • Leads to improved patient safety and outcomes

5. Effective communication overcome workplace challenges • Good communication techniques can help overcome workplace challenges (Benson & Dundis, 2003) • Clarity of information helps nurses to manage time effectively • Good listening skills enable nurses to understand the message clearly • Communicating with respect helps to overcome the workplace diversity challenges • Managers and leaders influence people from different backgrounds to support organizational objectives

6. Effective communication encourages collaboration • Effective communication methods influences collaboration among nurses • Communicating with respect enhances good relationships • Nurses collaborate with each other effectively because of trust • Honesty and openness encourage positive relationships among the nurses

7. Effective communication encourages collaboration, cont’d • Being open to others’ opinion and thoughts promotes teamwork (Benson & Dundis, 2003) • Nurses cooperate with each to achieve a common goal (Suter et al., 2009) • Practicing patience when communicating encourages cooperation

8. Effective communication to promote effective problem solving • Workplace diversity can help in effective problem-solving • This requires good communication skills • Effective communication skills promote trust and respect • Encourages contributions of other people • Good listening skills consider different perspectives to solve a problem effectively (Benson & Dundis, 2003). • Understanding and considering nurses’ views and opinions help solve a problem effectively • Understanding a situation is necessary to solve problems effectively

9. Instance in my professional experience • The organizational values emphasized respect and evidence based practice • They aligned to the nurses’ values of respect, trust, and quality care • The alignment greatly enhanced nurse engagement and patient outcome • Nurses respected each other, thus promoting good relationships • They communicated with respect and trust

10. Instance in my professional experience, cont’d • Collaboration among nurses increases their motivation • They provide quality healthcare services • Nurses also respected patient autonomy • They promoted good relationships and patient outcome • They used the best treatment options based on evidence • This promoted patient health and wellbeing

11. Conclusion • Organizational culture can influence nurses’ behaviors and actions • It determines patient safety and health outcomes • Healthcare organizations should develop and maintain values that promote quality care • They should align to the values of nurses to realize effective results

12. References • Benson, S. G., & Dundis, S. P. (2003). Understanding and motivating health care employees: integrating Maslow's hierarchy of needs, training and technology. Journal of nursing management, 11(5), 315-320. • Gershon, R. R., Stone, P. W., Bakken, S., & Larson, E. (2004). Measurement of organizational culture and climate in healthcare. Journal of Nursing Administration, 34(1), 33-40. • Suter, E., Arndt, J., Arthur, N., Parboosingh, J., Taylor, E., & Deutschlander, S. (2009). Role understanding and effective communication as core competencies for collaborative practice. Journal of interprofessional care, 23(1), 41-51. • Van, B. P., van Heusden, D., Timmermans, O., & Franck, E. (2014). Nurse work engagement impacts job outcome and nurse-assessed quality of care: model testing with nurse practice environment and nurse work characteristics as predictors. Frontiers in psychology, 5, 1261-1274.