TIME FOR CHANGE TOXIC WORKPLACE AND PEOPLE

Definition Toxic workplace is where employee or employees are rude, gossips, and bullies those around them.

 Statistics  According to Berry (2010), there were more than 70 percent of new nurses being bullied by the experience nurses.  A survey by the Royal College of Nursing (Ball et al, 2002 as cited in Martin & Martin, 2010) found that 1 in 6 nurses assert to have been the victim of bullying, with 41% identifying that the bully was in fact their immediate line manager.  According to Rew and Ferns (2005), the level of reported violence against health staff has been increasing over recent years with the National Audit Office (NAO) reporting a 30% increase in reports of violence between 1998/1999 and 2000/2001 (NAO, 2003) (p.227).

 Continue  “According to the findings of a study conducted by Quine,15 44% of NHS nursing workforce participants reported that they were bullied” (Katrinli, Atabay, Gunay &Cangarli, 2010, p.615).

Causes of toxic workplace Immature leadership Dysfunctional relationship Bullying Toxic mentoring Tolerance of antisocial behavior

 Immature leadership  leaders who avoid conflict and hopes for it to go away by itself. Unwilling to listen to what others have to say, terrorizes the worker by punishing for making any kinds of mistake rather than learning from the mistake.  According to Porter-O’ Grady and Malloch (2011), mature leaders “walk the talk” meaning, to act in accordance with expressed values. Leaders should follow through with their talk, stay true to their words, and it is a great necessity for leaders to practice what they preach because it is very easy for workers to witness their acts over the time. Immature leaders are neither compassionate nor empathetic because leaders like that only cares about themselves and work being done at all cost, not the worker’s health.

 Dysfunctional relationship  Favoritism: if the leaders pick favorites at workplace and always listens to particular group of nurses and treat unfairly to some nurses. This causes the nurses who are treated unfairly to not be happy with their job and might end up leaving the job.  Judge the workers by listening to others without asking questions.  Back stabbing: talking behind person’s back.  Leader also have high unrealistic expectations for example asking nurses to always finish all the documentations within an hour after assessments which is impossible on very busy days.

 Bullying  Leaders can bully their employees in many different ways. One being abuse of power. According to Porter-O’Grady and Malloch (2011), some leaders abuse their power by demeaning staff members in front of patients or other staff members, being rude and not asking for any input from the employees about new changes. Ineffective leaders can cause unhealthy work environment by making employees work mandatory overtime.  Porter-O’Grady and Malloch stated, “nurses often feel exhausted and discouraged when they leave work, powerless to effect changes to ensure safe patient care and overburdened by the overtime they are expected to put in”(p.366).

 Continue..  Bullying among nurse is currently increasing in numbers especially expert nurses to novice nurses. According to Katrinli, Atabay, Gunay, and Cangarli (2010), “bullying is defined as any type of repetitive abuse in which victims suffer verbal abuse, threats, humiliation or intimidating behaviors, or behaviors by perpetrators that interfere with victims’ job performance and are calculated to place at risk their health and safety (p.615).

 Continue  Katrinli, Atabay, Gunay, and Cangarli (2010) stated, bullying is not necessarily irrational behavior but can be carried out purposely for rational reasons to make themselves look superior. Bullying harm victims’ physical and psychological well-being. Research proved that nurses who got bullied experienced fear, loss of self-esteem, anxiety, sleeplessness and many more. This is another reason why bullying affects health organization and as well as health care cost.  According to Martin and Martin (2010), there are few categories nurses use to harass each other by religion, age, race, appearance, etc.

 Toxic Mentoring  Toxic mentoring: this can cause harmful workplace, according to Porter-O’Grady and Malloch (2011), if the mentor does not assist the mentee in developing his or her own identity during orientation, the mentee when he/she is by themselves, the mentee might become empty, powerless and unable to progress which can jeopardize patient’s safety.

 Tolerance of antisocial behavior  According to Porter-O’Grady and Malloch (2011), failure of leaders to recognize antisocial behavior such as sexual harassment, stealing, gossiping reduce group effectiveness. Working as a group is very important as a nurse because nurse is a 24 hours job and having a trust worthy and likable co-workers makes the job so much easier.

 Benefits of healthy workplace  According to Moore, Leahy, Sublett, and Lanig (2013), Poor nurse-to-nurse relationships have many big consequences towards health care organizations such as, poor work performance, absenteeism, and rapid job turnover. It is very important to have good nurse-nurse relationship in order to give safe and quality care for patients.  Also with healthy workplace, employees are less stress and high job satisfaction.

 Barriers of change  Change is always a challenge to human beings. People are used to change so they develop fear of change, which lead to resistant.  Failed communication strategies: Proper communication between leaders and employees are very important. Failure to communicate with employees about change and why it is implementing is a barrier for change  Lack of leadership: employees’ lost of respect and trust for leaders because leaders might not be appreciative of the employees’ work.

 How to resolve conflict?  In order to solve any conflict, first the both person involve needs to acknowledge the existence of the conflict rather than avoiding the conflict. Second, appreciate the feelings and viewpoints instead of taking it negatively. Lastly, ideas might lead to win-win solution (Rew & Ferns, 2005).  Self-esteem and confidence are the two things that could reduce one’s risk of verbal or physical assault from other staff because dysfunction-nursing team will project less job satisfaction and higher stress levels (Rew & Ferns, 2005).

 What can the leaders do to improve toxic workplace?  According to Martin and Martin (2010), It is important for leaders to ensure staffs are familiar with bullying and harassment policy of the organization and other such as:  Leaders should always be open to communicate with their employees and show the employees that they are worth a time. Leaders should take every complaint of bullying and harassment seriously.  Leaders should be there for the victim of bullying, sexual harassment, and others and alleged perpetrator with support during the enquiry process.

 Continue  Leaders have to be the role model so always set positive examples of respect and acceptable behavior at all times.  Leaders should make a rule where bullying and harassment is considered unacceptable.  Leaders also need help so they can seek advice and support from human resources.

 Minimize toxic workplace cont.  According to Porter-O’Grady and Malloch, leaders have the power to make everything all right. Leaders should be willing to listen which is one of the most important principles. By listening, leaders can solve problems and make decisions.  Leaders should value the truth of the whole, which means, the leaders should not just go by one-sided story. Leaders should hear both sides of an issue and come up with fair solutions.  Leaders should practice honesty because employees look up to effective leaders and they also will embrace honesty, which reduces stealing problem.  Empower employees to ensure that they have the power to make suggestions, grow and mature.

 Lewin’s change theory  There are three stages in change: unfreezing which is finding a way to let go of the old pattern and moving towards change (“Lewin’s change theory,” 2013).  Change is called "movement," involves a process of change in thoughts, feeling, behavior, or all three, that is in some way more liberating or more productive (“Lewin’s change theory,”  Refreezing is a process of establishing the change as the new habit, and making it permanent. Without the refreezing process, it is very easy to go back to old patterns so that is why managers have to be willing to listen to the employees and answer any questions they might have to make sure employees does not go back to their old patterns (“Lewin’s change theory,” 2013).

References Berry, P. (2014). Nursing research makes a difference for colleagues, patients, the public. American nurse association, Retrieved from Katrinli, A., Atabay, G., Gunay, G., & Cangarli, B. (2010). Nurses' perceptions of individual and organizational political reasons for horizontal peer bullying. Nursing Ethics, 17(5), doi: / Martin, C., & Martin, C. (2010). Bully for you: Harassment and bullying in the workplace. British Journal Of Midwifery, 18(1), Moore, L., Leahy, C., Sublett, C., & Lanig, H. (2013). Understanding Nurse-to- Nurse Relationships and Their Impact on Work Environments. MEDSURG Nursing, 22(3), Porter-O'Grady, T., & Malloch, K. (2011). Quantum leadership: Advancing innovation, transforming health care. (3rd ed., pp ). Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Rew, M., & Ferns, T. (2005). Conflict management. A balanced approach to dealing with violence and aggression at work. British Journal Of Nursing, 14(4),

References Lewin's Change theory. (2013). Lewin's change theory. Nursing theory, Retrieved from