| |
| |
|
Management Information |
|
|
|
Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Creating a Culture of Empowerment
This article relates to the Culture & Climate competency, commonly evaluated in employee satisfaction surveys. AlphaMeasure defines climate as the effect an organization has on the employees, while culture refers more to the acceptable behaviors, attitudes, and habits of the organization as a whole. Some relevant topics include employee values, attitudes, and morale throughout your organization. Knowing and understanding workplace culture and climate leads to a better understanding of what factors influence employees. In relation, the level of service your customers receive is almost always influenced by the culture and climate of your organization. Evaluating this competency can be especially useful if your organization is experiencing customer service related issues or problems working together internally. This short story, Creating a Culture of Empowerment, is part of AlphaMeasure's compilation, Tales From the Corporate Frontlines. It tells about the effects of a negative culture on nursing home residents and what was done to turn things around and create a better culture and climate in the workplace.. Anonymous Submission I transferred into my current position as manager of a small nursing home two years ago. After my first meeting with the frontline caregivers---nursing staff, orderlies, etc., I was very concerned. The caregivers were clearly unhappy in their positions. They liked their work, they enjoyed caring for the residents, but there was some other factor at work here, creating a climate of uneasiness and a culture of apprehension in this small and close-knit group residence. I spoke with various residents. They were concerned as well. They felt that they were receiving good care, but many mentioned an unhappy mood that continued day to day. It affected some more than others, and they expressed a wish for brighter, more upbeat surroundings. A long time resident told me that things used to be different, and she had felt much better, physically and mentally, when her nurses and aides were happier. That, in a nutshell, was what troubled me most. Anyone involved in health care knows that patients, in this case nursing home residents, are much happier and healthier and make better progress when their caregivers are satisfied in their positions and careers. I decided to conduct an employee survey, mainly for the caregivers, to give them the opportunity to vent. I hadn't been able to find out much verbally, so I hoped that the survey would give them the opportunity to reveal the sources of their discontent. Then we could proceed to improve the situation. Among other issues, the survey results revealed that morale was low because the staff felt stifled by regulations. The rigid rules needed to be examined and perhaps modified to empower caregivers to a greater degree. They were more satisfied when they felt able to improve the quality of life for their patients. Some other solutions we used to change the culture included: * Providing educational opportunities for caregivers to update and expand their skills * Adopting a new conflict management policy - developed with extensive caregiver feedback * Reevaluating our financial policies to free up funds to hire more caregivers to ease the burden of understaffed areas. As a result, we were able to engage our caregivers in creating a workplace culture that emphasizes the value of each human being and a climate of respect. The caregivers are satisfied, and the residents are happier and healthier. © 2005 AlphaMeasure, Inc. - All Rights Reserved This article may be reprinted, provided it is published in its entirety, includes the author bio information, and all links remain active. Measure. Report. Improve your organization with AlphaMeasure employee surveys. Josh Greenberg is President of AlphaMeasure, Inc. AlphaMeasure provides organizations of all sizes a powerful web based method for measuring employee satisfaction, determining employee engagement, and increasing employee retention. Launch your employee surveys with AlphaMeasure.
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
One Simple Idea to Grow Your Business Perhaps the most common theme I've heard in working with business owners or managers is that they rarely have time to plan for the future. They are so busy with day to day tasks and responsibilities, just getting through their weekly "To Do" list or fighting fires consumes all their time and energy, and then some. Blame Culture Blues - How the Language of Blame Manifests Organisational Underperformance If you have ever worked within a large organisation then you are sure to have heard the term 'we will not have a blame culture' at some point. However the sheer fact that this statement can be made is an indication that a blame culture already exists. Directed Introspection One of the greatest obstacles to progress can often be our awareness of past failures. If we tried something a couple of years ago and fell flat on our faces (and especially if we were ridiculed or derided as a result) we tend to be reluctant to rock the boat again. Catch Your Staff Doing Something Right A long time ago, I learned something about being a manager that has proven to be one of the most valuable lessons I've ever heard.You can't manage people from inside your office. Five Days to More Effective Inventory Management The litany of headaches related to the implementation and on-going care-and-feeding of enterprise-based inventory management applications (upgrading, downtime, maintenance, hardware obsolescence, and so on) is long. These implementation issues are enough make the savviest of companies want to engage in anything but another supply chain or inventory management software implementation. Invoice Factoring for Goverment Vendors Assignment of Claims Act of 1986".. Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Finding The Perfect Balance This article relates to the Work/Life Balance competency, which investigates how your staff feels with regard to the balance between work and personal life. It explores issues such as priority of family and hours on the job, also covered in this competency. Stop Waste, Fraud and Abuse Each year, businesses write-off six percent of revenue to waste, fraud and abuse. But why would managers throw all that hard-earned money away when there is a reliable way to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse using accounting policies & procedures to create internal controls. Pricing Strategy for Retail Flower Shops When you create your profit and loss statement to assess the health of your business, you will see:Sales minus Cost of Goods Sold equals Gross Profit.You pay for all of your expenses with the gross profit. Successful Managing Through Delegation Managers should avoid the tendency to constantly delegate to the same one or two capable individuals. This practice only overloads the best personnel while slighting all others. Creating A Vision - Bringing Your Dreams Into Reality Do you have some goals you want to achieve or dreams you want to fulfill? A useful tool in reaching the outcomes you desire is the creation of a vision, which can be short or long-term. I recommend writing down specifics to add clarity and focus. Looking through the Glass Ceiling - Women in Management Women have made tremendous contributions to society at every level; consider Joan of Arc, Golda Meier, Indira Gandi, Condalezza Rice.In writing this article my attention is to open the eyes of small business and no way patronise female mangement or give offence. Recruitment - Do You Know What Youre Looking For? The time will come when you'll need to interview someone to join your business or your existing team. If you work in a large organisation then this could be someone from inside the company. Joint Accountability: Another Key for Your Effectiveness I once was part of a group of management professors who often taught in executive development seminars. Other non-management professors in the school ran these. Corporate Governance for Business Owners It is clear that good Corporate Governance is in the best interests of shareholders of public companies, but how can it benefit shareholders of private companies and other business owners?Will a good system of corporate governance increase the bottom line?One of the elements of a good system of corporate governance is ensuring that the role, and the boards' expectations, of management are understood.SeparationSeparation of the board and management is often lacking when it comes to small medium sized enterprises. 2 Steps For Increasing Company Profits or Performing Business Turnarounds 1. Eliminate wasteEliminate reports, habits, products, duplicate input, and processes that waste time and money. Workplace Violence - People are Dying Going to Work Workplace violence has become a tragic reality today. From minor instances of harassment to homicide today's workplace is littered with danger. Management Consultants, Creativity, Innovation Most firms have intelligent, capable, knowledgeable managers who are very good at day-to-day problem solving. So why do they need management consultants? There are occasions when consultants bring in specialist competencies, but if that is not the case then their value only really lies in their outside perspective - their ability to frame break from the "company way" and their ability to come up with and implement good ideas that would not otherwise have been thought of. The Leaders Fallacy May Be Howard Deans Undoing Howard Dean's tenure as chairman of the Democratic National Committee will be fleeting unless he avoids a common leadership trap I call it, the "Leader's Fallacy".Leaders adhere to the Leader's Fallacy when they believe their enthusiasm for a particular leadership challenge is automatically reciprocated by the people they lead. New Job, New Culture: Do You Fit In? It seemed like a good decision at the time. A 10-percent raise, an easier commute and a chance to move up the corporate ladder.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
