Research Paper on Toxic Workplace: How to Resolve & Improve Quality Care

Introduction

Organizational toxicity leads to the creation of an energy-sapping culture that emotionally drains, and disconnects workers from their jobs, teams, and coworkers. Factors such as abuse of power, employee dishonesty, lack of respect for the workforce and vertical leadership structures contribute to the problem (Braithwaite, Herkes, Ludlow, Testa, & Lamprell, 2017). Failure to resolve the problems amicably hinders delivery of quality primary care in all healthcare settings. Leaders can utilize training, fairness, introduction of policies, punishment, and accountability checks to improve organizations' health.

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Vertical Authority Structure

Vertical authority structure is the primary contributor to organizational toxicity. Vertical management is characterized by managerial control, where the executive makes all the decisions, while other staff and nurses are obligated to follow without much questioning (Thomas et al., 2016). The situation disconnects nurses from their work and hinders creativity and innovation. Leaders can opt for a more flexible leadership style such as the horizontal approach (Thomas, Gentzler, & Salvatorelli, 2016). A horizontal leadership structure gives authority to employees in such a way that they can make critical decisions concerning various aspects of an organization. The situation motivates nurses, enhances their efficiency, and promotes innovation.

Inequitable Rewards and Recognition Practices

Fairness in recognition and reward practices play a vital role in employee retention. If employees feel like leaders are unfair in recognizing their efforts, they put little effort towards achieving anticipated organizational goals leading to decreased efficiency in healthcare provision. Equitable treatment and fairness determine workers' engagement, retention, and performance (de Zulueta, 2015). Lack of fairness contributes to distrust, counter-productive behaviors, and reduced performance. Leaders can avoid the situation by ensuring that their appraisal process is rooted in fairness. Leaders can create consistency in the rewarding process and ensure that the annual employee appraisals reflect the actual performance observed throughout the year.

Abuse of Power

Abuse of power is a chronic problem that promotes corruption, fraudulent activities, and professional malpractices. Abuse of authority can be manifested through verbal intimidation, bullying, sexual harassment, discrimination, unreasonable demand from subordinates, and favoritism (Braithwaite et al., 2017). The condition is associated with increased job turnovers, emotional distress among subordinates, and demotivation. An organization can eliminate the problem by offering leadership training where managers are taught how to treat employees with respect and tolerance (D'Cruz, Noronha, & Lutgen-Sandvik, 2018). The introduction of disciplinary measures, such as job termination, can also aid in eliminating the issue by punishing those who abuse their authority whether verbally, written, or physically.

Lack of Respect for the Workforce

In most cases, employees may fail to perform putting leaders in a stressful and precarious situation. In such a case, leaders may find themselves being abusive or disappointed with some workers to a point being vulgar (Thomas et al., 2016). The situation reflects a lack of employee respect, which creates hostility, mistrust, and defiance in the workplace. Noticeably, leaders should undergo appropriate training to equip them with appropriate leadership skills to permit them to engage with other workers in a respectable, compassionate, and constructive manner (de Zulueta, 2015). Policies that uphold respect for human dignity and guide social and professional relationships should also be enforced in an organization.

Failure to Manage Unmotivated Employees

Unmotivated employees contribute negatively to organizational efficiency and can lead to closure or lawsuits. The inability to manage a demotivated workforce creates a culture that hinders innovation, performance, and continuous improvement. In most cases, leaders do not realize the primary cause of demotivation; thus fail to address the problem (Braithwaite et al., 2017). Effective leaders should be determined to identify the primary cause of demotivation and address it amicably. They can achieve this by engaging workers in open discussions and be willing to accommodate their opinion concerning various issues in the organization (Thomas et al., 2016). Engaging employees in problem-solving is the first step in managing motivation and changing their attitude towards management.

Tolerance of Antisocial Behavior

Antisocial behaviors such as theft, drug abuse, aggression, dishonesty, sabotage, and employee revenge are critical elements of a toxic working environment. An organization that tolerates these habits creates an environment of mistrust and reduces workers' engagement. For instance, aggressiveness among employees may hinder teamwork and reduce interpersonal relationships leading to demotivation job turnovers, brutality, and hostility (D'Cruz et al., 2018). Leaders can eliminate antisocial behaviors by enacting organizational policies that focus on eradication of inappropriate social habits. For instance, anti-drug policies to curb smoking and alcoholism at the workplace should be introduced (Thomas et al., 2016). Punishment for those who break the regulations should be severe, while training can influence employees with proper social habits.

Toxic Mentoring

Mentors have the ability to influence good or bad behavior among their students. Toxic mentorship is characterized by a mentor-mentee relationship that creates dependency, suppresses learning, and leads to reduced self-confidence among learners. Such relationships adversely affect learners and may result in high turnover, sabotage, depression, fear and insecurity, employee bullying, and lower job satisfaction (D'Cruz et al., 2018). Leaders can adopt a co-mentoring approach to enhance diversity in the process, allow feedback from learners, or evaluate the performance of mentors directly. Allowing feedback from mentees permits the management to identify if the mentorship program is progressing as planned or whether it needs reorganization (Hadadian & Zarei, 2016).

Inconsistency and Dishonesty

Inconsistency and dishonesty can lead to business malpractice and inefficiency due to inaccurate collection of facts and organizational data. Inconsistency can be identified via inaccurate financial reports, inventories, or billing systems as rogue employees try to mask fraudulent behavior (D'Cruz et al., 2018). Dishonesty often results in loss of revenue and poor public relationship, which threaten an organization's sustainability. Leaders can create accountability systems such as checks and balances system to ensure that its financial books are recorded accurately. Regular checks can be conducted on all company financial and asset entries to minimize theft and misappropriation of funds (D'Cruz et al., 2018).

The Imbalance Between Work and Personal Life

The imbalance between work and personal life is a critical element affecting most workers today. In this case, workers are unable to plan their time to accommodate both personal and work responsibilities, especially among women with young families (Hadadian & Zarei, 2016). Most professions are demanding creating the situation, which reduces job satisfaction, decreases productivity, and increase absenteeism. As a result, some workers quit their jobs to attend to their family needs. Leaders should develop appropriate schedules that ensure that all employees have enough time to cater to their personal needs (D'Cruz et al., 2018). They should also encourage paid holidays and off-days to enhance a healthy working environment.

Advocacy Gone Awry

In most cases, nurses may fail in their advocacy work leading to malpractices in the provision of primary care. In situations where hospitals jeopardize health care services through underfunding, some medical practitioners fail to speak u or advise the management concerning patient safety and wellbeing (D'Cruz et al., 2018). As a result, provision of poor healthcare services becomes adamant leading to increased morbidity and mortality rates. Leaders can create a culture that enhances advocacy and positive criticism introducing seminars, workshops, and employee training (Hadadian & Zarei, 2016). Nurses and doctors should be educated on the importance of advocacy in safeguarding patient's wellbeing.

Conclusion

Overall, poor leadership contributes to organizational toxicity, which has net adverse effects on employees. Toxicity leads to demotivation, increased turnover rate, mistrust, decreased performance, and mistrust among employees, which injure organizational productivity. Proper training, communication structures, policies, and good leadership can eliminate toxicity. It is incumbent on leaders to promote an active culture that supports organizational goals.

References

Braithwaite, J., Herkes, J., Ludlow, K., Testa, L., & Lamprell, G. (2017). Association between organisational and workplace cultures, and patient outcomes: systematic review. BMJ Open, 7(11), e017708. DOI:10.1136/bmjopen-2017-017708

D'Cruz, P., Noronha, E., & Lutgen-Sandvik, P. (2018). Power, subjectivity and context in workplace bullying, emotional abuse and harassment: Insights from postpositivism. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, 13(1), 2-9.

de Zulueta P. C. (2015). Developing compassionate leadership in health care: an integrative review. Journal of healthcare leadership, 8, 1-10. DOI:10.2147/JHL.S93724

Hadadian, Z., & Zarei, J. (2016). Relationship between toxic leadership and job stress of knowledge workers. Studies in Business and Economics, 11(3), 84-89. DOI 10.1515/sbe-2016-0037

Thomas, T. A., Gentzler, K., & Salvatorelli, R. (2016). What Is Toxic Followership? Journal of Leadership Studies, 10(3), 62-65. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1002/jls.21496