Category: Post 7.1 (page 1 of 1)

Original post can be found here: https://create.twu.ca/robtegelberg/2018/11/12/post-7-1-conflict-and-cooperation/

Thank you, Rob, for your post. To be frank, I am envious of your workplace! You say “the joy of the Lord is present in the staff, even when disagreements arise.” (Tegelberg, 2018, para. 1) There are days I have trouble finding any joy in our organization, let alone the joy of the Lord! I am also happy to hear the school’s culture to allow staff to grumble and have a sympathetic ear (Tegelberg, 2018, para. 2)
You have also shared the secret of this harmony – being disciples of Christ who love one another (Tegelberg, 2018, para. 3; John 13:35).

I would like to answer your discussion questions below.

1. Have you ever begun a conflict resolution meeting with prayer? Do you feel that it makes a noticeable difference to the tone of the meeting?

My current workplace, being secular, does not currently use prayer as part of a conflict resolution meeting. I sometimes pray silently before entering into a meeting. I find my results mixed. Upon self-reflection, I do note a difference between prayer for the sake of habit versus prayer as a request for God’s guidance, wisdom, and love. Toussaint, Kamble, Marschall, & Duggi (2015) note a “statistically significant” decrease in thoughts of retaliation after participants prayed for others. Prayer may modify the motives of participants, helping them to seek and provide forgiveness as well as cooperation. I forget to follow the command of “praying without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and have to deal with potentially avoidable escalations.

In situations where public prayer is used prior to conflict resolution meetings (i.e. church business meetings), results have also been mixed for me. At times, personal passions override the goal of reconciliation, especially if certain actions have caused deep pain. I feel conflict resolution in this case may need long sessions of prayer and fasting, as well as multiple meetings to completely resolve these issues.

2. I have worked at many schools that struggle with an attitude of gossip and grumbling? What actions or traits do you think prevent that attitude from arising at my current school? Are there any tangible tools one could take from this example into another situation to dissolve an existing negative school culture or environment?

You have stated the traits of love, service, and support as underlying desires that prevent gossip and grumbling. Stragetic leadership, as defined by Hughes, Beatty, & Dinwoodie (2014, p. 11) is the creation of direction, alignment, and commitment needed to achieve enduring performance. Having the abovementioned traits as organizational values forms the foundation of DAC within the school. Many organizations would benefit from creating and maintaining this culture. The most tangible “tool” to take from your school is the worldview of treating everyone, including frontline staff, as God’s children. Lepsinger (p. 62) says we should assume value and listen for the positives with supposed low-performing employees. How much more value should we have when we see each person as one God loves so much to die for us!

3. Should a situation arise in the future where a staff member were to take advantage of the current school environment that I work in, what strategies would you employ in creating an attitude of collaboration? For a hypothetical example: a new staff member joins the team. They bring with them an attitude of negativity, a desire to only do required tasks, and teach the curriculum that they want to teach. How would you bring them into the collective vision.

I believe the school culture addresses many of the concerns noted with a potentially problematic staff member. The staff member would need to fit himself or herself within the current culture of love, service, and support. He or she would need to follow the current DAC set by current leadership. He or she would also have to determine if personal culture and organizational culture would be a good match; otherwise, he or she would feel increasingly isolated, not because other staff would actively shun that person, but because his or her behavior would be incongruent with organizational culture. The culture clash may reach a point where a staff member would voluntarily leave to avoid the discomfort of values dissonance, or would work with leadership to seek employment elsewhere.

References:

Hughes, R. L., Beatty, K. C., & Dinwoodie, D. L. (2014). Becoming a strategic leader: Your role in your organization’s enduring success. San Francisco, Calif: Jossey-Bass.

Lepsinger, R. (2010). Closing the execution gap: How great leaders and their companies get results. Jossey Bass.

Tegelberg, R. Conflict and Cooperation. Retrived November 15th, 2018, from https://create.twu.ca/robtegelberg/2018/11/12/post-7-1-conflict-and-cooperation/

Toussaint, L., Kamble, S., Marschall, J. C., & Duggi, D. B. (2015). The effects of brief prayer on the experience of forgiveness: An American and Indian comparison. International Journal of Psychology, 51(4), 288–295. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12139

Original post can be found here: https://create.twu.ca/ldrs501/2018/11/12/working-of-a-nonprofit-organization/

Thank you, Avisha, for your post. I believe this is the first time I am responding to one of your posts.

Can I ask for clarity regarding your briefing periods and check-in processes? Am I correct in assuming front-line employees have time for an individual half-hour check-in with leadership, as well as briefing meetings three times a week? If so, kudos to your organization for making a large time commitment for meetings. Do you believe having these many meetings helps with clarity and morale?

My organization would have difficulty with the number of meetings, not to mention the amount of time used. Is face-to-face interaction required, or are there alternate methods of communication such as email or other technological solutions? Although you quote Hughes, Beatty, & Dinwoodie (2014, p.158) regarding the importance of the one-on-one relationship, this relationship does not always need to be face-to-face.  A quick phone call or email update may suffice depending on the leader-employee relationship.

I, too, am surprised about the idea of competition within a non-profit organization. Lepsinger (2010, p. 160) says cooperation and coordination are critical to execution. What contributes to the spirit of competition? You mentioned a performance-based measurement for job appraisal and the performance improvement plan. Conversely, is there a bonus of some sort for greatly exceeding targets? If so, is this advertised in the employee value proposition? If not, what other factors contribute to competition within the workplace?

I look forward to your response. Thank you.

References:

Hughes, R. L., Beatty, K., & Dinwoodie, D. L. (2014). Becoming a strategic leader: Your role in your organization’s enduring success.  San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Lepsinger, R. (2010). Closing the execution gap: How great leaders and their companies get results. Jossey Bass.

Jessica’s post can be found here: https://create.twu.ca/jessicalaugsawatzky/2018/11/12/hc-1-leader-post-7-1/

Thank you, Jessica, for your post. I have been away from the Fraser Health Authority region for just under a year, but still maintain a working relationship with some of the project leads. I can relate to your story of conflict and interdepartmental communication.

I am not sure if you have heard of CommuniCARE. According to Findlay & Merkel (2014), CommuniCARE is a process to identify patients in acute care who live in Residential Care and Assisted Living sites. The intent of CommuniCARE was to “standardize written and verbal communication tools and processes” (Findlay & Merkel, 2014). Examples include standardized sheets for transfers to and from the hospital, pink wristbands to identify residential care patients, and daily calls from the residential care nurse to the acute care nurse for updates and discharge planning. These processes were supposed to solve the complaints from residential care nurses of a lack of communication from the acute care department, as well as helping acute care nurses understand the needs of residential care to facilitate a smooth transfer back to residential care.

Unfortunately, CommuniCARE worked poorly during my time within the Fraser Health region. I worked in an affiliated residential care home and received multiple complaints from my nurses about the worsening lack of communication from acute care, mainly due to acute care nurses saying “I’m busy, I can’t talk to you right now” during the daily calls. Similarly, discussions from acute care members gave the impression of CommuniCARE being merely a “make work” project.

I discuss this example because acute care, residential care, and home support are three parts of the same organization, with the same mission, vision, and values, but with wildly different foci. I agree with Warkentin (2018) when he cites Lepsinger (2010) regarding the need for collective objectives. In the case of Fraser Health, the collective objectives should align with its purpose, stated as “to improve the health of the population and the quality of life of the people we serve” (Fraser Health Authority, n.d.)  One way of thinking about collective objectives is to adopt a mindset of the continuum of care model, defined as “a system that guides and tracks patients over time through a comprehensive array of health services spanning all levels and intensity of care.” (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, 2014) This system may cover care from birth through end of life. Fraser Health is in a great position to cover an individual through all life stages.

You stated the importance of playing to individual strengths. This is a great idea, and I believe it could be extended further to holding each department accountable for their strengths. If acute care, residential care, and home support understood each other’s roles, scope, and capabilities, this shared understanding may lead to greater cooperation as everyone could hold each other accoutnable for their part in client / patient / resident care.

You also state the importance of education for all staff to address conflict resolution. This is a great idea. Part of conflict resolution includes the alignment of interests and the establishment of common ground (Lepsinger, 2010, p. 170). In the CommuniCARE example above, nurses from acute care and residential care failed to understand the benefit of effective communication for the coordination of a resident’s care, thus resulting in conflict. I suggest future education be held with a mix of acute care and residential care employees in attendance, with mixed groups working together throughout the day to understand each other’s roles and challenges. In the case of your home support example, I recommend a 10-minute workplace huddle with “respectful workplace” as one of the standing agenda items. These huddles could address minor conflicts before they balloon into massive blowups.

I’m looking forward to your response. Thank you.

References:

Findlay, E. & Merkel, M. (2014). CommuniCARE improving patient information sharing and discharge planning [Powerpoint]. Retrieved November 13th, 2018 from https://www.slideshare.net/bcpsqc/communicare

Fraser Health Authority (n.d.). About Fraser Health. Retrieved November 13th, 2018 from https://www.fraserhealth.ca/about-us/about-fraser-health#.W-vJf5NKiUk

Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (2014). Definition: Continuum of Care. Retrieved November 13th, 2018 from https://www.himss.org/file/1307141/download?token=ny_X7URU

Lepsinger, R. (2010). Closing the execution gap: How great leaders and their companies get results. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Warkentin, M. (2018). Discipline that Restores – Thought on HC 1 Leader´s Post 7.1. Retrieved November 13th, 2018 from https://create.twu.ca/marcelowarkentin/2018/11/13/discipline-that-restores-thought-on-hc-1-leaders-post-7-1/