Discussion - Communication, Building, and Managing Teams

Discussion board on  Communication, Building, and Managing Teams (Nursing Leadership)
Discussion Team Building

You are the evening charge nurse of a medical unit. The staff on your unit has voiced displeasure in how requests for days off are handled. Your manager has given you the task of forming a committee and reviewing the present policy regarding requests for days off on the unit. On your committee are four licensed practical nurses (LPNs), three certified nursing assistants, and five registered nurses (RNs). All shifts are represented. There are three men among the group members, and there is a broad range of ethnic and cultural groups.

Tomorrow will be your fourth meeting, and you are becoming a bit frustrated because the meetings do not seem to be accomplishing much to reach the objective that the group was charged with; developing a fair method of handling special requested days off that are not part of the normal rotation.

On your first meeting, you spent time getting to know group members and identified the objective. Various committee members contacted other hospitals, and others did a literature search to determine how other institutions handled this matter. During the second meeting, this material was reviewed by all members. At the last meeting, the group was very contentious. In fact, several raised their voices. Others sat quietly, and some seemed to pout. Only the three men could agree on anything. One LPN thought that the RNs were overly represented. One RN thought that the policy for day-off requests should be separated into three different policies—one for each classification.

You are not sure how to bring this team together or what, if any, action you should take.

Assignment:

Review chapter 19 about how groups work.

Write a page essay on what is happening in the group and answer the following questions.

Should you add members to the committee?

Does your group have too many task members and not enough team-building members?

What could be some strategies you could use that would perhaps bring the team together?

Use at least two sources from the literature to support your answer.