Team Building and Nursing Management

Introduction

In every organization or  a group of  people  who  interact,  there must  be  an established  means  of  how  they  do communicate and  interact  so that each individual can execute his  or  her  duties  diligently  and  hence  facilitate  improvement of  the  group  or organizational  performance. This  is  again  emphasized  in places where  there   is  a  group of  professionals who  either  interact  with  clients  or other  professionals. It  has  been  established  that managers  should  have  good  quality  of  a  leader( Hughes, Ginnett & Curphy,  2009).  A  leader  as  it is known should  be  in  a position  to  make  or  rather  influence people  that  he  she  leads to  achieve  established  objectives willingly .This  means  that, a good leader  or  rather  an effective leader  should not  force people  whom he  or she  lead  to do things. To be in  a  position to achieve  this,  team  building  skills  do play  a very  important  part in  the  success  of every  profession. This  essay   therefore  primarily  aims  at  discussing  the  concepts  of  team building  in a nursing profession.

Team  building  involves  having  goals which  are  shared  among  all  the  members  of  the  team. It  is  therefore  argued  that  the  process  of  building  a  team  can  be  fruitful  if  it is  based  on the  already established  goals. The initial step  is  to check  or  rather  ensure  that there  is  ownership  of those  common  goals  and  then  checking  the  if there is  progress  of  all the  other  forms   of  team  building. It  is  important   to note   that,  team  building   calls   for  a  variety  of  activities  presented  to a  firm   or  an  organization for the purpose  of   improving   the  performance  of  the  teams  in question.  A  number  of  activities  can  be  applied  or  used  in  team  building  ranging  from  simple bonding  to a number of  days building  retreats. This  is critical  in an  environment  that  requires  effective  communication ,   proper problem  solving  skills and  also ability   to  work  closely as a group.

Discussion

In  the  recent  past,   provision  of  nursing  care services  has been  seen  to  become  complicated   due  to  the   increasing  growth  of  the  systems  based  on the  health  care .This has called   for  the   use  of  teams  in  provision of  health  care. Nursing   profession calls  for  a good relationship  between  the  nurse  and  the  patients  and to  ensure that  there  is  smooth  running  of  activities ,  it is  important   to embrace   team  building  concepts. 

To  establish  a  team  building   in  nursing,  a  process  is  required as  well  as  the  techniques suitable  to implement  such  activities( Hughes, Ginnett & Curphy,  2009) . A variety of   team  building  approaches  has  been  used  to  mitigate  negative  typecasts among  teams  as well  as  to  increase functionality  of  the  intergroup ,  communication as well as collaboration.  The   main  objective   of   team  building  in  nursing  is primarily  increasing  nursing  environment  effectiveness  as well as  the  team  collaboration.

Team building in nursing has been identified as a key tool in conflict resolution. Conflict  can  occur  at  any  one time  between  two  people  or  rather  two  groups. As  far  as   nursing  is  concerned,  this  can  involve  conflict  between  the  nurses and  the  patients. To  prevent  such  issues ,  team  building can  be  used  to promote  effective  communication  between  the   nurses  and  the  patients. This  eventually  leads  to  the  parties  involved   being  in a position  to  control  their  behavior  and  hence  avoid  conflicts. This  shows  that  if  team  building  concepts  are  used  effectively  in  nursing,  conflict  resolution  and  proper communication can  reduce the  risk of  conflict. 

In  nursing  management,  the  relationship  between  the  patient  and  the nurse  is  quite  critical. Existence  of  good  relationship  between  the  two  parties  is  the  basis  of  success  in  nursing  care. This  again  can  be  enhanced  by  use  of  team  building  concepts  in  ensuring  that there is  well being of  both  parties. The  impediments  which  can  be  caused  by  absence   of  good  relationship between the  nurses  and  the  patients  can  be  solved  by  making  sure   that  individuals  with  diverse  background  work  closely  as well as  organizing  hikes to  facilitate  their socialization.

Teambuilding  activities   has  been  proved   to be  effective in  situations  whereby the  nurses   are  involved   in  multi-disciplinary  activities (Gold, 2002).This  is  the  case  now  a  days  whereby  healthcare   institutions  are rapidly changing  the  manner  in  which  nurses   operate with the  overall  aim  of  the  improving  the  superiority  of  services  given. Such  moves  have  been  seen  to force  withdrawal  of  traditional structures  which  were  hierarchical  to those based   on  team building  environment. This  has  resulted   in  finding  nurses  in  novel  and  diverse  roles as opposed  to how  they  used  to  remain in  single  or rather  nursing  units. This therefore  calls  for  teambuilding  concepts   to  be  emphasized  in nursing  to facilitate improved  performance  in the multi-disciplinary  environment.

It  is  worth mentioning that,  nurses  are  considered  as   having  hard time  while  dealing  with  confrontation  and  therefore  distance  themselves  from  harboring  emotions  and  conflicts   that  are  created  by  argument. This  therefore  calls  for  nurses  to  be  equipped  with  team  building  skills  within  their  groups  so  that  they  can  deliver  services  that  are  of  quality  as  demanded   by  their  organizational  structure. Another   important point to put across is that in nursing environment, more  superior  or  rather  solid  decisions  are  made  in  team  building  managed  environment  as compared  to  those  made  in traditional hierarchical  environments in  as   far  as both  cost effectiveness and  quality  is concerned. It is  therefore  critical for  nurses to  be  equipped  with  socialization  as  well as conflict  resolution  skills  which  are  based   on  team  building  concepts .

Having  team  building  skills  is a  key  ingredient  in  management  of  nursing  as it is  an  opening  for  growth  as  well  as  change  in  job  environment with  enormous  possibility  for  a  positive  ending. At  a  personal  level,  teambuilding  in  as  far  as  nursing  is  concerned  is  a  critical  achievement (Svyantek et al, 1999). At organizational   level, it is critical for the success of the entire organization. Successful  team  building  skills  results   in   effectiveness ,  openness  and  trust between  the  nurses  and  the  patients  and  the  success  of   nurses   offering  services  in  healthcare  environment  is  facilitated .

Research  is  also conclusive  that  conflict  resolution  styles  brought  about  by  team  building  skills are  strong  interpreter  of  morale level  as  well as job satisfaction  in  nursing  work environment. The use of  avoidance  and  confrontation  styles  can  lead   to  pessimistic  results  in nursing  profession.

Other  than  conflict or  problem  solving  and  communication enhancement,  there  are  several  other  reasons  for  team  building  which can  be  used  in  nursing  to improve   the  overall  performance  of   healthcare  institution. Among them  is  trust  exercise which  leads  the  parties  involved  in trusting  each  other  and   planning   exercise  which allows  or  rather  enables  the  teams  involved  to be  flexible  and  can  therefore  accomplish  duties  assigned  in surprise. These can play a critical part in enhancing performance in nursing profession.