Employee Empowerment and Psychological Safety Essay Paper

Interview on Employee Empowerment and Psychological Safety

Employees in any workplace setting require a place that is welcoming and that is not stressful to work in. This is what is meant by a workplace that has psychological safety. It is a place in which the employee feels wanted, appreciated, and respected. The psychologically safe workplace has leadership that treasures the contributions of the employees and values their input in decision making (Cheng et al., 2016). The employee generally feels safe and protected at a workplace that has psychological safety. This is in stark contrast to a workplace in which the employee is always apprehensive and afraid of retribution and punishment. Such a workplace defined by fear and victimization does not have psychological safety and is therefore very dangerous for the mental health of employees. Levels of stress hormones in such employees remain high throughout their work shift and this affects also their physical health. They may develop hypertension and even heart disease if they stay at such a workplace longer than necessary. It has been found that the best style of leadership in healthcare that guarantees psychological safety and employee empowerment at the workplace is transformational leadership style (Asiri et al., 2016; Choi et al., 2016). Transformational leaders empower, uplift, encourage, honor, facilitate, respect, support, and value their employees and subordinates. The purpose of this paper is to summarize and compare the findings of three interviews with persons working indifferent settings with regard to employee empowerment, engagement, and psychological safety.  Employee Empowerment and Psychological Safety Essay Paper

The Three Employees Interviewed, Their Industries, and Job Titles

The three employees interviewed work respectively as a registered nurse (RN) in a tertiary hospital, a school bus driver in a public school, and a cashier at a convenience store. The nurse is a baccalaureate nurse who has worked for three years at the hospital and is currently pursuing her postgraduate studies with a view to becoming an advanced practice nurse or APN. She states that she is thinking about moving to a better hospital in terms of leadership and remuneration. What bothers her most is that her current nurse manager is vindictive and always looks to spot mistakes and punish the employees under her. She admits that her workplace is stressful and that she is always apprehensive whenever she is going to work as she does not know what awaits her each time.

The school bus driver has been at his job for the past ten years in the same school and says that he expects to retire at the same place due to the welcoming and conducive work environment. He says that he is very happy at his workplace and that the management considers him as part of the school community. Moreover, he says that the pupils have become his friends over the years and that they consider him as a father figure and this gives him a lot of job satisfaction.

The cashier’s story however resembles that of the RN. She says that her workplace is very stressful with perennial victimization and lack of consideration at all. Her immediate supervisors are only concerned with the profits that the store should make. No one seems to even consider that she is also a human being that requires rest and proper treatment. In her own words the employer sees her and her fellow employees as “robots that do not have feelings” at all. Asked about what she thinks about the psychological safety of her workplace, she says that it is the worst of all. She has been working at the store for the past eight months but she says that she would not think twice to change her employment address if she finds a better opportunity. Employee Empowerment and Psychological Safety Essay Paper

Working Definitions

Employee Empowerment

My working definition of “employee empowerment” is that it is the deliberate decision by the leadership to allow employees to make independent decisions without fear of victimization or retribution as they conduct their day-to-day work. Empowerment means that the leader believes in the abilities of the employee and that they trust and respect them to deliver on the organization’s strategic objectives. As has been mentioned in the introduction above, this kind of leadership is offered by transformational leadership style.

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Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is close in meaning to empowerment. As a matter of fact, employee engagement is part and parcel of empowerment. My working definition of the same is that it is the deliberate decision to take into consideration the input and contributions of the staff at times of decision making. Engaging the employees means allowing them to give their opinions and implementing them together with your own (Choi et al., 2016).

Summary of Interviewees’ Characterization of Empowerment and Engagement

The RN’s characterization is that of non-existent empowerment and engagement at her workplace. She does not feel valued or even respected to begin with. No one seems to care about what she feels or thinks about the work and the workplace. The school bus driver’s characterization is different from that of the RN. In his case, he feels empowered and valued at his workplace. His contribution is respected and he holds a revered place in the eyes of the employer and the students. Lastly, the cashier’s characterization rhymes with that of the RN. Hers is a lack of appreciation and empowerment. In her own words, she feels “like a slave” and is only motivated to go to work because she needs the money to pay her bills.

Comparison of Employee Empowerment and Engagement in Healthcare and Other Industries

Employee empowerment and engagement within the healthcare industry has more serious repercussions as compared to other industries. This is because when there is no psychological safety at the healthcare workplace, the stressed nurse is bound to cause serious errors that place the patient’s health and life at risk. Disabilities and even deaths have been known to occur as a result of errors committed by nurses who are not empowered or engaged at their workplace. In other industries, lack of empowerment or engagement does not have such a serious and potentially harmful outcome as that in healthcare.

Working Definition of Psychological Safety

My working definition of “psychological safety” is the feeling in the situation in which an employee perceives that they are welcome and needed at their workplace. Because of this, they are at peace with themselves and their leaders and are not afraid to share their thoughts and opinions about how the work should be done. Psychological safety is brought about by empowerment and engagement of the employee as well as free two-way communication devoid of intimidation.

Summary of Interviewees’ Perceptions and Comparison

The RN characterized the absence of psychological safety at her workplace as the cause of her job dissatisfaction. The school bus driver characterized the presence of psychological safety at his workplace as the motivation behind his zeal for his work and vocational satisfaction. Lastly, the cashier characterized the absence of psychological safety at her workplace as the reason for her perpetual stress and unhappiness at work.

Psychological safety within healthcare compares with other industries in that it has more immediate and serious consequences than for the other industries. Patients’ lives are involved and this is where the difference exists.

Quality and Safety Issues in Healthcare with Regard to Empowerment, Engagement, and Psychological Safety

In healthcare, when there is a high the degree of psychological safety there is a higher the level of patient safety and care quality at the workplace (O’Donovan et al., 2019). This is the same case with employee empowerment and engagement. In other words, patient outcomes are much better when these three factors are present.

Two Leadership Strategies

As a nurse executive, the two leadership strategies that I would recommend to spearhead employee empowerment, engagement and psychological safety are the practice of transformational leadership style and effective communication (Lee et al., 2018; Northouse, 2019). These two are tried and tested as the only strategies that will guarantee employees the three parameters under consideration.

Conclusion

Psychological safety, employee empowerment, and employee engagement are three factors that must be present in any healthcare setting for patient outcomes to be good. This is because they have a direct bearing on the performance of nurses and other healthcare staff whose mental health is directly linked to their performance and patient outcomes. The same pertains to other industries, only that the consequences are not as immediate and dire as in healthcare because they do not deal with human life.

References

Asiri, S.A., Rohrer, W.W., Al-Surimi, K., Da’ar, O.O., & Ahmed, A. (2016). The association of leadership styles and empowerment with nurses’ organizational commitment in an acute health care setting: A cross-sectional study. BMC Nursing, 15(38), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-016-0161-7

Cheng, C., Bartram, T., Karimi, L., & Leggat, S. (2016). Transformational leadership and social identity as predictors of team climate, perceived quality of care, burnout and turnover intention among nurses. Personnel Review, 45(6), 1200–1216. https://doi.org,10.1108/pr-05-2015-0118

Choi, S.L., Goh, C.F., Adam, M.B.H., & Tan, O.K. (2016). Transformational leadership, empowerment, and job satisfaction: The mediating role of employee empowerment. Human Resources for Health, 14(1), 73. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-016-0171-2

Lee, A., Willis, S., & Tian, A.W. (2018). When empowering employees works, and when it doesn’t. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2018/03/when-empowering-employees-works-and-when-it-doesnt

Northouse, P.G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and practice, 8^th ed. Sage Publications, Inc.

O’Donovan, R., Ward, M., De Brún, A., & McAuliffe, E. (2019). Safety culture in health care teams: A narrative review of the literature. Journal of Nursing Management, 27(5), 871–883. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jonm.12740

Employee Empowerment and Psychological Safety Essay Paper