GCU Power in Organizations and Collective Bargaining Essay
Healthcare leadership provides an interactive process that empowers and motivates healthcare providers to navigate healthcare complexities and challenges. Clinical leadership focuses on the clinical healthcare teams and the patients and bridges the gap between the care organizations and external bodies influencing care operationalizations and employee farewells, such as union, legislative, and regulatory bodies. Nurses being components of mainstream care, are equally impacted by these external forces. It is thus imperative for them to have the prerequisite leadership skills to enable them to navigate through any apparent complexities and to guide their interactive processes. This paper reflects my work experience as a registered nurse with experience in multiple hospitals, emphasizing my involvement in union organizations, the collective bargaining process, and experience with shared governance.
Involvement In Union Organizing
Union organizing details the deliberate organization of organizational employees into a labour union. These unions, in this regard, act as an intermediary body between the management and the employees. These unions play a fundamental role in promoting the employees’ welfare and bridging interactive processes between them and the management. Working as a registered nurse in a start-up healthcare organization, I was involved in the unionization of the hospital. I worked with the founding committee that outlined the union functionalities and organized an election for union elections. This experience gave me insights into how unionization works and the operational framework behind these unions.
Collective Bargaining
Collective bargaining describes a process in which organizational employees negotiate contracts and other working terms with their employers through their unions. It represents a structured framework of negotiations in which employees can directly engage their employers and organizational managers to front their grievances and negotiate for better working terms. A typical collective bargaining process often follows a stepwise approach that starts with preparations by the union members or union representatives. This is followed by a series of negotiations that are targeted at ratifying the existing contract and resolving the ongoing dispute between the employees and the employers. A successful bargain is evident in the ratification of the existent contract and systematic alterations in organizational operationalization that result in conflict resolution.
Collective bargaining confers considerable benefits to healthcare organizations. Vainieri et al. (2019) demonstrate the impact of collective bargaining in healthcare. For instance, collective bargaining provides a groundwork for contract ratification and organizational changes targeted at increasing job satisfaction and employee performance. Also, through the bargaining process, healthcare employees are accorded a greater share of reproductivity concerning benefits, remuneration, and positive adjustment in their working terms. Unions, being an umbrella body for employees, play a role in channelling their grievances to the employers. The significance of collective bargaining in advocating the welfare of all workers makes it valuable for all healthcare workers. Understanding the significance of actively participating in union activities and its fundamental role in advocating for better clinical environments may implore nurses and other caregivers to play an active role in union operations.
Experience With The Union
My experience with the union highlighted the significance of collective bargaining in enhancing job satisfaction and overall productivity. Working as a nurse in a state hospital, the healthcare workers union in that respective hospital was at the forefront in advocating for the employees’ welfare and better working conditions. Through the collective bargaining process, the union oversaw the rescheduling of nurses’ shifts, increments in benefits, and establishment of a nursing fund that was aimed at addressing nursing resource challenges. The overall impact was felt by individual healthcare providers who felt more empowered and motivated to work with the consequential increases in productivity.
Experience With Union Shops
Union shops remain another aspect of an organization’s labour that is equally important to healthcare providers. Union shops are an organizational arrangement that requires all employees to join a particular union and subscribe to its framework of operationalization. Usually, unions require their members to pay dues periodically. While some care organizations opt for union shops as an abiding arrangement with their employees and potential employees, others prefer closed-shop agreements where the employees recruited must be long-standing members of a healthcare union. Such was the case in a healthcare organization I worked with previously. Being a member of a known healthcare union was a requirement for the nursing posts advertised by the organization. The challenge with union shop agreements in healthcare is the diversification of healthcare practices across states and the fact that it is difficult for one union to exclusively bargain for the welfare of all workers across states. The closed-shop agreement in union shops, where union membership is a requirement for employment, is discouraged by the right-to-work law. This law can be passed by various states and is in alignment with the Labor Management Relations Act, also known as the Taft-Hartley Act, which outlaws the closed shop agreement.
Working In A Magnet-Recognized Healthcare Facility
The magnet recognition program is an honour prescribed by the American Nurses Credentialing Center to recognize and acknowledge nursing excellence in healthcare organizations and individual nurses. This honorary badge proves commitment to nursing excellence and alignment with the strategic nursing goals. Common indices evaluated before coronation with this honorary badge include quality nursing care for the patients, nursing innovations, nursing excellence in patient care, and others (Lasater et al., 2019). I currently work in a magnet-recognized healthcare facility. The hospital recently underwent a rigorous evaluation process that culminated in being given the gold standard label for its exceptional nursing care. Significant during the evaluation process was employee engagement and participation, an application for accreditation, and an on-site physical visitation to assess the hospital. Magnet recognition inspires confidence in the patients and the caregivers regarding the quality of healthcare services provided in the hospital. Indeed after the magnet recognition, the hospital saw an increment in the number of first-time visits and, consequently, higher financial returns.
Experience With Shared Governance
Shared governance is integral to the magnet culture defined by the American Nurses Credentialing Centers. Shared governance defines a professional practice model that fosters shared decision-making between nurse leadership and bedside nursing. This model makes nurses in various care areas maintain accountability in patient handling and policies and processes at the point of care. Nursing areas that benefit from shared governance include nursing research, resource allocation, staffing, and procurement of nursing equipment. Shared governance allows better clinical outcomes and nurse satisfaction as it fosters positive engagements within the healthcare teams and nurtures inclusivity and positivity in care provision (Kroning & Hopkins, 2019). The healthcare organization where I work currently has a culture of shared governance within its care framework. This might have informed its magnet recognition.
Conclusion
Effective healthcare leadership remains fundamental in tackling complexities and challenges present in the healthcare sector. Organizational labour frameworks and attributes such as unionization, collective bargaining, and union shops remain key determining factors in the success of healthcare organizations. Understanding these provisions may enhance healthcare providers’ engagement in union activities and provide them with a platform for advancing their grievances. Magnet recognition and shared governance are healthcare features indicative of healthcare excellence. Healthcare organizations strive to attain this recognition by encouraging employees’ participation and accountability in their respective roles.
References
Kroning, M., & Hopkins, K. (2019). Healthcare organizations thrive with shared governance. Nursing Management, 50(5), 13–15. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.numa.0000557781.40049.2d
Lasater, K. B., Richards, M. R., Dandapani, N. B., Burns, L. R., & McHugh, M. D. (2019). Magnet Hospital Recognition in hospital systems over time. Health Care Management Review, 44(1), 19–29. https://doi.org/10.1097/hmr.0000000000000167
Vainieri, M., Smaldone, P., Rosa, A., & Carroll, K. (2019). The role of collective labour contracts and individual characteristics on job satisfaction in Tuscan nursing homes. Health Care Management Review, 44(3), 224–234. https://doi.org/10.1097/hmr.0000000000000177
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Question 
Have you ever been involved in union organizing, collective bargaining, or worked in a union shop? If so, share your experience. If not, locate a scholarly journal article that describes collective bargaining and describe how it works within an organization.
GCU Power in Organizations and Collective Bargaining Essay
Have you ever worked in a healthcare facility that had Magnet accreditation, or had experience with shared governance? If so, share your experience. If not, locate a scholarly journal article that describes shared governance and explain how it could be implemented in your current facility.
APA
1000-1250 Words
At least two (2) scholarly sources should be utilized in this assignment.