Employers assume that their graduate employees will have attained certain attributes that contribute to citizenship within the workplace. The Charles Darwin University graduate attributes identify social responsibility, communication, and teamwork as the skills that make up ‘workplace citizenship’.
 
Discuss whether social responsibility, communication, and teamwork are important skills in your current or future workplace. You should discuss why they are important or not and as part of your evidence, give examples of how they are used.
 
The two questions for this week’s Learning Reflection below will help you to start thinking about workplace citizenship skills and values in preparation for responding to the essay question.
 
QUESTIONS
 
PART A – In one paragraph, reflect on the essential components of citizenship in your current or future workplace.
 
PART B – In one paragraph, drawing on the reflection you have provided in Part A, give some specific examples of citizenship skills and values in action in your current or future workplace.
 
THESE ARE SOME PEOPLES ANWERS
 
Collapse Commentsfor Learning Reflection 3 Comments: 9 New Add Comment
 
Access the profile card for user: KATIE-JANE JOANNOU KATIE-JANE JOANNOU said…
 
Monday, 23 March 2015 5:57:14 PM CST
 
Being equitable, empathic and inclusive are important social responsibility behaviours to enact as an Arts Administrator and will ensure I plan, communicate and work as a good workplace citizen. By engendering these qualities I will have much more success in working across different teams such as with artists, management, other administrators, Minister’s staff and the public. For example, if I’m a socially responsible workplace citizen working with a Filipino artist I will engage in appropriate and professional communication which considers their background and understanding of organisational norms. This models how the organisation wishes to communicate to the Artist and across the workplace. Care and justice, as a result of empathic emotional regulation, are proven to increase and maintain organisational output as well as personal workplace satisfaction and wellbeing. By choosing to use these behaviours at work I can be reasonably sure that I understand the needs of the organisation and my colleagues and how I can personally contribute to maintaining or improving them where necessary.
 
If I wasn’t a socially responsible workplace citizen I might ignore the fact that the Filipino artist has a background different to mine and choose not to engage communication skills which take into account that English is their second language. I may choose not to use professional and inclusive language or even treat them less professionally. It seems obvious, but by reading the supporting material on this topic I can see how citizenship behaviours modelled to me as a child have really impacted positively on how I respond as an adult. This topic has also shown me that it is important to take time to consider what good citizenship is and how it can help me become more employable and more valued employee.
Access the profile card for user: RENEE LOUISE SALTER RENEE LOUISE SALTER said…
 
Tuesday, 24 March 2015 6:24:39 PM CST
 
Within the nursing sector, on a day to day basis I am faced with different personalities, cultures and belief systems. It is important to understand that not everyone is the same or look at things similar to myself. Even though I may not have 100% knowledge of this, with good communication skills, eg. ensuring I understand the direction I was given, use positive body language and showing empathy when required, I can work in an environment where everyone feels valued and know that they, along with myself, are an important member of the team. My NUM is Zimbabwean and at times difficult to understand. She is a very patient woman and does not get offended if asked to repeat something. There are also times when she asks staff to repeat something if she has not understood.
 
Many errors can occur in a hospital if a direction is not understood, such as, medication orders. If my NUM wasn’t as understand or patient, errors like this may occur because I was too shy or nervous about asking for clarification. There are ways and means about how to ask people questions and not appear to be disrespectful or rude and I believe it can be achieved by everyone if empathy is shown and patience is demonstrated.
Access the profile card for user: MICHELLE WRIGHT MICHELLE WRIGHT said…
 
Wednesday, 25 March 2015 8:30:09 AM CST
 
PART A
I work for the Department of Health, an entity of Northern Territory Health and a government department who share common, public sector values. These common values have been refined further within our department to reflect health specific criteria and provide a good example of citizenship skills and values in a real corporate environment. The essential components of citizenship in NT Health are: we care about people; we are accountable; we are relevant today and will be into the future; we are committed to high quality care; we value our partnerships; and we act with integrity. (Northern Territory Health Strategic Plan 2014-2017). It is the role of NT Health to improve the health and wellbeing of all Territorians and as such, the above components of citizenship underpin the work we do and provide basic, guiding principles for all staff.
 
PART B
Specifically, NT Health reflects these values in its daily work by providing high level, professional care to patients and clients. The Territory’s hospitals are fully accredited and strive for continuous quality improvement. Services are planned with clear objectives in mind and evaluated to ensure on-going relevance, equity and accountability. NT Health are committed to the on-going training of staff and invest heavily in research to improve indigenous health, with a focus on the tropical environment. NT Health are committed to building partnerships with the non-government sector and provide funding through grants for NGOs to implement services that improve the health and well-being of Territorians. NT Health value their staff by offering flexible work-life balance opportunities; career advancement pathways; funding for further studies; and collaborative work place planning. Staff of NT Health are professional, accountable and strive to perform at their best in, at times, difficult environments.
MELISSA MAREE FITZGERALD said…
New
 
Wednesday, 25 March 2015 11:58:09 AM CST
 
social responsibility, communication, and teamwork are important skills in the nursing industry as they are the key foundations of an effective role. These skills make the nursing field a successful field. Communication is important in nursing due to the room for errors and how errors are not except able as we are dealing with human life. communication is important, so a system was implemented named SBAR so no room was made for error. This tool has decreased errors and has in fact saved lives. It is used for hand overs, phone orders with doctors, communication between disciplinary teams such as CHIP nurses, dietitians and also physiotherapists. Team work is also important as each individual has a multi step recovery path. These steps can include other teams to be involved such as CHIP, Speech reviews, etc. so team work is a must. Its for the patients best outcome.
 
If we did not implement social responsibility, communication, teamwork or values, then the percentage of life that we are meant to save, would unfortunately decrease. we would loose more patients to errors. communication is used for important circumstances, including hand overs, medications, doctors instructions, concerns about the patient and the patients state. Team work is used within the nursing for instances such as X-ray, CHIP review, dressing nurses, dieticians, etc. with out these teams, the patient would not receive appropriate care.
MARK JAMES FREDERICK MUNNICH said…
New
 
Wednesday, 25 March 2015 10:51:51 PM CST
 
I work at an Aboriginal Medical Service and my role is a Community Health Engagement Officer. As an employee in the health sector, I liaise with the Indigenous community in the greater Darwin and Palmerston region to provide clients, access to preventative and primary health care. The citizenship skills that I’ve developed in this role include cultural awareness and protocols, patience, respecting diversity, communication skills verbally and non-verbal such as using hand signals as I work with Indigenous clients who have English as a second, third or fourth language.
More so, the skills that I have developed personally working in the field of health has taught me to be open minded to ensure that I provide a holistic approach when dealing with clients, to think more about the big picture issues strategically, be caring, sincere, mature and importantly ensuring high level confidentiality.
Furthermore as I’ve just enrolled into my law degree which is a completely different field to working in the health sector, at these early stages of the course I am unsure of where my future employment maybe at this point, but I know that my academic learning will merge with past experiences and will set me in the right direction. I can predict that the citizenship skills required of working in the field of law will compromise of the following; Developing strong communication and advocacy skills, being approachable to not only clients but to others whom I interact with such as work colleagues and acquaintances, having tolerance, understanding that there are two sides to the story and not being judgemental.
The personal skills within the field of law require a high level of emotional intelligence and resilience as I may come across and hear quite horrific cases as a lawyer. As an example, if I was a defence lawyer defending a murder or rape victim or the offender I would need to develop a strong frame of mind, not be stereotypical when dealing with hard hitting cases and to ensure the job I was delegated is done in a professional matter.
However there are requirements before I am considered to be a practising lawyer it is compulsory that during the course of my university studies and in my personal life, I firstly completed my law degree and have been offered a placement to undertake a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice, secondly I need to be of good fame or character such as not being dodgy, dishonest which includes fraud and plagiarism.
The Charles Darwin University (CDU) graduate attributes in the areas of social responsibility, communication and team work I believe when I graduate, the skills I learnt from undertaking my studies should reflect highly when I enter future or current workplace. By being a good role model in the community and maintaining good fame or character, being open minded, non-judgemental, being professional the way I communicate to diverse clients and when I am working in a team environment I ensure that I am contributing to the best of my ability with my knowledge and skill I gained throughout my degree. By practising this, I personally see this requirement a social responsibility as a student to uphold the reputation of CDU. This is to assure people when they ask where I got my degree from, I can then say as a proud graduate of CDU that I obtained my degree from a university that delivers high quality education.
Access the profile card for user: RACHAEL BEAVIS RACHAEL BEAVIS said…
New
 
Thursday, 26 March 2015 11:28:10 AM CST
 
Citizenship in my workplace consists of, social responsibility, communication and teamwork as they are vital components in the nursing profession.
Communication and teamwork are very important as it allows us to deliver the best patient quality care. If there were to be no communication in the workplace there would not be any teamwork and therefore not only would the patients suffer but the environment my co-workers and I work in would be an unfavorable place to work.
Social responsibility is used everyday in the nursing profession. Whether it be acknowledging that a patient cannot speak the same language so you would need an interpreter or other patients or co-workers might like to eat certain foods because of his or her belief or that they want to pray at certain times of day. Being sensitive towards others cultural needs is something that we all need to be aware of and also have an awareness of how our own culture can have an impact on our professional practice. We also need to be accountable for our own actions in nursing and ensure we stay within our scope of practice.
 
Social responsibility, communication and teamwork in the workplace are being done all day everyday. We use a verbal and written form in handover. Progress notes are completed so communication can be kept ongoing between health professionals to aid in patients recovery. Discussing with other health professionals the plan to improve patient outcomes. There are constant pathways of communication open which leads to great teamwork, especially when team nursing.
Communication must also be kept open between nurse and patient. The patient must always be part of the plan for their recovery, keep them informed every step of the way and be approachable so they can ask you questions.
Being responsible and accountable for your own actions with everything you do in nursing is a key responsibility. Giving out medications, gaining consent before all procedures, asking for help when you need it and knowing your own scope of practice is all part of social responsibility.
Access the profile card for user: TALEA JANE COTTE TALEA JANE COTTE said…
New
 
Thursday, 26 March 2015 1:34:54 PM CST
 
Communication, teamwork and social responsibility are essential components of workplace citizenship of a midwife. Each component has great importance in helping me provide quality healthcare to patients as well as working safely and efficiently as a team and promoting health within the community. As a midwife I will need to understand how to communicate effectively and articulate my ideas to prevent misinterpretation, in a medical profession poor communication could lead to adverse effects on someone’s life. Team work can be one midwife working individually to benefit the team as a whole or the combined act of a group to fulfil a greater purpose. Where one midwife may struggle alone, an effective team can ensure the job be completed safely and effectively. A midwife will meet people from many cultural backgrounds and differences, it’s extremely important to show proper social responsibility to ensure each person I encounter is respected and accepted no matter what their background.
 
Without proper communication between other staff members and patients a midwife will not understand the patient’s needs and the quality of care that can be provided drops dramatically. If team work is not encouraged staff cannot trust and rely on each other when needed, this can become detrimental in an emergency situation when working together is essential. Most of the time when new mothers are sent home they are sent with resources and checkups from a community midwife to support their first weeks as a new mother, this support is essential to the ongoing care of both a mother and infant once they leave the hospital care and social responsibility must be shown to be an empathetic midwife who values each patient individually.
 
 
 
NARELLE MAREE ELLEM said…
New
 
Thursday, 26 March 2015 5:52:29 PM CST
 
Learning Reflection #3. Contextualised Learning: Knowing your learning needs.
Part A
Workplace citizenship is the main key to allow a productive smooth flow in your current or future workplace. In my current workplace, I feel I am able to happily and comfortably explore my job role, and feel included throughout my position, build on relations by having great communication, as well as giving and receiving feedback. This all relates to being satisfied in your position. Being satisfied is showing that there is good team work, communication, respect and appreciation throughout the workplace, which creates a strong citizenship throughout the team
Part B
I am currently working at Humpty Doo Primary (special education). This is very rewarding but sometimes a challenging position. The citizenship throughout our team is really great. All were very welcoming and friendly, especially when we all get a bit nervous on our first day on a new job. I was instantly included into the team, things have been explained to me and well communicated and I have been asked for ideas and input on many things. Other staff members have said encouraging things like “I really liked what you had the littlies doing out in the yard” or “you like gardening, great do you want to be involved in the garden project”? This kind of work atmosphere is a good feeling. Wanting to go to work, and yes sometimes we have bad days, but the staff around are supportive and cooperate, allowing our workplace productive and efficient.
Access the profile card for user: ANGELA MELINDA SAVILL ANGELA MELINDA SAVILL said…
New
 
Thursday, 26 March 2015 11:23:29 PM CST
 
Workplace citizenship is vital in my current role as a Medical Receptionist. I work with a small team consisting of Nurse, Doctor and myself and we provide an after-hours triage service to patients. Communication and Teamwork between us is critical to ensure we are providing the best service to our patients. As a team, I take down the patient details and a reason for their visit, the nurse takes further notes and observations and then the Doctor sees the patient. We all have a social responsibility to the patient to ensure they receive appropriate medical care and it is delivered to them with respect and integrity. We see people from all cultures and walks of life and treat them all with the same respect and empathy.
 
Often we have patients attending our clinic who are quite ill and need to be seen to urgently. This is where our strong teamwork and communication skills come into play. If I believe someone needs to be seen straight away I will physically notify the Nurse and Doctor of their attendance so the patient can receive medical assistance straight away if deemed necessary. Although I personally cannot provide any medical assistance I still play my part in the team, for example, offering to call an ambulance so the Nurse and Doctor can focus on the patient. If we did not all work together as a team it may have dire consequences for the patient and we certainly would not be upholding our social responsibility.