Want real life nursing advice on homework assignment

[CrystalSSA]

Nursing school conflict question:

I got a bad grade on this assignment. The question was:

A director at your place of employment has gone to your manager with an accusation that is untrue. The director thinks that your attitude at a recent meeting was unprofessional and has emailed several people in your organization stating that you are not on board with the new procedures. You recall asking questions to clarify the new procedure, but did not think you were appearing unprofessional. You left the meeting feeling that your questions were completely answered and were eager to start the new procedure. A few days later, your direct manager called you into the office to tell you what this director was saying and showed you some emails between several managers about your "attitude". What would you do and why?

I stated that I would ask for a meeting with the director and apologize. this is a manager where I work, and I don't want to be known as a troublemaker.

I got a D with the explanation "content based"

I really cant see going to HR when THEY didn't go to HR, they went to a direct manager. I guess I could have said that I would then make posters etc for the new procedure to "prove" that I am onboard.

[carolinapooh, BSN, RN]

I had an incident in another job once where a person claimed I cursed at them (not the case! never happened! had a witness!) and MY boss wanted me to apologize to this woman.

For what?

I flat out said I refused to because I knew she was stating an untruth. My boss tried to bully me into apologizing - telling me "I needed to be the bigger person" - and I still refused, telling her I will not apologize for something I didn't do. Apologizing that way doesn't make me a bigger person - it validates the bully. Funny thing was, I'D NEVER SPOKEN DIRECTLY TO THE PERSON TO START WITH, I'd only answered a question of the coworker she was hassling who had directly addressed me.

Despite this, I got a stellar performance appraisal at the end of the year from my boss, who had since heard this person had attempted the same sort of thing with other people in the past. (Oh, and we WERE the HR division, ironically enough...)

Don't email the person - that's opening yourself up to leaving evidence of 'attitude', because emails are often misinterpreted. I'd ask the boss if she'd ever seen any evidence of 'attitude' (I did that as well - "have you ever known me to do something like this? have you ever seen/heard me do this? do you think I actually did this?" - and the answer was, "uh......well....no..."), and if so, could she possibly offer suggestions as to how to not come across that way in the future, because you thought you were only asking questions for clarification? You actually can do that without looking like a tool.

And document all this somewhere for yourself.