Psychology
254
International Journal of Management
Vol. 28 No. 4 Part 2 Dec 2011
Effects of Current Nursing Management Styles on the Retention and Recruitment of Nurses: A Review of the Literature
Misty Forest California State University, Fullerton Brian Kleiner California State University, Fullerton The current nursing management style that tends to be most favored in practice is a taskoriented transactional style, leaving little decision making autonomy on significant issues to the nurse being managed. This style, unfortunately, has the unintended consequences of reducing morale and increasing turnover among those being managed in this manner. More recent developments in the leadership literature emphasize a more transformational style, the importance of the leader developing an inspiring vision for the nurses to follow, mentoring, and playing more of a servant role so that the nursing staff can feel empowered with regard to issues of significance. This major contrasting pattern in management style appears to contribute to improving morale, reducing turnover, and facilitating recruitment. This paper will be discussing present nursing management styles and their effects on retention and recruitment of nurses. The current method of leadership is task-oriented, which requires little input from the nursing staff and has shown to decrease morale of the nursing staff as well as affecting adversely an organization’s ability to retain their services. The authors will focus on transformational leadership and how it can affect commitment and empowerment for the bedside nurse. Each form of leadership has its own merits and can be utilized to produce outcomes that are in line with a an organization’s mission statement and vision of the future. The concept and traits of leadership have captivated mankind throughout history (Avolio, B., 1999). Unfortunately, no one has agreed upon a specific definition of leadership or all the characteristics that go along with it (Bass, B.,
International Journal of Management
Vol. 28 No. 4 Part 2 Dec 2011
Effects of Current Nursing Management Styles on the Retention and Recruitment of Nurses: A Review of the Literature
Misty Forest California State University, Fullerton Brian Kleiner California State University, Fullerton The current nursing management style that tends to be most favored in practice is a taskoriented transactional style, leaving little decision making autonomy on significant issues to the nurse being managed. This style, unfortunately, has the unintended consequences of reducing morale and increasing turnover among those being managed in this manner. More recent developments in the leadership literature emphasize a more transformational style, the importance of the leader developing an inspiring vision for the nurses to follow, mentoring, and playing more of a servant role so that the nursing staff can feel empowered with regard to issues of significance. This major contrasting pattern in management style appears to contribute to improving morale, reducing turnover, and facilitating recruitment. This paper will be discussing present nursing management styles and their effects on retention and recruitment of nurses. The current method of leadership is task-oriented, which requires little input from the nursing staff and has shown to decrease morale of the nursing staff as well as affecting adversely an organization’s ability to retain their services. The authors will focus on transformational leadership and how it can affect commitment and empowerment for the bedside nurse. Each form of leadership has its own merits and can be utilized to produce outcomes that are in line with a an organization’s mission statement and vision of the future. The concept and traits of leadership have captivated mankind throughout history (Avolio, B., 1999). Unfortunately, no one has agreed upon a specific definition of leadership or all the characteristics that go along with it (Bass, B.,
References: Avolio, B. 1999. Full Leadership development: Building the vital forces in organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Bass, B. 1998. Transformational leadership: Industrial, military, and educational impact. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Bass, B., and Avolio, B., 2000. MLQ multifactor leadership questionnaire. 2nd ed. Redwood City, CA: MindGarden, Inc. Blanchard, K., and Stoner, J., (2004). The Vision thing: Without it You’ll Never Be a World Class Organization. Retrieved from www.Pfdf.org on July 10, 2006. Burns, J. 1978. Leadership. New York: Harper & Row. Dunham, J., and Klafehn, K. 2002. Transformational leadership and the nurse executive. Journal of Nursing Administration, 20 (4): 28-34. Dunham-Taylor, J. 2001. Nurse executive transformational and the nurse executive. Journal of Nursing Administration, 20 (4): 28-34. Dunham- Taylor, J. 2001. Nurse executive transformational leadership found in participative organizations. Journal of Nursing Administration 30 (5): 241-50. 262 International Journal of Management Vol. 28 No. 4 Part 2 Dec 2011 Kleinmen, C. 2004. Leadership and retention: Research needed. Journal of Nursing Administration, 34 (3): 111-13. Kouzes, J. and Posner, B., (1989) The Leadership Challenge : How to Get Extraordinary Things Done in Organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publisher. Mc. Cullough, T., 2004. The Moral Imagination and Public Life. NJ: Chatman House Retrieved from www.irc,com on July 10, 2006 McKinney, M. The Focus of Leadership: Service over Self-Interest. Retrieved from www.leadershipnow.com on July 10, 2006 Ribelin, P. 2003. Retention reflects leadership style. Nursing Management 34 (8): 1819. Robbins, S. 2003 The Essence of Leadership. Retrieved from www.hbswk.edu on July 10, 2006 Shader, K., Broome, M. Broome, C., West M. and Nash, M., 2001. Factors influencing satisfaction and anticipated turnover for nurse in an academic medical center. Journal of Nursing Administration 31 (4): 210-16. Tichy, N. and DeVAnna, M. (1990) The Transformational Leader. New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.