This document is aimed at providing a summary of the available literature on clinical supervision (CS) and leadership so as to serve as a resource manual for nursing supervisors. Clinical supervision is the process officiated by a supervisor with the aim of providing the necessary support and interventional education to supervisees in order to upgrade their acquaintance and aptitude and to ensure that they provide high quality and safe services in intricate clinical situations (Hyrkas et al, 2006).
Blouin, S. A., McDonagh, K.J., Neistadt, M.A. & Helfand, B. (2006). Leading tomorrow’s healthcare organizations: Strategies and tactics for effective succession planning. The Journal of nursing Administration. Vol. 36, issue 6, pp. 325-330.
The article details the limitations in healthcare organizations that are perceived to hinder the process of succession planning and maintenance of talents in healthcare management (Blouin et al, 2006). In addition, it provides guidelines to succession planning particularly for Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and supervisors. The authors argue that there are many problems facing healthcare organizations’ leadership particularly the ever-increasing turnover rate. In this case, the identifiable challenge is that there are no internal talents that can replace the frequent gaps left by the top leaders. By analyzing a healthcare facility in Texas, the authors provide the most appropriate strategy in succession planning such as the vitality curve (Blouin et al, 2006). The authors look at the implications of succession planning in terms of organizational continuity. Organizational continuity is important to healthcare organizations because the organizations’ services affect many communities.
The article further provides a summary of the literature available on the scope of succession planning in the context of the health-care industry and universal businesses. In this case, the literature on health-care leadership provides the most unique problems facing the industry which require urgent intervention. In line with the process of succession planning, the authors provide the merits of programs aimed at developing future leaders in health-care organizations. The case of Christus Spohn Health Facility studied in this article indicates that, when the top leadership is committed towards leadership brilliance, they create an organizational culture which enables the junior staff to value and support the top leadership (Blouin et al, 2006). Provision of tactical strategies of implementing the available literature into practice in the real world situations is imperative in the development of the manual at all stages. The ultimate benefit of investing in leadership development is that it aids in attracting the young leaders who would wish to work with successive organizations (Blouin et al, 2006). Taking into account the importance of workforce planning in health systems, this study will contribute immensely in designing succession plan while improving the overall understanding of the linkage between leadership programs and succession with more emphasis on the middle and senior management in the health systems.
Bradley, G. (2010). Work-induced changes in feelings of mastery. The Journal of Psychology. Vol. 144, issue 2, pp. 97-119. Web.
The author, researcher at Griffith University provides the findings of the study conducted to test the effectiveness of the Karasek and Theorell’s person-work-environment theory (Bradley, 2010). The theory states that, work experiences such as ability to control different work situations and demands are directly related to the feelings of mastery displayed by the workers. The theory further states that, the feelings of mastery are attained through active and continuous learning. This is in line with other past research studies and theories which indicate that the conditions of any working environment are bound to exact long-lasting effects on the workers. The research was carried out on 657 teachers. It comprised examining the impacts of job control, active studying and job demands of two case studies that was studied at an interval of eight months. The results from the study partially supported the propositions of the theory (Bradley, 2010). It is shown that job control coupled with active learning increases job mastery.
On the other hand, the effect of job demands on mastery are felt when the worker is able to control increased job demands in which case job control and job demands play a collective role in increasing mastery. Moreover, the author provides past literature that supports the Karasek and Theorell’s theory. Despite the study providing evidence to a model that had not been reviewed or researched, the author notes some limitations such as the use of a non-experimental plan and dependence on the reports from subjects which may contain some response biases. This calls for future research which should measure independent job demands and abilities in relation to job control over a wider organizational area and large sample size (Bradley, 2010). The fact that it provides better predictions regarding mediated effects of job conditions makes it a useful resource to guide the development of roles of employees in tandem with their job mastery. The applicability of the findings across several fields means that it acts as a holistic source of information regarding job demands and control in relation to active learning of nurses during training and practice.
De Jonge, J., Le Blanc, M.P., Peeters, M.C. & Noordam, H. (2008). Emotional job demands and the role of matching job resources: A cross-sectional survey study among health care workers. International Journal of Nursing Studies. Vol. 45, issue 1, pp. 1460-1469.
The article provides the results of a research study conducted by the authors that investigated the mechanisms behind the effect of poignant job requirements on the welfare and vigor of the healthcare worker. The researchers embarked on this cross sectional survey because the available literature on emotional labor in the context of healthcare systems did not reveal the conditions under which poignant job demands affect the health and welfare of the healthcare worker (De Jonge et al, 2008). Emotional labor refers to the emotional demands exhibited at work and mainly results in stress reactions which include burnout.
The cross-sectional survey which employed unnamed questionnaires was aimed at assessing the role of expressive and cognitive work resources with regard to their moderating role in the relationship between the emotional job demands and the welfare and health of the worker. In essence, the contribution of emotional attributes and cognitive attributes in influencing emotional demands on one hand and employee health such as emotional exhaustion and work motivation on the other is hereby assessed. The study involved a sample size of 1259 workers in a healthcare facility in urban Netherlands. These workers were given questionnaires with 66% (826 workers) of the subjects returning the completed questionnaires.
The analyzed data indicated that the emotional job resources help to balance the effects of emotional job demands that were overly responsible for emotional fatigue. On the other hand, emotional job resources and to some extent the cognitive or non-matching job demands help to moderate the relationship between the job demands and the positive emotional outcomes on the healthcare worker (De Jonge et al, 2008). The authors and researchers concluded that the effect of emotional job resources on emotional outcomes in the worker is based on the fact that these resources are capable of replacing the exhausted emotional resources that the worker utilizes in meeting emotional work requirements thereby increasing the chances of the worker displaying positive emotions. Therefore, provision of the emotional job resources to the workers helps in limiting stressful situations associated with emotional job requirements which in turn boost the worker productivity and job contentment (De Jonge et al, 2008). The workers spend less time delving on inhibiting factors at the workplace thereby dedicating and committing much of their energy to their work. As a supervisor there are always stressful and overwhelming situations that can lead to emotional torments. Thoughts can become cloudy and it becomes hard to focus. Having a resource manual at your fingertips can aid in decision making at high stress times. The consideration of the interplay of emotional job resources and cognitive job resources in relation to their influence on work productivity can thus aid the supervisors to critically come up with solutions to such workplace situations.
Fairbrother, G., Jones, A. & Rivas, K. (2009). Development and validation of the Nursing Workplace satisfaction questionnaire (NWSQ). Contemporary Nurse. Vol. 34, issue 1, pp. 10-18.
The authors, one Research Fellow, a Nursing Executive Officer, and a Quality Manager respectively, present a case study conducted in a large Sydney healthcare facility with the aim of assessing the effectiveness of Nursing Workplace satisfaction questionnaire (NWSQ) in measuring job satisfaction within the organization (Fairbrother et al, 2009). A single page questionnaire consisting of 14-items was developed through reviewing available generic instruments and group discussions. The importance of NWSQ over previous tools of measurement were perceived to be North-American biased, long and aimed at measuring factors affecting the whole organization and thus not specific.
In view of the above, it reduced the content into three main sections. These include; coherent, inherent and extrinsic job fulfillment levels of assessment. The grouping of the measurable domains was aimed at providing a holistic picture on factors that influence job satisfaction with regard to nurses. The tool was developed as a result of the introduction of a new model of nursing care that involved team nurses instead of the past model of allocating individual nurses to particular exercises (Fairbrother et al, 2009). When the tool was tested using 220 respondents, they all confirmed its validity in measurement of job satisfaction. Further validation conducted through analysis of 459 internal respondents, confirmed the tool as being even and consistent. This article further provides the procedure followed in designing the questionnaire which involves evaluation of the available materials, group-based questionnaire design, piloting, investigative factor analysis and internal evenness analysis (Fairbrother et al, 2009).
Finally, the effectiveness of the tool in measuring hospital-based or ward-based job satisfaction is pegged on it being precise, short, designed to satisfy the immediate or regional requirements and its ability to measure three variables of the same factor at once. The study provides an important tool in measuring job satisfaction that will be incorporated in the resource manual. The fact that the questionnaire builds on the strengths of the available tools makes is a useful inclusion in the manual that will in provide a vital basis for measuring organizational performance. Having been tested empirically thereby exhibiting high validity and internal consistency analysis makes NWSQ an ideal and holistic tool which will have wide application in measuring performance trend in institutions and wards. Inclusion of NWSQ in the manual is imperative due to its wide applicability in the assessing performance levels in health systems.
Hyrkas, K., Appelqvist-Schmiddlechner, K. & Haatajar, R. (2006). Efficacy of clinical supervision: influence on job satisfaction, burnout and quality care. Journal of Advanced Nursing. Vol. 55, issue 4, pp. 521-535.
The article summarizes a study aimed at evaluating the effect of supervisees’ backgrounds, working environments, the infrastructure used in job satisfaction, burnout levels and the workers’ perceptions of the quality of service on the effectiveness of clinical supervision (Hyrkas et al, 2006). A study involving 799 respondents affiliated with various healthcare facilities in Finland was conducted using various standardized evaluation tools and measures that were completed by the subjects. Data collection started in October, 2000 and came to an end in February, 2001(Hyrkas et al, 2006). The analyzed data shows varied statistical significances between different respondents because of the varied backgrounds. However, there was a strong relationship between the infrastructure used in clinical supervision and the outcomes of the study. The supervisee’s personal attributes such as age, gender and the work-related experiences including the experiences gained in clinical supervision play a key role in assessment of the efficiency of Clinical supervision.
The findings of the assessment of clinical supervision are important predictors of the supervisees’ levels of exhaustion, job contentment and good nursing practice (Hyrkas et al, 2006). Consequently , the authors opines that those nurses that have an experience of ten years and above and work part time in shifts are likely to benefit more than the others.. This also depends on the extent to which educational resources are provided to the supervisors. In addition, it is imperative that the nursing staff is encouraged to take part in the clinical supervision exercise both as the supervisor and supervisee because clinical supervision influences the quality of nursing care and job satisfaction positively. Since the resource manual will provide guidelines for training of nurses and supervisors, the factors in the internal and external environment will overly inform the detailed content of the curriculum. In fact, design of the manual will benefit considerably from the findings particularly the positive impacts of engaging in the both supervisor and supervisor roles. Consideration of the influences on clinical supervision will also inform the development of the evaluation content in the manual.
Johansson, I., Holm, A., Lindqvist, I., & Severinsson, E. (2006). The value of caring in nursing supervision. Journal of Nursing Management. Vol.14 , issue 1,pp. 644-651.
The authors present the analysis of the supervisors’ views regarding the importance of caring in the process of clinical supervision and practice in relation to the values they attach to the whole exercise of supervision. The value of caring in clinical practice comes to the forefront when the supervisor encounters the supervisee. The encounter is characterized by hope, confirmation, participation and trust (Johansson et al, 2006). The study was instigated by lack of relevant literature that describes the ways of ensuring maintenance of quality in nursing supervision. The study was conducted through interviews aimed at generating data from the target groups. The questions ranged from open questions in the interviews and associative ones that enhanced understanding of issue at hand to the main questions on the topic which deepened the reflection of the main themes. The researchers had earlier sent invitations to 13 supervisors but only 4 were able to form the focus groups (Johansson et al, 2006).
From the supervisors’ perspective, the value of caring in clinical supervision involves that legitimate meeting between two individuals whereby respect, trust and acceptance are in existence. The value is made visible through sharing stories related to patient’s experiences and how best to deal with different clinical situations. They also indicate that, building the student’s courage is vital towards encouraging development of professional values. This is enhanced by the motivation, bravery, acquaintance and abilities of supervisors to apply various techniques to orientate students in caring hence allowing them to develop interest. Therefore, the integration of information from this article is imperative to supervisors thus bolstering their role of establishing a caring environment characterized by support and sharing in the hospital setting. It is imperative to promote participation in clinical supervision from the nursing staff because it helps in building the value of caring (Johansson et al, 2006). The overly integration of elements of willingness, knowledge and courage to the leadership programs and resource manual will boost the supervisory roles of the nurse leaders.
Lee, W.T. & KO, Y.K. (2010). Effects of self-efficacy, affectivity and collective efficacy on nursing performance of hospital nurses. Journal of Advanced Nursing. Vol. 66, issue 4, pp.839-848.
The authors, an Associate Professor and a full-time lecturer respectively, present an account of a study aimed at scrutinizing the effect of self-efficacy, and individual and group-based attributes on the performance of nurses in hospitals (Lee & KO, 2010). The study was conducted with the objective of examining the contributions of organizational and individual-based factors to professional performance because available and earlier studies analyzed the individual-based factors only. The descriptive-correlational survey was conducted using a sample size of 1996 professional nurses from various healthcare facilities in seven Korean provinces. Self-completed questionnaires were utilized in data collection which took place in 2006. Data was analyzed using the Pearson correlation coefficients, multilevel analyses and descriptive statistics (Lee & KO, 2010).
The results indicated that the individual-based factors such as the individual’s employment status, work experience, position held and self-efficacy showed a strong positive relationship with their performance in nursing practice. On the other hand, the collective or group-based factors such as clinical supervision and active learning helped to reduce errors in performance and nursing practice. Therefore, it is imperative for the top leadership in healthcare management to understand the effects of collective factors on individual performance in nursing practice so as to develop clinical and performance supervision strategies in hospital settings. In determination of nurses’ performance, the availing of the article findings in the manual will improve the capacity of the leaders to assess their suitability based on the individual-level and group level variables. More importantly, incorporation of the findings in the manual results in the wide application of the concepts hence leading to a positive transformation of the management approaches in hospitals.
McAlearney, A.S. (2010). Executive leadership development in U.S. health systems. Journal of Healthcare Management. Vol. 55, issue 3, pp. 206-222.
Due to the rapid and constant changes characterizing top leadership in healthcare management, the author, an associate professor at The Ohio State University designed this research study with the objective of examining the founding, establishment, content, procedure, costing and progression of the Executive Leadership Development (ELD) initiative across most healthcare facilities in the United States (McAlearney, 2010). The survey employed a quantitative method of data collection in which a questionnaire with 35-items was given to different CEOs in the healthcare industry. In addition, a qualitative method of data collection whereby key informants in the healthcare industry were interviewed on the existence of any ELD programs in their institutions (McAlearney, 2010). The results show that approximately 50% of the respondents across the health facilities in the United States indicated that ELD programs were in place at their respective institutions particularly among the small-scale healthcare organizations.
However, in most cases, the programs were reported to be extremely new. The identified drivers behind the establishment and progression of such programs include the programs were valued based on different organizational perceptions of the returns and maintainable budgets associated with them in addition to the fact that the programs enabled the subject institutions to develop and implement their strategic plans and in the development of succession planning. Moreover, some elements of ELD were identified as being behind the development of leadership skills and capabilities in the said organizations. Therefore, it is important to implement the establishment of ELD programs in healthcare organizations in order to manage the ever-changing healthcare business environments (McAlearney, 2010). The article provides a detailed outline of the vital components to be included in the resource manual particularly in the design of the curriculum for the leadership program. More importantly, discussion on the evaluation and the rationale of the program development will contribute significantly in development of appropriate tools in the resource manual.
McAlearney, A.S. (2008). Using leadership development programs to improve quality and efficiency in healthcare. Journal of Healthcare management. Vol. 55, issue 5, pp. 319-331.
An Associate professor at The Ohio State University asserted that many managers in the healthcare industry face the challenge of ensuring that quality and efficiency in service delivery are maintained in their organizations (McAlearney, 2008). Resourceful ideas are identified in various leadership development programs but the challenge is linking these theoretical approaches to the real world practice most healthcare facilities in the United States. In line with this challenge, the author provides an the analysis of the data from three research studies aimed at providing ways of incorporating leadership development strategies into the process of ensuring that quality and efficiency are maintained in healthcare organizations (McAlearney, 2008). The study involved 200 interviewees drawn from various professions and departmental ranks in the whole healthcare industry including vendors of leadership improvement curriculums. The results indicate that leadership development programs are vital in attainment of quality and efficiency in terms of advancing competence skills of the workers. In addition, they also ensure that there is effectiveness in education and other development activities within the organization, decreasing the turnover cost and other related expenses and helps the organization to concentrate on strategic priorities (McAlearney, 2008).
The study provides various approaches that can be employed by the managers in implementing the findings of this survey into real world practice. However, this being a qualitative study, which only concentrates on the opportunities whereby leadership development programs can be employed in improving quality and efficiency, there is the need for further quantitative measurements that provide specific approaches to improve quality and efficiency in healthcare management. This article is useful because it will form the basis for the design of new initiatives and improvements in the resource manual taking into consideration the importance of leadership programs in enhancing quality and improvement.
Through illustration on how leadership development initiatives impact on overall organizational leadership, this article provides a premise that will enhance the upgrading of the current manuals. Qualitative data regarding the importance of leadership programs will form the core of vital information regarding leveraging in leadership development and design of specific strategies aimed at boosting leadership capacity and skills.
McNally, K. & Lukens, R. (2006). Leadership development: An external-internal coaching partnership. The Journal of Nursing administration. Vol. 36, issue 3, pp. 155-161.
In line with the leadership development programs, the authors identify one major strategy in the program which is professional coaching (McNally & Lukens, 2006). Professional coaching as a strategy is important due to a number of benefits. For example, it advances both individual and the organizational performance levels, helps the organization to maintain internal talents in leadership, it promotes succession planning and it also helps the leaders in healthcare management to meet their specialized and individual ambitions. Moreover, the authors overly describe the development of professional coaching and the benefits accrued from collaboration between internal and external professional coaches in a case study involving 64 leaders in healthcare management.
Approximately 90% of the participants completed the coaching program aimed at promoting the accomplishment of the newly developed practice model in professional coaching in addition to providing the required leadership development skills to the newly appointed leaders to different positions in the healthcare management (McNally & Lukens, 2006). In order to allow for evaluation of the program, the participants were asked to self-report on their understanding and advancements in the program. It was identified that the development and the outcomes of the program rely on the participants’ commitment to the requirements of the program (McNally & Lukens, 2006).
Overall, the outcomes of the program were in line with previous studies in the same field which had indicated positive returns from investing in the program. Finally, the article provides various recommendations which can be used by the healthcare leadership in implementing the findings of the study in the real world situations. The study suggests the realignment of professional coaching with leadership development and business strategy which makes it important particularly in the enhancement of the capacity of leaders in nursing.
O’Neil, E., Morjikian, R.L., Cherner, D., Hirschkorn, C. & West, T. (2008). Developing nursing leaders. The Journal of Nursing Administration. Vol. 38 issue 4, pp. 178-183. Web.
Due to the ever-changing healthcare leadership environments, nurses are required to develop leadership skills in order to meet the requirements of prevailing job demands (O’Neil et al, 2008). This target can be achieved through implementation of leadership development programs that enable leaders in nursing care to effectively discharge their duties in addition to making excellent personal and collective decisions. The authors of this article provide the results of a study aimed at presenting the exact requirements of leadership development programs in most healthcare facilities. In line with the requirements of the study, the researchers collected two different types of data. The survey involved a telephone study of 27 participants in leadership of nursing care in order to acquire a comprehensible representation of the consumers of the leadership development programs (O’Neil et al, 2008). Additionally, the same survey was conducted using questionnaires that were distributed to 54 different chief leaders in different healthcare institutions to find out whether there were any significant differences in the participants’ perceptions of the requirements of the programs.
On the other hand, the second set of data was collected from an environmental scan intended to review the variety of leadership development programs accessible to various nursing chiefs and other experts (O’Neil et al, 2008). Moreover, the study provides a range of factors related to the program such as identification of challenges in healthcare facilities, comparison of the internal and external resources for training and leadership development, the cost, quality and accessibility of the resources in addition to barriers to expanding training and development programs for nurses (O’Neil et al, 2008). The study indicates that participants were content with the existing programs which were identified to be more than 100 from the second set of data. However, disparities were noted in the provision of such programs to different classes of nurses because the results indicate that the programs were provided to inpatient nurses while there were no such services for the community-based and other public nurses. The emphasis of leadership programs for nurses’ leaders acts as a justification of the development of the manual while denoting the various remedies that are required in order to enhance the capabilities and effectiveness of clinical leaders. The study will provide useful resource that will enhance the embracement of the leadership programs while creating a framework for the overall design for the programs.
Rubin, M.S. & Stone, R.K. (2010). Adapting the “Managing by Walking Around” methodology as a leadership strategy to communicate a hospital-wide strategic plan. Journal of Public Health Management Practice. Vol. 16, issue 2, pp. 162-166.
The article examines the case of Metropolitan Hospital Center (MHC) located in New York City, which had undertaken a number of leadership changes including a newly developed strategic plan intended for the hospital-wide staff members (Rubin & Stone, 2010). Delivery of information across all units in the hospital proved to be cumbersome because of the large number of staff members in different shifts and the tight schedules, which could not allow the workers to attend to external duties. The Managing by Walking around (MBWA) strategic plan involved Executive Walk-Rounds Programs and Breakthrough Programs, which had been recently implemented successfully by the top management (Rubin & Stone, 2010).
The strategic plan was to be implemented by the hospital management across all hospital units in the two shifts within a period of two weeks. The results of the study indicate that approximately 69% of the hospital staff accessed the services offered during the executive rounds. Another study aimed at analyzing the level of employee satisfaction with the project involved members of the management teams and the general service employees. The results from the study show that about 88.9% of staff members at the leadership level and 64.5% of staff in casual and general labor were satisfied with the program and they admitted to understanding the contents of the strategic plan after attending the rounds (Rubin & Stone, 2010). Therefore, there is need for other healthcare facilities to implement MHC’s strategic planning because the approach undertaken in the current case is relevant to other healthcare institutions. However, the study fails to provide a clear guideline on how the new strategy can be evaluated in a hospital setting. This calls for additional studies to provide effective evaluation strategies. This article is relevant as a big part of the job is walking around and updating employees on the hospital policies and vision with regard to issues related to the management and handling of patients in the ward setting. The article is relevant since it sets a foundation for the development of a working management approach in clinical supervision within large hospitals capable of withstanding changes in the organization external and internal environment.
Reitz, O.E., Anderson, M.A. & Hill, P.D. (2010). Job embeddedness and nurse retention. Nurse Admin. Q. Vol. 34, issue 3, pp. 190-200.
In this article, nurse retention serves to define the relationship between the employer and employee. On the other hand, job embeddedness is the sum total of factors which determine the probability of a nurse being retained in the current job (Reitz et al, 2010). Previous studies do not provide results assessing the two concepts on the basis of locality (rural or urban) or exclusive samples (registered or non-registered nurses). The authors conducted a study aimed at assessing the factors behind nurse retention. The study involved a cross-sectional design employed on registered nurses drawn from rural and urban localities (Reitz et al, 2010).
The concept of job embeddedness was assessed by measuring the scores recorded by a composite standardized instrument that employed Likert scale while nurse retention relied on the participants’ self reports based on the reasons behind why they stay in their current jobs. The results indicate that the total reaction rate was 49.4% of all the participants. Of these participants, 96.1% were females, 87.4% non-Hispanics, and 74.9% married persons. In addition, the study shows that age and job embeddedness are the major factors behind nurse retention because they represent approximately 26% of the analyzed data given by participants which is based on the reasons that influence them to stay in their current jobs (Reitz et al, 2010).
However, the data analysis indicated that age contributed to a less extent in nurse retention while Job Embeddedness contributed to approximately 24.6%. Moreover, the study shows that older workers are bound to be retained in their current jobs which make Job Embeddedness useful in terms of initiating programs aimed at nurse retention. The probability of a nurse staying as a supervisor is currently low because the current supervisors’ knowledge about the job duties is scattered and not all in any one location.
Ensuring that the manual holistically covers much information regarding job satisfaction and retention is imperative in boosting the capacity of the nurses while ensuring higher retention rates. Nurse retention program will be boosted since the manual will endeavor to relate the aspects of job embeddedness and nurse retention with other facets of supervision and leadership.
Swearingen, S. (2009). A journey to leadership: designing a nursing leadership Development program. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing. Vol. 40, issue 3, pp. 107-112.
The researcher from Center for Nursing Research and Innovation noted that most nurses and healthcare managers acquire the skills required in the healthcare industry on the job which makes it impossible for these persons to fully understand the content of what they are doing (Swearingen, 2009). In line with this problem, there is need to develop leadership development programs which enable leaders and nurses in the healthcare industry to attain the necessary skills which meet the job demands besides improving their personal and organizational skills (Swearingen, 2009). This is because the acquired skills affect job satisfaction, patient satisfaction and service delivery in addition to the position of the whole organization (Swearingen, 2009).
The author of this article provides the benefits of developing internal leadership in healthcare organizations, the means of reinforcing the leadership development skills within such organizations and the most workable strategies of developing the leadership development programs appropriate to specific organizations. The study further provides the appropriate program contents to be incorporated into leadership development programs besides identifying the internal staff members who can be used to deliver the content to other members (Swearingen, 2009). The benefits of leadership development are considered on the basis of staff retention, patient outcomes and the financial implications.
The procedure of designing the program involves program assessment, building the curriculum, teaching, evaluation and assessment of outcomes (Swearingen, 2009). Finally, the author notes that leadership development being dynamic and slow is worth taking into account the fact that the outcomes of the program can take long to be visible. The fact that the concepts and facets of leadership development, with regard to designing of methodologies and programs in leadership are provided makes the study a vital resource in the generation of the manual.
Vasset, F. et al. (2010). Employees’ perceptions of justice in performance appraisals. Nursing Management. Vol. 17, issue 2, pp. 30-34.
The researchers from Alesund University College provide the results of a research study aimed at providing the employees’ opinions of fairness in performance evaluation conducted on nurses and supporting nurses in Norway’s healthcare facilities. The background of the study is hinged on the fact that performance assessment is unpopular among many employees who perceive it as being unfair (Vasset et al., 2010). Performance assessment largely de-motivates the employees especially when it is perceived to be driven by ill thought programs that fail to bring any observable behavioral changes (Vasset et al, 2010). In this case, justice can be grouped into three major categories in this case; organizational justice, procedural justice and interactional justice. The survey involved study forms consisting of 30 items that were sent to various nurses and supporting nurses derived from 25 out of 430 towns in Norway (Vasset et al, 2010).
The participants were supposed to agree or disagree with the statements given in the survey. Out of the 600 forms distributed, 371 forms were completed and returned. The data generated was used to test various theories based on interactional and procedural justice. The study results indicate that the employees’ concern relative to procedural justice is based on their capability or powerlessness to make contributions to the assessment program (Vasset et al, 2010).
The supporting nurses asserted that they received scrupulous criticism from human resource managers when compared to other nurses. This is because the nurses have the same educational ranks with the managers which made them better-placed in identifying mistakes in the assessment program. However, constructive assessment programs identified in many institutions were attributed to good communication and listening skills among the employees (Vasset et al, 2010). On the other hand, some respondents indicated that the programs were generally unfair. Therefore, besides assessing all employees in an organization, there is the need to make follow-ups, revising the assessment procedures and assessing employees in small groups rather than individually. While performance appraisal remains an integral role of the supervisor, the manual will summarize information from this study and other related studies to form a solid background of information that will offer guidance to the nurse supervisors when executing their roles.
Wolf, G.A., Bradle, J. & Greenhouse, P. (2006). Investment in the future: a 3-level approach for developing the healthcare leaders of tomorrow. The Journal of Nursing Administration, 36 (6), 331-336.
Amidst the ever-changing nursing environments, the fundamentals and foundations of the healthcare industry remain constant, that is, they are all aimed at improving quality and efficiency of service delivery. Changes in job demands, increased patient keenness, nurse shortages, high turnover rates, and advancements in technology provide new challenges to the industry (Wolf et al, 2006).
The authors of this article describe a leadership development program to be implemented at three levels while meeting the requirements of the above-named challenges. The program was developed at the healthcare leadership development academy at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. The authors provide the procedure of building the program besides the three-levels of implementation which include identification of emerging leaders, assessment of operational leaders and selection and preparation of strategic leaders (Wolf et al, 2006). The graduates of the first two levels indicated that the program was the best in developing professional experiences. Assessment of the financial implications of the program indicated that it can enable the subject’s organization to save up to $ 500,000 at the end of level three. The progress of the healthcare industry and individual organizations is thus dependent on the development of competent and skilled leaders across all levels in healthcare management (Wolf et al, 2006). Therefore, there is need to develop programs and healthcare leadership academies in order to develop leadership surroundings within healthcare organizations (Wolf et al, 2006).
This article relates to this project because it suggests the foundations of improving quality and efficiency have never changed. The resource manual will assist in the development of competent leaders mainly through providing the required content in their growth taking the holistic approach to leadership discussed in this study. In addition, the multilevel approach in leadership coupled with active learning forms a solid framework for enhancing the growth of competent and efficient leaders in nursing practice.
Reference List
Blouin, S. A., McDonagh, K.J., Neistadt, M.A. & Helfand, B. (2006). Leading tomorrow’s healthcare organizations: Strategies and tactics for effective succession planning. The Journal of nursing Administration. Vol. 36, issue 6, pp. 325-330. Web.
Bradley, G. (2010). Work-induced changes in feelings of mastery. The Journal of Psychology. Vol. 144, issue 2, pp. 97-119. Web .
De Jonge, J., Le Blanc, M.P., Peeters, M.C. & Noordam, H. (2008). Emotional job demands and the role of matching job resources: A cross-sectional survey study among health care workers. International Journal of Nursing Studies. Vol. 45, issue 1, pp. 1460-1469. Web.
Fairbrother, G., Jones, A. & Rivas, K. (2009). Development and validation of the Nursing Workplace satisfaction questionnaire (NWSQ). Contemporary Nurse. Vol. 34, issue 1, pp. 10-18. Web.
Hyrkas, K., Appelqvist-Schmiddlechner, K. & Haatajar, R. (2006). Efficacy of clinical supervision: influence on job satisfaction, burnout and quality care. Journal of Advanced Nursing. Vol. 55, issue 4, pp. 521-535. Web.
Johansson, I., Holm, A., Lindqvist, I. & Severinsson, E. (2006). The value of caring in nursing supervision. Journal of Nursing Management. Vol. 14, issue 1, pp. 644-651. Web.
Lee, W.T. & KO, Y.K. (2010). Effects of self-efficacy, affectivity and collective efficacy on nursing performance of hospital nurses. Journal of Advanced Nursing. Vol. 66, issue 4, pp. 839-848. Web.
McAlearney, A.S. (2010). Executive leadership development in U.S. health systems. Journal of Healthcare Management. Vol. 55, issue 3, pp. 206-222. Web.
McAlearney, A.S. (2008). Using leadership development programs to improve quality and efficiency in healthcare. Journal of Healthcare management. Vol. 55, issue 5, pp. 319-331. Web.
McNally, K. & Lukens, R. (2006). Leadership development: an external-internal coaching partnership. The Journal of Nursing Administration. Vol. 36, issue 3, pp. 155-161. Web.
O’Neil, E., Morjikian, R.L., Cherner, D., Hirschkorn, C. & West, T. (2008). Developing nursing leaders. The Journal of Nursing Administration. Vol. 38, issue 4, pp.178-183. Web.
Reitz, O.E., Anderson, M.A. & Hill, P.D. (2010). Job embeddedness and nurse retention. Nursing Administration Quarterly. Vol. 34, issue 3, pp. 190-200. Web.
Rubin, M.S. & Stone, R.K. (2010). Adapting the “Managing by walking around” Methodology as a leadership strategy to communicate a hospital-wide strategic plan. Journal of Public Health Management Practice. Vol. 16, issue 2, pp. 162-166. Web.
Swearingen, S. (2009). A journey to leadership: designing a nursing leadership development program.The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing. Vol. 40 , issue 3, pp. 107-112. Web.
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