Paper
Saturday, 22 July 2006
This presentation is part of : Nursing Leadership Strategies
Antecedents and Consequences of Perceived Organizational Support: The Nurse Manager Experience in Acute Care Settings
Heather K. S. Laschinger, RN, PhD1, Joan M. Almost, RN, MScN2, Nancy Purdy, RN, MScN1, and Julia Cho, RN, MScN3. (1) School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada, (2) Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, (3) Nursing Secretariat, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, Toronto, ON, Canada
Learning Objective #1: describe the antecedents and consequences of managers’ perceived organizational support.
Learning Objective #2: suggest strategies for creating positive work conditions that promote retention of nurse managers.
The span of control and areas of responsibility for nurse managers has expanded significantly over the last decade.  There has been a 29% reduction in manager roles across Canada since 1994.  As a result, fewer nurses are interested in pursuing management positions due to a perceived lack of support, unrealistic job expectations and lack of rewards.  Many managers will retire in the next few years.  There is a tremendous need to attract new managers while creating structures to maintain the current complement of experienced managers.  Eisenberger’s (1986) Theory of Perceived Organizational Support (POS) maintains that a fundamental condition of employee satisfaction and commitment is the valuing of employees’ contributions and well-being by the organization.  Management behaviours and organizational policies form the basis for employees’ interpretation of organizational support.  A study was conducted to test a theoretical model of the antecedents and consequences of managers’ perceived organizational support derived from Eisenberger’s theory.  A descriptive, correlational design was used in a random sample of 202 hospital-based first-line nurse managers in Ontario.  The strongest antecedents of managers’ POS were respect, recognition, and immediate supervisor support.  Consequences of manager POS included high levels of organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and low levels of burnout.  The results suggest that when managers feel respected by their superiors and recognized for their contribution to organizational goals, they are more likely to feel valued by the organization, which, in turn, results in positive outcomes for both managers and organizations. The results suggest strategies for creating positive work conditions that promote retention of nurse managers.

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