THE IMPACT OF SHARED GOVERNANCE ON NURSES' PERCEPTIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE.
Contributors: Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
Published: 1993
Number of pages: 157
Subjects: Education, Administration.; Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Health Care Management.
Description: The recruitment and retention of nurses have become major concerns for nurse executives as the increasing demand for nursing services continues to outstrip the nursing supply. Due to the growing awareness of the effect the work environment has on nursing retention, various nursing governance structures have been experimented with in acute care institutions. Shared governance is one such structure which provides nurses with a work environment that gives them authority for decisions, autonomy to make those decisions, and control over the implementation and outcome of the decisions. The purpose of this investigation was to describe and compare nurses' perceptions of the organizational climate in a tertiary care teaching hospital prior to and one year following the implementation of a shared governance system. Nurses' perceptions of the characteristics of their preferred work environment over the same time period were also assessed. The Work Environment Scale (Forms R and I) was used in this study to measure the organizational climate perceptions of registered nurses employed in a 567-bed acute care institution located in the Midwest.

Results of the study revealed that within this institution, there were minor changes in nurses' perceptions of the actual work environment one year after the implementation of shared governance. These changes pertained to the perceived levels of task orientation, supervisor support, autonomy, and control. In relation to their desired characteristics of an ideal practice setting, the nurses' responses also indicated minor changes as a result of the one year experience with a shared governance model in the institution. These changes were related to the nurses' desired levels of peer cohesion, innovation, involvement, autonomy, work pressure, and clarity. These results provide some evidence for advocates of shared governance systems who believe that shared governance can facilitate the development of a professionally satisfying work environment for nurses practicing in traditionally bureaucratic acute care institutions.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-08, Section: A, page: 2833.

Thesis (PH.D.)--SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY AT CARBONDALE, 1993.

School code: 0209.