WORK GROUP CULTURE, WORKPLACE STRESS, AND HOSTILITY: CORRELATIONS WITH ABSENTEEISM AND TURNOVER IN HOSPITAL NURSES (JOB SATISFACTION).
Contributors: University of California, San Francisco.
Published: 1995
Number of pages: 170
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Health Care Management.; Psychology, Social.; Psychology, Industrial.
Description: The purpose of this study was to describe the relationship between work group culture and nursing unit outcomes, specifically absenteeism and turnover. Secondary purposes were to describe (a) the relationship between workplace stress and these nursing unit outcomes and (b) the relationship between hostility and these nursing unit outcomes.

This study was a descriptive correlational design and was conducted at five full-service tertiary care university teaching hospitals on the West coast of the United States. The unit of analysis was the nursing unit. All adult inpatient medical/surgical and specialty nursing units were admitted to the study if 25% of the nursing staff who work 20 hours per week or more completed the questionnaires.

A total of 67 nursing units with 622 individuals were entered into the study. The typical participant was a white, female RN with an average age of 36.3 years. Participants had averages of 11.1 years experience in nursing, 6.8 years in the hospital, 4.9 years in the nursing unit, and 7.1 years in the nursing specialty. Participants worked an average of 11.0 hours per day and 35.2 hours per week and had a BSN or AD as their basic nursing preparation with the baccalaureate as the highest degree.

Work group culture was defined as a pattern of shared values and assumptions and demonstrated by behaviors of a group that have developed over time as a way to solve problems in order that the group may survive, and measured by the Organizational Culture Inventory (OCI) (Cooke & Lafferty, 1987). Workplace stress was defined as job strain resulting from the interaction of the demands of the work situation and the range of decision making freedom or control available to the worker, and measured by the Job Content Questionnaire (Karasek, 1979). Hostility was defined as a stable individual personality trait characterized by chronic hate, anger, and a suspicious view of the world, and measured by the Cook and Medley Hostility Scale (Cook & Medley, 1954).

There was a significant negative correlation (r = $-.268$. p =.028) between decision latitude, part of the job strain model, and absenteeism. There were no statistically significant correlations between work group culture or hostility and absenteeism or turnover, nor were there other significant correlations between job stress and absenteeism or turnover.

All of the nursing units displayed a constructive work group culture and all of the units had a lower than average score for hostility. The study indicated that nursing is a high decision latitude/high psychological demand occupation and not an occupation that is defined as having job strain.

A major implication of the study is that nurse managers, when making management decisions, should take into account the notion that the work group culture in the units is generally constructive and staff members are generally low in hostility. Nurse managers can keep in mind that an environment with greater decision latitude for the staff members will also be an environment with less absenteeism. Another implication of the study is the need to refine or develop measurement instruments for job stress and organizational culture that detect more subtle differences among nursing units.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-08, Section: B, page: 4245.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO, 1995.

School code: 0034.