TECHNOLOGY AND TASK DESIGN IN HOSPITAL NURSING UNITS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY (CONTINGENCY).
Contributors: University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Published: 1984
Number of pages: 208
Subjects: Health Sciences, Health Care Management.
Description: Despite research interest in the ways in which technology influences organization design and the manner in which workers respond to the design of their jobs, little effort has been made to understand the relationship between these two important organizational variables. Using data collected from five types of nursing units in 12 Alabama hospitals (n = 52), this study identified the relationships among three dimensions of nursing technology and five dimensions of task design and examined the contingency effects of these relationships on three outcome variables. Implementing principles used in job redesign were proposed and tested as the theoretical linkage between the technology and task design components.

The results of linear regression and canonical correlation analysis indicate that instability and variability in the technology affect the skill variety, task identity, and task significance reported by nurses. Analysis of variance, Duncan's pairwise comparison of means, and linear regression which considered interactive, symmetrical, and nonmonotonic arguments revealed that increasing job design characteristics for nurses is not always appropriate, depending on the technology of the unit. No support was found for the use of the implementing principles as the theoretical linkage between technology and task design.

These findings have several implications. Differences among nursing units suggest that job redesign, employee hiring and placement and quality of employee work experience must consider the differing technologies of different nursing units. Additionally, the education of both nurses and health care managers must include an understanding of the differences in nursing unit technologies if the efficiency and effectiveness of the health care system is to advance.

Additional research is required to explicate these relationships more fully. Research based on data collected from other industries and from personnel other than nurses in health organizations is required. Research is also required to determine the contingency effects of technology and task design on additional outcome variables (i.e., measures of performance, quality of care, efficiency, and individual behavioral outcomes).
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-11, Section: B, page: 3462.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM, 1984.

School code: 0005.