A time-lagged analysis of the effect of authentic leadership on workplace bullying, burnout, and occupational turnover intentions

Destructive interpersonal experiences at work result in negative feelings among employees and negative work outcomes. Understanding the mechanisms through which bullying can lead to burnout and subsequent turnover is important for preventing and managing this problem. Leaders play a key role in shaping positive work environments by discouraging negative interpersonal experiences and behaviours. The aim of this study is twofold. Specifically we aim to examine the relationship between authentic leadership and new graduate nurses experiences of workplace bullying and burnout over a 1-year timeframe in Canadian healthcare settings. Furthermore we aim to examine the process from workplace bullying to subsequent burnout dimensions, and to job and career turnover intentions. Results of structural equation models on new graduate nurses working in acute care settings in Ontario (N = 205) provide support for the hypothesized model linking supervisor's authentic leadership, subsequent work-related bullying, and burnout, and these in turn to job and career turnover intentions. Thus, the more leaders were perceived to be authentic the less likely nurses’ were to experience subsequent work-related bullying and burnout and to want to leave their job and profession. The results highlight the important role of leadership in preventing negative employee and organizational outcomes

Job enrichment: Creating meaningful career development opportunities for nurses

© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Aim: This paper presents an evaluation of a career development policy in South Australia which increased the number of senior staff nurse positions and provided senior registered nurses with time away from clinical duties to undertake agreed projects. We use Kanter's model of structural power and commitment theory to understand the dimensions of this policy. Background: Development strategies for experienced staff who wish to remain at the bedside are needed, especially in smaller health services with limited opportunities for horizontal or vertical mobility. Methods: Face-to-face semistructured interviews were conducted with 54 senior staff nurses who participated in the career structure arrangements. Results: The policy enhanced the structure of opportunity in three ways: by increasing the number of senior staff nurse positions, the ladder steps were improved; undertaking strategic projects developed new skills; and the job enrichment approach facilitated time out from the immediate pressures of ward work and challenged nurses in a different way. Conclusions: Through job enrichment, South Australia has found a novel way of providing meaningful career development opportunities for experienced nurses. Implications for nursing management: Methods of job enrichment need to be considered as part of career development policy, especially where movement between clinical facilities is limited and staff wish to remain at the bedside

Testing the Nursing Worklife Model in Canada and Australia: A multi-group comparison study

© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. Study aim: To test a model derived from the Nursing Worklife Model linking elements of supportive practice environments to nurses' turnover intentions and behaviours in Canada and Australia. Background: With the worldwide shortage of nurses, retaining nurses within fiscally challenged health care systems is critical to sustaining the future of the nursing workforce and ultimately safe patient care. The Nursing Worklife Model describes a pattern of relationships amongst environmental factors that support nursing practice and link to nurse turnover. This model has been tested in north American settings but not in other countries. Methods: A secondary analysis of data collected in two cross-sectional studies in Canadian and Australian hospitals ( N= 4816) was conducted to test our theoretical model. Multigroup structural equation modelling techniques were used to determine the validity of our model in both countries and to identify differences between countries. Results: The hypothesized model relationships were supported in both countries with few differences between groups. Components of supportive professional practice work environments, particularly resources, were significantly linked to nurses' turnover intentions and active search for new jobs. Leadership played a critical role in shaping the pattern of relationships to other components of supportive practice environments and ultimately turnover behaviours. Conclusion: The Nursing Worklife Model was shown to be valid in both countries, suggesting that management efforts to ensure that features of supportive practice environments are in place to promote the retention of valuable nursing resources

The protective role of self-efficacy against workplace incivility and burnout in nursing: A time-lagged study

Background: Incivility has negative consequences in the workplace and remains a prevalent issue in nursing. Research has consistently linked incivility to nurse burnout and, in turn, to poor mental health and turnover intentions. To retain high quality nurses it is important to understand what factors might protect nurses from the negative effects of workplace mistreatment. Purpose: This study investigated the role of relational occupational coping self-efficacy in protecting nurses from workplace incivility and related burnout and turnover intentions. Methodology: A two-wave national sample of 596 Canadian nurses completed mail surveys both at Time 1 and one year later at Time 2. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized model. Results: The model showed a good fit and most of the hypothesized paths were significant. Overall, the results supported the hypothesized protective effect of relational occupational coping self-efficacy against incivility and later burnout, mental health, and turnover intentions. Conclusion: Relational occupational coping self-efficacy is an important protective factor against negative work behavior. Practice Implications: Organizations should provide nurses with opportunities to build their coping strategies for managing job demands and difficult interpersonal interactions. Similarly, providing exposure to effective role models and providing meaningful verbal encouragement are other sources of efficacy information for building nurses’ relational coping self-efficacy

Perceived stress and team performance during a simulated resuscitation

Purpose: Barriers to optimal performance of cardiopulmonary resuscitation may partly relate to human factors, such as stress and specific emotions. The aim of this study was to investigate whether mental stress and different perceived emotions have a negative impact on the performance of rescuers. Methods: This prospective, observational study was conducted at the Simulator Center of the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland. A total of 120 medical students (70% female) participated in teams of three. They reported levels of perceived stress, feeling overwhelmed, motivation and specific emotions before, during, and after a simulated resuscitation. The association of stress/overload (index of stress and feeling overwhelmed), motivation, and specific emotions with resuscitation performance defined as hands-on time during the first 180s after cardiac arrest was investigated. Results: During resuscitation, levels of stress/overload, motivation, and negative emotions were significantly higher as compared to the periods before and after resuscitation. In contrast, positive emotions were highest before and after resuscitation and significantly lower during resuscitation. In general, females reported higher stress/overload and negative emotions, whereas males reported more positive emotions. A multivariate linear regression model showed negative associations of stress/overload (regression coefficient −18.12, 95% CI −30.73, −5.51, p=0.006) and positive associations of motivation (regression coefficient 13.45, 95% CI 0.95, 25.95, p=0.036) with resuscitation performance. Conclusion: A simulated cardiac arrest caused substantial perceived stress/overload and negative emotions, particularly in female students, which adversely impacted resuscitation performance. Further studies are required to expand our findings to more experienced medical professionals and investigate whether stress coping strategies improve resuscitation performanc

Extended moment formation and magnetic ordering in the trigonal chain compound Ca3Co2O6

The results of electronic structure calculations for the one-dimensional magnetic chain compound Ca3Co2O6 are presented. The calculations are based on density functional theory and the local density approximation and used the augmented spherical wave (ASW) method. Our results allow for deeper understanding of recent experimental findings. In particular, alternation of Co 3d low- and high-spin states along the characteristic chains is related to differences in the oxygen coordination at the inequivalent cobalt sites. Strong hybridization of the d states with the O 2p states lays ground for polarization of the latter and the formation of extended localized magnetic moments centered at the high-spin sites. In contrast, strong metal-metal overlap along the chains gives rise to intrachain ferromagnetic exchange coupling of the extended moments via the d_{3z^2-r^2} orbitals of the low-spin cobalt atoms.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures more information at http://www.physik.uni-augsburg.de/~eyert

Nursing unit managers, staff retention and the work environment

Aim and objective: This paper examined the impact of leadership characteristics of nursing unit managers, as perceived by staff nurses, on staff satisfaction and retention. Background. A positive work environment will increase levels of job satisfaction and staff retention. Nurse leaders play a critical role in creating a positive work environment. Important leadership characteristics of the front-line nurse manager include visibility, accessibility, consultation, recognition and support. Design: Secondary analysis of data collected on 94 randomly selected wards in 21 public hospitals across two Australian states between 2004-2006. Methods: All nurses (n = 2488, 80·3% response rate) on the selected wards were asked to complete a survey that included the 49-item Nursing Work Index-Revised [NWI-R] together with measures of job satisfaction, satisfaction with nursing and intention to leave. Subscales of the NWI-R were calculated. Leadership, the domain of interest, consisted of 12 items. Wards were divided into those reporting either positive or negative leadership. Data were analysed at the nurse level using spss version 16. Results: A nursing manager who was perceived to be a good leader, was visible, consulted with staff, provided praise and recognition and where flexible work schedules were available was found to distinguish the positive and negative wards. However, for a ward to be rated as positive overall, nurse leaders need to perform well on all the leadership items. Conclusion: An effective nursing unit manager who consults with staff and provides positive feedback and who is rated highly on a broad range of leadership items is instrumental in increasing job satisfaction and satisfaction with nursing. Relevance to clinical practice: Good nurse managers play an important role in staff retention and satisfaction. Improved retention will lead to savings for the organisation, which may be allocated to activities such as training and mentorship to assist nurse leaders in developing these critical leadership skills. Strategies also need to be put in place to ensure that nurse leaders receive adequate organisational support from nursing executives. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

The Origin of Magnetic Interactions in Ca3Co2O6

We investigate the microscopic origin of the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic spin exchange couplings in the quasi one-dimensional cobalt compound Ca3Co2O6. In particular, we establish a local model which stabilizes a ferromagnetic alignment of the S=2 spins on the cobalt sites with trigonal prismatic symmetry, for a sufficiently strong Hund's rule coupling on the cobalt ions. The exchange is mediated through a S=0 cobalt ion at the octahedral sites of the chain structure. We present a strong coupling evaluation of the Heisenberg coupling between the S=2 Co spins on a separate chain. The chains are coupled antiferromagnetically through super-superexchange via short O-O bonds.Comment: 5 Pages, 3 Figures; added anisotropy term in eq. 9; extended discussion of phase transitio

Magnetic ordering in trigonal chain compounds

We present electronic structure calculations for the one-dimensional magnetic chain compounds Ca_3CoRhO_6 and Ca_3FeRhO_6. The calculations are based on density functional theory and the local density approximation. We use the augmented spherical wave (ASW) method. The observed alternation of low- and high-spin states along the Co-Rh and Fe-Rh chains is related to differences in the oxygen coordination of the transition metal sites. Due to strong hybridization the O 2p states are polarized, giving rise to extended localized magnetic moments centered at the high-spin sites. Strong metal-metal overlap along the chains leads to a substantial contribution of the low-spin Rh 4d_{3z^2-r^2} orbitals to the exchange coupling of the extended moments. Interestingly, this mechanism holds for both compounds, even though the coupling is ferromagnetic for the cobalt and antiferromagnetic for the iron compound. However, our results allow to understand the different types of coupling from the filling dependence of the electronic properties.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, more information at http://www.physik.uni-augsburg.de/~eyert

Sustainability and Social-Ecological Systems: Navigating Oil Palm Cultivation and Sustainable Livelihoods

This study reports on the results of research undertaken to assess the role of oil palm cultiva-tion for local livelihoods in the sub-district of Karaket in Thailand. Oil palm cultivation has become a product of heated debate within the international community and various stakehold-ers have raised serious concerns over its environmental and social sustainability. Karaket has recently experienced substantial uptake of oil palms by independently operating smallholder farmers. As such, it served as interesting case to explore the main outcomes of oil palm culti-vation for local livelihoods; regarded to operate in a system at interface with the social and the ecological. Through placing such system outcomes in the context of economic, social and environmental sustainability, implications for sustainable local livelihoods were unveiled. The study was guided by its own conceptual model and relied on interpretive, qualitative case study evidence that put local stakeholders at the centre of investigation. Evidence showed that oil palm cultivation has created high social and economic value for sustainable livelihoods without seriously undermining the natural resource base. Data revealed that multiple interrelations between the contextual, governance, resource, and resource user system have created such values, and if beneficial system interrelations are strengthened, sustainability may be secured