Measurement of Staff Empowerment Within Health Service Organizations

Irvine, D.; Leatt, Peggy; Evans, Martin; Baker, Ross

doi:10.1891/1061-3749.7.1.79

Cited by 60 publications

(90 citation statements)

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“…Verbal empowerment includes the ability to state one's opinion and to debate and defend one's own point of view, to participate in decision-making and to present work-related problems to those in managerial positions. Finally, outcome empowerment refers to helping colleagues and superiors in improving and changing the way that work is done and increasing the effectiveness of the hospital (24).…”

Section: Work-related Empowermentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceived Organizational Change and its Connection to the Work-Related Empowerment

Suominen¹,

Härkönen²,

Rankinen³

et al. 2011

Nordic Journal of Nursing Research

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Introduction The hospital setting under investigationThe hospital under investigation is a specialist unit that provides care and treatment for different rheumatic conditions. The hospital organization was reformed in 2004. Based on a subscriber-producer model, service provision is now closely organised around distinct areas of specialisation. This offers advantages in terms of training and developing staff skills and competencies. The adoption of this model implied not only a reorganisation of health care activities, but also a complete overhaul of the cost centre structure. During 2005, individuals were appointed to assume responsibility for a large number of services and products. (1, 2)The hospital has 220 beds, several outpatient units and 382 permanent staff. Patient care has been organised through multidisciplinary teams since the 1950s. These consist of rheumatologists, nurses, social workers, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and orthopedists and other health care professionals. (2, 3) Organizational changesContinuous change in complex healthcare environments is a challenge for nurse leaders, but it can also be a boon. Change can leverage the introduction of innovations that improve the quality of care delivery. It all depends on how change is managed. (4) Thus, implementing change in organizations is a key nursing leadership competency and at the same time daunting responsibility. (5)Health care organizations have seen numerous reforms in the past few years, and even more changes are expected in the near future to further step up efficiency. In the change management important issues are e.g. the roles of power and political behaviour, how much change can be planned and controlled, how to combine top-down and bottomup approaches, the role of emotions, and how to understand the change management process. (6) The single biggest group of health care professionals to be affected by recent hospital downsizings is that of nurses. It has been suggested that the quality of patient care could be adversely affected if nurses lose their trust in the system because loss of job security (7, 8). Empowerment has been reported to be crucial to the successful restructuring of an organiza-tion (9) The key factors that create an empowered environment during transitions are access to information and participation in the decisionmaking process (7, 9), adequate staff resources, mutual support (10) and a feeling of confidence in the changeover process in general (7) Information sharing and participation in decision-making Many recent studies have shown that information-related issues have a major impact in terms of promoting work-related empowerment in health care organizations. Open communication and adequate and accurate information sharing in a timely fashion enable staff to take part in the decision-making process. Giving staff members the opportunity to participate in meetings and taking their views and suggestions into consideration have been found to strengthen the experience of empowerment (7,11,12) and to crea...

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Section: Work-related Empowermentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceived Organizational Change and its Connection to the Work-Related Empowerment

Suominen¹,

Härkönen²,

Rankinen³

et al. 2011

Nordic Journal of Nursing Research

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“…Overall, there were few comprehensive, theory-based measures of CQI-specific constructs. Good examples of theory-based measures were instruments measuring empowerment for QI (Irvine 1999 [126]) and motivation to use CQI methods (Lin 2000 [80]).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring organizational and individual factors thought to influence the success of quality improvement in primary care: a systematic review of instruments

et al. 2012

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BackgroundContinuous quality improvement (CQI) methods are widely used in healthcare; however, the effectiveness of the methods is variable, and evidence about the extent to which contextual and other factors modify effects is limited. Investigating the relationship between these factors and CQI outcomes poses challenges for those evaluating CQI, among the most complex of which relate to the measurement of modifying factors. We aimed to provide guidance to support the selection of measurement instruments by systematically collating, categorising, and reviewing quantitative self-report instruments.MethodsData sources: We searched MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Health and Psychosocial Instruments, reference lists of systematic reviews, and citations and references of the main report of instruments. Study selection: The scope of the review was determined by a conceptual framework developed to capture factors relevant to evaluating CQI in primary care (the InQuIRe framework). Papers reporting development or use of an instrument measuring a construct encompassed by the framework were included. Data extracted included instrument purpose; theoretical basis, constructs measured and definitions; development methods and assessment of measurement properties. Analysis and synthesis: We used qualitative analysis of instrument content and our initial framework to develop a taxonomy for summarising and comparing instruments. Instrument content was categorised using the taxonomy, illustrating coverage of the InQuIRe framework. Methods of development and evidence of measurement properties were reviewed for instruments with potential for use in primary care.ResultsWe identified 186 potentially relevant instruments, 152 of which were analysed to develop the taxonomy. Eighty-four instruments measured constructs relevant to primary care, with content measuring CQI implementation and use (19 instruments), organizational context (51 instruments), and individual factors (21 instruments). Forty-one instruments were included for full review. Development methods were often pragmatic, rather than systematic and theory-based, and evidence supporting measurement properties was limited.ConclusionsMany instruments are available for evaluating CQI, but most require further use and testing to establish their measurement properties. Further development and use of these measures in evaluations should increase the contribution made by individual studies to our understanding of CQI and enhance our ability to synthesise evidence for informing policy and practice.

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“…Across the literature, empowerment is defined as the ability to get things done (Irvine, Leatt, Evans & Baker, 1999; Kanter, 1993; Knol & VanLinge, 2009). Kanter (1993) views empowerment as arising from four structural components (i.e., support, resources, information, opportunity), thereby enabling employees to be engaged in more satisfying and effective work-related activities.…”

Section: Empowermentmentioning

confidence: 99%