The hospital I work at has recently been plagued with high turnover. This used to be something that mainly affected the entry level jobs such as environmental services or patient care associates but in the past few years these patterns have started to emerge in administrative and managerial positions. The main criticism from co-workers cites the hiring practices of the hospital. The organization has a tendency to hire individuals from outside of the hospital rather than individuals that already work for the hospital and subsequently have been exposed to its culture and core values. The reason for this hiring pattern is that there is little motivation among employees already hired by the hospital to move up to managerial positions. For instance, there are multiple nurses on my unit who have received master’s degrees in nursing/management and have actively decided that they do not want to hold administrative or managerial positions. The main reasons they’ve cited for their disinterest has been a general lack of motivation to move up to these roles.
High turnover can be detrimental to an organization. Experts estimate it costs upwards of twice an employee’s salary to find and train a replacement while the changes can damage morale among remaining employees (“How to Reduce Employee Turnover”, 2009). However, research has revealed that hiring within an industry is likely to reduce turnover (Levin, 1992). With what we have learned so far this semester, I would like to make some suggestions to cultivate and promote individuals that are already working in the hospital to accept leadership roles. The first suggestion would be to start a management training program within the facility. Notices advertising these managerial and administrative openings can be posted and/or emailed to all educationally qualified employers along with information about the management training program. In order to successfully motivate qualified individuals to move up to these positions, a situational leadership style and a skills approach need to be employed.
When implementing a managerial training program, it is important to implement a style that is characterized by a low-directive-high-supportive approach to assure that qualified trainees remain motivated within the program. The directive aspect includes the preceptors’ role in providing instruction to trainees while the high supportive aspect takes the needs of the employees into consideration (Bedford, 2013). In order to increase motivation within the facility for employees to move up to these roles, it is especially important to maintain this high-supportive approach. Many of the employees are qualified and have enough experience with the hospital to adjust accordingly to their new roles but in order to keep them motivated, the supportive role needs to be appropriately satisfied. This can be done by having supervisors directly conversing with and motivating potential employees to move up in the hospital. By discussing their own positive experiences in these roles, they can encourage others to pursue similar positions. Furthermore, the training programs should be flexible enough for nurses of various shifts to participate in while still being able to maintain other aspects of their lives. This S3 situational leadership approach can be vital in cultivating the highly competent but low/variable commitment employees already working in the hospital to fulfill managerial positions and reduce worker turnover (Northouse, 2013).
Second under the skills theory, the organization needs to take a stance on what aspects of leadership an associate needs to be successful in these managerial positions and how to go about teaching these (PSU WC, L4, p. 8). The qualified, in-house employees require much less direction in terms of becoming familiar with the computer systems, culture and values of the hospital but they do need to be taught necessary skills that are vital to their success as managers. Skills such as motivating and evaluating individuals, analyzing progress and making procedural changes are all things that will be new to these employees. A skills approach embraces the idea that necessary skills for successful leadership can be taught so this theory is important in training individuals (Northouse, 2013).
The change in approach can actively improve worker morale while also being financially beneficial. Furthermore, seeing co-workers moving up to higher positions may inspire even more individuals to pursue master’s degrees in nursing management and reach similar heights. The hospital can successful diminish worker turnover by motivating the qualified staff already working in the hospital to take on these roles.
How to Reduce Employee Turnover. (2009, April 7). wsj.com. Retrieved October 5, 2014, from http://guides.wsj.com/management/recruiting-hiring-and-firing/how-to-reduce-employee-turnover/tab/print/
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2013). PSYCH 485 Lesson 4: Skills Approach. Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/fa13/psych485/002/content/04_lesson/08_page.html
Bedford, C., & Gehlert, K. M. (2013). Situational Supervision: Applying Situational Leadership to Clinical Supervision. The Clinical supervisor, 32(1), 56-69.
Levin, J. M., & Kleiner, B. H. (1992). How to reduce organizational turnover and absenteeism. Work Study, 41(6), 6-9.
Northouse, P. (2013). Introduction. In Leadership Theory and Practice (Sixth ed., pp. 99-121). Sage Publications.
Oksana Nikolaevna Heeger says
I agree with the author of this post that the high turnover is detrimental to the organization. The causes of the voluntary turnover are usually hidden in a lack of career development and poor leadership. Career advancement is one the job characteristics that makes the job desirable and increases an employee’s motivation. If an employee has an opportunity for sequential promotion within a company, then both sides would win; an employee would demonstrate the highest organizational commitment and a company would save money on training a new employee. A leader should also adapt his/her leadership style to this situation. According to the path-goal theory, employees who demonstrate the need to excel and have high expectations require the achievement-oriented leadership style (Northouse, 2013). Employees who are skilled and competent strive for excellence and advancement; they need a leader who will challenge them and set goals at the highest level possible and at the same time will demonstrate high confidence in his/her followers (Northouse, 2013). Promotion of the employees who demonstrate the highest level of performance will motivate the rest of the employees to put a lot of effort in their work. A leader should create objectives for employees that meet their personal goals to move toward success. In this light, the goals of employees and the company coincide; while a company wants their employees to succeed and to grow in their career development, employees build their careers by providing success to a company. Both parties share in their mutual success.
References
Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice (6th ed.). Los Angeles: SAGE.
Anne Merideth Tressler says
I think this approach would be highly valuable to the hospital. I have worked for a company that also had high turnover and could benefit from this same program. I think it is important to discuss the motivational aspect of this approach. By motivating employees, we are encouraging them to move up within the company. I think often people are discouraged to move into managerial roles for fear of unhappiness because of the negativity that radiates from those in upper management. It takes just one person speaking negatively about their management role to ruin it for everyone. If everyone spoke positively and promoted the importance of qualified upper management, promoting within a company such as the hospital would be easier.