Nurse managers' perceptions related to their leadership styles, knowledge, and skills in these areas-a viewpoint: case of health centre wards in Finland.

The purpose of this study was to explore nurse managers' perceptions related to their leadership styles, knowledge, and their skills in these areas in health centre wards in Finland. The data were collected from nurse managers (n = 252) in health centre hospitals in Finland using a structured questionnaire (response rate 63%). Six leadership styles-visionary, coaching, affiliate, democratic, commanding, and isolating-were reflected on. Almost all respondents in every age group considered four leadership styles-visionary, coaching, affiliate, and democratic-to be very important or important. Nurse managers estimated their knowledge and skills in leadership styles to be essentially fairly sufficient or sufficient. Nurse managers' abilities to reflect, understand, and, if necessary, change their leadership style influence the work unit's success and employees' job satisfaction. Nurse managers, especially new nurse managers, need more theoretic, evidence-based education to cope with these expectations and to develop their professional abilities. Together with universities, health care organizations should start planning nurse manager education programmes that focus on strategic issues, leadership, job satisfaction, challenging situations in leadership, change management, work unit management (e.g., economy, efficiency, and resources), and how the nurse managers consider their own wellbeing.

Nurse managers' leadership styles in Finland.

Nurse managers who can observe their own behaviour and its effects on employees can adjust to a better leadership style. The intention of this study was to explore nurses' and supervisors' perceptions of nurse managers' leadership styles. Open-ended interviews were conducted with 11 nurses and 10 superiors. The data were analysed by content analysis. In the study, six leadership styles were identified: visionary, coaching, affiliate, democratic, commanding, and isolating. Job satisfaction and commitment as well as operation and development work, cooperation, and organizational climate in the work unit were the factors, affected by leadership styles. The nurse managers should consider their leadership style from the point of view of employees, situation factors, and goals of the organization. Leadership styles where employees are seen in a participatory role have become more common.

Nurse managers' challenges in project management.

AIM: To analyse the challenges that nurse managers meet in project management. BACKGROUND: Project management done by nurse managers has a significant role in the success of projects conducted in work units. METHODS: The data were collected by open interviews (n = 14). The participants were nurse managers, nurses and public health nurses. Data analysis was carried out using qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: The three main challenges nurse managers faced in project management in health-care work units were: (1) apathetic organization and management, (2) paralysed work community and (3) cooperation between individuals being discouraged. CONCLUSIONS: Nurse managers' challenges in project management can be viewed from the perspective of the following paradoxes: (1) keeping up projects-ensuring patient care, (2) enthusiastic management-effective management of daily work and (3) supporting the work of a multiprofessional team-leadership of individual employees. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: It is important for nurse managers to learn to relate these paradoxes to one another in a positive way. Further research is needed, focusing on nurse managers' ability to promote workplace spirituality, nurse managers' emotional intelligence and their enthusiasm in small projects.

Factors of human capital related to project success in health care work units.

AIM: To explore factors of human capital related to project success that employees expect from nurse managers. BACKGROUND: Human capital refers to those resources that managers working with projects possess, such as abilities, knowledge and qualities of character. METHOD: The data were collected by open interviews (n=14) with nurses, public health nurses and nurse managers working in primary health care and a hospital. Data analysis was carried out using qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: The main factors of human capital related to project success proved to be as follows: (1) management of enthusiastic project culture, (2) management of regeneration and (3) management of emotional intelligence. CONCLUSIONS: Future research is needed on the kind of means nurse managers use in human capital management in projects and how they see their possibilities in managing human capital. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Human capital management skills should be underlined as an important competence area when recruiting a nurse manager. The success of health care projects cannot be improved only through education or by training of nurse managers; in addition, projects need nurse managers who understand workplace spirituality and have high emotional intelligence.

Leadership styles of Finnish nurse managers and factors influencing it.

AIM: The purpose of the present study was to explore nurse managers' perceptions of their leadership styles and factors influencing it. BACKGROUND: It is a challenge for nurse managers to retain nurses in hospitals and to ensure a high quality of care in nursing practice. Leadership style is an important part of leadership. Knowledge concerning nurse managers' resonant and non-resonant leadership styles provides nurse managers with tools to reflect on their own leadership style. METHOD: Open-ended, tape-recorded interviews were conducted with 13 nurse managers from five Finnish hospitals and two long-term care facilities. The data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: Five categories of leadership style were discerned: visionary, coaching, affiliate, democratic, commanding. Factors that influence leadership style were identified: earlier superiors, values, information, cooperation, employees and education. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study show that Finnish nurse managers use both resonant and non-resonant leadership styles. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: The findings of this study show that nurse managers use a variety of leadership styles. The study demonstrates the importance of knowledge about leadership styles and factors influencing it among nurse managers providing future leadership and management education.

Focal aspects of co-operation between the private, public and third sectors in a sparsely populated area in northern Finland.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze the focal aspects of co-operation between the private, public and third sectors in a sparsely populated area of northern Finland. The study is part of a larger research and development project, which produced a model of co-operation between the sectors in a sparsely populated area of northern Finland. STUDY DESIGN: The study was qualitative. An expert group (n = 12), consisting of representatives from the private (n = 4), public (n = 4) and third sectors (n = 4), was recruited. METHODS: The data were collected using the focus groups method. The focus group method was feasible here because the development of co-operation between the different sectors was new, and the aim was to find novel operating models. RESULTS: The focal aspects of co-operation between the different sectors consisted of the objectives of operation, the client's perspective, the structures, the contents of operation and the operating culture. CONCLUSIONS: An expert group of representatives from the different sectors was a functional starting-point for the development of co-operation. The group also made it possible to reach representatives of the sectors more widely by means of the questionnaire survey. The operation of the expert group clearly involved elements of network management, because the group aimed to take into account the interests of all network actors. Network management at this stage of the project can be considered successful. To maintain co-operation at the concrete level, shared self-guided activities between the sectors will be needed.

Practical nurses in elder care and changes in Finnish society - a biographical study.

BACKGROUND: Substantial changes in the socio-economic circumstances in Finnish society over the past century have resulted in major changes in the case of older people, and in the status of nursing staff who care for them. AIM: The purpose of this study was to describe and analyse the work of practical nurses in elder care through the experiences and life cycles of two practical nurses with a long working experience. METHODS: The data consisted of oral biographical narratives produced by the two nurses in repeated interviews. The data were analysed using inductive content analysis. FINDINGS: The following chronological stages and periods of the work of the informants emerged as the core themes of elder care: (1) Collective institutionalized care in the 1950s-1970s: The lowest caste in training, obedient subordinates, undemanding service and routine work; (2) Elderly orientated institutionalized care in the 1980s and 1990s: From subordination to co-operation as an experienced nurse, recognizing the specific qualities of the elderly; (3) Prospects of elder care from the 1990s onwards: Returning to custodial care? CONCLUSIONS: The themes are related to the more general changes that have taken place in Finnish society and health care. The future prospects of practical nurses seem challenging because the principles of social work and health care in Finnish society have shifted from institutionalization towards community care. As a consequence, practical nurses are required to have higher qualifications.