Discuss barriers caused by an organizational culture that can be encountered by nursing leaders that can make them feel powerless
Introduction
There are several barriers caused by organizational culture encountered by nursing
leaders like interpersonal conflict, job conflict, and power struggles that hinder work
performance (Mannix, Wilkes & Daly, 2013, p 11). Toxic organizational culture hinders
creativity and new ideas thus leading to low productivity of nursing staff and low work morale.
A weak organizational culture lacks clarity of job roles and tasks thus leading to role conflict that
hinders accountability and responsibility for tasks among nursing staff thus adversely affecting
nursing work coordination (Toor & Ofori, 2009, p 538).
A weak culture that lead to communication breakdown due to unclear communication
channels and lack of active listening by nurses thus affecting the allocation of work among
nurses (Toor & Ofori, 2009, p 540). In this case, unclear communication is a major cause of
conflicts in health organizations. A weak culture that encourages disobedience, laziness, and
failure to adhere with nursing ethics hinders the ability of nurse leaders to direct and supervise
staff thus rendering them powerless due to absence of control (Mannix, Wilkes & Daly, 2013, p
13).
An organizational culture that is based on wrong work values and principles is a barrier
that makes nursing leaders powerless since it leads to tensions based on the differences in values
among staff (Mannix, Wilkes & Daly, 2013, p 19). For instance, a culture of dishonesty among
nursing staff will negatively affect the ability to collaborate and work harmoniously thus
rendering the nurse leader powerless. A culture that lacks empathy and compassion leads to
power quality nursing care and low patient satisfaction (Toor & Ofori, 2009, p 546).
References:
Mannix, J., Wilkes, L & Daly, J. (2013). ‘Attributes of clinical leadership in contemporary
nursing: An integrative review’, Contemporary nurse, 45 (1), pp 10-21.
Toor, S.R & Ofori, G. (2009). ‘Ethical leadership: Examining the relationship with full range
leadership model, employee outcomes, and organizational culture’, Journal of Business
Ethics, 90 (1), pp 533-547.