Controlling the High Employee Turnover Rate within Nursing Faculties - Thesis Example

Research Transformational Leadership Style in Controlling the High Employee Turnover Rate within Nursing Faculties Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study is to discuss whether or not the use of transformational leadership style can effectively control and reduce the presence of a high employee turnover rate within a nursing faculty. Research Questions 1. Can the use of transformational leadership style effectively reduce high employee turnover rate? 2. Is transformational leadership the best leadership style in preventing nurse shortage within nursing faculty in US, UK, Canada, and Australia? . Rationale for the Research Topic There is a high employee turnover rate within the nursing faculties in US, UK, Canada, and Australia (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2013a; National Black Nurses Association, 2013; Donoghue, 2010; Segal and Bolton, 2009; Aiken, 2007). In US, the shortage of nursing educator is roughly 12% short of what is being demanded (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2013b). The nursing facilities in UK are experiencing a 12.2% reduction as of 2010 (Buchan and Seccombe, 2012, p. 21). In Canada, “a shortage of 20,000 nurses” was reported in 2012 (Coutts, 2010, p. 13). In Australia, there is a “shortfall of 90,000 to 109,500 nurses” by 2025 (Buchan and Seccombe, 2012, p. 21). Literature Review Nursing faculty leaders in US, UK, Canada, and Australia are experiencing problems related to recruitment and retention (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2013a; National Black Nurses Association, 2013; Laschinger et al., 2009; Longley, Shaw and Dolan, 2007). To solve problems related to recruitment, nursing faculties in US, UK, Canada, and Australia are continuously hiring nurses from different counties around the world (Netzwerk Migration in Europa, 2013). In Canada, low salary is one reason why nursing educators in this area are looking for other more promising job opportunities (Cash, Doyle and Tettenborn, 2011). Nursing faculties in US, UK, Canada, and Australia are having problem retaining nurses in the field of education. Aside from unattractive payment scheme, other reasons that causes poor retention includes lack of trust and collaboration among the nursing staff, over-worked, absence of career opportunities, no proper recognition for good work performance, absence of control over job performance, and poor communication among the faculty members (Hunt, 2009, p. 2). To solve retention, problem, nursing faculties in US, UK, Canada, and Australia will have to use transformational leadership not only to help them create a healthy and attractive work environment which is necessary in increasing the work satisfaction of registered nurses who wish to pursue a career in teaching (Cummings et al., 2009; Nielsen et al., 2009; Raup, 2008). Furthermore, Nielsen et al. (2009) mentioned that there is a strong relationship between the use of transformational leadership style and the decrease in work-related stress and burnout. By solving problems related to stress, burnout and poor working environment, the nursing faculties in US, UK, Canada, and Australia can improve its recruitment and retention strategies which are necessary in reducing high employee turnover (Cummings et al., 2009; Raup, 2008). Aside from preventing the risk of miscommunication and misunderstanding within the work environment, the use of transformational leadership style will also help them increase the nursing faculty staffs commitment to their employers, improve the atmosphere within the work environment; and improve the overall nursing staff retention rate (Nielsen et al., 2009). For these reasons, the faculty members in a nursing school should be given the opportunity to participate in a leadership training programme. The second question presented in this study aims to determine whether or not transformational leadership is the best leadership style in preventing nurse shortage within nursing faculty in US, UK, Canada, and Australia. Even though both transformational and transactional leadership styles are commonly used in the field of nursing profession (Cowden, Cummings and Profetto-Mcgrath, 2011; Nielsen et al., 2009), several studies strongly suggest that the use of transformational leadership style is more effective in terms of reducing a high employee turnover rate (Waldman, Carter and Hom, 2012; Cowden, Cummings and Profetto-Mcgrath, 2011; Nielsen et al., 2009; Raup, 2008). Based on the study of Cowden, Cummings and Profetto-Mcgrath (2011), the authors clearly explained that there is a strong positive relationship between the use of transformational leadership, development of a supportive work environment, and the decision of the nurses to stay loyal with their current employers. Furthermore, Waldman, Carter and Hom (2012) conclude that the use of transformational leadership style can increase the nurses’ intention to stay as it reduces their intention to quit. The main reason why the use of transformational leadership style is effective in reducing a high turnover rate is because transformational leaders are capable of creating a more relaxing and lucrative work environment for all nurses (Cowden, Cummings and Profetto-Mcgrath, 2011; Tomey, 2009). This explains why the use of transformational leadership style is effective in terms of reducing the nurses’ feeling of being burnout from work (Nielsen et al., 2009). To ensure that the nurses’ intention to stay with their employers would increase overtime, Cowden, Cummings and Profetto-Mcgrath (2011) highly recommends the need to incorporate the use of transformational leadership style with the use of relational leadership style. Transformational leaders are known for their ability to use their vision and passion in inspiring employees to work together towards a single organizational goal whereas transactional leadership style encourages leaders to use reward and punishment when leading a group of employees (Klainberg and Dirschel, 2010). In most cases, the use of transformational leadership style can help the leaders of nursing faculty increase not only the overall job satisfaction of each nursing faculty staff, but also the recruitment process and retention of highly competitive nursing educators (Cowden, Cummings and Profetto-Mcgrath, 2011; Nielsen et al., 2009). Effective leadership focuses on employee empowerment rather than using coercion when directing other people. In line with this, the study of Laschinger, Wilk and Cho (2009) found out that the use of employee empowerment or employee engagement strategy is effective in terms of making experienced nurses feel more effective and highly appreciated at work. Since transformational leaders are known for their ability to empower each employee, the use of transformational leadership style is often considered to be more useful in terms of empowering the members of each nursing faculty to become one of the nursing schools’ future leaders. Several studies acknowledged that the use of transformational leadership style is more effective in terms of reducing the mean staff nurse turnover rate (Waldman, Carter and Hom, 2012; Raup, 2008; Kleinman, 2004). Furthermore, the use of transformational leadership style is more effective in terms of increasing nurses’ job satisfaction and commitment to the nursing facility (Schwartz et al., 2011). As a common knowledge, keeping the faculty members satisfied with their job is the real secret behind a higher retention rate within the nursing faculty (Schwartz et al., 2011; Lu, While and Barriball, 2005; Kleinman, 2004). For this reason, the use of transformational leadership style is considered as the best solution in terms of managing employee shortage within the nursing faculties (Waldman, Carter and Hom, 2012; Raup, 2008; Kleinman, 2004). The use of participative leadership style is also equally effective for creating a healthy workplace environments and healthy patients and personnel increasing the overall work satisfaction of each nurse and improving their retention rate (Tomey, 2009). In general, participative leadership style is similar to a transformational leadership style in the sense that participative leaders are also focused on encouraging the nursing faculty staff to participate and become more involved in all major and minor decision-making processes with regards to the nursing students’ curriculum (Tomey, 2009). Conclusion The future demand for nurse educators is expected to increase over the next few years. On top of the high employee turnover rate within the academic nursing faculty in US, UK, Canada, and Australia, the number of ageing nurse educators or those who had to stop their career in nurse education due to pregnancy and maternity leave may also increase over time. In response to the increasing demand for future nurse educators in US, UK, Canada, and Australia, improving the nursing faculties’ recruitment and retention strategies are necessary. To prevent the shortage of nurse educators within the US, UK, Canada, and Australia, the nursing faculty of each school should continuously motivate the newly graduates to consider the need to pursue a career as a nurse educator. This can done by providing the newly graduates with access to school leadership intervention programs. Because of the benefits associated with the use of transformational leadership style, the US, UK, Canada, and Australia are highly encouraged to use this particular leadership style as a way of controlling high employee turnover rate. Even though the use of transformational leadership is not effective in solving problems related to unattractive payment scheme, the use of this particular leadership strategy is effective in solving issues related to lack of trust and collaboration among the nursing staff and poor communication among the faculty members. Through the use of transformational leadership style, the leaders of each nursing faculty will not only be able to create a more friendly-environment for the nursing educators but also effectively control and reduce the presence of a high employee turnover rate within the nursing faculty. References Aiken, L.H. U.S.(2007) Nurse Labor Market Dynamics Are Key to Global Nurse Sufficiency. Health Services Research 42.3 Pt 2 American Association of Colleges of Nursing.(2013a) State Legislative Initiatives to Address the Nursing Shortage. . American Association of Colleges of Nursing.(2013b). Nursing Shortage. . Buchan, James and Ian Seccombe.(2012) Queen Margaret University. Overstretched. Under-resourced. The UK Nursing Labour Market. . Cash, Penelope A. et al.(2011) Working with Nurse Educators’ Collective Wisdom: Implications For Recruitment and Retention. Nursing Economics (n.d.): 29.5 :257-264. Coutts, Jane.(2010) Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions. Experts & Evidence. 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