The effectiveness of people management, organisation development strategies and interventions in a mental health setting

Essay from the year 2016 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 74, , language: English, abstract: This paper aims to find out why there is a high turnover rate amongst private mental health nurses in the healthcare industry by looking at influences of leadership style, particularly transformational leadership on job satisfaction, motivation and commitment to the organisation. It will initially look at the current scenario on a ward (Ward A) in a private mental health hospital (Company A) and then look at literature supporting possible ways of addressing problems in company A.

Mental health nurses are said to face significantly different sets of challenges, mainly due to being subjected to violence, and aggression regularly by patients. Current leadership practices and organisational structures may not be supporting nurses enough in some settings, which could be contributing to facilitate unhealthy work environments and high nursing turnover.

Spending has been said to have significantly risen, approximately £327 million to £485 million in from 2012 to 2014 respectively, on recruiting temporary nurses due to nursing shortages. Budget cuts, low remuneration and low staff morale are said to have contributed to an over-reliance on temporary nurses which is said to be having a negative effect on continuity of care for patients and poor outcomes of quality.

Leaders with good interpersonal skills, actively carrying out staff supervision and adopting a transformational style of leadership may be the key towards increasing job satisfaction, motivation and reducing staff turnover amongst nurses. Nurse leaders need to understand their nurses in order to understand why so many are leaving.