Nursing

On-the-job instruction has several positive features, one of which is its cost-effectiveness. New nurses learn effectively at the same time they are providing care. Moreover, this method re- duces the need for outside instructional facilities and reliance on professional educators. Trans- fer of learning is not an issue because the learning occurs on the actual […]

Trina Prescott, RN, joined the pediatric oncology unit of a large university teaching hospital. Her nurse manager, Lily Yuen, scheduled a lunch with Trina 30 days after she started. Lily had a relaxed conversation with Trina about the first 30 days of her employ- ment. Trina expressed how much she enjoyed her new job, but

232 PART 3 • MANAGING RESOURCES New employees often have unrealistically high expectations about the amount of challenge and responsibility they will find in their first job. If they are assigned fairly undemanding, entry- level tasks, they feel discouraged and disillusioned. The result is job dissatisfaction, turnover, and low productivity. 232 PART 3 • MANAGING

What directs behavior toward the accomplishment of some objective Unlike expectancy theory and equity theory, goal-setting theory suggests that it is not the rewards or outcomes of task performance per se that cause a person to expend effort, but rather the goal itself (Locke, 1968). Timothy was new to a home care hospice program. An

What mobilizes or energizes human behavior Expectancy theory also considers multiple outcomes. Consider the possibility of a promo- tion to nurse manager. Even though a staff nurse believes such a promotion is positive and is a CHAPTER 17 • MOTIVATING AND DEVELOPING STAFF 231 desirable reward for competent performance in patient care, the nurse also

How would you handle a staff member who repeatedly asks to have his schedule changed? Like reinforcement theory, expectancy theory (Vroom, 1964) emphasizes the role of re- wards and their relationship to the performance of desired behaviors. Expectancy theory regards people as reacting deliberately and actively to their environment. In an effort to improve the

As a nurse manager, how would you handle this? Another procedure is shaping. Shaping involves selectively reinforcing behaviors that are successively closer approximations to the desired behavior. When people become clearly aware that desirable rewards are contingent on a specific behavior, their behavior will eventually change. Behavior modification works quite well, provided that rewards can

Was there adequate coverage to meet the needs of the organization? Take Thad, for example. As a new employee, Thad conscientiously completed critical paths for his assigned patients. When the manager recognized Thad for his good work, his peers began to exclude him from the group. Although the manager was attempting positive reinforcement, Thad quit

How well did it work? Consequences may be positive, as with praise or recognition, or negative. Positive reinforc- ers are used for the express purpose of increasing a desired behavior. Kyle, a staff nurse, offered a creative idea to redesign work flow on the unit. His manager supported the idea and helped Kyle implement the

Motivational Theories Historically, motivational theories were concerned with three things: 1. What mobilizes or energizes human behavior 2. What directs behavior toward the accomplishment of some objective 3. How such behavior is sustained over time The usefulness of motivational theories depends on their ability to explain motivation adequately, to predict with some degree of accuracy