Comparing the Impact of Management Practices on Public Sector Nurses' and Administrative Employees' Commitment to the Organisation

Objective: To present the findings of a study that examined the impact of management practices on public sector nurses' and administrative employees' level of commitment to the organisation. Design and setting: A cross sectional study involving a comparison of the perceptions of ninety four nurses and one hundred and fifteen administrative employees about communication and administrative factors and their level of commitment to the organisation. The setting was public sector hospitals and organisations in Queensland, Australia. Main outcome measures: The study used three validated instruments to measure 'employee satisfaction with communication processes', 'job satisfaction' and 'affective commitment' (which measures commitment to an organisation). Results: For this group of public sector employees: 1) Satisfaction with communication factors had a greater impact than did administrative factors on their level of commitment to the organisation (p<0.01); and 2) Significant differences were observed between nurses and administrative employees in their level of satisfaction with organisational communication ( p<0.01) and administrative work factors (p<0.01), suggesting they experience different managerial processes and practices. Conclusions: The findings suggest that senior management can influence employees' level of commitment to an organisation by changing the quality of communication and administrative work processes embedded within the workplace. These processes include: 1) the provision of appropriate levels and types of information so that work tasks can be undertaken productively; and 2) effective feedback mechanisms and supervisory relationships so that work based problems can be resolved efficiently. It is these factors that significantly contribute to public sector employees' decision to stay in their current organisation.