ROLE NEGOTIATION
concept and purpose of role negotiation:
roles are the behaviors and expectations that people in society and organizations develop to determine the tasks appropriate for a person in
a certain role to do, as well as those tasks outside of the role.
a certain role to do, as well as those tasks outside of the role.
role negotiation:
process that nurse managers utilize to define the role for oneself and then to describe and express the role to others.
when there is clarity around what you believe the role to be and what others believe the role to be,
the interactions with others and the ability to develop a high performing organization are outstanding.
some organizations have a well defined role of the nurse manager through orientation and mentoring.
some organizations it is not well defined, or ambiguous, leading to role confusion and role strain.
role negotiation with staff
staff often have a different perspective about what the role of nurse manager is. some might prefer a more collaborative nurse manager, others may prefer a more directive nurse manager.
a strong bond between you and your staff depends largely on the nurse manager:
*having a clear understanding of your role. *making a thorough assessment of staff perceptions of your role. *effectively communicating your role. *negotiating with yourself to flex your role in order to meet the needs of your staff.
a successful role negotiator with staff will be doing some, if not all of these things:
*continually asking for feedback from staff to make sure you are meeting their expectations. *continually reporting to them at staff meetings and other venues what you are accomplishing for the unit so they can learn what your role is. *making your expectations of the staff very clear. example, empowered staff. *making very clear to staff what you will and will not do. this will help them to have clear expectations of your role. *continually assessing where your staff is and flexing your role according to the needs of the unit.
the more you do these things
the more supported you will be in your own role as manager by those within your unit.
role negotiations with other professionals.
they have very diverse expectations for nurse managers. physicians may have a perception from full partner to charge nurse or head nurse.
a successful role negotiator with other professionals will:
*work with other Nurse Managers to develop a set of core roles consistent to all. this will assist in educating others to have accurate expectations of the nurse manager.
*assessing other professionals’ perception of what your role should be.
*discussing what your perception of the role is and what theirs is and negotiating a common pathway for flexing roles in order to help each other out.
remember: give yourself time to integrate these into your practice.
it will take time and you will get more comfortable with it the more you do it.
role negotiation is an ongoing process.
things will be in flux in the organization and opportunities for renegotiating will reappear throughout your career. begin being comfortable with it.
there is role negotiation with:
staff, our boss, other professionals, with patients and families,
step 1.
meet with her boss and ask directly what is expected of her. do not try to guess. the expectations delineated by her boss will ideally be the ones that her performance will be based on, so she needs to be clear.
Roger Harrison’s method of role negotiation:
based on the belief that a person’s role is largely based on the expectations if others. the NM sets up an appointment with her boss. she tells her that her goal is to know exactly what she expects from her so she can do as good of a job as she can in her new role. before the appointment she emails her boss a list of all the things she currently does in her unit. she asks for feedback on these things.
the boss places each item on the list under one of these headings and emails it back before the meeting.
in the meeting, they have a chance to discuss the aspects of her job further. she thanks her boss for the feedback, then arranges a meeting with the nurse who expressed disappointment with her shift in roles.
Sandy now needs to do some role negotiation with staff. she asks about their perception of the role of nurse manager.
at the next staff meeting, she asks them to write down their perceptions and submit it anonymously. after reading the results, she realizes that many of them think she’ll be able to spend half of her time assisting with patients. she realizes that she needs to do some shifting of expectations.
nurse manager now decides it is her responsibility to educate her unit on the many things she now does so they will understand her absence.
she needs to convey the many new responsibilities around staffing, budgeting, collaborating with physicians, and assessing quality. at staff meeting she provides a copy of the roles she worked out with her boss. she asked each to write an item on the list that they’d like her to do.
she makes a list of the tangible goals that they made at the meetings. budget, staffing
she reports at staff meeting and makes a point of reporting gains made.
sandy approaches role negotiation with her boss as an ongoing process. they meet every three months so she can stay clear of the expectations
with regard to staff, she reports to them monthly what she is accomplishing for the unit. she is practicing doing the following with her staff:
*she continually asks for staff feedback to be sure she is meeting their expectations.
*She makes her expectations of the roles of the staff very clear. for example, she values the role of an empowered staff and she continually discusses that and helps the staff grow into that role.
*she continually assesses where staff is and flexes her role according to the needs of the unit.
*sounds like a great plan.