ESTABLISHING MANAGERIAL AUTHORITY/OVERCOMING RESISTANCE TO CHANGE
A 25 year old individual has just assumed responsibilities as supervisor of a seven bed pediatric intensive care unit. The new supervisor worked as a staff nurse for one year in the pediatric intensive care unit, and for six months as evening charge nurse in the regular pediatric unit before being appointed as supervisor of the pediatric intensive care unit. Most of the nursing staff in the pediatric intensive care unit are both older than the new supervisor, and have greater clinical experience than the new supervisor. The unit staff is highly competent. A personality conflict between the new supervisor and the day charge nurse had developed at the time the new supervisor was a staff nurse in the pediatric intensive care unit.
The older staff members in the unit are resistant to change, accustomed to exercising discretionary power in their work, and are uncooperative with and disdainful towards the new supervisor. Communication between the unit staff and the new supervisor is poor. Newer staff members feel threatened by the older members of the unit staff, dissension is developing over scheduling and organizational responsibilities, and friction appears to be surfacing among the unit's three charge nurses. The new supervisor of the pediatric intensive care unit must gain the trust of the staff, assert supervisory authority within the unit, and overcome the resistance to change within the
unit to preclude a deterioration of the productivity and effectiveness of the unit.
The organizational behavior problem that exists within the unit must be assessed within the contexts of leadership, motivation, and organizational climate. The results of this analysis are presented in the discussions which follow.
The essential style of organizational leadership practiced in the pediatric intensive care unit prior to the appointment of the new supervis...