The association between appreciative management and work engagement among health- and social care professionals: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: The importance of work engagement has been emphasised due to the increasing demand for health- and social care and the shortage of skilled labour. Improving organisational and managerial factors is important when enhancing professionals' work engagement. The association between management and work engagement has only been established in previous studies at a general level, but the association between appreciative management and work engagement has not received equivalent research interest. AIM: This study aimed to describe the association between appreciative management and work engagement among health- and social care professionals. METHODS: The study used a cross-sectional survey design. The data were collected in five health and social services centres in one city in Finland from September to October 2022 using the Appreciative Management Scale 2.0 and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-9. A total of 182 health- and social care professionals participated. The data were analysed using correlations, linear regression analyses, independent samples t-tests and two-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs). RESULTS: A moderate association was found between appreciative management and work engagement and its dimensions of vigor, dedication and absorption. Systematic management had the strongest association and equality had the weakest association with work engagement. Among the dimensions of work engagement, appreciative management had the strongest association with vigour and the weakest association with absorption. Appreciative management and work type predicted 18% of the variance in work engagement. Full-time employees reported higher levels of work engagement and all its dimensions than did part-time employees. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that appreciative management and full-time work predict work engagement among health- and social care professionals. Due to this positive association, it is important to promote managers' appreciative management skills by educating them to understand how appreciative management enables and supports professionals' vigour, dedication and absorption in health- and social care.

Reliability and Validity of a Further Tested Appreciative Management Scale.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Managers need evidence-based methods to evaluate their management skills. To further test the appreciative management scale (AMS 1.0) to create a practical instrument to be used in evaluating appreciative management. METHODS: For further testing, a new survey was conducted among social and healthcare managers (n = 734) in Finland. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to assess the scale validity and Cronbach's alpha coefficients the internal consistency. RESULTS: The validated AMS 2.0 scale includes 24 items. The values measuring validity and reliability were good, with an Rool Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) of 0.072, Average Variance Extracted (AVE) values between 0.532 and 0.634, and Composite Reliability (CR) values ranging between 0.850 and 0.914. The Cronbach's alpha of the whole scale was 0.944. CONCLUSIONS: AMS 2.0 is a reliable and valid means to measure appreciative management as proved by confirmatory factor analysis.

Realizing appreciative management from the viewpoint of first-line managers in social and health care.

BACKGROUND: First-line managers are links between an organizations' administration and the workforce. They transmit information from higher managers to workers and vice versa. Their management skills and especially their interaction with staff are a key point in successful management. AIM: To describe how first-line managers realized appreciative management in their everyday management practice in health and social care. METHOD: A quantitative descriptive study was conducted by means of an electronic survey among social and healthcare managers in Finland. RESULTS: Based on the self-evaluations of the managers, appreciative management is well realized. The most recognition was given to equality and the least to appreciative know-how. Connections were seen between appreciative management and gender, education, education level and managers with higher education, and those with fewer work units below them tended to have a better realization of appreciative management. CONCLUSION: The education level of first-line nurse managers is meaningful when realizing appreciative management in social and healthcare settings. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: More advanced education levels of first-line managers help to promote appreciative management in social and health care, together with the amount of work units (meaning outpatient and inpatient wards). A first-line manager is responsible for the needs of their workforce and needs to be critically assessed so that they might have more time for managing in an appreciative way. Appreciative management should be given increased focus when educating nurse managers.

Appreciative management assessed by physiotherapists working in public or private sector: A cross-sectional study.

PURPOSE: To describe how appreciative management occurs in the working environment of physiotherapists. METHODS: Cross-sectional survey. The data was collected with an electronic questionnaire. The survey instrument was Appreciative Management Scale. The participants were 474 physiotherapists working in clinical or managerial positions from public or private sector. RESULTS: Appreciative management was realized on an average level within physiotherapy. The highest scoring dimension was Equality and the weakest was Systematic Management. Appreciative management and all of its four categories were associated with the management education received by the manager, the respondent's position, and his or her current duties. The dimension of Appreciation of Know-how and its subdimensions of Guidance and Autonomy were recognized more often when the manager's basic training was in physiotherapy rather than another field. CONCLUSIONS: It is important that managers in physiotherapy recognize the characteristics of appreciative management, so they can include them as part of their good practice and as part of their own leadership style. Managers in physiotherapy need to be encouraged to participate in management education and also enable the participation of others. A background in physiotherapy can be seen to further the practice and development of physiotherapy. Offering physiotherapists challenging assignments and enabling their career development in physical therapy units is therefore of great importance.

Staff experiences of appreciative management in the institutional care of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities - a cross-sectional study.

PURPOSE/DESIGN: This cross-sectional descriptive study describes staff experiences of appreciative management. METHODS: Data were collected by way of e-survey from staff (n = 87) working in the institutional care of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The Appreciative Management Scale (AMS 1.0) was used and data were analysed by statistical methods. FINDINGS: Overall, respondents experienced appreciative management as being well implemented, with equality as the best implemented dimension and systematic management the worst. The promotion of well-being at work was associated with age. Appreciation staff received from management had a positive correlation with systematic management, equality, appreciation of know-how and the promotion of well-being at work. CONCLUSIONS: The knowledge of weak systematic management in this study may be utilised in developing management strategies. The managers should use the concept of appreciative management to help young and less experienced nurses to increase their competency and willingness to work in this field.

Stories of management in the future according to young adults and young nurses.

UNLABELLED: Abstract Aim: The aim of this study was to describe the phenomenon of management by way of the ideas of secondary school students and young nurses. BACKGROUND: Young adults are changing workplaces more than ever before, yet their work expectations and perspectives of management differ to those of previous generations. METHODS: The data was collected from upper secondary school students and professionally educated nurses (N = 68), some of whom were immigrants (N = 41). Framed essays were used as a research method and emergent data was analyzed using content analysis. RESULTS: According to the results, good management involves systematic management, equality, appreciation of know-how, and the promotion of wellbeing at work. CONCLUSION: New perspectives on management were drawn from the study, in particular the multiple dimensions of equality in workplace organization and the manager's role in an employee's professional development process. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: The interactive skills of the manager are emphasized in promoting wellbeing at work. This is especially so in multi-cultural teams, where the manager is expected to be adept at understanding intercultural communication and the values of young employees.

Stories of management in the future by young adults and young nurses.

Abstract Aim: The aim of this study was to describe the phenomenon of management by way of the ideas by secondary school students and young nurses. Background: Young adults are changing workplaces more than ever before, yet their work expectations and perspectives of management differ to those of previous generations. Methods: The data was collected from upper secondary school students and professionally educated nurses (n = 68), some of whom were immigrants (n = 41). Framed essays were used as a research method and emergent data was analysed using content analysis. Results: According to the results, good management involves systematic management, equality, appreciation of know-how, and the promotion of wellbeing at work. Conclusion: New perspectives on management were drawn from the study, in particular the multiple dimensions of equality in workplace organization and the manager's role in an employee's professional development process. Implication for nursing management: The interactive skills of the manager are emphasized in promoting wellbeing at work. This is especially so in multi-cultural teams, where the manager is expected to be adept at understanding intercultural communication and the values of young employees.