Development and psychometric testing of the Perceived Organizational Climate Scale for nurses.

AIM: Retaining nurses on the job is vital, and their successful retention is related to the organizational climates (OC) of healthcare settings. The purpose was to develop and test the psychometric properties of the Perceived Organizational Climate Scale (POCS). DESIGN: The methodologic research design was used by following the scale development strategies by DeVellis (2017). The conceptual framework for this study was based on the broader theoretical framework of the Competing Value Framework (CVF) of Quinn et al. (2015), the concept analysis and extensive literature review (1939-2018), and combined with the inductive qualitative data. METHODS: A two-phase study of scale construction and psychometric testing was conducted for content validation, construct validation and internal consistency reliabilities of the instrument. An expert panel validated the 4-point scale, followed by exploratory factor analysis, the known-group approach and split groups. Data were collected from (1161) registered nurses in eight general hospitals across Myanmar from August 2019 to September 2020. RESULTS: The 35 items with four essential dimensions: transformational climate, bureaucratic climate, team climate and strategic climate, explained almost 50% of the variation with all factor loading greater than .40. The internal consistency reliabilities of the instrument showed the Cronbach's alpha coefficient of .93, and the dimensions were from .82 to .85. As hypothesized, the known-group approach demonstrated that experienced nurses had higher mean scores than novices. The internal consistency reliabilities of the scale and dimensions across the splitting groups illustrated the stability. CONCLUSION: This evidence supports this instrument as having satisfactory initial psychometric properties with a comprehensive picture of OC by its essential components contributing to an inclusive understanding of this climate globally. IMPACT: This instrument can be used as an objective tool for evaluating OC as perceived by nurses in healthcare settings to inform improvements in working environments.

Nurses' Qualitative Descriptions of the Organizational Climate of Hospitals.

PURPOSE: To explore nurses' perceptions of the organizational climate in general hospitals in Myanmar. DESIGN AND METHODS: Using a qualitative descriptive design, data were purposively collected from all levels of registered nurses in eight general hospitals across Myanmar during August to October 2019. Seventeen individual in-depth interviews and eight focus group discussions with 65 nurses were undertaken and analyzed using Graneheim and Lundman's qualitative content analysis. FINDINGS: Four categories of organizational climate from a Myanmar nursing context emerged: organizational uniqueness, organizational alignment, sense of empowerment, and the reinforcing organization. Organizational uniqueness included the subcategories of perception of features and orientation of the organization, whilst organizational alignment comprised the three subcategories of the values inherent in the management process, the criteria of success, and strategic emphasis. The sense of empowerment category embraced the subcategories of the perceptions of the decision making and roles of leaders or managers; the last category, the reinforcing organization, incorporated the subcategories of bonding and recognition of the organization. CONCLUSIONS: This was the first qualitative nursing study on nurses' perceptions of organizational climate in Myanmar hospitals. Participants revealed a rich source of information that needs to be considered by hospital administrators and other policymakers to enhance quality clinical care by nurses, and their overall well-being and working conditions. The emphasis on the holistic nature of this concept points to further investigations of working conditions, the lives of nurses, and management of nurses within the hospital environments in Myanmar hospitals, and can inform other countries. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Nurses revealed a rich understanding of what an organizational climate represents or should represent, and they need to work with hospital administrators and managers to contribute to the development of positive organizational climate, which in turn should increase nurse retention and the efficacy of health care provided in hospitals.

A contemporary understanding of organizational climate in healthcare setting: A concept analysis.

AIM: The overarching objective of this report is to provide an updated definition of the concept of organizational climate and to strengthen its operational application. BACKGROUND: Organizational climate is one of the major contributing factors to the exodus of the nursing workforce from the profession. Extensive research has addressed the impact of "organizational climate" on the nursing workforce; yet variations in the interpretation of the concept calls for an updated definition. DESIGN: Walker and Avant's strategy was implemented. DATA SOURCE: Data were compiled from Medline and CINAHL, Google search engine, and book chapters. REVIEW METHOD: A comprehensive and detailed review of the literature was performed. Nineteen historic publications (1939-2012) and 39 healthcare-related publications (2013-2018) were included in the final review. RESULTS: The climate of an organization reflects a set of core values and behaviors that can be used to implement evidence-based leadership and management within the context of the 21st century. We have revised the definition of organizational climate to capture this context. CONCLUSION: The perception of a supportive and constructive climate in an organization propels the workforce, independent of ethnic or personal background, to a higher level of productivity and encourages loyalty and workforce stability.