Empowerment in Nursing
Mishra and Spreitzer (1998) argue that empowerment is particularly important in work settings that have experienced considerable downsizing. Employees who are not empowered cannot cope with organizational changes and will, in all probability, respond passively. Indeed, the reaction of ‘downsizing survivors’ can have considerable impact on organizational outcomes (Burke, 2001; Davy, Kinicki, & Scheck, 1991; Noer, 1993) and, negative reactions, in particular, may be responsible for the failure of downsizing to improve productivity (Cascio, 1993).
One occupation that has been affected by drastic downsizing is nursing. For instance, a decade of hospital restructuring initiatives in Canada has resulted in the lay-off of thousands of nurses. Survivors of restructuring have faced increased responsibilities and fewer support staff to assist them. To add to this stress, the patients they look after are sicker. Such arduous workloads can lead to exhaustion. In addition, nurses report that their skills and abilities are not respected in the workplace. Consequently, it is not surprising that Canadian nurses have become increasingly at risk for burnout, with many leaving the profession all together (Baumann et al., 2001). The psychological state of those who survive
downsizing can determine the viability of the smaller workforce. Burke (2001) found that among nurses who survived downsizing those who responded to downsizing with cynicism or fear were more likely to report higher levels of emotional exhaustion, more psychosomatic symptoms, and greater job dissatisfaction than other nurses.