Improving motivation among health care workers in private health care organizations: A

perspective of nursing personnel

AAbstract

Purpose – The study aims to explore the experiences of nursing personnel in private health care
organizations in Lithuania, in terms of their work motivation and satisfaction, promotion and
quitting the job, interpersonal interaction at work and to identify areas for sustainable
improvement to the health care services they provide. Design/methodology/approach – The
research problem includes the following questions. What is the attitude of nursing personnel to
the existing elements of motivation in private health care organizations? What organizational
tools should be developed in order to improve the motivation of nursing personnel? The sample
consists of 237 registered nurses practitioners and 30 nurses' managers working in private health
care sector. Methods: data selection: questioning survey; data analysis: descriptive statistics,
correlation and factor analysis (using SPSS for Windows 12.0). The research instrument involves 99
closed-ended items divided into 11 evaluation blocks; Cronbach a of every part ranges from 0.68
to 0.85. Findings – Results showed no statistical differences among nurse practitioners and
executives of what motivates them in private health care organization as workplace and
illuminated factors that decrease and increase motivation among nurses. Motivation decreases,
when nurses are not empowered not autonomous in activity; nurses' competencies (specific
professional and general) are not applied in full value, e.g. managerial, educational, social-
psychological, clinical/expertise; decisions are not made collectively; in organization does not exist
mechanism of information-sharing; meetings of personnel are not prepared methodically.
Motivation increases when the nurses collaborate with physicians by parity; nursing profession is
respected and recognized as autonomous and valued by themselves and other health care
specialists; the interpersonal communication is effective and conflicts are solved constructively.
Research limitations/implications – A major weakness is that the characteristics of the present
sample may limit the generalizability of the results. The major implication is that the paper
supports the prediction for characteristics of motivation among health care workers in private
health care organizations with perspective of nursing personnel. Originality/value – The paper
examines in a private health care sector the factors that increase and/or decrease the motivation
of nursing personnel.

rticle in Baltic Journal of Management 2(2):213-224 · May 2007 with 214 Reads