Staff perceptions of their work environment before and six months after an organizational change

The Insel and Moos' Work Environment Scale (WES) was used to assess the impact that an organizational change would have on the nursing staff perceptions of the work environment. A comparison of before and after the supervisory change indicated that middle management supervisors have little influence on the work environment, since there was essentially no change in any of the WES scales. The working environment showed little cohesion among staff members, the focus on autonomy and self-sufficiency was average, but there was strong pressure to keep up with the never-ending work load, the staff perceived the setting as poorly organized and inefficient, they were unclear as to expectations about rules and procedures, and there was a high degree of control over the workers. An organizational change may not be the answer to the problems if the problems have more to do with the corporate philosophy. It may be time to look at mechanisms that create working environments in which employees actually feel their work is an important contribution to the organization.