Relationships Among Nurse Manager Leadership Skills, Conflict Management, and Unit Teamwork

Area of Science:

• Nursing Leadership
• Teamwork and Collaboration
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Team backup is essential for patient safety and outcomes.
• Ineffective conflict management hinders successful teamwork.
• Limited research exists on nurse manager conflict management and its impact on unit teamwork via team backup.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the associations between staff nurse perceptions of nurse manager (NM) leadership ability, conflict management, and team backup.
• To explore the role of NM leadership in fostering conflict management and team backup on medical-surgical units.

Main Methods:

• Secondary analysis of data from 257 staff nurses.
• Utilized multiple regression analyses, including a mediation model.
• Examined relationships among NM leadership, conflict management, and team backup.

Main Results:

• Positive correlations were found between NM leadership ability, conflict management, and team backup.
• Staff nurses' perceptions of NM leadership significantly predicted both conflict management and team backup.
• NM leadership ability is a key factor influencing team dynamics and support.

Conclusions:

• Skilled nurse manager leadership and effective conflict management are crucial for developing team backup.
• Conflict management is highlighted as a critical leadership competency for nurse managers.
• These findings underscore the importance of leadership training focused on conflict resolution and team support.