Developing effective institutional managers in the 1980s--Part 1: a current analysis

Two dominant themes are developed in this two part paper. One is that the organizational behaviour of nurse managers has its origins in the social defence system learned during early nursing; the other is that many of the assumptions which underpin current thinking on management training can do little either to help unlearn these early behaviours or to enable managers to be more innovative in their roles. In part one management training is examined in some detail from the three perspectives of the institution, the management trainers and the nurse managers, and in particular the widely differing assumptions and expectations which each have about the management training process. The social defence system of nursing is then analysed and tentative evidence is offered to illustrate how nurse managers transfer this system to managerial positions, with dysfunctional consequences. Although primarily concerned with nurse management training, there are implications for managers and management trainers in a much wider range of institutions and professions.