A critical reflection on the personal impact of managerial hegemony within nurse education

This paper, written by two male nurse teachers, describes and analyses their experience of working in a nurse education culture permeated by the philosophy of business management. The introduction of business management practices to nurse education is discussed as a reflection of the current political hegemony of market forces and individualism. The authors discuss the implications for nurse teachers of being continually exposed to these politically motivated forces which increasingly provide the paradigm for service developments within the United Kingdom health services. In discussing the impact of this exposure it is argued that at the personal level individual teachers are experiencing a degree of apathy and personal dissonance which undermines their professional value system, resulting in emotional distress and a crisis of identity. It provides a critical reflection on the way organizational dynamics and power relations influence the subjective sense-making of individuals. The authors use a multiplicity of perspectives, including those provided by individual psychology, power relations, feminism and personhood, to argue for the need to develop an alternative paradigm which is characterized by the valuing of individual persons, empathic sensitivity and the fostering of creativity.