[Participative management in nursing service]

The management style of the nursing service manager influences the facilitation of health, quality nursing care and quality work life of the nurses. No evidence of any research in this regard-within the context of nursing service-in South Africa could be found. The concept participative management, as well as the process (with applicable guidelines) therefore requires investigation. The purpose with this article is to isolate (identify and define) the central concepts pertaining to participative management in a nursing service, as well as the exploration and description of the process of participative management (with applicable guidelines). An exploratory, descriptive and qualitative research design was followed. Individual interviews with management experts were conducted. Content analysis of these interviews were done, as well as a literature control. A conceptual definition was formulated by inference of data, as well as the description of the process of participative management, with applicable guidelines. It is recommended that this definition be submitted to further refinement to form the foundation of a model for participative management in a nursing service. It will also be meaningful to research the costs and other implications related to participative management in a nursing service.