Relationship between Organizational Support and Career Development among Hospital Nursing Staff

Relationship between Organizational Support and Career Development among Hospital Nursing
Staff
Name:
Institution:

Relationship between Organizational Support and Career Development among Hospital Nursing
Staff
Literature Review
The healthcare sector has been hit by several complications in the recent past making it hard for institutions to acquire the right number of human resources. The healthcare industry progresses with the rise in the economic status of a nation and the vice versa is true. The lack of adequate resources to sustain and educate practitioners has made it hard for public healthcare facilities to operate with effectiveness (Wise, 2013). Underpaid employees, lack of service delivery equipment and unavailability of qualified staff are some of the issues affecting the healthcare industry across the globe. More specifically, the number of qualified nurses has dwindled significantly in the public sector because of the poor quality of working conditions and the lack of career advancement opportunities (Abed & Elewa, 2013). Most nurses are opting for the private sector because of the high level of organizational support offered in such organizations, which ensures that the nurses get an opportunity to advance their careers.
In Saudi Arabia, the situation is no different. If anything, the healthcare sector in Saudi Arabia has immense problems especially in retaining qualified nurses. The reforms that the government of Saudi Arabia has done in the healthcare industry require high-level qualification of nurses to achieve the intended results (Sayaf, 2015).

As such, it is important for the healthcare managers to come up with ways of using organizational support to foster nurses’ career development for the greater good. Organizational support can go a long way in reducing job turnovers, burnout, stress and increasing the level of satisfaction among employees (Al-Hussami, 2011). Organizational support produces an ideal environment for productivity and for nurses to further and develop their careers. In other words, organizational support does benefit both the organization and the individual nurse.
Recent research has indicated that perceived organizational support helps in the reduction of employee stress in a great way thus creating room for improvement for individual nurses. Nursing is one of the most stressful jobs in the healthcare industry (Al-Homayan et al., 2013). Nurses oversee the treatment and the recovery process of the patients, which can be tiresome at times. In addition, the ratio between nurses and patients does not make it easy for nurses to perform their functions. Organizational support helps to reduce or eliminate these stresses by ensuring that employees feel supported (Fabiene & Kachchhap, 2016). With organizational support, nurses will be able to balance between work demands and workers skills thus providing emotional stability. Organizational support includes issues like training and education programs aimed at equipping employees with the right skills. Further, organizational support involves the management team providing the staff with the right for autonomy, various career opportunities, the ability to make decisions and emotional support (Cherniss, 2016).
Managers can show organizational support through various aspects such as having a nurse representative in different hospital committees, allowing nurses to participate in hospital affairs, allowing the employees chances to further education, and offering the necessary resources for employees to carry out their day-to-day activities (Kaspar, Debisette, Vessey, 2011). Nurses with an ideal organizational support rarely are stressed or burned out because they feel supported by the organization as a unit. Less stress leads to career progress in two different ways including educational advancements and productivity. Organizational policy for nurses as well as stress management progress are factors that healthcare organizations, especially those in Saudi Arabia should consider in restoring normalcy to the healthcare industry of the nation (Fabiene & Kachchhap, 2016).
Several issues affect the performance of nurses including lack of job satisfaction, the absence of career development, lack of facilities, and lack of training and ineffective management among other things (Denham et al., 2016). Organizational support helps to eliminate these issues by giving employees free time to take up career advancement courses and training programs that eventually become of benefit to the institution. Rewards, equity in pay, care, respect, and approval of employees, and positive workplace policies are ideal organizational support programs that can ensure the effective performance of employees (Abed & Elewa, 2013). Moreover, having ideal policies at the workplace ensures that nurses can take up roles that propel them to their next stage of their careers.
Organizational support also ensures the satisfaction of employees, which is a prerequisite for career development. Satisfied employees find it worthy to stay with an organization for a long time, which helps them to advance their knowledge and experience in handling patients. Advancement in the nursing career requires both educational knowledge and the experience. When nurses move from one institution to another, they lose a lot of time, which could be used to learn new things hence the advancement of a career (Al-Homayan et al., 2013). Therefore, organizational support ensures job satisfaction, which translates to life satisfaction and ultimately career development. Compensation and having satisfaction programs help to motivate employees and keep nurses satisfied. The shortage of workforce in Saudi Arabia can easily be solved by embracing various organizational support mechanisms that ensure employee satisfaction. Research indicates that Saudi Arabian nurses keep protesting about poor pay and poor working conditions (Sayaf, 2015). Such issues hinder the development of the nurses and affect the stability of the industry. If nurses progress in their careers so does the industry because highly educated nurses can take up roles that carried out by other practitioners thus reducing the cost of operations in an organization.
Nurses see the organization as a source of emotional support and social stability. Organizational support provokes productivity, encourage employees to deliver quality care, and cause employees to enjoy their jobs among other things (Wise, 2013). Organizations with a better organizational support system have more committed and effective nurses. The organization leadership must take care of the physical and psychological needs of the nurses if productivity and career advancements are to be achieved in the institutions. Employees who feel supported by the organization take better care of the patients, are in a better position to make ideal decisions and take responsibility for different issues because the feel that the organization is concerned with their well-being (Kaspar et al., 2011). In such an environment, the nurse will choose to advance his career to benefit the organization and his clients.
Factors that interfere with organizational support across the globe and in Saudi Arabia include unfair working conditions, lack of support from the management and salary inequalities. Handling these factors effectively puts an organization in a competitive position (Cherniss, 2016). Moreover, organizations that handle these aspects well produce highly qualified employees who are loyal and committed to the goals of the institution. Organizational support helps nurses to see the gaps of knowledge in the industry thus encouraging them to pursue further studies and other career development programs to ensure that the industry has all the necessary skills to handle the increasing health needs in the world (Al-Hussami, 2011). Jobs are not just activities that people perform for the monetary gains; therefore, organizational support should seek to enrich both the financial and the intellectual needs of nurses.

References
Abed, F. & Elewa, A. (2013). The Relationship between Organizational Support, Work Engagement, and Organizational Citizenship Behavior As Perceived By Staff Nurses at Different Hospitals. Journal of Nursing and Health Science, 5 (4), 113-123.
Al-Homayan, A., Shasudin, F., Subramaniam, C. & Islam, R. (2013). Effects of Job Stress and Organizational Support on the Relationship between Job Demand, Resources and Nurses’ Job Performance in Saudi Public Hospitals. Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 7 (10), 7-19.
Al-Hussami, M. (2011). A Study of Nurses’ Job Satisfaction: The Relationship to Organizational Commitment, Perceived Organizational Support, Transactional Leadership, Transformational; Leadership, and Level of Education. European Journal of Scientific Research, 22 (2), 286-295.
Cherniss, C. (2016). Beyond Burnout: Helping Teachers, Nurses, Therapists, and Lawyers Recover From Stress And Disillusionment. London: Taylor and Francis.
Denham, S., Eggenberger, S., Krumwiede, N. & Young, P. (2016). Family Focused Nursing Care. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis Company.
Fabiene, E. & Kachchhap, S. (2016). Determinants of Employee’s Commitment among Healthcare Professionals. International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Science, 6 (2), 44-52.
Kaspar, C., Debisette, A. & Vessey, J. (2011). Annual Review of Nursing Research: Nursing Workforce Issues. Volume 28, 2010. New York, N.Y: Springer Pub. Co.
Sayaf, A. (2015). Measuring Job Satisfaction Patterns in Saudi Arabia’s Southern Regions Hospitals: Implications for Hospital Staff Retention. International Journal of Management Sciences and Business Administration, 1 (3), 29-49.
Wise, P. (2013). Leading and Managing In Nursing – Revised Reprint. London: Elsevier Health Sciences.