The effects of unit morale and interpersonal relations on conflict in the nursing unit.
BACKGROUND
Health care organizations face major changes, and these changes are likely to increase conflict in organizations. Although numerous studies have focused on conflict management, few have considered causes and effect of conflict in nursing units.


METHODS
The investigation tested a structural equation that examined the relationships among individual and contextual variables and intragroup conflict, job satisfaction, team performance effectiveness, and anticipated turnover. The nonrandom sample consisted of 141 nurses employed on 13 inpatient units at a state-supported, 597-bed academic medical centre in a southeastern city.


RESULTS
Intragroup conflict was higher on smaller units with a higher ratio of RNs to total staff. Intragroup conflict was not associated with satisfaction with pay or anticipated turnover. In the final model, the unit morale and interpersonal relations dimension of team performance effectiveness was negatively associated with intragroup conflict and anticipated turnover, and positively associated with satisfaction with pay. High perceptions of unit morale and interpersonal relations buffered the effect of unit size and skill mix on intragroup conflict. Goodness of fit statistics indicated a good fit of the model to data.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings have implications for nursing educators and administrators, and provide direction for future research.
Cox
K B
KB
East Carolina University School of Nursing, Greenville, North Carolina 27858, USA. coxk@mail.ecu.edu
D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D006746:Hospital Bed Capacity, 500 and over; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009013:Morale; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology* / Q000600:supply & distribution; D015279:Organizational Culture; D010563:Personnel Turnover; D012456:Salaries and Fringe Benefits; D015144:Southeastern United States