Multigenerational and Multicultural Program for a Nursing Workforce

¶ … Leadership Framework

Pacific Regional Hospital is currently facing a crisis that has contributed to its near closure for the past 20 years and filing for bankruptcy three times within the same period. Despite the challenges, the hospital is still operating because of its strong link to the community, federally designed as under-served and influential politicians. As the Nurse Manager for a new medical-surgical unit at the hospital that was bought by a group of doctors and nurses in 2013, there is a critical need to develop a generational and cultural-sensitive orientation program for newly hired registered nurses. This program is vital because the first activity to revamp this hospital is hiring 5 registered nurses from different cultures and with significant age differences. Some of the most important aspects that will enhance the effectiveness of the program include effective communication, power and politics, motivational level, professional development, and conflict management.

Generational and Cultural-sensitive Orientation Program

Given the turn of events at Pacific Regional Hospital, a generational and cultural-sensitive orientation program is important towards promoting the success of the newly hired registered nurses at the facility. The new management has determined that hiring new registered nurses from various cultural backgrounds and ages is the first action towards revamping the hospital. The 5 registered nurses hired by the facility are from different cultural backgrounds across Europe, the United States, and South America with ages ranging from 22 to 55 years. Even though the major causes of the hospital's predicament are largely unknown, the establishment of this program would help ensure cohesion among the nurses, which will in turn result in improved operations and success of the facility.

Through a situational leadership framework, the creation and implementation of this program would enable the hospital's management to offer directive and supportive dimension in every situation at the facility. Based on the framework, the leadership needs to identify the needs of workers and adapt the leadership style accordingly in a manner that meets the varying needs of the workforce (Kaifi et al., 2013, p.30). In this regard, the newly hired nurses have different needs originating from their cultural and age differences. The failure to address these needs and differences would make them ineffective and redundant, which will worsen the hospital's situation. Therefore, a generational and cultural-sensitive orientation program would help identify their various needs and make adaptations accordingly.

The main objective of creating a generational and cultural-sensitive orientation program is to address the age and cultural differences of these newly hired registered nurses in order to enhance their success at the facility. Generally, the modern working environment including hospitals is characterized by increased diversity of workers across various demographics like age and culture. The success of the workforce to contribute to organizational success requires effective management of workforce diversity. The situation at the hospital requires the leadership to identify the nurses' needs based on their age and culture and adapt management styles accordingly. Some of the important components of this generational and cultural-sensitive program towards ensuring the success of these newly hired registered nurses include

Effective Communication

One of the most crucial aspects towards the success of a workforce in achieving organizational goals is effective communication. Without effective communication, it would be increasingly difficult for these registered nurses to work in unity and cohesion towards promoting the success of Pacific Regional Hospital. The orientation program will focus on ensuring effective communication in light of the generational and cultural differences among these registered nurses. The newly registered nurses are from three different generational cohorts i.e. the Baby Boomers, Generation X, and the Millennials as well as different cultural backgrounds. These generational cohorts and cultures have different work-related characteristics, especially communication techniques. Consequently, developing effective communication strategies and techniques is a major challenge (Sherman, 2006).

The orientation program will provide training to these nurses on sensitivity to communication differences and preferences given their age and cultural differences. These registered nurses will be encouraged to pay attention to these preferences and differences and take them into consideration during communication. Through training on these communication preferences and differences, the leadership will close the gaps and develop distinct solutions that are attractive to every generation and culture in the hospital's workforce. Moreover, the process will help ensure communication is understood in order to lessen failures and risk of errors.

During the training, the registered nurses will be informed of how Baby Boomers prefer open, direct, and less formal communication. They will also learn how Generation X prefers bottom line communication while Millennials prefer instant communication and immediate feedback. Based on an understanding of these differences and preferences, the newly registered nurses will be encourages to utilize culturally competent verbal and non-verbal communication skills during their various job tasks and responsibilities.

Power and Politics

The second most important aspect of this generational and cultural-sensitive orientation program is power and politics. Power and politics is an important component of the program because of its impact on an individual or group. These newly hired registered nurses by Pacific Regional Hospital will be empowered based on their specific roles and responsibilities in nursing practice within the facility. Regardless of their age and cultural differences, the hospital will ensure the nurses engage in the affairs and practices of the hospital environment (Manojlovich, 2007). The involvement of these nurses in affairs of the hospital environment will help ensure that they feel valued and important in the organization's daily processes and activities. In essence, the orientation program will provide insights on organizational policies that have been established to help ensure that nurses are involved in the facility's affairs. The hospital's management will not discriminate against the nurses when determining their engagement but create appropriate policies in which individual control is based on competence and judgment.