Generational and cultural-sensitive orientation program for Pacific Regional Hospital

¶ … 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

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.

The other aspect of power and politics in this multicultural nursing workforce is establishing organizational systems centered on promoting the power of individual nurses in order for them to utilize their professional skills in an effective manner. During orientation, these nurses will be educated on the organizational systems and encouraged to embrace diversity. Moreover, these professionals will be given autonomy to practice and to actively participate in decision making on hospital processes and patient care. The hospital's leadership will establish suitable conflict resolution mechanisms and processes to help each nurse maximize his/her talent during nursing practice. In addition, coaching and motivational relationships will be established for the hospital's nurses and management to enhance individual power across nursing practice.

In conclusion, multicultural workforces have become common in today's working environment including the nursing workplace. The situation at Pacific Regional Hospital requires the use of situational leadership framework to deal with existing issues. One of the most crucial elements to transform this hospital is hiring a diverse workforce that will help respond to patients' needs through cultural competent nursing practice. The creation of a generational and cultural-sensitive orientation program is vital for the success of the diverse nursing workforce.