Competency Skills for Nurse Managers

The purpose of this investigation was to identify specific competency skills that are considered important for hospital-based nurse manger effectiveness, as perceived by nurse executives and nurse managers. The investigation was based on the conceptual framework of Katz (1955), which describes the skills of an effective administrator. Katz suggests that effective administration rests on three developable skills-technical, human, and conceptual. A descriptive design was used to study hospital-based nurse executive and nurse manager perceptions of effective competency skills for nurse managers via a mailed questionnaire. Kansas Organization of Nurse Leaders (KONL) members were asked to rate competencies as they perceive them necessary for nurse manager effectiveness. Descriptive statistical analysis was used in this investigation. The competency ratings assigned to each item were totaled, and the range, means, standard deviation, and rank calculated. Analysis of variance was performed to examine the impact of hospital size on the perceptions of important competencies. Findings resulted in identification of the most important nurse manager competencies as perceived by nurse managers and nurse executives. The highest ranked important competencies were effective communication, conflict resolution and decision making which were in the Human and Leadership categories of competency. Some managerial competencies were perceived as more important than others. The lowest ranked competencies being the research process, nursing theories, and research-based care practices, which were in the Technical and Conceptual categories of competency. Findings of this investigation may be used as a basis for nurse manager selection, preparation and performance evaluation. Recommendations for further research encompass the need to clarify the findings that research and research-based care practices are perceived as less important competencies for nurse manager effectiveness.