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Choi, Kim, Choi, and Koo: Span of Control in Front-Line Nurse Managers
Original Article

Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration 2017; 23(4): 373-384.

Published online: 30 September 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.11111/jkana.2017.23.4.373

Span of Control in Front-Line Nurse Managers

Ae-lee Choi1, Miyoung Kim2, Sujin Choi1, Chong Mo Koo1

1Graduate School, Ewha Womans University, Korea.

2College of Nursing, Ewha Womans University, Korea.

Corresponding author: Kim, Miyoung. College of Nursing, Ewha Womans University, 52 Ewhayeodae-gil, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 03760, Korea. Tel: +82-2-3277-6694, Fax: +82-2-3277-2850, mykim0808@ewha.ac.kr

Received 4 May 2017       Revised 24 June 2017       Accepted 15 July 2017

Copyright © 2017 Korean Academy of Nursing Administration

Korean Academy of Nursing Administration

(open-access):

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

Span of Control defines the scope of the managers' responsibilities to manage nursing staff. This study was done to measure span of control of front-line nurse managers (FLNMs) in Korea hospitals resulting in improvement in their work efficiency.

Methods

A sample of 203 FLNMs from five tertiary hospitals was recruited and completed the questionnaires. Data were analyzed using χ2-test, Fisher's exact test, independent t-test, ANOVA, Scheffé, and Pearson correlation coefficient.

Results

FLNMs had ‘narrow’ (n=8, 4.3%), ‘appropriate’ (n=161, 87.0%), and ‘wide’ (n=16, 8.6%) span of control. Span of control had significant correlations with the number of nurses (r=.63, p<.001), the number of non-nurses (r=.53, p<.001), units (r=.52, p<.001), staff (r=.83, p<.001), and programs (r=.67, p<.001).

Conclusion

The research findings indicate that attention should be given to unit complexity, program diversity, total staff, and skills. Moreover, administrators of hospital and nursing departments need to provide systematic support in accordance with FLNMs’ wide span of control.

Keywords: Personnel management, Workload, Nurse managers

Figures and Tables

Table 1

Characteristics of Participants and Hospitals (N=203)

jkana-23-373-i001

*Others=Hemodialysis, central supply room, special testing area, health screening department; †Non responses were excluded.

Table 2

Relationship between Perceived and Measured Span of Control (N=185)

jkana-23-373-i002
Table 3

Span of Control according to Unit, Staff, and Program Characteristics (N=186)

jkana-23-373-i003

OS=Orthosurgery; OR=Operation room; ER=Emergency room; ICU=Intensive care unit; OBGY=Obstetrics & gynecology; DR=Delivery room; FLNM=Front-line nurse managers.

Table 4

Differences in Span of Control according to Characteristics of Participants and Hospitals (N=186)

jkana-23-373-i004

*Others=Hemodialysis, central supply room, special testing area, health screening department; †Non responses were excluded.

Table 5

Correlation between Numbers of Nurses, Non-nurses, and Span of Control (N=183)

jkana-23-373-i005

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