Abstract
The lack of management of the poor performance of nurses by operational managers at
health care institutions in Gauteng is widely reported. Studies reported that dealing with
the poor performance of employees should be done incrementally at the first sign of a
deviation in expected behaviour, in order to avoid the “rotten apple effect.” The
management of the poor performance of nurses has been left unaddressed by
operational managers for long periods in the regional hospital in Ekurhuleni, resulting in
poor patients outcomes and dissatisfied service users. This happened despite the
existence of legal frameworks to guide the management of the poor performance of
nurses in the hospital.
The purpose of this study was to explore and describe operational managers’
experiences in the management of the poor performance of nurses, in order to develop
strategies for empowering the operational managers to manage the poor performance
of nurses in this hospital. The researcher used a qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and
contextual design for this study. The population was composed of operational managers
employed to run the wards in the hospital. Seven participants were purposively selected
from the population and consisted of the participants who voluntarily consented to
participate in this study.
Data was collected by means of individual semi-structured interviews. An audio-tape
recorder was used with the permission of the participants to capture their responses.
Tesch’s protocol of open coding was used for data analysis. Ethical principles to protect
the rights of participants were adhered to and trustworthiness was ensured by using the
criteria of Lincoln and Guba.
Findings of the study were as follows: a central theme emerged that demonstrated that
all the participants lacked knowledge and skills to manage the poor performance of
nurses. Themes emerged as follows: Experiences of challenges in managing the poor
performance of nurses, Emotional experiences and, Ineffective leadership practices.
The themes and sub-themes were integrated with literature and relevant studies.
Strategies to empower operational managers to manage the poor performance were
described. It is recommended that the described strategies be used in nursing practice,
nursing education and for further research. Limitations and conclusion of the study are
described in chapter four.
M.Cur.