HUMAN RELATIONS IN NURSING ADMINISTRATION

INTRODUCTION
We live in an age and culture where efficiency and productivity mean a great
deal. We have become obsessed with matters of technique and our
technological skills have developed tremendously. This has extended from
industry and commerce to these professions, which deal more directly with
human beings and their welfare. Nursing, Medicine, Social work and
psychology are some of them. We are busy doing things and at times we tend
to forget that the people with whom we are working and for whom we are
working are also human beings. The term human relation refers to interaction
of a group and people in various settings. The concept of human relations
takes in to consideration, why people are different?, why some are cordial,
efficient and why some work hard ?etc

DEFINITION OF HUMAN RELATIONS

Human relation is a science of applying principles of social psychology in
improving the working of an organization and to make it more productive and
the worker happier to improve efficiency and satisfaction
Human relation is motivating people in organizational setting to develop
team work which accomplishes individual as well as organizational goal
effectively (Davis. K)

OBJECTIVES OF HUMAN RELATIONS

• Human relations approach emphasizes on the policies and techniques
designed to improve employee morale and job satisfaction so as to
increase the employee efficiency and reduce unrest.
• To increase productivity and efficiency
 • To promote understanding of the people behaviour in group or as an
individual
• Getting people to work effectively

CONCEPT OF HUMAN RELATIONS

In order to understand the concept of human relations, it is needed to know
the fundamental concept revolving around the nature of people and
organization.

A. Concept relating to the nature of people

Davis K analyses the assumptions about the nature of people as follows:
1. Individual differences: The individual differences in attitude, skill etc
affects the job behaviour of people. Scientific techniques have been
developed to identify and measure individual differences and can be used in
selection and placement of right person for the right job. The principle of
individual difference also emphasizes that a manager or administrator has to
deal with human beings, who differ in feelings, emotions, goal etc. In short
individual difference has wide application in selection, placement and
designing of training programmes and to know their motives and behaviours
and to supervise them effectively
2. Whole person concept: The concept of whole person signifies that
behaviour of a person cannot be studied in isolation. The person comes to
the workplace as a complete person. He has his own background, emotions,
feelings and sentiments, which cannot be separated from the skill he is using
on the job. At the place of work the person may carries with him the problems
of his private life and they also influence his performance of work.
3. Motivational behaviour: An important determinant of individual behaviour
and performance in an organization is motivation. From the psychological
point of view it can be learned that behaviour of individual has certain causes.
These causes may relate to an individual’s need or the consequences that
result from his/her acts. The concept of motivational behaviour remind that
the supervisor or the manager by his/her own behaviour can cause an
employ behave in a particular way.
4. Human dignity: This concept is different from the other three because it is
more an ethical philosophy than a scientific. It tells that every person should
be respected simply because he happens to be an employee of the
organization. The concept of human dignity rejects the old idea of treating
employees simply as economic tools. He cannot be treated like a machine or
commodity, which has no sensitivity or dignity. If a person is not treated with
dignity he will not co-operate with the organization. He will be dissatisfied
because he feels his efficiency will go down.

B. Concept relating to the nature of organization

1. Organizations are social systems: An organization is a social system,
which coordinates the activities of its members for the achievement of
common goal. It is the part of society and it consists of people who are social
being. The behaviour of individual is also related to the group in which he/she
belongs. A change in the social system is reflected in the organizational
behaviour through the behaviour of its employees as individual and as group.
2. Mutual interest: The interest of the people and that of organization must
be saved; otherwise there is no sense in people joining the organization. An
individual join an organization if he feels that his goals will be served. The
statement that organization needs people and people need organization
represents mutual interest. People need organization to achieve their goals
and organization nee people to help or get the help to reach the
organizational goal. In fact without people or employee there is no
organization. So human relations broadly implies interaction and co-operation
among people in group i.e. school, business, industry, hospital etc.
CHARACTERISTICS OF HUMAN RELATIONS
The important characteristics of good human relations are:
 Interaction/communication: Whenever two or more individuals come

together and start exchanging information. This interaction may be of short

or longer duration
 Need satisfaction: If the members of a group find that in the process of

interaction some of their needs get satisfied they continue interaction.

 Modification of behaviour: Also through interaction people develop

certain attitudes and perceptions which modify their mutual behaviour

 Group goals: These interacting persons also decide up on striving

together for the achievement of certain goals

 Role differentiation: Different persons contribute differently in the

achievement of the group goals. Or they play different parts. These are
called roles. Gradually these goals get stabilized
 Status: People playing different roles yet have different importance. This

is termed as status. Status also carries its own level of power.

 Group structure: The power distribution gets arranged in to a hierarchy.

This is known as group structure.

 Norms: All groups develop regulatory rules known as norms.

An organization like a school or hospital has all the above-mentioned

characteristics. So human relations play an important role in the smooth
functioning of hospitals or school.

FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE GROWTH OF HUMAN RELATIONS

IN NURSING
Efficient patient care is the result of sound professional administration and
cordial human relations. So the important factors responsible for the growth of
human relations are:
  Recognition of the dignity of the individual and his/her personality
 Encouragement to independent thinking and self decision making
 Development of professional managers rather than autocratic managers
 Change in work environment
 The recognition that the real power centres within an organization are
the interpersonal relationships established within the work environment
 The belief that the organizations developed around human
relationships, including those between leaders and employees
 The human relations’ movement focuses on human feelings and
attitudes of employees.
 In a hospital the producer and the raw material comprises of human
beings and the nurses are mainly dealing with human beings.
In the present day scenario, where there is a lot of technical and modern
advancement, the human relation skill are very essential to bring about
productivity (quality outcome), a work culture, essence of responsibility and
accountability.

IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION IN NURSING ADMINISTRATION

Effective communication is an important factor in maintaining good human
relations. Nursing is a communicative intervention and the foundation of
nursing lies in the communicative attitude. This attitude is manifested in the
striving for mutual under standing, coordination, and co- action between
clients and nurses.
 Communication help to generate trust between nurse and the
client, prevent legal problems in practice, solve problems in the
working environment and provide nurses with professional
satisfaction.
  Communication is a vehicle for establishing a therapeutic relation
ship and good professional relationship in the work place
 Communication is the means by which people influence the
behaviour of another leading to successful out come of nursing
service administration.
 Communication is the relation ship itself because without it,
therapeutic nurse – patient relation ship is impossible.
 Communication is also a means for nurses to bring about
changes in the work setting.
 Failure to communicate can lead to serious problems for nurse
and the client and can threaten nurses’ professional credibility

COMMUNICATION SYSTEM IN HOSPITAL

Hospital is an organization where improved communication systems are a
dire necessity. Some of the communication systems used in hospital are:
1) Periodic talks between employer and employee
2) Sign posts for the patients and for general public
3) Staff conferences to get suggestions and for decision making
4) Social gathering to remove inter personal relationships
5) Employees consulting in problem solving
6) Standing orders and protocols
7) Hand book to provide general information
8) Manuals policy & procedure manuals
9) Bulletin boards
10) Suggestion systems, complaint books
11) Hospital magazine, bulletin
12) Annual reports
13) Light signalling systems
 14) Alarm systems in accident prone areas
15) Tele communication systems, intercom, paging system etc
16) Public relations officer, inquiry officer
17) Patient information booklet
18) Inserts in the pay rolls, attendance register

IMPORTANCE OF HUMANRELATIONS IN NURSING

Every endeavour where more than one individual is making joint efforts to
achieve a goal, there is a need for human relations.
 The whole discipline of nursing profession is built on people that
continuously interact with sick as well as well human beings. Nurse
client relationship is a human-to-human relationship or is a learning
experience, whereby two people interact to face an immediate health
problem, to share if possible, in resolving it and to discover ways to
adapt to the situation. So maintaining good inter personal relationship is
necessary for providing effective health care to people.
 Nurses have to know how to manage people. A nurse will have to team
up with top, middle and lower level management and also have to
manage subordinates, for which the art of dealing with people and
effective leadership are very important.
 The nurse also has to deal with the society. It is at this level where the
image of nursing is projected, her manner of communication, approach
values, skills all these matter in projecting a positive image.
 Leadership and influencing people is required when nurses work in
various setting like critical care units, special care units, school health,
community health and so on.
 The ultimate aim of nursing service administration is to provide
quality health care to people in the hospital, community and home.
In this context also, the various aspects of human relations are used to
 establish rapport and trust to understand the client views, their
motivations and goals and then to work with them to achieve their
goals.
 With the growing attention to community and home care, human
relations play an important role, in mobilizing and capitalizing on the
strengths of various resources. Here the nurses role is to coordinate
and manage the care delivered by other healthcare providers,
community groups, nongovernmental organizations, family members
and workers from other sectors, to achieve individual and community
action for health. In fact WHO expert committee on nursing practice,
which met in Geneva in 1995, identified “organizing, coordinating and
managing the health care system” as one of the core elements of
nursing practice.

STEPS IN IMPROVING AND MAINTAINING GOOD HUMAN RELATIONS

IN NURSING ADMINISTRATION
 Know your personnel well, their goals and aspirations.
 Understand their functions
 Help them to perform their assigned jobs by adopting positive
reinforcement techniques
 Praise them in public to the good job done
 Admonish them in private for any wrongful practices
 Be sincerely interested in them
 Set examples for others
 Do not be afraid to share responsibility
 Deal with the complaints in time and give personal attention to the
problems
 Treat subordinates and clients with dignity and respect
  Be open and transparent and tell why things need to be done or
changed
 Delegate responsibility with authority
 Praise, appreciation, awards and letter of thanks should be liberal
 Needs must be satisfied by realizing status positions
 Speedy removal of grievances
 Keep all the channels of communication open
 Develop a positive attitude towards others and life
 Do not preach but act
 Keep your promises whenever made
 Cultivate the qualities to win over the confidence of others by being
truthful, loyal, honest, tolerant, fair firm, broadminded and full of
integrity
 Provide an enlightened leadership
 Foster a climate for real participation to develop team spirit among the
employee
 Using good judgements while dealing with the needs and feelings of
subordinates.
 Maintain good interpersonal relationship with co-workers and members
from other department or agency

ADVANTAGES OF HUMAN RELATIONS IN AN ORGANIZATION

 Contribute to people’s skill building
 Help to understand people
 Help to predict about people
 Help to motivate for effective work
 Help to increase the adjustment level of people
 Help to promote adjustment mechanisms
  Help to understand individual difference
 Help to improve interpersonal skill
 Help to develop positive attitude
 Help to assess needs and desires

LIMITATIONS OF HUMANRELATIONS
Good human relations are essential to boost the morale of employees,
consumers and increase productivity (quality of out come). But at the same
time there are some limitations are also associated with it. The limitations are:
o Undue emphasis on human relations will do harm more than good
o Mass conformity: Over dependency on human relations reduce
individual efforts and promote group efforts
o Manipulation of people: Manipulation of people for selfish ends
o No exact but commonsense: Most of the human relations practices are
not exact and is simply based on commonsense or humanitarian
interest of people
o Lack of confidence but liking people: Human relations approach is
considered as a wrapper employed by a manager, who lacks
confidence in his ability.
o Unrealistic removal of conflicts: Human relations help to reduce
destructive conflicts only. There may not be a real solution for the
conflicts.
o Weakens managerial authority:
o A case of introversion and shortsightedness: Human relation may
become deceptive if its introvert nature is not taken in to consideration.
It is not a remedy to all human problems.

CONCLUSION
Human relations cannot eliminate frustration, discontentment and conflicts but
can minimise these evils in the work environment. It cannot provide absolute
solutions to the human problems but shows a way for ushering improvement