Background: First-line managers are links between an organizations' administration and the workforce. They transmit information from higher managers to workers and vice versa. Their management skills and especially their interaction with staff are a key point in successful management.
Aim: To describe how first-line managers realized appreciative management in their everyday management practice in health and social care.
Method: A quantitative descriptive study was conducted by means of an electronic survey among social and healthcare managers in Finland.
Results: Based on the self-evaluations of the managers, appreciative management is well realized. The most recognition was given to equality and the least to appreciative know-how. Connections were seen between appreciative management and gender, education, education level and managers with higher education, and those with fewer work units below them tended to have a better realization of appreciative management.
Conclusion: The education level of first-line nurse managers is meaningful when realizing appreciative management in social and healthcare settings.
Implications for nursing management: More advanced education levels of first-line managers help to promote appreciative management in social and health care, together with the amount of work units (meaning outpatient and inpatient wards). A first-line manager is responsible for the needs of their workforce and needs to be critically assessed so that they might have more time for managing in an appreciative way. Appreciative management should be given increased focus when educating nurse managers.
Keywords: appreciative management; health care; nursing management; quantitative research; staff.
© 2019 Nordic College of Caring Science.