The Relationship between Managers Communication Skills and Organizational Performance of Nurses in Educational Hospitals

Extended Abstract
Background
Communication is a vital management skill that might influence all the activities of managers in organizations. Therefore, effective communication skills can help improve organizational performance. This study was conducted to determine the relationship between managers’ communication skills and nurses’ organizational performance in educational hospitals.
Methods
This descriptive-analytic research was conducted using a correlational analysis method. The research population included managers and nurses in 5 educational hospitals of Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences in Ahvaz, Iran. Using the Cochran formula, the sample size included 39 managers and 195 nurses. A proportionate stratified random sampling method was used in the present study. The data collection tool included three questionnaires. First, a demographic questionnaire including age, gender, marital status, education, and job history. Second, Barton’s communication skills questionnaire covered verbal, auditory, and feedback skills. Third, Hersey and Goldsmith’s organizational performance questionnaire assessed performance based on seven factors: ability, clarity, help, incentive, evaluation, validity, and environment (known as seven factors ACHIEVE model). The face and content validity of Barton’s questionnaire were confirmed by eight university professors of the Department of Health Services Management and the School of Nursing. The Hersey and Goldsmith questionnaire was analyzed and confirmed by eight professors and experts in the field of management sciences.The questionnaires were distributed in hospitals following a randomized proportional method. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.80 for the Barton questionnaire and 0.86 for Hersey and Goldsmith, and both showed acceptable reliability. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistical methods, including mean, standard deviation, frequency, and frequency percentage, and inferential statistics, including the t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation coefficient, using SPSS software version 22.
Results
Most managers were over 40 years old, and the nurses were between 30 and 40 years old. Most managers were female and had 11 to 15 years of work experience. Most of the participant nurses had less than ten years of job experience. The mean score was 3.30 (±0.53) for communication skills and 3.44 (±0.81) for organizational performance; both were estimated as relatively significant. According to the statistical test, the total communication skills score did not significantly correlate with the total organizational performance score. However, some communication skills had weak correlations with performance factors. There was a positive and significant relationship between the listening skill with the ability (r = 0.27, p<=0.001) and validity (r=0.18, p=0.012) factors. In addition, verbal skill demonstrated a positive and significant association between the verbal skill component and clarity (r = 0.14, p=0.04) and environment (r=0.18, p=0.011) factors. Finally, the total communication score showed a weak but statistically significant correlation with the ability (r=0.24, p=0.001) and clarity (r=0.15, p=0.044) factors.
Conclusion
This study did not find a significant association between communication skills and organizational performance, while management literature suggested otherwise. Our study found some inconsiderable associations between communication skills and performance factors. Therefore, we suggest that, in addition to establishing training courses to improve communication skills for hospital managers, studies should be designed to identify the mediating factors of this variable with organizational performance factors.
Practical Implications of Research
Due to the inconsiderable relationship between auditory and verbal skills with some factors of organizational performance, more research is required to find out how communication skills between managers and nurses might improve hospital performance.

Ethical Consideration

All ethical principles and considerations of the committee of research of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences are observed in this study with the code of ethics IR.AJUMS.REC.1397.864, and the data were collected after the consent of the statistical population of the study had been obtained.
Conflict of Interests
The authors of the article stipulate that there is no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgement
This study was supported financially by the Student Research Committee of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences under grant number 97s39. The authors thank and appreciate all managers and nurses for cooperating and completing the questionnaires.