Nursing Management & Leadership: Terms and Definitions

Vocabulary flashcards covering the structural levels and managerial hierarchies within nursing management and leadership organizations.

Formal structure

A framework for defining managerial authority, responsibility, and accountability through departmentalization and work division where roles and functions are systematically arranged and hierarchy is evident.

Informal structure

A naturally forming social network of employees that fills in structural gaps with connections and relationships illustrating how employees network to get work done.

Organization chart

A diagram that defines formal relationships within a specific institution.

Top-level managers

Managers who look at the organization as a whole, coordinating internal and external influences, and generally making decisions with few guidelines or structures.

Strategic planning

The primary planning focus of top-level managers.

Top-level managers: Communication flow

Top-down but receives subordinate feedback both directly and via middle-level managers.

Middle-level managers

Managers who coordinate the efforts of lower levels of the hierarchy and serve as the conduit between lower and top-level managers.

Middle-level managers: Scope of responsibility

Integrating unit-level day-to-day needs with organizational needs.

Middle-level managers: Primary planning focus

A combination of long- and short-range planning.

Middle-level managers: Communication flow

Upward and downward with great centrality.

First-level managers

Managers concerned with their specific unit's work flow and focused primarily on day-to-day needs at the unit level.