Powerlessness perceptions of nurse managers in centralized and decentralized hospital organizational structures

Powerlessness is a concept denoting the inability of one to have control over his/her destiny in their work environment. The population studied was 45 nurse managers employed in centralized and decentralized hospital structures. The null hypothesis tested stated there was no difference in the perception of powerlessness among nurse managers employed in decentralized hospital organizational structures as compared to nurse managers working in centralized hospital organizational structures. The null hypothesis was tested using Guilbert's Health Care Workers Powerlessness Scale. The results of the analysis indicated that the perception of powerlessness was unrelated to organizational structure, thus the null hypothesis was rejected.