Abstract
Objective: This paper describes a study undertaken to examine the visions of nurse managers and leaders for succession planning and to examine the associated policies and practices for Saudi Arabian and expatriate nurse managers in Saudi Arabian hospitals. The factors that play a direct role in preparing future nurse managers to guide nursing services in the future for that country are explored.
Design: Many definitions of succession planning can be identified in both nursing and business literature and an underlying theme is that good succession planning retains the best people for an organisation. This may seem to be stating the obvious at first glance, but the complexities for the sample and the 'social world' in this setting was such that a mixed methods approach was utilised to gain an in-depth understanding. A sequential explanatory research design was used in two phases. The first phase was a survey, which explored demographics, organisational succession planning, the importance of competencies in the development of nurse managers and the use of open-ended questions to elicit qualitative information. The focus of the second phase was qualitative and explored the themes of management styles and quality, the development of managers, organisational issues and human resource issues. At the participating hospitals, 11 nurse managers/nurse executives took part in semi-structured interviews.
Setting: The study was conducted in seven Saudi Arabian hospitals with a range of approaches to succession planning. Fundamental to the study was the ethical and professional responsibility of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (the Kingdom) to provide an Islamic focus in the delivery of quality healthcare and effectively continue to implement the Saudisation policy for nursing.
Outcome: Although effective succession planning is built on the framework of solid organisational vision and policy, this was not reflected in practice in the Saudi Arabian hospitals in this study.
Conclusion: Recruitment and retention of more Saudi nurses is both desirable from a population perspective and required from the government's policy perspective on Saudisation of the workforce. Effective succession planning for nurse managers is one factor which may modify attrition rates and enhance recruitment; however it remains a major challenge for health services.