Evaluation of the relationship of head nurse's leadership style to nurse's job satisfaction working in medical-surgical wards of hospitals affiliated to Tonekabon Islamic Azad University, Iran

Nurses comprise 50% to 60% of specialists working in hospitals and are responsible for the main parts of the patient care. The importance of leadership in health organizations especially in the field of nursing is therefore obvious. This study aimed to evaluate any possible relation of leadership style among head nurses to job satisfaction among nurses working in medical and surgical wards. This descriptive-analytical study was performed on 64 nurses working in medical and surgical wards of hospitals affiliated to Tonekabon Islamic Azad University. Sampling was performed by census. Data were gathered using a questionnaire consisting of three parts: 1) personal details, 2) description of leadership behavior of head nurses (University of Ohio, 1957), 3) measurement of nurses’ job satisfaction (job satisfaction Index by Mohrman-cooke-Mohrman, 1987). Most samples who showed a high job satisfaction (80.5%) were those whose head nurses manipulated an acceptable convincing leadership style.; on the other hand, those who showed a low job satisfaction (66.7%) were mostly nurses whose head nurses consigned their responsibilities. The organization in which the managers pay attention to establishing good relations with the staff as well as the duties they have to do, and try to make the staff contributing to decision making, job satisfaction increases to a high level which will result in the elevation of the level of organizational commitment, quality of services and satisfaction among patients.