Professional Governance Research Articles

Leveraging or Overcoming Distance? Global Strategy and Structure of Professional Services Firms

In this study, geographic distance is an instructional logic that influences the international strategy and structure of professional service firms (PSFs). By drawing on three governance modes—global value chains, virtual teams, and ecosystems—we identify eight governance structures in use by PSFs, resulting from reliance on one of two distance logics: distance-as-enabler and distance-as-barrier. When the logic of distance-as-enabler is prioritized, PSFs choose a structure that is more unified at the global level. When the logic of distance-as-barrier is upheld, PSFs give greater autonomy to local units or establish loosely connected regionally autonomous partnerships. By highlighting the co-evolution between professional governance and professional practice we further show that greater distance necessitates professional work to be more codified and modularized, while proximity preserves professional work's bespoke nature. We apply this framework to demonstrate how external environmental factors trigger firms to shift from one specific governance-practice form to another.

Measuring Professional Governance: The Swedish Version of the Verran Professional Governance Scale©.

To translate the Verran Professional Governance Scale© (VPGS©) into Swedish, adapt it to the Swedish context, and validate it. Magnet®-recognized hospitals have proven successful in reversing negative trends regarding nursing shortage. A change in organizational and management structures is required, and professional governance is fundamental. However, in a Swedish context, there are no validated instruments to measure professional governance. The instrument was translated from English to Swedish and synthesized into a unified version. It was back translated, discussed in an expert panel, and pilot tested with cognitive interviews of nurses. A new Swedish version of the VPGS© was developed. The expert group reached a consensus, and the scale-level Content Validity Index value shows high relevance. Some words and sentences were revised, and an introduction was added. The study generated a Swedish version of the VPGS©, which can be used to measure nurses' perceptions of professional governance behaviors.

Discursive AI Infrastructures: Envisioned and Overlooked Museum Futures

ABSTRACTPrompted by recent innovations, artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being discussed across the museum sector regarding its implications for institutional roles and practices. However, AI in particular, is an ambiguous term, a ‘black box’ which is capable of containing and reflecting numerous values and ideals (Crawford, 2021). This paper positions discourse around AI as a ‘discursive’ infrastructure, capable of not only embodying ideals but also shaping and justifying certain institutional practices and roles. This paper thematically analyses 115 pieces of grey literature produced and shared by professional governance bodies in the museum sector from 1995–2023, mainly across Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In doing so, it identifies four preliminary themes encompassing shifts in discourse over time which give shape to a contemporary discursive infrastructure. This prompts timely critical reflections of museum professionals and stakeholders on both imagined and overlooked public roles, responsibilities, and practices of the museum in relation to AI.

Mining disaster in Brumadinho (Brazil): Social vulnerability from the perspective of the fisherman community

On January 25, 2019, the state of Minas Gerais (MG) in Brazil witnessed yet another disaster involving the collapse of a mining tailings dam. The disaster occurred in the municipality of Brumadinho, belonging to VALE S.A. One of the activities most affected by the disaster was fishing, which suffered from the immediate death of fish, limitations on the use of water resources and uncertainty about the quality of fish for consumption. In addition, this environmental disaster may have caused socio-environmental and economic impacts, severely damaging the region's riverside community and professional artisanal fishermen. This study was carried out with the fishing community and sought to assess their social vulnerability. In order to characterize the activity and identify possible damage, semi-structured interviews were conducted in May 2022. To analyze the qualitative data, the “RAPFISH” method was adapted, considering the following dimensions: 1- social, 2- perception of environmental risk and health, 3- economic, 4- management and technology, and 5- professional organization and governance. The results showed that the fishing communities have managed to maintain and improve their conditions in some of the dimensions considered, but still present situations of social vulnerability. They indicated that fishing is fundamental to family livelihoods and continues to be practiced regardless of the community's perception of risk. However, raising awareness about fish quality, marketing and consumption after the disaster requires more information and monitoring. Our approach was able to show that, among the five components, the social, environmental and economic dimensions are priorities for planning future actions.

The benefits of nursing professional governance nursing research and evidenced-based practice councils for new graduate nurses

New graduate nurses are an untapped population for nursing professional governance and nursing research and evidenced-based practice councils. New graduate nurses can offer new insights into the management of patient care and nursing workflow. By educating new graduate nurses about the benefits of nursing research and evidence-based practice councils at the start of their careers, an early standard of excellence in the empowerment of applying evidenced-based practice principles to improve patient care quality can occur. This narrative literature inquiry explores new graduate nurses perspective of research and evidence-based practice councils, with the targeted goal of engagement for professional and personal growth as a nurse leader.

What Makes a Smart Bank: The Case of Brde, a Last-Mile Subnational Development Bank in Brazil

Development banks are considered mission-oriented financial institutions that must act to fill gaps and market failures, supporting innovation with long-term financing in order to play a fundamental role in smoothing the risks associated with boom and bust cycles. . The existence and role of public development banks have been discussed for more than a century. Thus, this work proposes a case study with the analysis of the Subnational Development Bank - BRDE, in which there is a reference based on authors who discuss regional development and, subsequently, the case of BRDE, with the aim of describing the operation of a small bank in an emerging economy, its strengths and challenges. Therefore, it was possible to conclude that banks that have, at the same time, clarity of vision and mission and alignment of programs, flexibility to adjust to economic and social reality, solid financial results, robust governance attributes and autonomy - professional and collegial governance multilevel that increases the costs of both undue political pressure and bad credit decisions. From a financing point of view, the bank stands out for its technical capacity, which are critical but are important institutions to reinforce that its capillarity and knowledge of the context and local markets are useful for development. Thus, these banks provide financial instruments to expand financing at local and micro-regional levels, directly or through commercial banks and cooperatives. KEYWORDS: Regional development, banks, financial institutions, BRDE.

Association between nurses' personal, professional and work characteristics, and engagement in hospital-based clinical research.

The purpose of this study was to assess the associations between demographic, professional and other personal nurse characteristics, social support factors and comfort in conducting research with nurses' level of active participation in clinical research. A prospective, cross-sectional, correlational design was used. Clinical nurses working in a multihospital healthcare system were recruited by email to complete an anonymous survey that used multiple valid and reliable scales to assess demographic and professional work characteristics, curiosity, grit, locus of control, perceived social support (for research activities), comfort in conducting research, and level of being research-active. Univariate and multivariable analyses were completed. Of 310 participants, 274 (88.4%) were female and mean (SD) age was 42.9 (13.1) years. After condensing 11 levels of research activity to four categories, 179 (57.7%) were not research-active, and 91 (29.4%), 26 (8.3%) and 14 (4.5%) were engaged at low, moderate, and high levels, respectively. Of 78 factors, 69 (88.5%) were associated with being research-active in univariate analyses. In multivariable analysis that adjusted for age, personal experience as a patient, years as a nurse and hours in direct patient care, professionalism characteristics, higher curiosity, internal locus of control, grit perseverance, support of a nurse scientist and nurse friends, and comfort in conducting research remained associated with higher levels of being research-active (all p < 0.01). Research-active nurses were more likely to be engaged professionally in hospital-based activities beyond their work roles and displayed higher levels of positive psychological characteristics and mentorship that supported research capacity. Research-active nurses were more likely to have internal factors and external resources that promoted higher levels of being research-active. A strong professional governance model may enhance clinical nurses research activities.

Test-Retest Reliability of the Verran Professional Governance Scale©.

Background and Purpose: Stability testing, conducted using a test-retest protocol, measures an instrument's reliability by evaluating the consistency of participant responses to survey questions with repeated testing within a short interval. No studies have measured the stability of the Verran Professional Governance Scale© (VPGS). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the test-retest reliability of the VPGS. Methods: Volunteers from a parent study using the VPGS were sent a link to a retest version of the survey 14 days after taking the initial survey with a reminder email sent 5 days after the first request. Item-level and subscale comparisons were made between participants' initial and retest responses using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) applying a two-way random-effects model. Results: VPGS subscales had ICC scores of 0.71 for decision-making, 0.73 for collateral relationships, and 0.86 for professional obligation. Conclusions: Findings suggest that the VPGS demonstrates test-retest reliability. Future research should evaluate the instrument's responsiveness.

Impediments to the democratic participation of foreign nationals in public-school governance

In their efforts to promote the constitutional values of equality, human dignity and freedom, public-school laws and policies emphasise non-discrimination in the admission of learners and democracy in the professional management and governance of public schools. The democratisation of post-apartheid public schools must comply with democratic participation and representativity. Whereas democratic participation can be realised through the exercise of active voting rights, democratic representativity can be achieved through the exercise of passive voting rights. Accordingly, this article explores notions of democracy, non-discrimination, and representativity so as to examine and highlight factors that may restrict or inhibit the participation of foreign nationals in school governing body elections. The active and passive voting rights of foreign nationals are discussed from constitutional and statutory perspectives.

Nguyen Model of Caring and Professional Governance in Nursing: A Conceptual Framework

The concepts of caring and professional governance in nursing and their discrete associations with patient outcomes are widely studied. At present, little to no research has been published on the nature of the relationship between the two concepts. Adaptations of two established caring theories and defining attributes of professional governance guide a caring and professional governance conceptual framework. Descriptions of theories and attributes elucidate the overall description of the framework. Understanding the relationship between caring and professional governance in nursing enables exploration of the combined relational impact on practice and outcomes. The conceptual framework provides an evidence-based foundation to this work.

The Impact of Shared Governance Model’s Implementation on Professional Governance Perceptions of Nurses in Saudi Arabia: A Randomised Controlled Trial

Objective. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of the shared governance model application on the level of perceived professional governance among clinical nurses in a tertiary hospital in Riyadh. Background. Professional governance continues traditional governance, shared governance, and self-governance. Shared governance (SG) is the engagement of clinical nurses in decision-making at different levels. This empowers nurses, increases job satisfaction, improves clinical outcomes, and enhances patient satisfaction. Methods. This randomised control trial in which researchers distributed the Index of Professional Nursing Governance (IPNG) to a random sample of 440 nurses working in a 1200-bed tertiary hospital in Riyadh and divided into experimental and control groups. The intervention included designing and implementing a nursing shared governance model at the hospital level; professional governance was measured before and eight months after implementation. The IPNG was used to measure nurses’ perceived level of professional governance before and after the intervention. The sample was divided into experimental and control groups. Results. By comparing experimental and control groups, there was no statistically significant difference between them regarding professional governance subscales and the total IPNG scores before the intervention. At the same time, there was a considerable difference between them after the intervention. Moreover, the scores of the six professional governance subscales and the overall IPNG scores significantly increased after the intervention in the experimental group. They showed no significant difference in the control group. Conclusion. Designing and implementing specific shared governance structures and processes effectively enhanced nurses’ perceived level of shared governance at the hospital, as evidenced by significantly higher postintervention IPNG scores. Elements of the shared governance model that proved effective included engaging nurses in decision-making at various organizational levels and empowering their involvement.

Advancing Professional Governance to Improve Health Outcomes.

Developing the skills and behaviors needed for nurses to lead in professional governance has long been a priority at the American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL). The annual AONL Professional Governance Leadership Conference is an important part of advancing nursing professional governance, convening nurses in all roles to discuss professional governance concepts and leadership practices. AONL has produced publications and podcasts exploring the professional governance foundations, roles, and behaviors, available on its website. This article discusses AONL's partnership in the development of a new book, Professional Governance for Nursing: The Framework for Accountability, Engagement, and Excellence, edited by AONL faculty and former staff.

A Road Map for the Development of a Decisional Authority Framework for Professional Governance Using Accountability Grids.

Although resources are available to guide structures and processes for professional governance, limited information exists about defining and legitimizing the decisional authority needed to support direct care nurses' ownership of clinical practice as well as the role of nursing leaders. This article presents a road map for creating and implementing clinical nurse, nurse leader, and nurse executive accountability grids with clearly delineated authority to provide a decisional authority framework for professional governance in one organization.

Lessons learned from nursing crisis meetings: Qualitative study to evaluate nurses' experiences and needs.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the nurses' experiences with the Nursing Crisis Meetings and to identify nurses' needs regarding the future governance structure. Qualitative study. Two focus groups were conducted in February 2022 with participants of the Nursing Crisis Meetings (N = 15). We used thematic analysis to describe themes. We identified five themes: opportunity to speak up, call for nursing leadership, call for control over practice and autonomy, development of a governance infrastructure and development of the professional nurse role. Nurses experienced the Nursing Crisis Meetings to be a positive and empowering infrastructure, which facilitates the unique opportunity to speak up and share experiences and concerns. This new infrastructure is a promising strategy to engage nurses during a pandemic and to build on a professional governance structure. This paper highlights the need for nurses to speak up and be engaged during the COVID-19 pandemic and gives a practical example of how to put this infrastructure into practice.

Value integration in multi-functional urban projects: a value driven perspective on sustainability transitions

Sustainable urban development requires the integration of diverse values to achieve multi-functional goals. Blue-Green Infrastructure (BGI) projects can be considered as pioneers in value integration. By combining bureaucratic innovations (BI) and social innovations (SI) these BGI projects are able to reach a more holistic development that is characterised as a value-driven approach for sustainability transitions. In this study on BGI projects, we aim to learn how to deliver multi-functional projects through different interpretation of four factors, i.e. professional culture, governance level, geographical space, and time conception, in various constellations of BI and SI. Results of our cross-case study of four BGI projects in three European countries (the Netherlands, Belgium and Sweden) indicate that project with higher degrees of value integration balance BI and SI in following four ways: (i) heterogeneity in professions in value-decision-making, (ii) multi-level governance embedded in institutional frameworks, (iii) connecting city-wide and neighbourhood levels by boundary spanners, and (iv) having a dynamic time conception. Our findings imply that social innovation experiences on projects has to fit into the bureaucratic environment to achieve true value integration.

The ELEVATE Study: Evaluating the Impact of Educational Professional Governance Workshop on Nurses' Perceptions of Shared Decision-Making.

The ELEVATE study evaluated whether an educational workshop would improve the perceptions of shared decision-making of nurses in an organization as demonstrated by an increase in Index of Professional Nursing Governance (IPNG) score. Available literature insufficiently links educational interventions to improvements in shared professional governance. Six hundred ninety-one participants' IPNG scores were analyzed before and after an educational workshop was administered to formal administrative leaders and registered nurse (RN) RN council leaders every 6 months during a 2-year research study. Index of Professional Nursing Governance scores were higher for RNs participating in nursing councils than scores for those who did not. The organization's IPNG scores remained stable from 2019 to 2021. Secondary analysis may suggest that council members were more resilient during crisis. Further investigation is needed researching the relationship between professional governance education and RNs' perception of shared decision making.

Relationship between nurses’ perception of professional shared governance and their career motivation: A cross-sectional study

ObjectivesThis study aimed to investigate the level of professional shared governance and career motivation and their relationship among nurses in Egypt. MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted. A total of 724 nurses working in inpatient medical, surgical, and critical care units in Alexandria Main University Hospital were recruited from May to August 2022. The Index of Professional Nursing Governance (IPNG) version 3.0 and the Career Motivation Scale were used for evaluation. ResultsThe IPNG version 3.0 total score was 109.18 ± 22.76, that nurses perceived had a low level of professional shared governance; the access to information dimension achieved the highest average mean score (2.81 ± 0.76), followed by the ability to set goals and conflict resolution dimension (2.75 ± 0.53). On the other hand, the dimension of participation in the committee structure achieved the lowest average mean score (1.65 ± 0.37). The total score of career motivation was 69.82 ± 9.70 this reflects that nurses perceived a moderate level of career motivation. The career insight dimension achieved the highest average mean score (3.56 ± 0.34), while the career resilience dimension achieved the lowest average mean score (3.07 ± 0.49). Male nurses, less than 30 years old, had a bachelor’s degree in nursing sciences, and worked in the ICU had higher total scores of the IPNG and career motivation (P < 0.001). There was a positive correlation between the IPNG version 3.0 score and the Career Motivation Scale score (r = 0.239, P = 0.003). ConclusionsThe study’s findings can serve as a theoretical foundation for nursing managers to re-plan the management model and develop appropriate methods to give better career planning for nurses.

Integrating resilience factors into nursing professional governance culture

Integrating resilience factors into nursing professional governance culture

Caring Science and Professional Role as the Foundational Framework for Shared Leadership Council

Nursing burnout and well-being are at the forefront of many nurse leaders’ concerns in health care today. To address this issue, a 6-time Magnet® organization evaluated its professional governance (PG) structure with the goal of increasing nurse empowerment, engagement, and satisfaction. The organization aligned the redesigned structure with the ANCC Magnet components and integrated the Theory of Caring Science and Model of the Professional Role into the structure and leadership development sessions as the foundational theoretical framework. This resulted in improved clinical nurses’ engagement, understanding, and application of a theory-guided practice while sustaining engagement scores throughout a pandemic.

Professional governance during crises.

Professional governance during crises.