Asac 2005

Some 10 years ago, Canadian health care organizations came under extreme pressure to cut costs as a result of a $4 billion cut in federal transfer payments to the provinces (Merrifield, 2003). This led to facility closures, cutting of beds on hospital wards, and moves to outpatient and community-based care. Health care employees felt the impact as well, with health professionals reporting loss of control and high dissatisfaction (CP, 1996). Canadian health care consumers have experienced the repercussions of these events and their satisfaction with the system is said to be declining (Berlin, 2003). And new issues are surfacing on the horizon. The aging baby boomer population is expected to place significant burdens on the health care system, increasing both the health care needs and expenditures related to this population segment (Hogan and Hogan, 2002). Researchers are also predicting continued shortages of doctors (Hogan and Hogan, 2002) and nurses (Ledgister, 2003) in Canada. Health care administrators have been struggling with how to cope with these issues, and reduce the current and future negative impact of all these factors on important organizational outcomes such as employee performance, satisfaction, commitment and turnover. This study focuses on one large not-for-profit health care organization in Atlantic Canada that has been working to influence employee job satisfaction by developing an organizational culture that promotes workplace spirituality, and fosters a leadership style that is transformational in nature.