The Nursing Role Effectiveness Model provides a well-defined conceptual framework to guide the evaluation of outcomes of nursing care. For the most part the hypothesized relationships among the variables were supported. However, further work is needed to develop an understanding of how nurses engage in their co-ordinating role functions and how we can measures these role activities.

Operational hours, which influence the manager's daily span (average number of direct report staff working per weekday), should be factored into the design of front-line management positions.

This article reports the results of a longitudinal quantitative study on nurses' views on factors promoting and impeding empowerment and examines the relationship between work-related empowerment and background variables in one hospital. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire and analyzed statistically. Nurses gave lowest assessments of promoting factors on the second measurement occasion, a time when the organization was going through major changes. Both job satisfaction and motivation showed a positive relationship with factors promoting empowerment. Organizational changes have a direct effect on the work environment in terms of empowerment and job satisfaction. To cope successfully with changes, special attention must be paid to personnel management. It seems that factors promoting and impeding empowerment can be used to measure effects of organizational changes as well.