The Influence of Workplace Ostracism and Organizational Cynicism on Organizational Silence among Nursing Staff

Background: Workplace ostracism limits opportunities for social interaction and discourages nursing staff from forming lasting and meaningful relationships in an organization and organizational cynicism and organizational silence are barriers against the improvement of organizations. Aim: The study aimed to investigate the effect of workplace ostracism and organizational cynicism on organizational silence among nursing staff. Subjects and Method: Design: Descriptive correlation research design was utilized. Setting: The study was conducted at medical and surgical departments at Benha University Hospital. Subjects: a sample of nursing staff 362 (46 head nurses and 316 nurses). Tools: Three tools were used for data collection of this research as follows; workplace ostracism scale, organizational cynicism scale and organizational silence scale. Results: Ninety percent (92.5%) of nursing staff had a low level of workplace ostracism, more than two third (68.8%) of nursing staff had a low level of total organizational cynicism, and less than half (45.9%) of nursing staff had a high level of total issues for remaining organizational silence. Conclusion: A significant positive correlation between total workplace ostracism dimensions, total organizational cynicism dimensions and dimensions of organizational silence. Recommendations: it is recommended to conduct continuous periodic training programs for nursing staff in different health care units to increase their awareness about organizational cynicism, development of a cooperative system considers nursing staff thought and ideas, which leads to a sense of loyalty, cooperation, and commitment toward the hospital, and improve and develop methods and mechanisms for communication with nurses to avoid the silent behavior of the nursing staff