Midshires College of Midwifery and Nursing - Coursework Example

Midshires College of Midwifery and Nursing MIDSHIRES COLLEGE OF MIDWIFERY AND NURSING The main causes of problems encountered in creating Midshires College The creation of Midshires College entailed merging five colleges of midwifery and nursing. The task of merging the five colleges was delegated to a Steering Group, which comprised of senior managers who were members of Board of Governors in the five colleges. It was important for managers in all the five colleges be part of the Steering Group to ensure equal representation of views from the colleges. The Steering Group had a total of 24 members derived from ten local Health Authorities, the NHS Hospital Trust and the Regional Health Authority. The members had various capacities such as General Managers, Chief Nursing Officers and some were representatives. The inclusion of General Managers from the ten Health Authorities was important since the five colleges provided services to hospitals in the ten Health Authorities. Their views, therefore, were needed to ensure that the creation of Midshires College of Midwifery and nursing becomes a success. The Steering Group had one main objective, which was amalgamating the five different colleges of midwifery and nursing. Although the Steering Group had a clear objective and the members needed to achieve its objective, it faced various problems in the process of creating Midshires College. The first problem encountered during the process of amalgamating the five colleges was the uncertain future regarding the demand for nurse education. The number of nurses needed, and their functions in the health sector in the coming future were not clear. In this case, it was certain that nurses’ jobs faced a threat. If formed, Midshires College would face the problem of not admitting enough students to purse the midwifery and nursing course. The future of nursing jobs was measured in terms of population growth and establishment of new hospitals. It was only natural that when creating a new college, it had to accommodate more students than the other five colleges accommodated in total. However, there was a low demand for more nurses in the future market (Hughes et al, 2009). The second problem experienced when creating Midshires College was a conflict of interest between members in the Steering Group and the new college to be formed. In the five colleges, the General Managers were charged with the task of providing nursing education. It was apparent that, the new college, Midshires, if created could not rely on direct nurse education services from the General Managers. The General Managers had the option of putting up a tender, which could see to it that they secure the contract of training nurses in the college. The objective and goal, which Midhires College was based on, contradicted both the intentions and interests of General Managers who formed the Steering Group. The creation of Midshires College faced a challenged, which came from the same people who were supposed to oversee its creation. A definite competition was on the rise, as it was seen when an organization to compete with the new college in terms of availing post-experience nurse education was formed by two Health Authorities. The Steering Group had the intention of frustrating efforts that the new college was making in order to provide post-experience courses. It is worth noting that the Steering Group was all along protecting its interests, through lamenting that if the new college provided post-experience courses then 30% of the five colleges’ staff would lose their jobs. Creating the new college became a challenge since members in the Steering Group were opposing change, which would affect jobs and provision of nursing education (Hughes et al, 2009). The third problem came as a result of the expectation that a higher educational institution would validate qualifications achieved from Midshires College, which was on the verge of formation. It was also expected that, in the end, Midshires College would be merged with the university sector as other colleges had passed through the same. However, this idea was challenged by the fact that the members of the Steering Group were not reading on the same page. The future merging of this new college in the university sector would interfere with how the General Managers provided nursing education services to the college (Hughes et al, 2009). Looking at the bigger picture, the Steering Group was the cause of the problems faced when creating Midshires College. The group was all along aware of the problems, which were to occur during the process of amalgamation, but it chose to overlook on the problems. The act of overlooking on the problems by the Steering Group can be seen as a strategy of frustrating the creation of the new college. The new college was to benefit more than the General Managers who were part the Steering Group (Hughes et al, 2009). The Steering Group further escalated the problems faced when creating Midshires College, by appointing a Project Leader who had no experience regarding amalgamating and merging colleges. Additionally, the Project Leader was not allocated any budget to support his course. He was given the choice of acquiring resources from the five colleges at the discretion of their principals. However, this was not satisfactory since a principal who had intentions of frustrating the efforts of creating the new college could decline giving any assistance (Hughes et al, 2009). Relation of case study with leadership selection and leadership skills In the case study, the Steering Group selected one principal to take the task of being the Project Leader. The Steering Group selected this principal as the Project Leader since he had worked for many years and hence had more experience than the other four principal. Additionally, he was remaining with only two years of service before he could retire, and so according to the Steering Group he could not succumb to issues related to conflict of interest. Leadership selection is highly embedded in experience and reputation the Steering Group saw this in the Project leader. The other issues, which made the Steering Group, select the principal as the Project Leader included his personality traits, abilities and the situation at hand (Mintzberg, 2007). The Project Leader, who was given the task of spearheading the creation of Midshires College by amalgamating five colleges, exemplified leadership skills, which were instrumental in ensuring the project, becomes a success. The Project Leader demonstrated the act of working through groups and individuals to bring change, which is an essential leadership skill. This was seen when the Project Leader formed a group to work with; the Project Board, and individuals who formed the group were principals from the five colleges and three members who were to be the group’s advisors (Makin & Cox, 2004). A leader also demonstrates leadership skills, by influencing people’s behavior in a manner that will result in carrying out of tasks allocated to individual members in the group. It was evident that the Project Leader employed the strategy of “SMART” approach when coming up with the plan of creating Midshires College (Amold et al, 2010). The plan entailed establishing four sub-projects directed towards the integration of major functions within the five colleges. The functions were nursing preregistration and post-registration courses, midwifery education and education support services. In accordance with the “SMART” approach, Project Leader’s plan was specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely (Burnes, 2009). The case study exemplified the challenges leaders go through when leading a group towards achieving a desired goal. Leaders face problems when the people they are trying to lead become overwhelmed with carrying out tasks, which do not show tangible results (Dunphy et al, 2007). In particular, the Project Leader had critics from the Steering Group, which selected him as the leader, and the Project Board, which he had formed to help him create the new college. This incident is a clear indication of leadership faults on the side of the Project Leader. Although, the Project Leader was visionary when he came up with a plan to aid the integration process, he fell short of setting the direction and gaining commitment from followers. Members in a group who lack commitment in their leader are bound to wander around and deviate from the group’s original merit and purpose (Grint, 2005). In the case study, the Project Board members’ lack of commitment to their leader, made them disregard the fact that the Project Leader was the only link between the Project Board and the Steering Group. Members in the Project Board held informal meetings with members in the Steering Group, and in the process undermining the performing skills of the Project Leader. A leader should establish personal reputation as one of his leadership skills, reputation aids in demanding obligation and commitment from followers, and it is brought about by the aspect of political skill (Richards & Clark, 2006). The Project Board members had a vague obligation and commitment towards the Project Leader because the leader had no political skills, which instill trust and support in followers. The Project Leader was supposed to focus on developing his personal reputation through image management, which would go ahead in ensuring that the leader is both competent and successful in his job. In most instances, personal reputation exhibited by a leader determines the success rate of the project he is heading. Considering the case of Midshires College, the Project Board noticed traces of weak personal reputation in the Project Leader, and this resulted in the informal meetings between them and the Steering Group since they had doubts regarding the success of the project (Thomas, 2003). Leadership skills call for the idea of bringing success in an organization through organizational change. An instance of organizational change was seen in the case study when the Project Leader introduced a new strategy directed towards the creation of the new college; formation of a Management Committee after suspending the Project Board. Changing of tactics in essence bring about organizational change (Mooney, 2004). The leader had to change the behavior of members in the Project Board with the objective of instilling trust and commitment in his leadership. However, the Management Committee turned out to be inefficient, to expedite the process, a new chair in the Steering Committee implemented the “PDCA” cycle. The “PDCA” cycle entailed planning, doing, checking and acting. The cycle in the long run was effective in ensuring the creation of Midshires College (Burnes, 2003). Conclusion Midshires College faced various problems, which halted its creation. The first was the uncertain future of nursing education. The second was a conflict of interest between members in the Steering Group and the new college to be formed. The third was the expectation that qualifications from the college would be validated by a higher educational institution. The Steering Group fell short of addressing these problems before commencing the process of amalgamating the five colleges. This led to inefficient performance by the Project Board since these problems were obstacles in every step of the way, which led to the creation of Midshires College. Lessons of leadership learnt from the case study Leadership is a task, which is not easy to accomplish when it comes by. The act of leading is faced with numerous challenges that can be frustrating to the person charged with that task. Leadership involves influencing your followers to carry out task in the manner that the leader desires and visions as a way of achieving a goal. In many occasions, this can be impossible because people usually tend to avoid following orders or instructions (Makin & Cox, 2004). Leadership skills are important aspects since they aid in influencing people, in a group, to carryout goals, which end up in making a particular project a success. Effective leadership is seen when a leader is able to guide his followers and channel resources, and ultimately achieve a successful goal. Leadership can be frustrating when a group becomes unable of realizing its objective. This is attributed to the leader’s inadequate leadership skills in terms of influence and political skill, resulting in low staff morale. A successful leader should be able to instill in his followers sense of obligation and commitment. In reference to the case study, the Project Leader was able to exemplify both success and failures in his role as a leader. Whether a leader experiences success or failure, t is important for him to apply fully personal traits and abilities when conducting his leadership role. Effects of the lessons on my behavior as a leader After studying the Midshires College case and relating it to leadership, my behavior has been affected in that I will always strive to have all the members in my group reading from the same page. 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