Relationship between Leadership Styles in Nursing and Outcomes in Delivered Care - Term Paper Example

Relationship between leadership styles in nursing and outcomes in delivered care Concept Paper Draft School of Advanced Studies, of Phoenix Jose Pagan [Insert RES 722A Facilitator Name Here] January 29, 2014 Relationship between leadership styles in nursing and outcomes in delivered care Background information Successful leadership involves influence of followers towards achievement of set objectives and is important in change implementation or in transformation of operational environments. Different leadership styles exist and while situational leadership theory suggest that environments dictate leaders’ level of effectiveness (Fairholm and Fairholm, 2009), the notion that leaders are nurtured means that leadership potentials can be nurtured to effectiveness under any environment. Different leadership styles and theories exist that are applicable in nursing. While many nursing professionals seem to be inclined towards transformational leadership, other leadership styles, such as transactional leadership can offer effectiveness to leadership outcomes in nursing (Giltinane, 2013). In mental nursing environment, for instance, “transformational and distributed leadership” styles are associated with highest levels of success in care provision (Cleary, Horsfall, Deacon and Jackson, 2011, p. 632). While the findings were limited to micro conditions, a wider perspective of organizations may develop better insights into effectiveness of leadership styles. A correlation study to investigate relationship between leadership styles and effectiveness also noted a significant difference between leadership styles’ effectiveness with transformational style as the most effective followed by transactional style (Casida and Parker, 2011). Conflicting knowledge between theory and empirical results on effectiveness of leadership identifies the need for a study on relative effectiveness of leadership styles for identification of a style that offer general effectiveness despite environments. Focus is made on leadership in the health sector in which leadership outcomes are critical to people’s health. The study is significant because of its potential to improve leadership effectiveness through identification of the most effective leadership style in different nursing environments. This will facilitate nursing outcomes that is critical to people’s health. The study is also significant to administrators of care facilities, as it will inform of best traits for a suitable leaders. Nurse training institutions will also use the study’s findings to align their course modules with desired leadership styles in the job market. Problem Statement Existing literature support effectiveness of different leadership styles in nursing care set up. Most of the literature, based on empirical studies, reports effectiveness of transformational leadership style over other leadership styles but there are dissenting opinions. Distributed leadership style and transactional leadership style have for example been associated with equivalent level of effectiveness or levels that are just slightly lower. It should therefore not be concluded that transformational leadership style is the most effective and this forms the basis of the proposed study. The study seeks to investigate relative effectiveness of different leadership styles in the nursing environment. A quantitative method with a survey design will be used to conduct the study. Purpose The purpose of this quantitative method study with a survey research design will be to find out the best leadership style within nursing that can adapt to different environmental conditions and facilitate best outcome for effective delivery of goals and objectives. In nursing paradigm, the leadership initiatives have emerged as critical factors for the welfare of the patients, career, and the medical fraternity (Sullivan & Decker, 2009). Leadership encourages creativity and innovative practices in different situations that are designed for effective nursing outcome and identifying the most effective style will empower personnel and create an environment for improved outcomes. The study will significantly contribute to the development of leadership styles. Leadership styles and nursing outcomes are the variables for the study. Leadership styles will be the independent variable and will be measured from an online survey instrument while outcomes will be measured from offered services and personnel’s interaction with patients and patients’ relatives. Achieving the purpose will identify the most effective leadership style and inform nursing administrators of leadership traits to look for when hiring leaders. It will also leaders to adjust their leadership styles towards the identified effective style. Population and Sample Leaders in the nursing profession, nursing personnel, and patients will be the study’s population. A sample will be selected through a multi step random approach. Three nursing facilities will be selected at random, from each of two cities, and a leader, eight nurses, and eight patients selected at random, from each facility, to form the study’s sample. Simple random sampling will be used in selecting nursing facilities and stratifies random sampling will be used to select participants from each facility. This will generate a sample of six leaders, 48 nursing personnel, and 48 patients. Methodology Quantitative method will be used for the study because of the study’s scope that seeks to investigate relationship between variables and quantitative methods, unlike qualitative methods, can achieve the objective. The method is also appropriate because the study seeks to investigate variables on a quantitative scale. Survey design of the quantitative research method will be used because of its corresponding scope to the scope of the proposed study that does not require treatment. This identifies appropriateness of the design over other quantitative research designs that require randomization into treatment and placebo groups followed by treatment. The design is also appropriate for the study because of its limited ethical and legal implications that experimental and quasi-experimental designs would generate unnecessarily (Blankenship, 2009). Research Questions / RQ & HOs The proposed study aims to develop a model of ranked leadership styles by their overall level of effectiveness across different environments in which a leader may operate. Existing literature suggests effectiveness of different leadership styles in nursing, though transformational leadership appear dominant (Giltinane, 2013; McGuire and Kennerly, 2006). Some leaders have however demonstrated significance of other leadership styles such as transactional leadership and distributed leadership styles (Giltinane, 2013; Cleary, Horsfall, Deacon and Jackson, 2011). These observations identify the need to identify the relatively most effective leadership style and lead to the following research questions. Does transformational leadership style significantly more successful in the nursing environment than other leadership styles? What is the relative effectiveness of leadership styles across nursing environments? The following sets of research hypothesis will determine the research questions respectively. HO: µtransformational = µother leadership styles; There is not a relationship between the transformational leadership style and other leadership styles HA: µtransformational > µother leadership styles; There is a relationship between the transformational leadership style and other leadership styles HO: All mean effectiveness levels are equal; There is no difference in the effectiveness of various leadership styles HA: Any of the means is different; some leadership styles are effective than others. Answering the research questions identify the most effective leadership style. Contribution to Knowledge The study will develop new knowledge in nursing leadership and facilitate effective leadership and nursing outcomes through identifying an effective leadership style. It seeks to resolve conflict in existing literature that identifies relative effectiveness among different leadership styles. Leaders in nursing should care about the study because of the potential to identify and promote an effective leadership style and leadership outcomes. Review of Relevant Scholarship Key such terms, leadership styles and effectiveness, will be used together to recruit sources from EbscoHost online library. Retrieved literature will then be screened of currency and relevance to the research topic. The most germinal research findings identifies significance of transformational, transactional, and distributed leadership styles as most effective styles in nursing. This is establishes the research problem because knowledge of a specific leadership style that is more effective that the other leadership styles would help to empower leaders and facilitate leadership outcomes. The findings on the leadership styles further identifies significance of leadership style on nursing outcomes because of identified effectiveness of different leadership styles (Cleary, Horsfall, Deacon and Jackson, 2011; Casida and Parker, 2011). References Blankenship, D. (2009). Applied research and evaluation methods in recreation. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Casida, J. and Parker, J. (2011). Staff nurse perceptions of nurse manager leadership styles and outcomes. Journal of Nursing Management 19(4), 478-486.    Cleary, M., Horsfall, J., Deacon, M. and Jackson, D. (2011). Leadership and mental health nursing. Issues in the Mental Health Nursing 32(10), 632-639.     Fairholm, M. and Fairholm, G. (2009). Understanding leadership perspectives: Theoritical and practical approaches. New York, NY: Springer.  Giltinane, L. (2013). Leadership styles and theories. Nursing Standard 27(41), 35-39.   McGuire, E., & Kennerly, S. (2006). Nurse Managers as transformational and transactional leaders. Nursing Economics, 24(4), 179-185. Sullivan, E. J., & Decker, P. J. (2009) Effective Leadership and Management in Nursing (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Read More