Leadership and Management Concepts for Health Professionals - Assignment Example

Leadership and Management Concept for health professionals Number: 3977NRS Number: ID FC1000117 Instructor: Fatima College of Health and Science Word count: What’s your leadership style? Table of content Introduction………………………………………………………..4 Background………………………………………………………..4-5 Theories of leadership……………………………………………..5-6-7 Qualities of effective leader……………………………………….7-8 Behaviors of effective leader………………………………………8 Emotional intelligent……………………………………………….9 Opinion…………………………………………………………….9-10 Conclusion………………………………………………………….10 References…………………………………………………………...11-12 Introduction Leadership is a necessary skill for those aspiring to become a manager. There are a variety of definitions of leaders. A leader is any person who motivates others to achieve a particular objective using his interactive skills (Sullivan&Decker, 2009, P.45). Nursing leaders should be able to think of a bright future, to positively affect their work and achieve their goals. A manager is someone whom an enterprise employs for his trustworthiness as well as his expertise to achieve the goals set by the organization effectively (Sullivan&Decker, 2009, P.45). The managers should possess a mindset aspiring for greatness.If the goals they set are expertly planned, every person working under them can give their best to the organization. This paper will focus upon the various theories about leadership, the types of leadership as well as the variations in the different leadership styles. The basic purpose of this assignment is to thoroughly assess theories of leadership and conclude as to which theory The main focus of this essay is to investigate certain leadership theories and figure out which one is of great significance for the leader. Background Miss. F has been newly employed as the unit manager in the pediatric department at a center by the name of Zayed Higher Organization. This organizational center caters to 120 with various infirmities in the region of Abu Dhabi. The center possesses an indoor environment which shelters the people that are part of it from ages of nine years until seventy years. Zayed Higher Organization cares for humanity and those with specific individual needs and is known as the Organization for Humanitarian Care and Special Needs. It welcomes and lodges people who are handicapped in the area and caters to all their needs, providing them with assistance and attention in the long run. The aforesaid serves as an example of parallel organizational structure. Parallel structure is an exclusive arrangement for healthcare (Sullivan&Decker, 2009, P.19). She used to be a staff nurse with years of experience and was promoted. She has twenty years’ worth of experience in the same unit and is regarded by her colleagues including the physicians as well as the other staff members. It is not uncommon for her to receive duty calls at odd hours. She is proud to be a nurse and she has been given the responsibility for scheduling all the nurses on her unit. Excellent leaders are identified the moment someone sees them, and they often become our idols, however, it is not easy to pin point exactly what it is that makes them so influential ( Fowler, 2011). Leadership comprises of numerous theories which include the great man theory, trait theory, behavioral theories, contingency theories, and contemporary theories. The leaders do not stick to one particular theory but opt for carious styles in accordance with the situations. Recent studies identify combining a variety of behaviors to form a particular leadership style (Sellgren, Ekvall & Tomson, 2006). Miss. Y was born with many talents. She shows the style of trait theory that implies certain particular traits in a person’s nature or mannerisms that paves the way for them to become leaders who are exceptional, as compared to others (Marquis&Huston, 2009, P.37). The characteristics that it should be a natural part of the traits of the leader are, intellect, the form of mind willing to take a challenge, excellent interactive or relationship-dealing skills, self confidence, and of the leader to be ready to take risks. Similarly, there are certain traits that should be in the behavior of the leader such as truthfulness, fidelity, pride, impartiality, excellent skills of communication, devotion, and the zest to work hard (Roussel &Swansburg,2009). Many people hope to have natural leadership skills. In the behavioral view of leadership Miss. F exhibits the democratic style of leadership that pertains to leadership style that possesses a very accessible and shared way of communicating with people. In this style everyone presents an idea at an equal stand point and is listened to. To further explain this form of leadership and its benefits, Kerfoot(2008) emphasizes that the most efficient and expert team can be derived from democratic leadership. This takes their skills a notch up as their ideas are shared, rather than only listening to the leader. Democratic leadership excels where there are complicated multi-dimensional opinions to consider before making a decision. The democratic leadership leads to self-sufficiency and progress amongst each worker. It is most useful when positive interaction between groups is essential for decision making. These days, leaders must possess more skills. Miss. F conforms herself as a disciple of the transactional and charismatic leadership. The charismatic leadership accentuates her powerful persona. Yet, she mainly embraces the transactional theories. According to transactional theories, compensation and penalization are important modes of driving people to achieve a goal (Bolden et al 2003 as cited in Taylor, 2009). Miss. F uses both penalties and compensations, as required. If the staff works well on a given time, Miss. Y will provide her a gift, but if the staff fails to deliver properly, Miss Y will do it herself. Miss. F does not only use transactional style but would also use the transformational style, if possible. Miss. F uses transformational style like during certain scenarios when she encourages and helps the staff so both Miss. Y and her staff works side by side to achieve positive result, although she is more driven by the transactional style. The transformational leaders should possess the foresight and talent to motivate those working under them and develop confidence in and with their workers so they can drive the workforce. Transformational leadership is an excellent example for nursing leadership because it develops strong interpersonal relationship between the leader and workers. Bass’ Model of the Full Range of Leadership (1998) as cited in McGuire & Kennerly (2006) implies that every leader has some transformational and transactional traits. Transformational leaders teach their staff, they do not govern them. This is why they make the setting that recognizes individuality so that everyone can connect to each other better by listening to each other(Bass, 1998 as cited in McGuire & Kennerly 2006). The efficient leader should works towards maintaining an equilibrium between the transformational and transactional behaviors so that the management style works according to the followers’ requirements. According to Bass & Avolio (1997) as cited in Spinelli (2006), transformational leadership is not actually leaving the transactional leadership behind, but it accentuates transactional leadership to create a better form of leadership. Therefore, nurse managers who apply transformational or transactional form of leadership had a distinct leadership manner fared better in their careers than those who practiced composite leadership (Lindholm, Sivberg, & Uden, 2000). For the development of a successful, proper merits and behavioral skills should be developed. An effective leader is brave, positive, patient, and steadiness and possesses zest and is able to cope with emergencies. Miss. F has almost all the qualities of an all round leader. She is brave as she takes risks. She also is a positive beginner as she gives ideas and acts on them. She views trouble as an opportunity to enhance her leadership therefore she’s a good leader. She kept the unit up to par in very little time before the joint commission. She did not give up because of the troubles she experienced. At the end, she made the joint commission and the staff happy. But she needs to understand the significance of self awareness as if she would be able to understand herself, she would also be able to understand others in a better way. Another important quality that should be possessed by an effective leader is creativity. A good leader should think with an open mind, respect others, resolves issues, interacts and sets work guidelines, so that a development can result between people rendering the future outcomes positive. If Miss. F wants to make a decision, she would not make it before thinking creatively about it. If there is trouble in the unit she will identify the problem and evaluate her decision by expertly following the problem-solving processes. She also provides her positive and negative reactions, so the staff can improve their performance, by gifting them with thank you cards. Yet, she sometimes shows aggressive behavior when giving a negative feedback and the staff feels disappointed. She keeps enhancing her attitude and motivates others to follow suit. She always does a new task first before handing it over to the staff. Sometimes she acts as a teacher. Miss. F lacks some of the effective leadership behavior skills such as respecting an individual. She sometimes differentiates between her favorite colleagues and supports them even if they prove erroneous. Development of effective communication ability is also required by Miss F. The only way you can communicate someone to work for you is after you understand them. The development of effective communication skills is a basic requirement for all nurses, and an essential element of leaders. The leadership skills will increase awareness, and evaluate what one needs more to achieve. People who lead also require the talents of self-reliance, uniqueness, social expertise, being a visionary along with listening to others and provide good advice (Jastrzembski,2007). A successful leader requires many qualities and he should have emotional intelligence (EI). Emotional intelligence is balancing emotions and actions (Marquis&Huston, 2006). Emotional intelligence is defined as the knack of differentiation between emotions of oneself from those of others, and to utilize it to make better decisions (Vesterinen, Isola &Passivaara,2009). EI enables a person to use feelings efficiently, in order to influence their understanding and easing their decision making process by managing and deducing emotions properly (Vitello&Cicciu,2003as cited Marquis & Huston,2009,P.56). Emotional intelligence comprises of self awareness as well as social awareness. Thus, leaders need to be aware of their own emotions and how to control them. Social awareness is about understanding employee emotions and feeling and attending to them. Miss F uses social emotional intelligence when she wants her staff to leave their homes and come to work. Staff nurses tend to follow in the footsteps of their nurse managers and adapt their styles of leadership. Motivating nurse managers are hence the most followed. Staff nurses who possess a balance of leadership characteristics should be catered to, and recruited as a nurse manager by the organization that they work in. It is for this reason that Miss F. was given a promotion after her recognition as an effective leader and unit manager. In order to be a good manager, you should know how your enterprise works. Management skills should be incorporated into the nursing curriculum as well as in the training sessions imparted to employees at organizations. Nurse managers need knowledge and talent. The difficulty they face is to adapt to the ever changing system. Finally one should not become a manager, if he does not have the required experience. To look after a department and act as leader is a job that requires responsibility and to but to do it best requires a lot of hard work from the leader (Feltner, Mitchell, Norris&Wolfle, 2008). Conclusion The assignment provided an in depth review of the various leadership styles. Many studies put forward that transformational leadership is better and more accepted as a form of leadership styles. The nurse manager needs to drive and encourage others. Newly appointed leader or managers will require the formal training that is required for the program, and leaders should keep in mind that leadership takes a lot of patience and work. References Decker, P., &Sullivan, E. (2009).Effective Leadership and Management in Nursing. Person Educationl: New Jersey. Feltner, A., Mitchell, B., Norris, E., & Wolfle, C. (2008). Nurses views on the characteristics of an effective leader. AORN Journal, 87(2), 363. Fowler, J. (2011). Effective leadership. Nursing Management (Harrow, London, England: 1994), 17(9), 38. Huston, C., &Marquis, B. (2006).Leadership Roles and Management Functions in Nursing: Theory and Application.Lippincott: Philadelphia. Huston, C., &Marquis, B. (2009).Leadership roles and management Functions in Nursing: Theory and Application.Lippincott: Philadelphia. Jastrzembski, J. (2007). New practitioners forum. Developing leadership skills. American Journal Of Health-System Pharmacy, 64(18), 1900. Lindholm, M., Sivberg, B., & Uden, G. (2000). Leadership styles among nurse managers in changing organizations. Journal Of Nursing Management, 8(6), 327-335. McGuire, E., & Kennerly, S. (2006). Nurse managers as transformational and transactional leaders. Nursing Economic$, 24(4), 179-186 Roussel, L., &Swansburg. (2009).Managment and Leadership: For Nurse Administrators.Jones and Bartlett: Canada Sellgren, S., Ekvall, G., & Tomson, G. (2006). Leadership styles in nursing management: preferred and perceived. Journal Of Nursing Management, 14(5), 348-355. Spinelli, R. (2006). The applicability of Basss model of transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership in the hospital administrative environment. Hospital Topics, 84(2), 11-18. Tappen, R., Weiss, S., &Whitehead, D. (2007).Essentials of nursing leadership and management.F.A.Davis: Philadelphia. Taylor, R. (2009). Leadership theories and the development of nurses in primary health care. Primary Health Care, 19(9), 40-46. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Vesterinen, S., Isola, A., & Paasivaara, L. (2009). Leadership styles of Finnish nurse managers and factors influencing it. Journal Of Nursing Management, 17(4), 503-509. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2834.2009.00989.x Read More