Leadership in Health Management - Report Example

Leadership in Health Management Name Institution Lecturer Date Leadership in Health Management Introduction Leadership is a key element in any form of service delivery. Lack of effective leadership in service delivery will bring the whole service to a halt. In a situation where emergencies are bound to occur, like the health sector and service, effective leadership is critical in ensuring success of the service so as to save lives especially in an emergency situation. Advance in technology within the health care system therefore requires an effective form of leadership for the delivery of health care service to individuals. With the lack of effective leadership in health management danger is posed to both the health service providers and the citizen whose expectation is that they will be protected through delivery of health care service. Lack of effective leadership will mean the service shall not be administered in time and this places lives at risk. This paper shall discuss three forms of leadership approaches within the health management system. The three leadership approaches that the paper will discuss include; transactional leadership approach, situational and transformational leadership style. The paper will further engage in the discussion of transformational leadership approach in more detail due to its applicability in the health management sector (Cruickshank et.al. 2004). Leadership approaches Transactional Leadership Approach Transactional leadership is a form of leadership where the leader and the people agree to accommodate the needs of each other. In such a form of leadership, the leader makes the people aware of what is expected of them, induces them to do away with their self-interest and activates their high order needs. Thus this leadership involves a transaction between the person being led and the leader. The attributes accrued to transactional leadership include assessing the worth of the team members, understanding the organizational needs as well as the people’s needs. According to Griffiths & Wiese (2004) a connection of these forms of leadership reveals that some forms of leadership can act independently while some of them act along with other forms of leadership and leadership attributes. Within the health sector the approach is applicable as a transaction is made between the leader/staff and the patients that need to be served. The medical staff disregards their self-interest while putting the interests of the patient first or as a priority. It is therefore essential for the leader and the medical staff to fully understand the needs and health requirements of the patient (Griffiths & Wiese 2004). Situational Leadership Approach Situational leadership involves a mix of the leader’s traits and the ability to make great use of the traits during various circumstances. For a health management service, situational leadership is considered to be one of the most important forms of leadership because situations happen without prior notice. For instance the health sector is filled with a lot of emergency situations such as accidents and other emergencies. This requires use of other skills such as risk management to counter the situation. With a blend of situational leadership and the leadership strategy of risk management, the situation at hand can be effectively managed. A connection exists between this form of leadership and contingency leadership. Again, risk management covers this form of leadership since the leader is prepared for any eventuality. The leader is adequately prepared in such a way that he/she is able to effectively manage the occurrence of an emergency situation. The difference with situational leadership is that this form of leadership is preplanned while situational leadership depends on how best the leader reacts to the situation (O’Rourke & Davidson 2004). Transformational Leadership Approach Transformational approach in leadership involves incorporation of other stakeholders in the decision making process. This process mainly acts as a form of motivating individuals within the organization to work as a team in implementing various forms of change within an organization in order to generate a sustainable productiveness. Therefore transformational leadership approach encourages an open form of dialogue in terms of creating clear lines of communication and collaborative approach in decision making process. This type of leadership approach instigates change in individuals and the entire social system. This is attributed to the fact that this type of leadership enhances the process of motivation, morale and performance of followers through the use of various forms of mechanisms (Matshabaphala, 2007). This type of leadership approach is considered as ideal for a complex environment such as a health care facility. Hence within a complex environmental setting transformational leadership stimulates change in contrast to a command and control type of leadership approach. In such complex organizations such as health management systems transformational type of leaders play the role of being coaches and mentors. Within the context of the health management transformational leadership is important in building the confidence of the staff and the community at large rather than formal type of leadership approach (Clare & Hofmeyer 2004). Transformational leaders are willing to give more freedom to the employees to exploit their potential for the good of the company. It is also important to note that the leadership within the organization determines the ability of the followers to work together for the purpose of achieving the goals of the organization. Therefore within the health sector this kind of freedom enables the staff to engage in effective delivery of health care services so as to meet the goals and objectives of the health facility that involves quality provision of health services (Farrell, 2001). Transformational leadership is one which employs a set of behaviours in order to bring about change. These set of behaviours are desired to offer effective delivery of services with the goals and objectives of the organization. In this case the employees of the organization embrace a form of belief system that the success of the organization would be realized through various forms of changes. Thus the transformational leadership approach involves in the generation of strategic vision. The change that is anticipated in the organization has a specific vision that will involve in meeting the goals and objectives of the organization in this case the health facility (Mooney, 2008). Transformational leaders are therefore engaged in the process of creating a strategic vision for the health facility as an organization. In this approach the transformational leaders engages in the communication of the anticipated vision to his team members and engage in the process of encouraging the members of the team to work towards the attainment of the set goals and objectives. Within the health facility transformational leaders engage in setting the vision of provision of quality health services. The leader motivates and encourages the staff to work towards the achievement of the set goals and objectives for the benefit of the community and the health facility at large (Millward & Bryan 2005). Transformational leadership approach has various elements that need to be considered with the use of this approach within the health management system. According to Mickan & Boyce (2006) the element of individualized consideration is of great significance. In this case the leader has the ability to offer empathy and support through the process of keeping communication open. In addition, the leader celebrates the achievement of each member while encouraging for more participation so as to meet the goals and objectives of the organization. In health care it is therefore essential to apply the transformational leadership approach as patients will require support and empathy. In addition the staffs who works under the guidance of transformational leadership needs to be motivated in relation to various tasks that they are involved in. Hence the leader acts as a mentor or a coach in meeting the needs of his followers (Mickan & Boyce 2006). Another element of transformational leadership involves the aspect of building of commitment to the set vision and objective. Within the health facility the leader should engage in the process of building commitment of the vision with the members of the team. Therefore the leader engages in the participation of the implementation of the vision through being close to the team and monitoring the process of the vision. The transformational leaders involves in the process of offering some form of encouragement to work towards achieving the set goals. Through encouragement offered to the members of the team the leader will be able to gain their trust and confidence towards working and achievement of the set goals (Ham, 2003). Within the contemporary society Mahatma Gandhi is presented as a perfect example of transformational type of leadership. This is due to the fact that as a leader he elevated the hope and demand of citizens and therefore transforming their lives in the process. The benefit or the strength of transformational leadership approach involves the fact that it is more concerned about progress and development that is essential within the context of provision of health services in the ever changing health environment with the advent of new forms of technology. In addition, transformational approach of leadership involves the leader transcending their own interest for the benefit of the group or the society. The leader therefore assists the society in the process of identifying what is important to them (Millward & Bryan 2005). Transformational leadership has the ability to assist the employee to attain the sense of self-esteem and self-actualization of their needs. This further enables the followers or staff to have the capability to easily embrace various forms of both internal and external changes in the organization. This is an important aspect as it is necessary within a complex type of environment. Health service organization is considered as multi-dimensional with various changes that occur in terms of technology advent in the health sector. Transformational leadership plays an essential role in the health sector as it enables the staff through the efforts of transformational leadership approach to embrace the various changes in terms of technological inventions (Menadue, 2008). Transformational leaders must be committed to initiating changes within an organization. In addition the leaders must be committed to the vision of the organization and its stakeholders. An important attributes that is essential to transformational leadership involves trust. Trust is regarded as a highest form of motivation that transformational leaders may offer. This is due to the fact that trust brings out the best among individuals. Trust creates a sustaining form of leadership that is significant in most organizations. Transformational leadership values the leadership trait of trust that is generated into value founded leadership (Degeling & Carr 2004). Transformational leadership involves a blend of wisdom, intelligence and creativity. This concept simplifies the whole concept by stating that one needs to have these three qualities for one to be an effective leader. The model presented can be used effectively because through wisdom, a leader understands what to do and when to do it. When a leader understands what to do and when to do it, they are more likely to make the right decisions. Leadership and decision making cannot be separated. In fact, a wise leader knows what leadership style to use depending on the situation at hand. In addition, the intelligence in a leader guides them in knowing the right moves to be followed. When a leader is intelligent, they understand how to handle the situations they face. They understand how to react to every situation they face. A health service management/organization leader who is intelligent understands the dynamics of the situation and they can read more from the situation they are faced with. A leader who is creative will know what means to use to get the situation back in order. This is because they are creative enough to understand what can be used and they can improvise based on the needs. This implies that a creative leader will not be handicapped. Therefore, transformational model acts as a summary of the required leadership traits (Millward & Bryan 2005). With the benefits of the transformational approach of leadership within the context of a health management practices is essential since the interest of the of the patients and the delivery of quality services is put first as opposed to the interests of the leader and the organization as a whole. The development of change within the health sector or management is essential due to the fact that transformational leadership initiate the process of change. With the change in the health sector and the change being experienced with the advent in the new technology transformational leadership is important in the process of initiating and implementing change in terms of technology advancement (Taft, 2006). Additionally, another benefit of the transformational approach of leadership within the context of health service provision involves the fact that this approach of leadership reflective consultants who fully comprehend the essential of intellectual elements and the provision of quality health services to individuals. These leaders therefore engage in the process of making the health service organization a high level of priority in terms of creation of a conducive environmental setting in terms of both psychological and cultural conducive for the provision of health care services to individuals. In this case the general focus of transformational leadership involves the attainment of the organization’s goals and objectives through a form of empowerment of the followers or staff to work towards the attainment of the organization’s goals. Transformational leadership is therefore based on the basis of commitment to the goals and objectives of the organization in this case a health facility. The main objectives of a health facility involve the provision of quality health services to individuals (Ham, 2003). The main weakness of transformational type of leadership involves the fact that there is need to balance the needs of an individual to be in line with the beliefs, goals and objectives of the organization. In some instances for instance within the context of health facility it may be challenging for the leader to engage in the process of balancing the needs of an individual client and the goals and objectives of the organization. Therefore in most cases the weakness involves the goals and objectives of the organization overriding the needs of an individual in terms of provision of health services (Degeling & Carr 2004). Conclusion Effective leadership requires a set of skills and styles. While some of these leadership styles can be used independently and achieve effective results, the circumstances under which the styles can be used differ. Transformational leadership approach is presented a model of effective public service delivery through leadership. In the model, it was stated that organizations for instance health service sector that are high performing have service models, centered on the citizen. Such focus permeates the whole organization and the services are created and offered in a manner that makes great sense to the citizen regardless of any boundaries. The service is also delivered in the manner that the citizen chooses and there is clear communication as well as readily available support. This makes the citizens empowered to conduct business with the health service as an organization. Transparency and trust are key factors in effective leadership. Effective communication is essential in leadership approach as one of the key characteristics of effective leadership along with confidence, enthusiasm, knowledge and vision. References Cruickshank, M., Isouard, G., Irwin, L., Madison, J., & Chandler, M. (2006). Managing quality. In M. G. Harris (Ed.), Managing health services: Concepts and practice (2nd ed., pp. 381–402). 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