How Nurses View Jobs Today - Term Paper Example

?RUNNING HEAD: NURSING GOALS AND LEADERSHIP Nursing Goals and Leadership BY YOU YOUR SCHOOL INFO HERE HERE Nursing Goals and Leadership Introduction In order to become a successful career individual in the health industry, it is necessary to understand what specific job roles, skills and career-related demands will encompass the role. Some of these include having empathetic skills as it relates to patients and internal staff members, thus taking a people-centered leadership role. Other obligations related to nursing include diplomacy, structural integrity related to job relevance as well understanding the political and social dynamics of the organization in which the health care professional is employed. This paper will discuss the dynamics of leadership that are required in order to ensure proper development as a nursing professional. The review of literature on the subject will compare nursing to actual practice needs and then further blend these concepts into a self-development program for career and leadership excellence. Expectations of the Role and its Relevance to Leadership Development According to Grossman & Valiga (2009, p.138) nurses must maintain diplomatic skills in order to facilitate better social working conditions and also manage conflicts as they arise. In order to accomplish this successfully, they must be “emotionally-intelligent thinkers who can be create and open to new possibilities between all group members” (Grossman & Valiga, p.138). The role requires an individual who can maintain their composure under pressure by identifying the emotional needs of others as a means to ensure minimal occurrences of poor peer working conditions. At the same time, nurses maintain a frontline position as both representatives of their employer, but also as an ongoing and constant patient resource for information. Morrison (2007) identifies that because of this frontline position, nurses must maintain a knowledge center to advise patients on their treatment options or current health and emotional needs. Nurses are described as patient advocates (Morrison, p.4) and thus social interaction will occur routinely with many patients of varying demographics and cultures. Blend together the need for diplomacy skills and the ability to function successfully with others of varying values and backgrounds and the first leadership skill requiring development is to improve knowledge in psychology and sociological theory. Even though this is provided at the school, a personal journey into the foundations of human interaction and inter-office communication are necessary to identify which strategies are most effective and which strategies generally lead to barriers to achieving leadership status. If there is a need to identify with peer and supervisory job roles, with an emphasis on regulating the existence of conflict, digging deeper into primary and secondary literature on the subject comparing career individuals in the workplace with actual study outcomes. Behavioral knowledge development, then, should be a primary goal for success in nursing and being able to take a leadership role to help develop others. Understanding what drives the root of potential conflicts and how to appeal to motivational profiles and individual empathy strategies will require more intensive research so that leadership efforts are effective. How Nurses View Jobs Today There is a stoicism in nursing today, a form of resilience, that relies on structural integrity related to job function efficiency and job role mapping. According to one author in the health care industry, “Nurses believe it is essential to have smart, portable, point-of-care solutions to capture and share data, as well as routine communication” (Murphy, 2010, p.406). Concurrently, nurses also demand new innovations to improve workflow efficiency and end time wasting in the supply chain and care delivery process (Murphy). This shows a regard for authority hierarchy linkages to ensure that there are solutions that provide productivity rather than redundant activities and interactions. This premise is also supported by Sindell & Sindell (2008, p.82) who offer that “employees need resources that will give them the tools to take control of their jobs”. In an environment with considerable liabilities and also the need for tangible efficiency between all medical practitioners, control then is likely something demanded by nurses. Therefore, the secondary leadership skill required in order to become a successful nurse is to identify with better authoritarian values and communications. Perrine (2009) has identified that job satisfaction is the number one predictor of whether or not nurses leave a position with their employer. Complaints range from lack of shared governance and job decision-making to lack of diversity in the organization where the nurse is employed. These are some of the many factors that can lead to dissatisfaction. This again requires a sense of personal motivation in order to gain control and mastery over destiny and the working environment. In order to be an effective leader, while also maintaining control over skills development and environmental conflicts, authoritarian-based negotiation strategies as well as knowledge related to management control are required. To develop better leadership skills, recent theories and studies associated with authoritarian and highly-motivated performance-minded nursing environments with be consulted with. Sindell & Sindell (2008) again identify that companies require their employees to have a systems perspective so that they can drive their own successes and thus build loyalty and motivation for the organization. To further develop leadership, more reference sources related to organizational structure and culture will be explored to determine whether there are notable patterns of leadership that have the most effective outcomes in multiple environments. In order to have a leadership strategy that is going to motivate and also provide individual autonomous learning and development, such research must be reliable and consistent. Identifying with companies and health care organizations that have adopted these theoretical models will improve knowledge and skills development related to authoritarianism and also basic management policy. Another Factor in Development Perrine (2009) again informs that there is a nursing shortage that grows worse each year, with the U.S. in supply shortage of over 400,000 RNs over the next 20 years. This shortage could, theoretically, provide less-motivated individuals as co-working partners in a dynamic and controlled environment and thus cause conflict with more dedicated nurses. Better methodology of oral communication is one method of improving control leadership knowledge and also understanding how to establish work-life boundaries that might be needed with less-performing colleagues. When the health care organization hires less-efficient workers as a means to fill quota needs for nursing, conflict is likely to occur and thus impede job satisfaction. It is necessary to be proactive as it relates to leadership and maintain a strategic-focused and forward-thinking view related to potential control scenarios and have the foundational research knowledge to make a success of the new leadership strategies. Conclusion Goals as it relates to nursing were identified as establishing better control knowledge and self-motivation through learning as well as developing better people-centered and diplomatic skills. At this point in career planning and personal development, research provided that these are two of the most paramount skills necessary to achieve success in the health care industry. Time, experience and further research may uncover more elements and these will require a plan of action in order to become equipped with the management and leadership skills necessary to provide excellence in nursing care. However, diversifying knowledge and education related to many concepts provided in this paper are the most important steps to ensuring that leadership goals can be sustained and utilized properly in dynamic organizations. Because of the frontline position of the nurse, it was impossible to ignore the many social fundamentals of the career position before determining the two leadership development needs most appropriate personally. As an advocate for both the self as it relates to career and other stakeholders, control and diplomacy skills are the most reliable tools to maintain a leader role as a health care professional. References Grossman, S. & Valiga, T. (2009). The New Leadership Challenge: Creating the Future of Nursing, FA Davis Company, p.138. Morrison, E.E. (2007). Therapies: What are the Ethics Challenges for Kansas Nurses?, Kansas Nurse, 82(5). Murphy, Judy. (2010). Nursing and Technology: A Love/Hate Relationship, Nursing Economics, 28(6), pp.405-408. Perrine, James L. (2009). Strategies to Boost RN Retention, Nursing Management, 40(4), p.20. Sindell, M. & Sindell, T. (2008). Recharge your Enthusiasm for your Job, T&D, 62(5), pp.82-85. Read More