Democratic Leadership Style in Nursing - Research Paper Example

The paper "The Effectiveness of Democratic Leadership Style in Delivering Quality Service in Healthcare" is an outstanding example of an essay on nursing. Leadership is one of the most critical attributes in any group or organization that looks to achieve a given level of success. Understanding the essential aspects and forms of leadership is therefore crucial to any organization as the management needs to implement the best platform for employees and stakeholders within the group. The main difference between different forms of leadership styles is the distribution of power across different people in the group.

The democratic style of leadership is a method where all members of the group take a participative role in management. The power is not localized to the management level but the employees, as well as other members of the group as a whole, have a significant role to play in decision-making. It is important however to note that power, in this case, refers to the ability to mobilize people and resources in order to achieve the targeted goals (Kanter, 1981). Power is increasingly being handed down to all members of the group and although the management still holds the most powerful position, all members in the group have participative roles.

The changes that are being witnessed in the society today have meant that the management needs to assess its role in harnessing and controlling the power given to individuals within the group since people are taking initiatives and controlling themselves (Kanter, 1981). The initiative and control that is derived by all members of the group ensure that there are easier and more effective methods of achieving the set-out goals within any group. This paper looks at how democratic leadership can be used at different roles in nursing and how effective it is in delivering quality service in healthcare.

  There is a need for coordination and control within the clinical practice since every member of the group needs to be comfortable and effective in their roles. Therefore, it is critical that the management coordinates and allocates different positions and roles within the practice equitably and according to abilities shown by the group members. In the nursing practice, there is a need for a coordinated and controlled informational structure where members are constantly involved by the management.

The management is however equally as important since it directs and introduces priorities within the group while also maintaining reorganization (Brabant et al., 2007). However, the nurses or employees within the group are mandated with the responsibility to accomplish the setout priorities and involving them in deciding the best methods to attain these structures is essential. In clinical practice, democratic leadership is the best style if the management wishes to deliver quality service since the nursing staff is heavily involved in decision-making.

Technology is part of the nursing practice since the records and information on patients and the history of the hospital have to be recorded. Technology has revolutionized service delivery and made the work of nurses easier since their efforts are coordinated and systematically synchronized by the systems. However, there is some form of control that should be implemented to ensure that the records and patient information are protected and confidential for effective service delivery. The management, therefore, needs to ensure that there is a participative approach to these controls and access (Swansburg and Swansburg, 2002).

The group should agree on the best approach so that the information is helpful to all the nurses and to the patients. It is the responsibility of management to oversee the framework instituted by the employees but there is a need for a participative approach to ensure that the group reaps the benefits of technology. The same case applies to education where the nurses have to be properly coordinated to ensure that they can pursue their careers as well as practice nursing (Brabant et al., 2007).

There are nurses who may wish to further their studies and in the event, they may not be fully invested in the daily nursing roles. It is critical for the management to give the nurses a platform to make decisions on the routine and schedules to ensure that the nursing practice is still effective in service delivery. Patient safety is an important function in nursing since the patients are the responsibility of the nurses. It is therefore crucial that the nurses work as a group and there is no form of individualism to ensure that all the nurses have a responsibility towards all patients.

In order to give the best form of patient safety, the nurses need to communicate between themselves and give personal information on the patients (Kanter, 1981). Allowing the members of the nursing staff a participative role, therefore, ensures proper service delivery through the protection of the patients. Patient safety can only be achieved through having a working nursing force and giving the group a chance to lead ensures proper patient safety. Healthcare quality and cost are also important features in any nursing practice.

This means that the level of cost needs to be controlled if the healthcare facility is to be sustainable and successful in the future (Brabant et al., 2007). The qualities discussed above, therefore, need to be implemented through democratic leadership if quality healthcare and costs are to be maintained at an allowable level. It is therefore important to ensure that nurses understand the goals of the healthcare facility an attribute that can only be achieved through a participatory approach to management.

ConclusionThe management is an important part of any group since they set out the structure and act as facilitators for other members in a given group. However, their powers should not be localized but rather distributed to all members to ensure that there is a participatory method of control. This applies to all forms of organizations and groups, and given the unique nature of nursing, it is perfectly suited for this method. Therefore, it is an effective style in leadership as it ensures controlled and directed leadership.