The Difference between Leadership Styles - Essay Example

Executive Summary This report highlights leadership styles and management. The issues addressed in this report discuss the influence of transformational and transactional leadership styles in nursing practice and in the clinical setting. The discussion begins by reviewing a case study that is relevant to leadership style in crisis management within the clinical setting. Further the report gives a brief description of transformational and transactional leadership management styles while discussing the personal attributes and attitudes towards these styles in provisioning care and change with the clinical setting. Transformational leadership style will be discussed at greater lengths while evaluating the case study in question. Broad discussion on these styles of leadership will incorporate; organization structure, multi-disciplinary working environment, change in management style and staff motivation as well as legal and ethical implications arising from clinical management with the advanced technology. Introduction Possessing leadership skills in the healthcare facility is imperative for clinical managers and head of departments in a hospital to have. According to Burns (1978) a leader needs to have the capability to drive his or her team to change, be effective, dynamic and quick to serve. A leader acts as a role model and inspires his or her followers to become better and professions in what they do. To be an effective leader, one has to first have an extensive understanding about them. A good leader is self-aware he or she understands is strengths and weaknesses and is able effectively manage them for a positive outcome and improved performance. According to Kelly (2011) an effective leader has to be aware of his or her surroundings, the leader needs to develop their own leadership style that will enable them to manage their time, relationships and social awareness with the followers. In order to gain an in depth understanding of the different styles in leadership and management, it is important for one to first evaluate the association between management and planning, change operations and organizational structure. According to Zane and Prestipino (2004), most hospitals heavily rely on personnel within the organization that hold leadership roles in management and routine operations in the hospital. This is as a result of lack of proper command structures within the hospital’s response plans in arising cases. Having an unreliable command structure in the management of a hospital and relying on few individuals is inadequate since in the event of a critical condition, this may lead to prolonged crisis. It is therefore important that the management team and staff members within the hospital acquire enough knowledge and technical knowhow on ways in which they can all work as a team when responding to disasters. This essay discusses effective management and leadership styles for quality and affordable health care during emergencies and normal circumstances while incorporating advanced technology in the health care system. A number of issues relate to change in management style along with examples from the case study will be evaluated. Leadership Styles in Clinical Management This report will analyze the two types of leadership roles. These include the Transformational and transactional leadership styles. Turner (1998) describes these two leadership roles as follows; Transformational leadership is a way of governing an institution whereby the leader or manager makes use of his or her personality to change or transform the lives of people as well as use his or her leadership qualities in challenging the ways of thinking by using resources and new ideas within an organization. Transactional leadership on the other hand a system of governing whereby the leader takes control of an organization by using the knowledge acquired in their field of specialization to achieve high performance results. Case Study Jill has worked for the same hospital for the past 10 years as a clinical manager in the critical care. As a clinical manager, Jill has come across several changes in terms of technology and nursing practice for the past five years. The introduction of new technology in the hospital has given rise to new adjustments in the way clinical practitioners administer healthcare and how patients receive treatment. Patients who are critical are able to receive high standard medical treatment and intense care, thus reducing the period of hospital stay for these patients. However, the medical costs for patients have risen and the revenue margin has subsequently tightened. In addition to this some of the staff members are having a difficult time embracing this new use of technology and letting go of past practices. Moreover, a number of the staff members are coming to terms with the challenges arising from this new practice and are motivated to incorporate them in service delivery. Jill on the other hand is confused as whether she should take a decisive action and direct her staff in implementing the new changes or if she should first take time to review their views and comments about it. The administration department with the hospital has also drafted new objectives and strategic plans for the healthcare system to achieve and implement in light of the changes. Jill has to begin incorporating the advancing strategic goals of the hospital in her department for advancing quality and service excellence. She is however feeling inadequate in her position and not certain on which steps she should take in managing this work and at the same time implement new ideas and actions in her department. According to Hendel et al (2005), there is a conflict mode that arises between leadership style and the choice of strategy among nurse managers. They further argue that head nurses are forced to deal with conflicts on a daily basis have to come up with an effective implementation strategy for conflict management and resolve complicated situations such that of clinical manager Jill. Thus the ability of Jill to manage her staff and implement the new ideas will highly depend on her managerial skills and effectiveness as a nurse. In the case of Jill, she is faced with three main subjects of conflict. These include; the difficulty in clarity for establishing a common ground for all her staff members to work on, the organizations unforeseen strategy of creating a vision and direction and Jill’s ability to do the same for department, the third and final conflict appears to be within herself whereby she is unable to rise up to the challenges she is facing as a leader and provide solutions for her staff members (Sullivan, 2012). Jill’s personality comes in play in this case scenario. As discussed by Bono and Judge (2004), a leader’s personality plays a vital role when it comes to both Transactional and transformational leadership. Jill’s lack of self-assertiveness has greatly interfered with her leadership behavior and style leading to her incapable ability to be decisive in dealing with the situation at hand. She should therefore lean more towards transformational leadership which will incorporate using her leadership role, the new technology advances and the hospitals plan to motivate her staff members in embracing the changes. This is in relation to the three dimension of transformational leadership which includes; idealized influence inspiration motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration (Judge and Bono, 2000). This will determine her leadership technique as well as her attitude towards her staff and job. Therefore as Bass et al (2003), argues that the leadership style eventually influences the overall performance of a leader and the organization, if Jill does not focus on being assertive about her decision making abilities she will be highly stressed and eventually lead to under performance as well as considerable uncertainty. The leadership influence Jill has on her organization will be reflected on the degree of goal attainment by her clinical department and staff members. With this Jill is in a position to maintain a good working relationship among her staff members as well as motivate them in embracing new technologies introduced in the healthcare system. Burns (1978) describes a motivational leader as an individual who strives to engage their followers or juniors by using techniques that raises their performance and motivates them. If Jill works as a transformational leader, she will influence her staff members to find meaning and value in their service and embrace the changes to make relevant contributions in her department and aim at achieving the overall objectives of the hospital. Burns (1978) defines four attributes of a transformational leader as discussed below; 1. A transformational leader works as an example for his or her followers. He or she has to strive to be a role model whereby his juniors strive to emulate their efforts. Therefore Jill has to be confident in herself as well as the hospital’s policy implementation in order to motivate her juniors. 2. He or she inspires their juniors by demonstrating strong faith in the vision of an organization and their work. Jill needs to preach the positive aspects of the new changes in her department and hospital at large. This way she will manage to convince her staff members be enthusiastic in service provision and clinical operations using the new technology. 3. As a transformational leader one should show genuine care for each of their juniors. He or she should take time to address their staff’s concerns and feelings. Therefore Jill needs to address the various attitudes displayed and opinions raised by her staff. By demonstrating genuine concern her juniors are likely to be encouraged and change their mindset towards embracing the advanced clinical practices. 4. The leader challenges the staff members, thus promoting independent thinking. The introduction of new technology to the hospital should be used as a tool by Jill to encourage her staff members to be innovative and also nurture creative thinking. Therefore the staff will see it as a learning opportunity instead of viewing it as a challenge. Wong et al., (2013) affirm that nurses who practice transformational leadership exhibit high levels of organizational performance, reduced crisis emergence and increase patience satisfaction. In order for a clinical manager such as Jill to effectively practice transformational leadership skills, she needs to transparent and reflective about her staff’s current practices and performance capabilities. This creates a positive working environment as well as promoting effective communication among the staff members. Wong et al., (2013) further argue that transformational leadership style encourages adaptation to change which is what Jill is really after. In implementing transformation leadership style Jill will be able to inspire her staff members by guiding them and creating a sense of commitment among them. Incorporating the qualities of a transformational leader as a clinical manager, Jill will be more comfortable, confident and in a better position to engage her juniors in the continued development of healthcare policies implemented in the hospital. It is therefore evident what Jill requires in resolving the conflict of interest in her work environment. A transformational leadership skill is more effective in the numerous changes of the components of healthcare technology as well as in mentoring new graduate nurses. Transformational leadership style plays a significant role in the field of healthcare. According to Wong et al., (2013), this leadership style in the enhances positive self-esteem, healthcare system promotes team work among health practitioners, empowers staff to be highly involved in the development and implementation of policies and new practices and motivates staff members to maintain high standard performance without too much pressure or stress. As previously discussed transformational leadership serves as an inspiration to others by exhibiting positive, encouraging and optimistic energy to juniors. It also promotes a healthy working environment by ensuring workers are satisfied with their work thus producing enthusiastic staff which leads to patient satisfaction (Burns, 1978). Consequently various studies have revealed that job satisfaction and retention are relative to transformational leadership style. For instance, Prenkert and Ehnfors (1997) conducted an evaluation analysis study that was aimed at comparing the organizational outcomes of both transactional and transformational leadership. The participants included a head nurse, that is, nurses who held leadership roles in a hospital and subordinate nurses. This study evaluated the overall impact of both leadership styles in relation to organizational effectiveness, the extent of goal attainment and reflected on the quality of nursing care provided the methodology used was the issuing of questionnaires to relevant participant in the field of nursing and health care. The results however claimed that neither of these leadership style exposed organizational effectiveness in an organization or rather clinical department settings exposed to these two forms of leadership behaviors contributed to organizational effectiveness. In addition to this, the predictive relationships of these two leadership styles for ratings when it comes to unit potency, team work and level of performance were also calculated. The outcomes revealed that both leadership styles are effective in improving the level of performance among staff members in a clinical department or the entire hospital. This is due to the nature of any given leadership style which tend to influence performance, personality attributes and behaviors. The researchers hypothesize from this study was that, transformational leadership style, is more positive and should be aligned with clinical goals and objectives. This way the management team is in a better position to measure the achievements, performance and goal attainment of the workforce and institution. Conclusion This report has discussed transactional and transformational leadership styles and behaviors. However in light of the case study evaluated the report mainly focused on transformational leadership which appeared to be more relevant to the case study. The report highlighted the different view of each leadership styles and the perception of researchers on leadership styles and their influence on nursing leadership and management. The cases study evaluation reveals that transformational leadership style is more preferable and effective in healthcare system. This is because transformational leadership puts more emphasis on an individual’s effort and personal attributes. It mainly focuses on a leader’s ability to use power and charisma to influence their environment and the situation at hand (Judge and Bono, 2000). This is why in the case of Jill one can comfortably conclude that she need to be assertive in her leadership role Jill need to be in more control of her environment. In order to achieve this she has to motivate her staff members in a powerful, authoritative yet charismatic manner. As argued by different scholars, transformational leadership enables a leader to teach their staff members individual while at the same time encourage them to creatively think in order to provide positive results. In a nursing institution transformational leadership comes in play as it encourages junior nurses to strive in giving the best of their service to all patients in every circumstance. Transactional leadership is arguably a less complex form of leadership. This is because this type of leadership is less dependent on personal traits but highly concentrates on a leader’s ability to use their circumstances to effectively achieve a positive outcome. Nonetheless as the study by Bono and Judge (2004) revealed, both of these leadership styles are closely intertwined since they may be equally reliable to personality attributes. Transformational leadership style differs a bit from transactional leadership since it highly supports honesty and positivity being the most important characteristics of a leader. It is evident as revealed in this report that leadership styles play a significant role in work relations, job satisfaction, job performance, and change in management, clinical management and nursing practice. This is very true especially in service delivery, patient management and achieving of organizational objectives. However one study discussed here tend to disagree with the role of leadership by arguing that organizational effectiveness or performance does not solely depend on the leadership skills or style. Recommendations In terms the discussions and case study evaluated in this report, to improve service delivery in the healthcare system requires making adjustment in resources as well as mode of practice. Bearing in mind the ethical implications and leadership behaviors in a clinical setting, leaders in the healthcare system can take up the following recommendations. 1. Carrying out a survey to establish what works best in the facility as well as gather an overview of nurses perceptions on both the leadership style in practice as well as the change introduced. This way, service delivery in a health institution, will improve as there is no conflict between the leaders and the staff members. Patients are likely to receive excellent treatment thus leading to improved service and staff performance. 2. Having leadership training on the two types of leadership styles discussed. In addition to this educational assistance and training should be offered to nurses in order for them to understand how to use or cope with emerging technology. This will enable the facility to outline the strengths and weaknesses of their staff and leaders. Therefore focusing on areas to improve so as to boost the strengths of the workforce and work on the challenges. 3. Create awareness on the importance of different leadership skills, and elaborating the importance of putting these skills into practice in hospitals or emergencies crises that call for quick decision making. These way leaders will learn to be more dependent on their instincts and be confident in their decision making rather than feeling challenged in times of dilemma. 4. Coming up with a disaster management team or emergency team. This type of strategy when it comes to managing a department or unit is very helpful. This is because with the introduction of new medical equipment or advanced technology the emergency team will use this opportunity to brief and educate the nurses on the ways to go about these resources or changes to improve service delivery. Additionally nurses can be able to advice patients on which medical alternatives to opt for as they are now well informed and equipped. 5. Educating patients on the different and new treatment techniques. When patients are well informed about technology advancements and medical options, they will make a more suitable decision that is more cost efficient for them and their families. Thus it is important to educate patients and staff members on any changes introduced in the health facility and is relevant to them. References Bass, B. M., Avolio, B. J., Jung, D. I., & Berson, Y. (2003). Predicting unit performance by assessing transformational and transactional leadership. Journal of applied psychology, 88(2): 207-218. Bono, J. E., & Judge, T. A. (2004). Personality and transformational and transactional leadership: a meta-analysis. Journal of applied psychology, 89(5): 901-910. Burns, J.M. (1978). Leadership. Harper and Row Publishers. Hendel, T., Fish, M., & Galon, V. (2005). Leadership style and choice of strategy in conflict management among Israeli nurse managers in general hospitals. Journal of nursing management, 13(2): 137-146. Judge, T. A., & Bono, J. E. (2000). 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