Leadership styles and organizational effectiveness

Management and Leadership in Nursing

Leadership Styles and Personnel Management:

In modern business management, leadership generally consists of one of several main philosophies. Transactional leadership is oriented toward the specific exchange or transaction of workers' services for a regular salary and other vocational benefits of working (Daft, 2005). In some respects, transactional leadership is a hybrid between a leadership system and a management system, by virtue of the inherent rewards of high performance (i.e. bonuses, salary increases, privileges, and promotions to higher positions) and the inherent consequences of poor performance (Daft, 2005).

One advantage of transactional leadership is that it reduces the need for separate management, which differs in principle from leadership in that it pertains more to employee performance in the context of business operations than in the context of the motivation or the direct oversight of personnel on an individual basis (Russell-Whalling, 2008). A disadvantage of transactional leadership is that it is also associated with "management by exception" and, therefore, may be conducive to an organizational culture of mediocrity since only exceptionally good or unacceptably bad employee performance is addressed directly.

Transformational leadership is much more of a true leadership style than a management system because of its intense focus on the mindset of the individual employee (Daft, 2005). For that reason, transformational leadership is more appropriate to industries that emphasize employee motivation and dedication to an organizational value or philosophy than highly-skilled labor or technical vocational performance. Sales functions and organizational values that promote a specific social concept (such as positive life-change-related products and service or environmental concerns) are best suited to transformational leadership models in general (Daft, 2005).

Charismatic leadership is very similar to transformational leadership except that the primary motivational orientation is directed toward an individual leader rather than to an abstract concept or organizational values. Whereas transformational motivation is generated by the degree to which individuals "buy in" to the organizational values, charismatic motivation is generated by the degree to which individuals admire and emulate the leader himself (Conger & Kanungo, 1998; Myers & Spencer, 2004). Also, much as in the case of transformational leadership, charismatic leadership is completely separate from personnel management functions and better suited to industries where personal commitment is more important to success than technical expertise (Russell-Whalling, 2008).

Finally, the servant leadership style is a method of leadership in which the leader demonstrates what is expected of workers in the organization by his or her own example. It is the least direct and also least intense form of leadership because it emphasizes the indirect or entirely passive communication of values and expectations instead of direct supervision or management (Daft, 2005).

For that reason, the servant style of leadership is most useful in connection with the achievement of specific objectives or projects whose successful achievement is beneficial to the entire organization and to individual workers. Examples would include commitments requiring periodic personal sacrifice in order to win a long-term contract that would increase profits and translate to higher bonuses for workers (Russell-Whalling, 2008). Servant leadership is capable of adaptation to hands-on managers as well as to completely separate management and leadership functions as well (Daft, 2005).

Leadership Roles in Nursing:

Ideally, the nursing profession is most conducive to elements of several management styles because over-reliance on any one formal approach may be insufficient to ensure optimal service in all elements of the profession. To a certain extent, transactional leadership is natural to nursing for several reasons. First, the field requires a long-term commitment in terms of educational requirements and vocational training with the general expectation that the short-term sacrifices necessary to qualify for employment in the field will be worth it in the long run of a rewarding career.

Second, there is a natural hierarchy and opportunity for promotion within the field that career advancement and qualification for advanced duties and roles provides a transactional incentive for high performance. Third, nursing is a field in which it is absolutely essential to address inadequate performance and management by exception is an efficient method of ensuring that poor performance is identified and addressed. Naturally, mediocrity is also undesirable in nursing, but far outweighed by the importance of redressing poor performance in particular (Taylor, Lillis, & LeMone, 2005).

Elements of transformational leadership provide a natural motivation that is appropriate within healthcare professions. Whereas in industrial or corporate environments, employee commitment to organizational values is the direct source of employee motivational orientation (Daft, 2005; Russell-Whalling, 2005), in nursing, the safety, health, and welfare of patients provides the predominant value in connection with motivation. However, unlike sales-oriented responsibilities, the technical aspects of proficiency in nursing absolutely preclude leadership exclusively by value-based orientation and must also incorporate elements of objective performance evaluation and appropriate supervision within a direct management hierarchy as well.

For the same reasons, charismatic leadership is least appropriate to the nursing profession although to a certain extent, elements of servant leadership may be useful, particularly in connection with overcoming the challenges associated with staff shortages or temporary inconveniences and excessive time demands on staff.

Role Conflict and Conflict Resolution in Nursing:

Because nursing involves direct care of vulnerable patients and responsibilities for their medical health, any leadership or management structure must provide a formal hierarchy sufficient to eliminate role conflicts between staff members with different levels of authority. Likewise, because interpersonal and role conflicts among staff members at the same level of authority could potentially jeopardize patient health and welfare, the nursing profession also requires sufficient supervisory oversight and management. Furthermore, the necessity of ensuring technical competence and operational efficiency requires continual objective performance assessment within the hierarchical structure.

Generally, effective conflict resolution is important from the long-term perspective of staff members (Daft, 2005). In nursing, conflict resolution necessarily takes a backseat to immediate operational efficiency because of the essential nature of vocational responsibilities within the field. However, from the organizational perspective of ensuring the long-term satisfaction of employees and minimizing turnover, conflict resolution is another important role that must be addressed by organizational leaders and operational managers.

Generally, conflicts within the nursing profession arise most commonly either in between coworkers, between nurses and supervisors, or in between nurses and other trained support staff servicing the same patients. Conflict resolution in the first two cases is the exclusive responsibility of nursing managers while conflict resolution involving other support staff requires contact between nursing managers and support staff managers (Taylor, Lillis, & LeMone, 2005).

Specific conflict resolution mechanisms in nursing include attempts at prevention ahead of time through clear delineation of roles, responsibilities, procedures, and expectations, which is a management function that exceeds the realm of mere leadership without direct supervisory management. If preemptive prevention is not entirely successful, conflict resolution after the fact may benefit from the elements of transformational leadership (Blair, 2003) as pertains to the instilling in all nurses the fundamental and primary responsibility to ensure quality of care first, irrespective of specific conflicts not directly affecting patients. This also is the responsibility of nurse managers: to provide assurance that procedures exist for resolving any conflicts that arise appropriately but always secondarily with respect to the organizational mission to care for patients.

More particularly, informal adjudication by supervisors is often sufficient to resolve conflicts between nurses. However, conflicts and grievances between nurses and supervisors should be resolved more formally, through established organizational protocols and a permanent record of grievances and their resolution.

References

Blair G. (2003). Groups that Work. Washington, DC: IEEE Press.

Conger, J.A., Kanungo, R.N. (1998) Charismatic leadership in Organizations.

Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Daft, R. (2005) Management. 7th Edition. Mason: Thomson South Western.

Myers, D.G., Spencer, S.J. (2004). Social Psychology. Toronto, Canada: McGraw-Hill.

Russell-Whalling, E. (2008). 50 Management Ideas You Really Need To Know.

London: Quercus

Taylor, C., Lillis, C., LeMone, P. (2005). Fundamentals of Nursing: The Art and Science

of Nursing Care. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams, and Wilkins.