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...

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.