Motivation Theory

Nursing Leadership, as opposed to management, means that those in leadership positions can engage the willingness of staff to accomplish work. In this way, a leader influences and guides direction, opinion, and course of action. In a nursing situation, I think the best leadership action to take is that of situational leader. The reason for this is that the nursing environment presents with so many different contingencies and eventualities, that it is difficult to apply a single consistent set of leadership ideas or theories.

Hence, a leader who can respond effectively to whatever the situation at whatever time will function better in the nursing environment than one who is more attached to a single leadership method across the board. Such a leader will also best be able to motivate staff members, since situational leadership is inherently as flexible as it needs to be to accomplish this.

Since human beings are motivated by being treated like "human beings" instead of drones who must be told what to do and motivated by means of reward, situational leaders who understands this can effectively target motivation in their staff members. Work that requires more than basic cognitive ability can be motivated only by being inherently rewarding. In other words, a nursing leader must make work rewarding for his or her staff, since motivation will not be accomplished effectively by material rewards such as increased salary or bonuses.

Instead, perhaps leaders can use motivational strategies like making work more challenging. A nurse who shows particular prowess, for example, can be promoted to a position with more responsibility or that is more complex. Nurses who have shown a propensity for learning can be assigned research tasks. In other words, while nursing is a profession that is often perceived as being rewarding in itself, a situational leader can make this even more so for his or her staff by including promotion strategies and challenging tasks.

Response to Post: Of course, further education in nursing is a vitally important part of running an effective nursing organization. Medical science today develops at a very rapid rate, and new information is always available. Therefore continual study is a vital part of all health professions. I therefore agree that providing nurses with many educational opportunities is a good way to maintain strength within the nursing organization. While continual formal education is, of course, very important, as the implication seems to be, it is also important to do regular research.

Like education, research can also function as a powerful tool to motivate nurses and encourage retention. Since motivation is often focused on giving workers a sense of autonomy, it may be a good idea to offer nurses the opportunity to identify an area of research or study that they find particularly important. By researching and studying this area, they can also act as educators to their fellow workers. Such information sharing, especially in the case of research, will not only motivate individuals to bring elements that.