Nurse Leader Interview: Leadership Styles and Staffing
This paper reflects on an interview with an assistant nurse manager on a medical-surgical unit, exploring her leadership philosophy, communication strategies, and staffing considerations. The nurse leader describes herself as a team leader, though her approach incorporates elements of transformational, authentic, and servant leadership. The paper compares and contrasts these leadership styles, highlighting how shared governance and collaboration distinguish her same-team approach. It also examines how organizational factors affect staffing and discusses telemedicine as a quality improvement opportunity — particularly relevant in the context of COVID-19 and the management of chronic disease.
- Introduction: Overview of interview topics and paper scope
- Same-Team Leadership Style: Nurse leader's team approach and delegation methods
- Comparing Other Leadership Styles: Contrasting transformational, authentic, and servant leadership
- Opportunity for Quality Improvement Initiative: Staffing factors and telemedicine as improvement strategy
- Conclusion: Synthesis of leadership styles and telemedicine findings
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What makes this paper effective
- Grounds abstract leadership theory in concrete interview evidence, using direct quotations from the nurse leader to support analytical claims.
- Systematically compares multiple leadership styles — team, transformational, authentic, and servant — showing clear awareness of how they overlap and diverge.
- Connects the practical staffing discussion to a broader quality improvement initiative, demonstrating applied clinical thinking.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper effectively uses compare-and-contrast analysis to evaluate the interviewee's leadership style against established frameworks. Rather than simply labeling her approach, the writer identifies specific behaviors (e.g., role modeling, shared governance, conflict mediation) and maps them onto multiple theoretical models, showing nuanced understanding of leadership literature.
Structure breakdown
The paper follows a clear five-part structure: an introduction establishes scope; the second section characterizes the nurse leader's primary style with supporting evidence; the third section compares her style to transformational, authentic, and servant leadership; the fourth section transitions to a practical application around staffing and telemedicine; and the conclusion synthesizes key takeaways. Citations from peer-reviewed nursing and management journals reinforce each analytical point throughout.
Introduction
For this reflection, an assistant manager on a medical-surgical unit provided answers to questions about leadership, what makes a good follower, shared governance, and quality improvement. The interviewee also discussed the role of nursing leaders in the workplace, the role of technology, and the impact of organizational factors on staffing plans. This paper reflects on the answers given and compares and contrasts the nurse leader's leadership style with other leadership styles, including authentic leadership and transformational leadership. Finally, it discusses the opportunity for implementing a quality improvement initiative.
References
Alilyyani, B., Wong, C. A., & Cummings, G. (2018). Antecedents, mediators, and outcomes of authentic leadership in healthcare: A systematic review. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 83, 34–64.
Elson, E. C., Oermann, C., Duehlmeyer, S., & Bledsoe, S. (2020). Use of telemedicine to provide clinical pharmacy services during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 77(13), 1005–1006.
Gandolfi, F., & Stone, S. (2018). Leadership, leadership styles, and servant leadership. Journal of Management Research, 18(4), 261–269.
Hadi, T. P., & Tola, B. (2019). The effect of transformational leadership and work motivation on innovative behavior. IJHCM (International Journal of Human Capital Management), 3(2), 100–108.
Lemoine, G. J., Hartnell, C. A., & Leroy, H. (2019). Taking stock of moral approaches to leadership: An integrative review of ethical, authentic, and servant leadership. Academy of Management Annals, 13(1), 148–187.
Teguh, A., Hariyati, R. T. S., & Muhaeriwati, T. (2019). Applicability of Lewin's change management model for optimization management function in nursing delegation between head nurse and team leader: A mini project in Jakarta military hospital. International Journal of Nursing and Health Services (IJNHS), 2(2), 66–74.
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