Nursing Leadership and Strategic Planning: A Literature Review
This paper reviews the relevant literature on strategic planning as it applies to nursing leadership, with a focus on the nurse manager's role in guiding healthcare organizations through dynamic and challenging environments. The review covers the origins and definition of strategic planning, its core steps, and the outcomes it can produce, including reduced unplanned turnover and improved professional development. An appreciative inquiry conceptual framework is used to discuss the significant problems and issues encountered in the strategic planning process, and a series of recommendations is presented based on the findings. The paper underscores the growing importance of strategic planning competencies for nurse managers amid a widespread nursing shortage.
- Introduction: Purpose and scope of the literature review
- Background on Strategic Planning: Definition, history, and core steps of strategic planning
- The Nurse Manager's Role in Strategic Planning: How nurse managers apply strategic planning in practice
- Conclusion and Recommendations: Findings summary and actionable recommendations
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper clearly frames its purpose early and consistently returns to that focus, making the argument easy to follow.
- It integrates peer-reviewed sources to ground each claim, rather than relying on assertion alone — for example, using Hu and Kapucu (2014) to define and contextualize strategic planning.
- It connects abstract organizational theory directly to a practical nursing context, showing how strategic planning reduces turnover and supports professional development.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective use of a conceptual framework — appreciative inquiry — to organize the discussion of problems and issues. Introducing a named framework signals scholarly rigor and gives the analysis a consistent evaluative lens, a technique common in graduate-level literature reviews in health and nursing administration.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with an introduction that establishes context and states the study's purpose. A background section defines strategic planning, traces its history, and outlines its core steps. The third section narrows the focus to nurse managers specifically, addressing turnover, professional development, and the iterative nature of planning. The paper closes with a conclusion and recommendations drawn from the reviewed literature. This classic funnel structure — broad concept to specific application — is well-suited to a literature review format.
Introduction
Today, nursing leadership involves a broad range of activities that require nurse managers to remain flexible and vigilant in order to be responsive to the dynamic environment in which they practice. These activities may transcend traditional views about the appropriate role of nurse leaders in a healthcare setting, and it is becoming increasingly clear that developing effective strategic planning skills is an important part of these expanded responsibilities.
To determine the facts, this study provides background information concerning the strategic planning process, the nurse manager's role in strategic planning, and some of the commonly encountered significant problems and issues involved in the strategic planning process. A discussion concerning these issues is presented using an appreciative inquiry conceptual framework, followed by a series of recommendations based on the findings that emerged from the research.
Background on Strategic Planning
As the term connotes, "strategic planning" means formulating plans to help guide an organization from where it is currently to where it wants to be in the future. For instance, Blatstein (2012) reports that "many organizations do strategic planning in order to prepare for the future" (p. 31). Originally formalized during the 1980s, strategic planning has become widely adopted by a broad range of public and private sector organizations of all sizes and types (Hu & Kapucu, 2014).
According to the definition provided by Hu and Kapucu, strategic planning is "a deliberative, disciplined approach to producing fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization (or other entity) is, what it does, and why" (2014, p. 84). Although the main features of strategic planning tend to differ across organizations, the majority of strategic planning approaches described in the relevant literature include the following steps at a minimum: initiation, clarification of the mission, vision, and values, environmental assessment, strategic issue identification, strategy formulation, implementation, and assessment (Hu & Kapucu, 2014).
There are some highly desirable outcomes that can be achieved through strategic planning, including remaining responsive to changes in the operating environment while guiding the organization into the future. As Hu and Kapucu (2014) point out, "strategic planning can help organizations develop strategic thinking and adapt to environmental change" (p. 84). These are particularly valuable outcomes for nurse managers today, as discussed further below.
Conclusion and Recommendations
When properly administered, strategic planning can help guide organizations of all sizes and types even during periods of challenging operations. Strategic planning can also help organizations reduce their unplanned turnover, an outcome that is especially important for nurse managers who are already faced with a widespread nursing shortage of epidemic proportions.
Based on the findings that emerged from this study, nurse managers are encouraged to develop and maintain strategic planning competencies as a core element of their leadership practice. Organizations should invest in training and resources that support nurse managers in conducting thorough environmental assessments, clarifying organizational missions and values, and implementing iterative planning cycles that can adapt to shifting healthcare demands. Addressing these priorities will help ensure that nursing leadership remains both proactive and effective in the face of ongoing workforce and operational challenges.
References
Blatstein, I. M. (2012, Summer). Strategic planning: Predicting or shaping the future? Organization Development Journal, 30(2), 31–33.
Brewington, J. G. (2014, July–August). Lead: Opening doors to leadership success. Nursing Education Perspectives, 35(4), 270.
Cleary, B., & Edd, R. R. (2009). Nursing workforce development: Strategic state initiatives. New York: Springer.
Hu, Q., & Kapucu, N. (2014, January 1). Strategic planning for community-based small nonprofit organizations: Implementation, benefits, and challenges. Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship, 19(1), 83–85.
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