Leadership Theories

 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Effective clinical leadership in today's Nursing assures an elevated Medicare system that continuously offers safe and efficient care. Therefore, it is beneficial for health care practitioners to recognize the styles of leadership and theories that apply to their nursing profession. Acknowledging these styles not only allows nurses to develop their skills as leaders, but it also enhances relationships with colleagues and leaders who were previously difficult to work with. This essay aims to improve leadership effectiveness using various leadership theories in clinical settings. Finally, it has been discovered that multiple leadership styles are required for different scenarios. Leaders must understand which technique is most efficient in a given situation to fulfil the organization's objectives.

INTRODUCTION

Leaders are influential people who assume ultimate responsibility for an organization's success. They manage an organization's operations, guide the direction, and drive meaningful progress through their personality, good values, and effective techniques. Modern medical treatment is challenged in many parts of the industrialized world by workforce challenges, changing patient expectations and demands, budget constraints, increasing demands for healthcare access, obligations to enhance patient-centred care, and issues concerning the levels of quality and safety of health care. Efficient leadership is key for maximizing the effectiveness of care management in Abuja’s National Hospital. Good leadership is required in the hospital’s Nursing sector. The value of effective clinical leadership in ensuring a high-quality healthcare system that consistently provides safe and efficient care is needed, as it has been emphasized in academic articles and multiple government reviews. Self-efficacy among nurse leaders and the inability to maintain their perceived leadership skills is challenging in the hospital. Nurse administrators in Abuja National Hospital encounter various leadership challenges than nurses who work directly at the bedside, but they all strive to provide excellent clinical services. Even when nurses in the hospital take on more management positions, giving the best care service available remains the ultimate aim. The difference is that nursing supervisors must monitor and control challenges for quality healthcare.

LEADERSHIP CHALLENGES OF NATIONAL HOSPITAL

Here are some of the most common difficulties that Abuja’s National Hospital of nursing leader faces:

·         Staffing

Staffing consumes a large portion of a nurse leader's schedule, and addressing staffing issues might be as difficult as threading lace – even when staff is self-scheduled, nurse managers are still accountable for staffing ratios.

·         Budgeting

Nursing leaders in National hospital follow a spending plan and ensure that their workforce follows it. The Nurse leaders and their employees are increasingly being called upon to do more with less, which leads them to search for methods to maximize efficiency regularly. This can be difficult when high employee turnover and limited staffing resources.

·         Boosting morale and avoiding burnout

Morale has been a major issue in Abuja’s National Hospital, but the implications are especially severe in the nursing sector. Low morale and excessive exhaustion are detrimental to the safety and patient care and have been disastrous for retaining good staff. Morale difficulties and fatigue can also have a negative impact on the physical and psychological health of personnel who have no plans to leave the unit.

·         Retaining nurses

This is a major concern for Nurse Administrators in National Hospital. The ongoing demands of the healthcare system, staffing shortages, lengthy shifts, and quality management efforts that complicate healthcare have caused many nurses to reconsider their career goals.

 

MEETING NURSING LEADERSHIP CHALLENGES

Nurse Managers in National Hospital cannot miraculously triple their workforce requirements or budgets, but they can learn to be good leaders and gain the trust and honour of their teams. They can acquire the trust of their teams by listening to and valuing them. They may establish a more favourable workplace by keeping channels of communication open and paying attention as much as they communicate. Thus, the nursing sector in National Hospital can adopt various leadership theories to better its healthcare services. These leadership theories include:

LEADERSHIP THEORIES

 

TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP

Transformational leadership is a critical approach and can be useful in the nursing sector of National Hospital of Nigeria. Leading expert James MacGregor Burns pioneered the notion of transformative leadership. Transformational leadership is the relationship between a leader and subordinate. They help encourage one another to greater heights, resulting in value system placement between both the boss and the subordinate. Bernard M. Bass further extended Burn's innovative thoughts, considering that transformational leaders develop a mutual idea and personality.

Moreover, they encourage their followers to modify their anticipations, views, and motivations so that they can strive toward common goals. He also identified four elements of transformative leaders: optimal influence, burning desire, intellectual challenge, and personal concern. Transformational leadership has proven to affect employee satisfaction and organizational obligation. Transformational leadership is appropriate in the nursing sector of National Hospital because of its effect on personal and organizational performance. Correspondingly, transformational leadership is critical and appropriate in today's world. Transformational leadership theory, to be specific, is about change. Leaders who adopt this approach are alleged to be evolutional agents because they use their skills and abilities to encourage their subordinates to attain their aims, support their ideas, and elevate them. If the Transformational leadership style is used in The nursing sector, it will motivate their employees to achieve institutional goals.

A leader's primary responsibility is to establish a trusted relationship with their subordinates; thus, National Hospital should consider applying a transactional leadership style in the nursing sector to better its services. A trust connection can be shaped by being transparent, impartial, and authentic with employees and empowering them to make their own decisions. Second, nurse supervisors must employ effective communication to guide their staff toward long-term goals. Moreover, managers must be conscious, have faith in their ideas, and have the courage to achieve their goals. 

TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP CHALLENGES IN DECISION MAKING

When applying various Transformational leadership skills in both dynamic and disruptive business environments in the nursing sector, the nurse manager's decisions may encounter some challenges when making ethical and responsible decisions. These challenges include:

·         Influence Can Backfire.

If the manager is a person who makes rushed decisions that can have an unintended negative impact, the staff are likely to be the ones put in their place.

·         Can Lead to Poor Decisions.

With the authority and confidence granted to leaders, there are times when they make harsh and hasty decisions that are influenced by personal feelings. Emotional decisions can be unfavourable to the institution . Transformational leaders are dependable and have the gift of persuading others; decisions that are not in common welfare of the majority can be carried out, which can lead to severe consequences.

·         Challenges in Details.

Though the transformational leadership tactic comprises benefits like having a clear idea and long-term objectives, detractors suggest that it may omit important information out of the vision, which can be disastrous to the institution, this is because managers hardly give a detailed presentation. Institutions led by a transformational leader may struggle in the long run, specifically, if the right people are not in place to contribute or tackle the details of the agency's long-term goal.

·         Not Always Effective.

Although transformational leadership can encourage subordinates and boost morale, it is not always appropriate. In an institution where workers see their boss as the same position, a transformational leader is not always an efficient motivator because the staff will depend on their insights. Transformational leadership styles have their advantages, and they have proven to be effective in most firms. However, there are certain drawbacks to consider. Knowing what they are will assist businesses in assessing if this is the leadership style required to achieve their goals.

 

DEMOCRATIC/PARTICIPATIVE LEADERSHIP          

Participatory leadership is the second management concept practical to this setting. Participative leadership is a definition of leadership in which staff associates engage in decision-making. When followers get involved in decision-making, they become more committed to the objectives of the medical institution and more inspired to work. Kurt Lewin, a behavioral researcher, published research in the 1940s that revealed the importance of participative leadership in establishments. He established interactions with business managers and workforces that participative leadership was the greatest prevalent method for business staff. This type of leadership is widespread in business contexts such as healthcare facilities, pharmaceutical firms, and academic institutions, among others. Leaders who guide their staff facilitate the interchange of information and ideas to attain a conclusion.

Furthermore, research implies that nurses who use the participative leadership style engage in teamwork roles and personal duties. In terms of participative leadership, the manager involves team associates in decision-making while maintaining control. According to the standards for participative leadership, the first phase that the team leader in charge of the nursing sector in the National Hospital is evaluating decision circumstances, which involves determining the relevance of the decision, recognizing staff with the appropriate information, and deciding if a meeting is possible. The second segment that the manager should apply is to inspire participation, which involves inviting others to speak out their concerns, presenting a suggestion as cautious, searching for ways to magnify ideas and proposals, and showing appreciation for contributions. Eventually, a leader must integrate the proposals and develop a comprehensive unit strategy to prevent such errors in the future.

PARTICIPATIVE LEADERSHIP CHALLENGES IN DECISION MAKING

When applying variouse Participative leadership skills in both dynamic and disruptive business environment in the nursing sector, the nurse manager’s decisions may encounter some challenges when making ethical and responsible decisions. This challenges include:

·         Hinder swift decision-making

Because participatory management needs each team colleague to contribute to the matter, so the decision-making process is prolonged. This leadership style may take too long to conclude when faced with an emergency incident.

·         Increase the possibility of conflict.

 Conflict is likely to occur when various participants express conflicting views.  Disagreement is not supposed to be bad; participative leaders must be prepared to deal with differences when they emerge.

·         Require employee participation.

 The institutional structure is only effective if staff are eager to take part. Staff may be reluctant to express their views due to some reasons. Maybe they are naturally shy, dislike group conversations, lack sufficient understanding on the issue to weigh in, or are generally uninterested. Managers will not get the desired objectives in any event unless their teams are active.

CULTURE AND HRM OPERATIONS

One of the key aspects for mounting unique corporate cultures is good leadership. A leader, irrespective of rank, can be anybody who has impact or authority, and leaders set the nature for company culture. According to SHRM, administrators should be purposeful in building a culture in which subordinates may flourish. Failure to establish a strong culture in the Nursing sector in the National Hospital is harmful for nurses. Leadership has a substantial influence on institutional culture. Nursing administrators in the hospital may support the organization's values by helping their staff in growing and developing through setting objectives, opportunities, and acknowledgment. Nursing leaders in the hospital should inspire staff by holding numerous face-to-face meetings and providing consistent two-way response. Workers' confidence in the one who leads them nurtures when they have an open and repeated discourse about their profession. Good leadership informs culture by:

·         Higher value and safety.

 Motivated personnel is devoted to accomplishing a high level of excellence and competence. And because of this, they make informed choices, pay extra attention to details, and approach their job with more thoughtfulness.

Outstanding patient service.

Respected staff respects their clients, prospects, supporters of the team, and everybody else they intermingle with every day. Thus, it is crucial for the nursing sector to have outstanding patient service for efficient health care services.

Ethical and responsible leadership is important in implementing different strategies in the nursing sector. The important functions of leadership and management include coordinating, organizing, controlling, implementing, budgeting, and analyzing. The nursing sector of the National Hospital should consider such qualities before choosing a leader as it creates a method for using and formally achieving the institution’s goals. In the healthcare industry, operative management is crucial for implementing strategies and defining firm culture. The growing interest in this topic emphasizes the significance of guidance and direction in healthcare administration; thus, leadership is crucial in implementing different strategies in the hospital’s nursing sector.

Various human resource programs have been launched to improve efficiency in the nursing care sector. Good leadership of human resources is important in offering high-quality healthcare services. More studies on human resource management in hospital is required to design new guidelines. Operational human resource management methods in the nursing sector are critical to achieving improved results and increasing access to health care. Many human resource efforts for healthcare transformations include efforts to improve justice or fairness. More efficient planning of health services is vital for improving fairness concerning requirements. Among these methods are the implementation of monetary safeguards, the prioritization of particular requirements and groups, and the provision of the service area for deployment. One of human resource experts' priorities should be to employ these and other ways to enhance fairness in the nursing sector of National Hospital in Nigeria.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Nursing leadership requires commitment. Leadership is not something that can be learned once and then forgotten. When confronted with difficult challenges, Hospital leaders need not rush to address them. Instead, they should think about these leadership theories and strive to implement them in a therapeutic setting. Transactional and participative leadership styles are mainly used in medical practice; thus, Nigeria's National Hospital should adopt these styles and implement them in its nursing sector. In today's large medical institutions, different leadership ideas are merged in medical applications. As a result, most of leadership styles and theories are essential for nursing management sector. Combining known leadership styles is highly commended for nurse leaders of National Hospital. Nursing leaders and hospital administrators should be aware of the benefits and drawbacks of each theory. Using different leadership styles in diverse situations appears to be the most beneficial. Thus each supervisor must understand when to use a specific strategy to achieve the organization's goals.