Leadership Styles in Professional Nursing Essay

According to Hood (as cited in Agnes, 2005) Leadership is defined as a process of influencing others or guiding or directing others to make water mutu completelyy agreed upon goals (p. 457). This paper will describe four different leadership panaches, and the effectiveness of each modality as dependent upon the situation. Review of the professional person Nursing Literature All nurses are leaders but may not recognize the different character references of leadership or traits of an effective leader (Sims, 2009). there are four leadership styles to consider, the first iodine is autocratic or authoritarian.The autocratic leader is someone who usually needs to dominate others. The autocratic speak to is often one-sided and the leader is managely attempting to achieve a single goal or objective (Sims, 2009). Autocratic leadership is a behavior in which a leader makes choices with no involvement from any peers, regardless if those ideas are better suited for the organization. Th is type of leader requires constant pressure and direction to stick around the task done. This type of leader provides clear expectations for what, when, and how a process should be done without consulting employees.Organizations that have this type of leader tend to see a senior high turn-over of employees and absenteeism for the simple fact that employees dont feel valued. This approach would not be the way to get the best performance from the team. The implementation of this style of leadership could be used in a situation where an immediate decision needs to be made such as a crisis in an urgency room. The second leadership style is participatory or participative. This style is one that encourages employees to be a part of the decision making process.This type of leader keeps employees apprised about everything that affects the work being done, and shares in the problem solving situation. A drawback of this type of leader is that the leader could be viewed as not being ada pted to make a decision therefore, the employees may not respect this style and view this leader as not being a true leader. The democratic leader uses the team approach and is the coach in the process, but has the final say when the group comes to a consensus.Implementation of a democratic leadership style can best be executed in a situation where a process or practice change is needed, such as financial support on electronic medical records. With this leadership style the leader can get staff ideas and suggestions for a smooth transition to the change. This not only increases military control satisfaction by involving team members, but it also helps to develop peoples skills. This method inspires a group effort, but it can take very much of time for the leader to develop and come to an end to the topic at hand (Sims, 2009). The leader may spend a lot of time in discussions, sending emails, or scheduling meetings.This leader may be happy to do this to see that staff are working unitedly to achieve a better outcome, but it can also be a time-consuming process. A good democratic leader encourages staff participation, is supportive, but never loses portion that the leader is the one responsible for the final decision. This leader moldiness accept that the outcome may turn out differently than originally planned. Transactional leadership is the ternion style, and is one where the leader focuses on the day to day tasks of the team, and makes sure that the work is terminate.Transactional leadership is really a type of management, not a true leader style, because the focus is on short-term tasks. Transactional leaders set a goal, provide directions, and then reward the employee if performance is met at an acceptable level (McGuire & Kennerly, 2006). Transactional leadership style can best be used when a state survey is taking place and if successful, then reward will be given to the employees. These leaders use this style to get the desired outcomes. Transact ional leaders give tasks to be done by the employee, and if its done wrong then the employee is accountable.If the task is completed to this leaders standard, then the employee is rewarded. This type of leader doesnt focus on the staffs needs, or personal development, instead the staff must adhere to what the leader wants. Transactional leaders often work under the assumption that if everything is working fine, then there is no need to fix anything. Under this type of leader, there is no interest in change, and the employee will not feel any job satisfaction. The fourth leadership style is the transformational leader.This style of leadership is one thats very appropriate in many corporate situations because of the wide range of abilities and approaches that are drawn upon. This style focuses on the leader and the employee working together for a common goal. This type of leader has a vision for the organization, and inspires employees to solve problems creatively in a way that provid es support and encouragement without diminishing the nurse role (Kleinman, 2004). Transformational leaders have several traits that inspire the employee to utilize the strengths to improve the team, have better staff satisfaction, and reduce stress (Weberg, 2010).Transformational leaders are coaches, or mentors they show respect, have empathy, and utilize individual leader skills to promote change. These leaders are very energetic and passionate about the job, and concerned about all staff in succeeding. These leaders set good examples, clear goals, and recognizes good work from the team. Transformational leaders should remain a part of the team and share in the work load to better understand the teams viewpoint. With this leader style, there is a higher level of committed employees, reduced stress, and increased team spirit (Dunham & Klafehn, 1990).This in turn creates an employee who will provide a positive outlook when change is taking place and increases employee job satisfact ion. Application of Clinical Example A clinical example of when transformational leader style would work best is when an organization is going through a change process, such as the way newspaper publisher is given. Transformational leaders motivate staff to work towards a greater good and create a positive change (Dunham & Klafehn, 1990). Many nurses dont like change in the way care is provided, but when its important for patient safety change is inevitable.