Nurses' Managers: Leadership Styles & Job Satisfaction in Healthcare - Essay Sample

Introduction

Nursing, as a profession is people-centered. Therefore, it finds leadership as a crucial aspect of its management when it realizes its success. In determining job satisfaction and the retention of the practitioners in the field of health, the most crucial aspect is the leadership styles by nurses' managers. Due to the inadequacy of nurses, their imbalanced distribution globally, and also the rising costs of receiving health care it is becoming essential to examine the role nurses' managers play in the determination of the staffs' outcome. Depending on the situation, the nurses' managers use five main types of leadership styles, and these include, Autocratic leadership, Laisezz- Faire Leadership, Democratic Leadership, Transformational leadership, and servant leadership.

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Autocratic Leadership

Under the autocratic leadership style, the autocratic nurse remains the boss. The subordinates receive specific orders and directions from the nurse who leads the team using the management style in making all the decisions. The leader, in this case, does not accept different opinions or questions, from other nurses, but sticks to the personal decision in making choices in the organization (Cummings et al. 369). Moreover, the autocratic nurse has no tolerance to the mistakes that the subordinate nurses commit while in their duties but views such as punishable. However, the health organizations practicing this form of leadership have a strict adherence to medical rules and practices.

Laissez - Faire Leadership

The leader nurse under laissez leadership is a direct opposite of the autocratic nurse. The team members receive no strict direction from the leader that confine them to a given channel of handling their duties. Instead, the leader nurse adopts an approach that aligns to the hands-off system in managing the activities of the organization as well as coordinating the junior nursing staff. According to Cummings et al., this style of leadership works well when the nurses already have experience and practice self-direction in their activities (369). Generally, the nurses do not need orders that guide them in their role but stick to their ability to perform.

Democratic Leadership

This leadership style involves communication between the leader nurse and the subordinate nurses who give input when it comes to management decisions making. Despite the choice of directions that the organization takes lying with the manager, the junior nurses have the opportunity to offer their honest input and also feedback in matters of interest to the organization. Organizations with objectives of improving system and processes in terms of building relationship, trust, and accountability among the members find democratic leadership very suitable for them.

Transformational Leadership

The transformational form is also known as visionary leadership. Under this type of leadership, the nurse manager focuses on the broader aspect of the organization such as giving attention to improving patient care, and also the making the systems and processes better for the junior nurses. According to research, transformational leadership works well when the organization requires enormous changes and improvement in its operations.

Servant Leadership

Through individual team members, the nurse leader under servant leadership puts more efforts in achieving the organization success. Over the past few years, servant leadership has been gaining popularity in most healthcare facilities. The managers use their servant leadership skills to target the needs of the team members by facilitating them in having the necessary skill sets and techniques required to achieve the goals of the organization. Besides, the servant form of leadership is most appropriate when the work setting has diverse member tasked with different roles (Cummings et al. 370).

Challenges of Providing Effective Nursing Management

In improving effectiveness and efficiency in the healthcare sector, it is crucial to adopt appropriate leadership skills by the management. However, the management in its leadership encounters various challenges that hinder their ability to offer appropriate authority and control over their activities. According to the study, there are five main challenges of leadership in healthcare organizations, and they include, the structure of the organization, human resource, nature of work, context related challenges, and challenges related to leaders.

Organizational Structure Challenges

Health working environments may have various professions that increase levels of specialization and differentiation, thus causing conflicts when it comes to passing information and coordination of the activities. It is not easy for the nurse managers to control such professionals within the various sections because each of them gives the problems different approaches (Grainne et al. 998). Further, the managers have reduced powers and authority to recruit, relocate, or promote the junior nurses hence diluting the leader-follower relationships in the organization.

Another structural challenge facing management in the health sector is vague and inadequate job satisfaction. Due to improper development of job specification, there arises a constant conflict between the junior staff and the supervisors. Further, lack of financial resources and its related consequences also affects the level of motivation by the employees and consequently, their job satisfaction. Again, the conflict of interest and inconstancies between the subordinate staff and the leaders is also a significant management challenge arising from the structure of the organization.

Human Resource Challenges

The workforce shortages and its imbalance distribution pose a challenge to the leadership management of the health sector. Due to the increased workload and insufficient workforce, there is a drastic reduction in the relationship between the workers and the leaders. Therefore, the pressure increases on the nurses who feel nervous and resort to conflict with the leaders as a mode of settling their frustrations. Another human resource related problem in healthcare leadership is the education offered to the employees before and during the job in regards to the content and the amount. When the training is not adequate to the nurses, most of them will not be fully aware of their duties hence causing complexity when it comes to communication in the organization. Moreover, the health facilities without proper motivational mechanisms within their human resources also face management challenges in their operations.

Work Nature Challenges

The leadership of the healthcare sectors faces challenges based on the nature of work relating to its sensitivity and stress that associates with it. According to Kelley, the leading causes of insensitivity and stress are continuous confrontations with unknown problems that require quick decisions and professional risks regarding health jobs by the workers (291). Besides the workload, the nurses also undergo exhaustion and irritability from the night shifts, thus making them hostile and not consider the request by the leaders.

Again, the cause of tension and stress to the employees occurs due to the existence of variation in the patients and companions based on their disease conditions. Such patient conditions include their way of life, income, and their social class, which may affect the nurses who handle them and later transfer the similar effect to the management. In dealing with this particular condition, the management should adopt intelligent leadership that seeks to utilize specialized motivational, methods that accommodate the feeling of animosity between the subordinates and the supervisors.

Challenges Related to Leaders

The unfamiliarity with leadership techniques and the organizational behavior by the managers due to inadequate job training is a challenge facing the management in the health sectors. Moreover, the unwillingness by the leaders to learn the new techniques due to their beliefs further causes more challenge relating to the achievement of successful leadership by the nursing management. The workplaces that also change managers frequently minimizes their chances of interaction with each other hence preventing them from conducting long term plans and programs within the organization (Ghiasipour et al.). Again, the actions of unstable managers undermine the authority and influence of other able leaders to perform, leading to failure of the entire leadership management in the healthcare systems. Lastly, the majority of leaders admit that they always operate under the influence of others who determine their choices of decision, hence preventing them from acting effectively, and this is likely to hinder their success.

Conclusion

In essence, the nursing fraternity practices five main types of leadership in their organizations while also facing challenges in providing effective management. The primary forms of leadership used by the healthcare sector are Autocratic leadership, Laisezz- Faire Leadership, Democratic Leadership, Transformational leadership, and servant leadership. In the successful implementation of these styles, the nursing management has challenges such as those that relate to leaders, organizational structure, human resources, work nature, and content related challenges. Hence, the nursing leadership fails to achieve successful implementation of plans based on these challenges.

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