Paper Example on Nursing: Servant Leadership Model

Professional Responsibilities and Stewardship

Professional responsibilities refer to the laid down laws that define a certain profession, discipline, vocations, and organizations in the staff in the field have adhered to the laws in delivering their responsibilities. Stewardship, on the other hand, refers to the act of careering for something such as an organization. In the nursing profession are laid down laws that outline the professional responsibilities that all nurses should adhere to while taking of clients. Additionally, stewardship is practiced in that nurses should be in a position to take care of patients as far as their health is concerned. Leaders in nursing use different models and theories that help them manage their staff. Among the most preferred model of leadership applied in nursing is the servant leadership model.

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The Servant Leadership Model

The servant leadership model was proposed by Robert Greenleaf who said that any good leader should be a servant first in that they should aim at promoting the best among others. The model gives responsibility for all the stakeholders in the organization or society and its environments in that every individual is awarded values that can motivate them to serve others (Weiss, 2014). Greenleaf believed that a good leader is the one who has power to lead others in achieving their interests. In his analysis, he asserts that such leaders should be selfless. He even developed a paradox that a servant leader should not lead, but serve others. As such, servant leaders tend to deliver services to their organizational members more than they lead them in performing. In addition, have broader responsibilities which tie them to stick to their leadership role.

Greenleaf adds that followers of servants who applied servant leadership ended up becoming healthier, free, and wise to the extent they were motivated to practice servant leadership anywhere else. Thus the model is friendly to those who are being led as they enjoy the professional responsibilities and duties being delivered by the servant leader. In organizations, leaders applying this model are always trustworthy and accountable to the organizational activities since they involved directly in the organizational activities. In most cases, servant leadership is related to Christian beliefs since less professionalism is involved. Such leaders apply the values of service to others and humanity which is more of Christianity values than leadership roles. Thus, servant leadership as a model has been applied in organizations and disciplines that need much professional responsibilities and stewardship such as health-related disciplines and organization.

Reasons why the Servant Leadership Model is adapted in the Nursing Discipline

Leadership models are normally applied in disciplines that match with the model and thus there are reasons while the servant model is applicable in nursing. Firstly, nursing as a profession involves taking care of those who cannot take care of themselves. As such, the professional responsibilities and stewardship depicted in this model can be related to the ethics of nursing that are addressed in Virginia Henderson's Needs theory (Buetow, 2013). Nurses' leaders should serve patients and other staff so that they can act as role models in providing care. The second reason why the model is applicable in nursing is that the nurses' profession more of a caring job than a profession. The nurses' code of ethics states that nurses should be empathetic so that they can take care of the patients (Bushardt, 2012). The servant model can substantiate this since it supports sacrificing taking care of others as a leader instead of just leading them.

References

Weiss, D., Tillen, F. J., & Morgan, M. J. (2014). The interprofessional healthcare team: Leadership and development. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. ISBN-13: 9781449673369

Buetow, S. (2013). Back to Back: Medical professionalism requires that the best interest of the patient must always come first: No. Journal of primary health care, 5(1), 76-77. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23457699

Bushardt, R. L. (2012). Professionalism and the power of words: A meditation. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232763858_Professionalism_and_the_power_of_words_A_meditation