Case Study on Leadership and Management

Running head: CASE STUDY ON LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
CASE STUDY ON LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1
CASE STUDY ON LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
Introduction:
The problems mentioned in the case study arose due to employee dissatisfaction. The
surgical ward was a 33 person staffed ward with 25 registered nurses and eight care assistants.
Analysis of the problems occurring in the General surgery Unit at the Eastern Massachusetts
University hospital made Barbara develop the following insights. There has been a high turnover
rate but at the same time new hiring is freezed because of fund issues. Hence, the leader named
Barbara has to develop the present condition of the team to ensure uninterrupted service to
patients which are not only high in quality but immediate and prompt as well. The assignment
would first see the different concerns and problems that the team is facing and this should be
followed by providing recommendations that can help in mitigating the situations.
First problem:
Ineffective teamwork with poor teamwork skills among the nursing professionals was the
first problem. Complete lack of bonding was absent among the senior and the junior nurses and
this was reflected from the experiences of Meghan and Louise. The former nursing leaders might
not have contributed enough effort and time of developing an organizational climate in the ward
which would exhibit love; care and bonding among the team members, thereby making them
work as a team. The junior nurses were of the opinion that the seniors did not acknowledge their
contribution and often considered them inexperienced and burden on the healthcare unit. The
senior nurses on the other hand used to consider them that they do not have proper knowledge
and that they always ask for help that affects the flow of the work of the senior nurses. Hence,
complete lack of collaboration and coordination seems to be completely absent in the team
working in the GSU.

2
CASE STUDY ON LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
Lack of elements of effective teamwork found:
A number of aspects had been found to be absent among the team-members that created a
barrier between the team-members and resulted in dissatisfaction and agitation among the
members. One of the most important aspects of teamwork that is absent is the trait of the
members of being straightforward and honest. Studies are of the opinion that it is important to
maintain transparency within teamwork as that helps in developing trust among the members and
prevent development of misconceptions about the others (Frich et al., 2015). Meghan, a junior
nurse found out that her senior nurses were talking behind her back regarding her skills in a
negative tone that affected her motivation and employee morale. If the seniors had been honest
and straightforward to her about the aspects they like or do not like about her in a constructive
manner, such negative emotions would not have developed within Meghan. However, lack of
effective constructive feedback exchange session between the members of the team could have
contributed to further development of negative feelings among the members.
Another important aspect that was lacking among the team is the trait of sharing loads of
the work. Barbara had noticed a complaint where members stated that they could never count on
others for helping them. Studies are of the opinion that team members should have the urge to
move forward and help other members in time of their crisis and increased work burden as that
ensure providing quality care to the patient and saving the patient from poor quality services
(Rosen et al., 2018). High work burden can result in emotional and physical fatigue of nurses
making them feel burned out (Hargett et al., 2017). The team-members should always come
forward in such scenarios to share their work burden to provide effective care that satisfies
patients. Development of good bond and rapport among the team-members can help members to
feel for each other emotionally and thereby share their work-burden to help the member to

3
CASE STUDY ON LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
manage the work demands effectively. However, lack of bonds and rapports among the members
prevented them from developing friendly and emotional connection with the team members and
this resulted in the members not sharing their burdens with each other.
High rate of blame games and power struggles are also observed among the senior and
junior nurses and also among the doctors and the nurses. One of the incidents shows a nurse
complaining that doctors treat them as order takers but not as caregivers. Hence, power struggles
and blame games are found to be two of the most important aspects that have the capability of
affecting emotions of team-members and affecting the flow of work as a team. Organizational
climate that do not defend blame games have seen to have higher number of turnovers and higher
rates of employee dissatisfaction among the members (Husebo et al., 2016). Blame games
hampers employee morale and motivation to work beyond their potential making them develop
negative feelings about the organization. It damages the enthusiasm and zeal of the employees
thereby demotivating them. Moreover power struggles make victims feel disrespected and not
cared for in the organization. It makes them feel that other members of the team are not paying
the worth one deserves and these results in lower productivity at work, various forms of conflicts
and poor quality service (Poghosyan et al., 2016). In case of the present situation, power struggle
and blame game were observed within the teamwork and this had resulted in poor relationships
and bonds among members and lack of employee morale.
Second problem:
One of the problems that are also noticed is the lack of effective leadership in the general
surgical unit. Huge numbers of problems were discussed in the feedback session that Barbara
conducted for about one and half hours to know about the grudges and complaints about the