Comparison of Transformational and Authentic Leadership Theories in Nursing

This paper compares and contrasts the theories of transformational and authentic leadership in nursing, highlighting their components and importance in nursing practice. It also discusses the implications and outcomes of using these theories in clinical leadership.

Running head: CLINICAL WORD 1
Clinical Work
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

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Part A
Compare and contrast transformational leadership and authentic leadership theories in
nursing
Introduction
A leader is required to learn not only to monitor and staff a unit but also inspire and
motivate the workers. Accordingly, finding a leader that is focused on the long term goals is
usually rare. This paper will therefore compare and contrast the theories of leadership, which are
the transformational and authentic leadership theory. As an illustration, the strategic vision which
projects a positive image in conjunction with energizing and unifying the employees is the heart
of transformational leadership. On the other hand, the authentic leadership theory usually
proposes the mechanisms which permits managers to create a positive and supportive working
environment that enables the transition of the new nurses into practice.
This paper will also highlight the nursing components of authentic and transformational
theories together with their importance on nursing. How these theories are applied in future
clinical leadership nursing will also be discussed. Finally, it will cover the implications and
outcomes of using one of these theories in the in nursing practice.
Comparison of the two theories, describe the history of the theories and critically analyses
the key components or features of the theories (comprehensive argument/s and comparison
related each theory)

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There are four components in Transformational leadership theory which are as named
below. The first one is idealized influence, the second one inspirational motivation, the third one
is intellectual stimulation, and lastly individual consideration. Accordingly, transformational
leadership has been proved to effective in uncertain and turbulent environments like those found
in healthcare firms (Park & Han, 2015). On the contrary, the authentic leadership theory is
believed to influence the psychological well-being via its impacts on the work climate.
Accordingly, research has shown that Authentic leadership theory impacts the environment at
work positively, thus increasing the well-being of people psychologically at work (Davidson,
Elliott & Daly, 2006).
Considering the transformational theory, the effectiveness of the vision depends upon
how the leader can convey it to followers and other key stakeholders within the organization.
The message should be framed around a grand purpose. It should use a shared mental model of
the future and include the use of symbols and metaphors to help create the vision in everyone's
minds (Alvesson & Kärreman, 2016). The message should be delivered with sincerity, and a
level of passion and will reflect the leader's strong beliefs in the vision. Communication of the
vision needs to be done not only verbally, but also non-verbally (Scully, 2015).
The second element of a transformational leader focuses on modeling the vision. As an
illustration, the transformation leader needs to be able to symbolize or demonstrate the vision
through their behavior (Mortier, Vlerick & Clays, 2016). The employees that just heard the
vision would be watching that leader's actions closely. The leader will gain much more trust
from the employees if they can effectively model the vision around those employee's day in and
day out (Anderson & Sun, 2017). The higher the consistency between the practitioner’s words
and actions, the more employees will believe in and be willing to follow the leader.

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The third element of a transformational leader is one of encouraging experimentation
among the employees. The effective transformational leader should be encouraging the workers
not only to question current practices but also experiment with new ways that are potentially
more consistent with the future visionary state. Any type you are trying to make a change, which
is what transformational leadership is all about, everything needs to be questioned, employees
need to be able to experiment with their new ideas, and mistakes need to be seen as just part of
the natural process of change (Boamah, Laschinger, Wong & Clarke, 2018).
The fourth and final element we will review today is building commitment toward the
vision set forth by the transformational leader. Turning the vision into reality will require a
commitment not only from the leader that created the vision but more importantly the employees
that will be going along on the ride of change (Laschinger & Read, 2016). Words, symbols, and
stories from the leader will build a contagious enthusiasm that will energize the employees to
adopt the vision as their own. By demonstrating the attitude of being able to do and behaving
consistently, leaders will be able to shape the shared vision and build upon employee
involvement with implementing that vision.
Authentic leadership requires some characteristics of leaders. Moral dimensions of
authentic leaders have similar counterparts in transformational leadership. From example,
empathy or compassion, which makes the leader care and help others, are shared in authentic and
transformational leadership (Chávez & Yoder, 2015). Also, all these kinds of leadership rely on
personal charisma and positive emotions like hope and trust to influence followers. The
similarity of these kinds of leadership is not restricted within the moral level. Authentic
leadership also place great importance on the relation with followers like transformational

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leadership. Establish a transparent relationship is a vital content of putting authentic leadership
into practice.
Differences
The primary reason for the differences in transformational leadership and authentic
leadership is that, for leaders of these two types, their primary focuses are far from each other.
For instance, all these types take the relationships between leaders and followers seriously, but
the roles of leaders and followers for each kind is very distinct due to leaders focuses.
Transformational leaders focus on the interest of organizations, servant leaders intend to serve
others, and authentic leaders strive to be real in every aspect.
Transformational leadership always serve the organization's interest firstly, and the
improving leader-follower relationship is carried out to support the primary focus. A typical
example of Lincoln's leadership is The Emancipation Proclamation, which played a significant
role in the American Civil War and the rising of the US. Authentic leaders represent the truth in
every aspect. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, another Noble Peace Prize winner, is a representative of
authentic leaders. Copeland (2016) believes that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has "enormous
courage," a "crystal-clear mission," a big vision and clear, unique values as one of the genuinely
authentic leaders dedicating "life to a greater purpose that is in sync with their core values and
beliefs." A genuine leader puts authenticity in the first place, digs authenticity within, presents
authenticity to their followers. In short, although the appearances of the two have some similarity
the significant difference in leaders' focuses distinguish the two types of leadership from each
other.

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The different focuses of the two kinds of leadership lead to the difference in application.
Transformational leaders are more like utilitarian. They try to develop followers' potential
capability. Thus they set themselves as a model for their followers, encourage their followers,
and care about their followers. Transformational leadership usually meets the needs of a profit-
oriented organization and is not necessarily to be morally righteous, thus has the potential to be
abused. Authentic leaders present their ideas directly, and they communicate with their followers
without obstacles (Masood & Afsar, 2017). Authentic leadership ensures high efficiency and
excellent performance. However, it is not well researched, thus leaders might have problems
when applying it.
Identify what contemporary nursing proponents of the theories argue about their relevance
to nursing leadership.
In a health care setting, the nurses require transformational leadership theory to have an
adaptive and flexible administration. This is because this theory also creates an environment of
shared responsibilities which influences the new ways of creating things as it is argued in this
theory. On the other words, the authentic leadership theory argues to differ from other theories
because of its inclusion of internalized moral perspectives as the core constructs. Furthermore,
authentic leaders usually enable higher-quality relationships that lead to active engagement of the
nurses that results in higher job satisfaction and productivity (Fallatah & Laschinger, 2016).
Authentic leadership usually models and supports individuals’ self-determination at the
place of work which is highly required in nursing. It also facilitates two-way communication
which helps in constructive feedback as well as acknowledgment of the followers’ perspective
and interest (Hoch, Bommer, Dulebohn & Wu, 2018). With the use of authentic leadership
theory, the workers in the healthcare setting are more likely to act consistently with their values

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personal convictions and ethical standards while at the same time facilitating a collaborating
environment (Davidson, Elliott & Daly, 2006). In that case, these qualities can improve care
quality along with workplace conditions. This is because this theory helps the nurses to have an
increased evel of the psychological well-being. This has been proved by a research which was set
to determine the psychological well-being at work within a period of six months. The mediation
analysis by the use of bootstrapping technique revealed the existence of the relationship between
the work environment and the psychological well-being.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a good leader is expected to inspire and motivate workers. Therefore,
transformational and authentic leadership theories can quickly help any leader to achieve those
goals if followed to the latter. Nurses and any other health practitioner are therefore advised to
apply both the two theories in their clinical leadership. The paper has also covered the
similarities and differences between the authentic and transformational theories. However,
despite the fact that the two theories have differences, they equally important in clinical
leadership and hence should be considered in respective situations.
Part B
How you could apply these ONE of these theories in your future clinical leadership in
nursing
Introduction
Effective clinical leadership usually ensures health care system that is of high quality
which creates safe and efficient care in a consistent manner. As an illustration, leadership is the
process of influencing other people to comprehend and concur on what should be done and how

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it should be done. To my opinion, I could apply transformational leadership theory in my future
clinical leadership in nursing to motivate others to higher levels. Accordingly, I will be
motivating others to adjust expectations, opinions, and inspirations to work towards the common
goal. Since the transformational leadership is focused to change, I will, therefore, be considered
as the change agent.
Write a leadership scenario / context that could be a future situation/context in nursing
Role transition is the leadership context that could be the future situation in nursing. The
nurses and doctors have educated patients in coordinating care and collaborating with other
clinicians. However, there is a need to deliver more consideration within the community setting,
and hence the scope of practice for the health workers has to be expanded (Vaismoradi, Griffiths,
Turunen & Jordan, 2016). In that case, the health care professionals and nurses need to adopt
reconceptualized roles as the health coaches, system innovators, and care coordinators.
Accordingly, the coach will ensure that all individuals understand why the caregiver
recommended a particular course of treatment.
For instance, the coach educates friends and family about how they can help to address
physical, mental, social, and emotional factors which may promote health. This is to achieve
lower absenteeism rates, patient satisfaction, along with the handling of the complaints in a better
and friendly way (Giddens, 2018). Accordingly, this will also help to reduce staff turnover and
avoid drug errors.
Discuss how you would use this theory as part of your clinical leadership practice in this
situation/context

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I believe that a transformational leadership style will be the most effective in directing the
transition team because there is going to be a lot of brainstorming and teamwork that is going to
happen with all of these tasks (Regan, Laschinger & Wong, 2016). A transformational leader
would ensure that everybody is able to put their opinions in and that everyone is involved. They
will also make sure that everyone is comfortable enough to come to them if there are any
problems. Most importantly, a transformational leader is also role models. They will help
motivate everyone they are working with and make sure they know what they are working
towards (Copeland, 2016).
I would use the transformational leadership theory as part of my clinical leadership since
it always focuses on inspiring and transforming others. In that case, I will utilize this theory to
encourage others to move forward, especially if they feel like giving up. During the role
transition, there is usually fear, anxiety in conjunction with uncertainty. Some people might feel
they can cause accidental harm to a patient. Conversely, that is generally common in roles. Some
of the issues during role transition is documentation skills, patient assessment skills,
accountability, and decision making (Fischer, 2016).
The transformational leadership theory requires one to be visionary even in his behaviors and all
his deeds. Therefore, I will make sure I overcome all the challenges during that period, such as
time management in the new roles and shift work so that I achieve my set goals and that of the
organization. Accordingly, by the use of transformational leadership theory, I will display
awareness of new roles such as being a provider, a teacher, a decision-maker (Ford & Harding,
2018).
Explore the likely implications and outcomes that could be gained from using this theory in
your nursing practice.

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Transformational leadership theory has a lot of benefits which can easily be achieved if
appropriately applied. To start with, it will result in lower turnover costs since the manager will
be in a position to retain employees and clients. Accordingly, since the transformational leader
engages with people, their needs and that of the firm will be satisfied. In that case, the workers
will feel corporate fit and stay in the firm if they report to the transformational leader (Démeh &
Rosengren, 2015).
The second implication is that there will be better outcomes from corporate learning.
Transformational leaders are always good at culture building, individual support, and providing
intellectual stimulation, vision building, and to hold high-performance expectations for the
workers (Ghasabeh, Soosay & Reaiche, 2015). Therefore, there will be increased effectiveness
which will be a definite advantage to the healthcare setting.
Conclusion
In summary, excellent and competent clinical leadership is mandatory to achieve safe and
health care. However, the transformational leadership theory can easily be applied in order to get
the best results in a health care setting. Accordingly, this theory can efficiently be utilized in
roles transitional. Different situations usually emerge in a clinical setting every day, and there is
no specific leadership style that is suitable for all situations. In that case, clinical leaders should
be flexible in their leadership styles and hence tailor them as required. It is usually effective to
apply different leadership styles in different situations and therefore, each and every leader has to
know when to exhibit different approaches to achieve the organization's goals.

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