Analyzing Leadership & Power: A Case Study in Healthcare Management

This case study analyzes the leadership styles of a student nurse and a nurse unit manager in a healthcare setting, focusing on an elderly patient unit. The student nurse proposes cost reduction and performance improvement measures, which are rejected by the nurse unit manager. The report identifies the student nurse's visionary leadership style and contrasts it with the nurse unit manager's autocratic and laissez-faire approaches. It suggests transformational and authentic leadership styles as more effective alternatives. The analysis also explores the concepts of power, particularly legitimate and expert power, and the importance of employee empowerment in addressing power imbalances and fostering a positive work environment. The report concludes that healthcare leaders must adapt their leadership styles to different situations to achieve optimal outcomes for patients and staff, emphasizing the significance of supporting leadership potential and promoting high employee morale.

Case Scenario
and Analysis
Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Leadership styles within case scenario and proposed leadership styles.................................1
Power......................................................................................................................................4

Empowerment.........................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Skilled leaders in the healthcare industry encourage employees to reach their higher
potential so that colleagues, patients and the healthcare institution can benefit from the excellent
medical care provided (Cardon, Huang and Power, 2019). This report looks at the case study of
the scenario of a healthcare unit mainly consisting of elderly patient where the proposal for cost
reduction and better performance by a student nurse with 10 month experience is rejected by the
nurse unit manager. This report examines the case study scenario and describes the leadership
styles used by the nurse student and nurse unit manager. In addition to this more effective
leadership styles which can be used by the nurse unite manager are proposed in this report with
justification. Finally the concept of power and employee empowerment in case of the case study
scenario are described in this report.
MAIN BODY
Leadership styles within case scenario and proposed leadership styles
Healthcare leadership requires medical professionals to extend beyond their medical
duties and wok with their collogues and subordinates to provide best possible results to various
stakeholders of the healthcare institution. The case study scenario on the on which the report is
based is summarized below:
A 10 months old student nurse proposed the idea that in order to improve patient
satisfaction and reduce expenses by changing the current medical practices implemented at the
elderly unit. The idea given by the student nurse was to peripheral cannulas were removed and
replaced in every 96 hours and the medical practices we aligned with the Cochrane review.
The medical review states that the peripheral need to be removed only when it certain
clinical indicator are present. The nurse unit manager who also has the additional responsibility
of substituting for another ward manger, refused the idea on the basis that healthcare was
delivered in certain way and would not be changed. The employee morale at the unit is low with
pressure on all employees.
Examining the case study it is determined that the leadership style depicted in the actions
of the student nurse is of visionary leadership. It is one of the contemporary leadership style
which is adopted by leaders who envision a better future for their organization and are
committed towards achieving the specific vision (Chan, 2019). The definition of visionary
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leadership is leading employees in order to envision future for the firm and bringing it to life by
dedicating all the efforts towards the vision.
In case of the scenario faced by the nursing student, the student was able to envision a
better future for to elderly unit by analysing current situation of low employee morale and
ineffectiveness in the medical practices. In order to achieve a better future for the unit the
medical student utilize his knowledge to propose a suitable idea for solving the problems at the
unit. Cost reduction can help the healthcare institution recruit a new nurse unit manager so that
the workload of the current nurse unit manager can be reduces.
Cost reduction through proposed medical intervention will also improve the quality of
care received by patients in different units along with better employee morale. This is because
the nurse unit manager will have more time to understand patient problems and lead the other
nursing staff to give the best quality care.
It is evident from the given scenario that the proposed medical intervention given by the
10 month old medical student had clear advantageous properties and the proposal was created by
the student as a part of the vision to improve the team with whom the student had spent past
months bonding and learning about the nursing profession. The basic characteristics of a
visionary leader are present in the medical students. A visionary leader is open-mined,
collaborative, communicative, innovative and imaginative (Fontana and Musa, 2017).
All the features of visionary leadership are present in the action of the student nurse I
communicating the proposal of medical intervention to the nurse unit manager. The intent,
innovative idea and presence of imagination, communication with aim of collaborating with the
nurse unit manager showcased the potential of the nurse student to become an effective visionary
leader.
On the other hand the nurse unit manager demonstrated ineffective leadership and the
weak leadership capabilities of the nurse unit manager can be seen in the overworked
environment, low employee morale and rigid medical practices adopted at the unit. The
characteristics of traditional autocratic leadership can be seen in the leadership style of the
nursing unit manager. Autocratic leadership style is defined as the type of leadership where
authority of single leader controls the decision making at the organization (Fontana, 2019).
The decision of nursing unit manager to reject the idea proposed by the nursing student
and stick to the medical practices which have been adopted until now even after listening to the
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explanations showcase features of autocratic leadership style. Under the autocratic leadership
style the opinions and ideas of others are not valued as equally to the ideas and opinions of the
singular authority (González-Cruz, Botella-Carrubi and Martínez-Fuentes, 2019). In the given
case study scenario the singular authority who dictates the decision making around the unit, this
showcases that there is suitable environment for facilitating autocratic leadership.
In addition to this, the nursing unit manager disregards the idea proposed by the student
nurse despite logical explanation being given in order to follow rigid medical practices. This
showcases the autocratic nature of the leadership in context of the nurse unit manager because
autocratic leaders base decisions on their own analysis and do not take input from others.
Therefore the collaborative offer proposed by the nursing student was immediately rejected by
the nursing unit manager.
Autocratic leadership can be helpful in emergency situations faced by healthcare staff but
it does not provide positive results when it comes to improving employee morale at the firm
(Jenkins, 2021). In case of the current case study the autocratic leadership of the nurse unit
manager has isolated many employees and reduced the morale of the nursing staff because they
do not feel that their opinion are valued at the firm.
Another ineffective leadership style which can be seen in the nurse unit manager of this
case study scenario is Laissez friar leadership. Under the laissez friar leadership, employees are
not given clear instructions on ways of acting after the partners. This similar type of action is
taken by the partner while leading other nursing staff. The nurse unit manager was not actively
involved in leading the staff and was rather busy due to excessive workload. Although this gave
the workforce freedom to act on their own, it did not change their status of decision making.
This showcases the similarity between the leadership style of the nurse unit manager and
the laissez friar leadership. This leadership style is effective when it comes to handling a trained
and experiences group if employees because there is not much need for direction in case of these
employees. On the other hand, the Laissez Friar leadership style is not useful when dealing with
inexperienced staff members as in the case of the given scenario (Johannessen, 2019). The usage
of laissez friar leadership by the nursing unit manager lowered employee experience as they were
not properly guided by their leader so that they can learn and improve.
The suitable change in leadership style which would have helped the nursing unit
manager is the adoption of transformational leadership style. Charisma and confidence is used by
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transformational leaders to build a dedicated team and ensure that they are able to achieve all
organizational objectives. Transformational leadership is useful for the specific case study
scenario because it helps unite the nursing staff so that innovative working environment can be
developed and various problems such as excessive workload can be managed through innovation
and collaborative effort.
Transformational leadership always works in situations where new employees are
involved because they can be easily inspired and changed to develop new skills or adjust their
present capabilities to take on collective effort (.Kane, 2017). This is rather difficult when it
comes to dealing with older employees. In this way the features of transformational leadership
helps create a dedicated team for handling the stressful environment of a healthcare unit. In
addition it also cultivates innovation which can be used for eliminating patient or staff problems
occurring at the unit.
Another alternative leadership style which can be used by the nurse unit manager is the
authentic leadership style. According to the authentic leadership style leaders need to be
presented as genuine, trustworthy, transparent and self-aware. Authentic leaders are useful for
managing team of new recruits because they help build a loyal team who will give their best to
the cause of the team. This is advantageous for the nurse unit manager because it will provide
loyal and hardworking employees to the healthcare institution without damaging the relation
between the nurse unit manager and nursing students.
Decision making in authentic leadership is transparent which helps new recruits
understand why some decisions were taken while others rejected so that team is on the same
page and unifies to attain team objectives (Steyn, 2020). This feature of the authentic leadership
style will be very helpful to the respective organization as it will promote better working
environment where each member of the nursing staff is satisfied with decision making and
motivated towards attaining company objectives.
Power
In a professional setting power is defined as the ability to influence others in order to
attain personal objectives. The power dynamics of a company impact its leadership and
employee relations. There are four different classifications of power in a workplace which are
legitimate power, coercive, power, reference power and expert power. In case of the specific ase
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study scenario the power exercised by the nurse unit manager on the student nurse is legitimate
power.
The power exercised by individuals on the basis of organizational authority and higher
position in the hierarchy of the firm is legitimate because it has real foundations. This created an
imbalanced power dynamics between the student nurse and the nursing unit manager because the
nurse unit manager had the power and authority over the student nurse. This led to creation of
autocratic leadership in the specific case study scenario.
In addition to this the nurse unit manager also had expert power over the student nurse.
Expert power is gained through higher knowledge, skills and experience of an individual
(Wilson, 2017). The nurse unit manager had higher power because of their longer experience in
the medical field which gave the nurse unit manager the confidence to reject proposal of the
student nurse easily.
Empowerment
Employee empowerment is essential for managing any case of employee power
imbalance and ensuring that employees with less power are able to voice their opinions freely.
This can be done by implementing policies which check power imbalance and support
employees in communicating their concerns,
Employee empowerment is needed in healthcare institutions because it reduces conflicts
and also helps identify any discriminative behaviour against employees so that lawful conditions
for each employee can be created.
Leadership can also be improved through employee empowerment as each employee will
be empowered with skills and capabilities to fulfil their responsibilities and report misuse of
power appropriately.
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CONCLUSION
From the above report it is determined that leaders need to select appropriate leadership
style for different situations in healthcare in order to get the best results for the stakeholders
involved in the situation whether it be patients or other medical staff. It is important that
healthcare leaders learn about different leadership style such as authentic and visionary
leadership to support staff members with leadership potential and adjust their leadership style
according to different situations. This helps maintain high employee morale and tackle
challenging situations at the healthcare institution. In addition to this usage of suitable leadership
style also helps determine the best solution for various problems. It is important to check power
imbalances so that leaders do not misuse any form of power whether it be legitimate or expert
power. This can be achieved by employee empowerment which is needed for creating aan
egalitarian environment.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Cardon, P. W., Huang, Y. and Power, G., 2019. Leadership communication on internal digital
platforms, emotional capital, and corporate performance: the case for leader-centric
listening. International Journal of Business Communication, p.2329488419828808.
Chan, S. C., 2019. Participative leadership and job satisfaction. Leadership & Organization
Development Journal.
Fontana, A. and Musa, S., 2017. The impact of entrepreneurial leadership on innovation
management and its measurement validation. International Journal of Innovation
Science.
Fontana, E., 2019. Pioneering environmental innovation in developing countries: The case of
executives' adoption of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Journal of
Cleaner Production, 236. p.117675.
González-Cruz, T .F., Botella-Carrubi, D. and Martínez-Fuentes, C. M., 2019. Supervisor
leadership style, employee regulatory focus, and leadership performance: A
perspectivism approach. Journal of Business Research, 101. pp.660-667.
Jenkins, M., 2021. Expert Humans: Critical Leadership Skills for a Disrupted World. Emerald
Group Publishing.
Johannessen, J.A., 2019. Leadership and organization in the innovation economy. Emerald
Group Publishing.
Wilson, F. M., 2017. Organizational behaviour and gender. Routledge.
Kane, T., 2017. Total volunteer force: Lessons from the US military on leadership culture and
talent management. Hoover Press.
Steyn, R., 2020. Leadership Styles and Organisational Structure. International Journal of Human
Resource Studies, 10(3). pp.98116-98116.
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