Leadership and Management in Clinical Practice

Running head: LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT 1
Leadership and Management
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LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT 2
Leadership and Management
Leadership is a means through which leaders provide direction, implement plans and
strategies, and inspire their followers to work towards achieving defined objectives. Various
scholars have propounded different styles of leadership with the purpose of engendering
organizational performance through context-based leadership. In the words of
Nanjundeswaraswamy and Swamy (2014), leadership styles include autocratic, laissez-faire,
democratic, transformational, transactional, and authentic. Indeed, all these styles of leadership
envision engendering conducive working environment for leaders and their followers. However,
every means of controlling people have a different implication on the stakeholders and the
objectives of the organization (Sfantou et al., 2017). Therefore, it is advisable for leaders to
assess their situation before deciding how to give direction to their followers. Notably, there is a
peculiar association between autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire leadership styles in that
Kurt Lewin provided the foundation for their formation (Cox, 2016). Consequently, these
leadership styles are prevalent in many organizations including the clinical practice where
laissez-faire leaders have a significant implication on the profession.
The notion of laissez-faire comes from a French phrase analogous to “leave alone”. The
term came into existence with the need to allow business people in France to be free while
carrying out their daily jobs. Therefore, laissez-faire envisioned on one’s ability to pursue their
wishes without the interference of others (Nanjundeswaraswamy & Swamy, 2014). The idea of
this model of leadership is that the natural world is self-regulating, therefore, letting nature take
its course is better than instituting rules to govern people. Unlike authoritarian leadership,
laissez-faire leaders hardly have any control in decision-making and offering guidelines within
the work setting (Pullen Jr, 2016). Therefore, everyone does what they prefer and goes where