Leadership Theory in Clinical Leadership and Management in Nursing

This article explores the different leadership theories applied in clinical leadership and management in nursing. It discusses relationship theories, trait theory, behavioral theory, and the great man theory. It emphasizes the importance of clinical leadership in the healthcare system and highlights the challenges faced by nurses. The article also provides recommendations for enhancing clinical leadership skills.

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STUDENT NAME
UNIT CODE
CLINICAL LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT IN NURSING AND SPECIALIZATION
NAME OF UNIT CHAIR OR LECTURE
4/17/2019
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Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................................3
1. Articles to be address:......................................................................................................................4
A. Relationship theories:...................................................................................................................4
B. Trait theory:..................................................................................................................................6
C. Behavioral theory:........................................................................................................................9
D. Great Man Theory......................................................................................................................10
Conclusion................................................................................................................................................12
Bibliography.............................................................................................................................................13
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Introduction
Clinical Leadership and Management is a challenging role. The importance of Clinical
Leadership and Management is rising due to the various complexities at the work place and in the
health care system. However, the leadership and management are similar but the difference lies in
their duties.
The process of setting and achieving the objectives of the health care system by using the
clinical expertise and motivating individuals at the same time with the aim of fulfilling the needs of
the patients is state as clinical leadership. However, Management means directing, controlling and
coordinating the efforts of an individual towards the achievement of the health care system of an
organization (Swanwick & Mckimm, 2011). Clinical Leadership and Management are being
adopted at a global level.
With the continuous development in the health care system, the demand of clinical
leadership and management in nursing profession is expanding for giving the quality services to the
patients and providing proper medication to their health problems. Nursing is an important as spinal
cord in the organization. Clinical leaders and staff work together to fulfill the needs and wants of
the patients. The knowledge of clinical leadership is very important in nursing for constructive
working of the management and strong leadership in the staff-working environment.
Through various articles, it can be understand the different type of leaders in the health
profession, their duties and the type of challenges faced by the nurses in maintaining the clinical
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health care system.
Source: (Cherry, 2019)
1. Articles to be address:
A. Relationship theories:
Relationship theory is also known as transformational theory. They are the leaders, who are
the guider with the mission, motivate and help their employees to realize their potential and are the
risk taker and conduct the activities according to the ethics (Transformational Leadership Theory,
2019).
The article on which the research presented “Guest editorial: Building a foundation for Global
Nursing Leadership” ( Mancuso, 2016).
As per World Health Organization, 2015, about 19 million nurses are working across the globe, in
providing medical assistance to the patients and putting the efforts in securing their lives. The nurse
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manager’s objective is to deliver the quality services to their patients. A manger not only looks after
the health of the patients but also focuses on the development of the employees. He is a head of the
department who gives necessary motivation to the staff; guide them in developing their potential.
He also acts as a problem solver.
For the development of nursing skills and knowledge, the manager must provide clinical
training in the health care system as it very crucial for the proper functioning of the system.
 Problems:
In the countries where the income level is low ,there nurses managers often faces difficulties
like lack of infrastructure facilities ,water supply, shortage of electric power and lack of personnel.
As per the World Health statistics, the availability of medical practitioner has been decrease to
7.2billion at a global level. There are about 83countries which have low income and due to which
they are not able to fulfill the basic requirement of minimum 23 medical professionals for every
10,000 people, which are crucial for the treatment of the patients. This creates the situation of an
additional workload on nurses and a challenging environment to survive ( Mancuso, 2016).
 Recommendations:
There must be flexibility in the policies of the country. They must provide financial
assistance to the health care organization, so that it can cure the diseases of the patients and promote
the healthy lifestyle among the people of the society. Moreover, for enhancing the skills and
knowledge, International Council of Nurses are conducting programs related to nursing leadership
and management programs. Moreover, on the job –training can help the nurse managers in
developing their technical knowledge, skill and efficiency at the same time.. Equal opportunities
shall be provided to the nurses to grow and enhance their skills.
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Clinical Leadership: As an illustration, when two nurse is fighting over the medicines given
to the patient and the manger came to know that the patient is given wrong medicine. Then it is
responsibility of leaders to act maturely and handle the situation. He must analyze whether it is
performed intentionally or not. He should take the decision wisely, counsel both the nurses, and
then take the action.
B. Trait theory:
Trait theory leadership tells the personal characteristics of leaders. It has been formed on the
assumption that the leaders are made, not born. It indicates various behavioral patterns of the
leaders. Energy, charisma, flexibility are the various traits through which the great leaders are
identified (Trait Theory of Leadership and Its Key Characteristics, 2016).
The article that is selected “The importance of clinical leadership in the hospital setting”
( Daly, Jackson, Mannix, Patricia M Davidson, & Hutchinson, 2014).
The significance of powerful clinical leadership in the hospital system is increasing with the i
challenges faced by the nurses in the health care system. Successful clinical leadership is not only
vital for the working of the health care system but also necessary for the fulfilling the objectives and
maintaining the efficiency level of the system. Clinical leadership is not only limited to the
professionals who are the managers or the head of the department. Infact, every employee of the
department can become the leader. The different traits and characteristics of effective leaders.
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Source: ( Daly, Jackson, Mannix, Patricia M Davidson, & Hutchinson, 2014)
 Problem:
However, through the constructive clinical leadership, many problems related to the work
place has been conquered and but still the task of clinical leadership is elusive. There are some
barriers identified in the application of the clinical leadership like timid behavior, lack of
communication skills and absence of multidisciplinary skill.
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In the health care system, many health care providers are lacking the deep understanding of
what leadership is all about. Due to the lack of content available in the undergraduate program,
students are not well- prepared for taking leadership roles in the health profession.
 Recommendations:
Clinical leadership is crucial part of health care system. The performance of the hospital
system can become better with the productive clinical leadership. Evolving leadership skills in the
development of the nurses in the personal as well as in the health professional is very critical.
Various future strategies can be apply by the hospitals in identifying the barriers in the productive
clinical leadership and by developing the leadership qualities among the hospital care department,
the overall performance of the health care system can be enhance. Hospitals must introduce the
training programs for the undergraduate students, as it will help them to identify their traits and
qualities to become an effective clinical leader (A Universal Truth:No Health Without a Workforce,
2014).
 For example - With the innovation in the equipment of measuring the diabetes, the clinical leader is
giving training to the nurses on the application of the machine. However, the nurses were rigid and
were not comfortable in the use of it. However, when the leader make them understood its
importance and motivated them, nurses supported their leader.
Here, clinical leader is a risk taker, flexible, innovative and motivator .He/she has traits and
qualities of being the clinical leaders
C. Behavioral theory:
Behavior theory states that, it is a way of evaluating the actions, reactions of the leaders and
the employees in the given condition. It is an assumption, that to be a great leader, it is not
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necessary to be born as a leader, rather than these skills can be obtained through hard work,
knowledge and training (Behavioral Theories of Leadership, 2019).
The article, which is selected is “Enabling professional development in mental health nursing: the
role of clinical leadership” (Ennis, Happel, & Reid-Searl, 2015).
Leadership is crucial for creating the powerful impact on the entire working of the system.
Moreover, with the help of clinical teaching, ample of opportunities are provided for the
development of professionals’ skills as well as knowledge among the leaders and the students. This
will help the students in developing their skills and perform better.
 Aim:
The ideology of the study is to gather the information about the different views of the nurses in the
context of clinical leadership.
 Participants:
Survey conducted on the views provided by the 12 nurses who had already worked or
already working in the health care system from more than one year.
 Recommendations and Result
The most common answer upon which majority of the nurses agreed, that the clinical leader
must be a role model and possess the qualities of inspiring the thousands of dreams. They should
be motivators. Honesty, integrity and professionals are the skills are the qualities that must be
possess by the leaders. Participants discover that clinical leaders are alike clinical teachers, who are
easily approachable and ready to impart the knowledge.
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 Limitation
However, the important features of clinical leaders were possible to discover. The numbers
of participant was small and are the medical practitioners.
D. Great Man Theory
Great leaders are born and have inherent the qualities of leaders. They are born with the
natural abilities and talent. They are the people who have achieved the goals against all the odds.
Source: (The Great Man Theory, 2015) Source: (Ahmad, 2016)
The article that is selected is “The clinical leadership and characteristics confirmed”.
 The goal:
The focus of the study is to find the application of clinical direction in the hospital settings. The two
studies were conducted in which initial study was done from 2001-2004 and the second study was
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done in 2010.The questionnaire has been prepared and given to the ambulance service staff who
studied for 6 months in the year 2010 (Stanley , 2014).
 Limitations:
During the survey, staff who volunteered in the ambulance staff did not participated in the
activity.
 Problems:
There were few clinical nurses, who had given the feedback on the initial study results. They
recommended that the traits of vision and creativity, which are the utmost important for the clinical
leaders must be equal importance while practicing clinical leadership in the hospitals and many of
the nurses failed to understand the questionnaire.
 Recommendations and Result:
In the study, it is clear that the leadership traits, which are directing, helping the staff, patients and
inspiring are essential. Moreover, other traits like motivation, flexibility, consistency and critical
thinking is highly rated.
Conclusion
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The statements conclude that the clinical leadership has a great importance in the
functioning of the system in the hospitals. It is not only crucial for the development of the leaders
but also important for the staff members. Clinical leaders motivate staff members to perform better,
help in realizing their potential and solve their conflicts so that all of personal as wells professional
levels goals can be attain. They work together as a team to satisfy the needs of the patients. Clinical
leaders follow different leadership theory at the work place. Transformational theory, Behavior
theory, Trait theory and Great man theory are some of the leadership theories applied and use by the
clinical leaders.
.
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Bibliography
Daly, J., Jackson, D., Mannix, J., Patricia M Davidson, P. M., & Hutchinson, M. (2014). The
importance of clinical leadership in the hospital setting. Journal of Healthcare Leadership,
75-83.
Dignam, D., Duffield, C., Stasa, H., Gray, J., Jackson , D., & Daly , J. (2012). Management and
leadership in nursing: an Australian educational. Journal of Nursing Management,, 65-71.
Mancuso, L. (2016). Guest editorial: Building a foundation for Global Nursing. Journal of Nursing
Management, 981-982.
A Universal Truth:No Health Without a Workforce. (2014). Retrieved 2019, from Who:
https://www.who.int/workforcealliance/knowledge/resources/GHWA-
a_universal_truth_report.pdf
The Great Man Theory. (2015, January 8). Retrieved 2019, from Villanova University:
https://www.villanovau.com/resources/leadership/great-man-theory/
Trait Theory of Leadership and Its Key Characteristics. (2016). Retrieved 2019, from Eba:
https://www.educational-business-articles.com/trait-theory-of-leadership/
Behavioral Theories of Leadership. (2019). Retrieved 2019, from Leadership-central:
https://www.leadership-central.com/behavioral-theories.html
Transformational Leadership Theory. (2019). Retrieved 2019, from Managment study guide:
https://www.managementstudyguide.com/
Ahmad, A. (2016, November 16). Leadership Traits. Retrieved 2019, from M:
https://medium.com/top-10-leadership-quotes/leadership-traits-ae7c5de525c2
Cherry, K. (2019, March 11). The Major Leadership Theories. Retrieved 2019, from Very well
mind: https://www.verywellmind.com/leadership-theories-2795323
Ennis, G., Happel, B., & Reid-Searl, K. (2015). Enabling professional development in mental health
nursing: the role of clinical leadership. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing,
616-622.
Stanley , D. (2014). Clinical leadership characteristics confirmed. Journal of Research in Nursing ,
118-128.
Swanwick, T., & Mckimm, J. (2011). ABC of Clinical Leadership. Blackwell Publishing limited.
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