Leadership in Healthcare: Theories, Models, and Application

This essay examines leadership as a theory within the healthcare context, emphasizing its importance for effective management. It explores various leadership theories, including the Great Man theory and behavioral leadership styles such as democratic, authoritarian, and laissez-faire. The essay highlights the challenges of applying leadership theories developed for business settings to healthcare, providing examples like transactional leadership in managing hospital acquired infections. It also discusses leadership models, differentiating between public, private, and personal leadership levels, and their application in daily practice. The essay emphasizes the significance of linking theoretical elements to practical leadership principles, such as technical proficiency and accountability, to guide healthcare organizations toward improvement. References from the textbook and additional articles support the analysis.