Essay on Leadership and Management for Health and Social Care

This essay delves into the critical aspects of leadership and management within the health and social care sector. It begins by exploring various leadership theories, including the Great Man Theory, Trait Theory, Behavioral Theory, Contingency Theory, Transactional Theory, and Transformational Leadership. The essay then examines the challenges faced by leaders and managers in healthcare, drawing on case studies and highlighting issues related to human resources, organizational structures, and socioeconomic factors. It further analyzes the significance of motivational theories, differentiating between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and exploring how factors such as recognition, financial incentives, and workplace environment impact employee performance. Performance management is discussed, including key metrics like customer satisfaction, project losses, lead time, absenteeism, and chargeability rates. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of well-organized management and its role in enhancing brand value, patient satisfaction, and employee adherence within the health and social care system, highlighting the need for ongoing development in leadership and management skills.

Running Head: ESSAY 0
Leadership and Management for Health and Social Care
Essay

ESSAY 1
Efficient management plays a vital role in the growth and progress of the company as it
works as the backbone. Well-organized management and leadership qualities are major
factors that are being looked in a manager which can take any organization or business to
great heights of success. Management and leadership qualities are required to create healthy
and honest relationship with clients and customers of the organization. Managers strive to
bring out best and serve the customers with the best of what the company or organization can
offer by balancing the market competition, finances, and available resources.1 It is been stated
by the social psychologist, Kurt Lewin that there can be nothing so practical than a good
theory.2 Hence, to justify this there are several theories which give a more applied approach
to leadership qualities and personalities. Parallelly, leadership challenges in health and social
sector is discussed. Further, analyzing the relevance of motivational theories and its impact
on performance and management of the health and social care organization.
Majorly, there are five types of leadership theories on which the fundamentals and basics of
the management and leadership learnings and practices revolve. These theories qualify and
gives the platform as to provide justifications for the arguments.
The Great Man Theory3 evolved near around 1840 and was proposed by Thomas Carlyle who
was a teacher and a writer too. The theory states that the great leaders are born with
leadership qualities and the leadership quality is completely intrinsic which means that the
person is born with leadership qualities rather than acquiring them later in their life. It
believes that an individual during their life, simply furnishes and exposes their leadership
trait.
The Trait Theory4 was proposed between 1930 to 1940. This theory believed that anyone
with specific qualities such as adherence, intelligence and responsible behavior can become
upright and good leader and can manage the system efficiently. This theory focused on
learning the characteristics of leaders that are physical traits as well as psychological traits
and are common among all the leaders.
1 Operations Manual for Staff at Primary Health care Centres, "Leadership And Managment," in Operations
Manual For Staff At Primary Health Care Centres, 2020.
2 L. C. Craig, "Is there really nothing so practical as a good Theory?" Business Horizons (2004).
3 J. B. Miner, Organizational Behavior: Foundations, Theories, and Analyses, Oxford University Press, 2002.
4 ibid

ESSAY 2
The Behavioral Theory5 was presented between 1940-1950 and it focuses exclusively on the
behavior of the leaders. The behavioral theory states that the leaders are made with their
efforts and reflected out due to circumstances or when they are required to lead a group or
team during their career or professional life. Further, this theory is divided into two categories
based on the type of attribute focused by the leaders i.e. if they are focused on either task or
the people around them.
The Contingency Theory6 was introduced around 1960, and it argues about the fact that the
screening of leadership quality within an individual should not be checked only through a
single parameter or situation as there are several kinds of people who work at their maximum
potential in a specific domain and gets dull in weaker domain. It is also believed under this
theory that a person expresses their leadership traits and qualities only when they feel that
they followed by others.
The Transactional Theory7 was proposed around 1970, It is also called as exchange theory of
leadership as it proposes the idea of the exchange of ideas, thoughts and hence, results in
mutually benefitted relation between the leader and the follower while synchronizing their
individual goals as in case of doctors and nurses, stakeholders and social care workers.
The Transformational leadership8 Theory was also proposed around 1970 or late 20th century
and it involves the budding of trust and empathetic between leader and their followers. The
charismatic and influencing personality of the leaders helps to achieve trust and appreciation
from their followers and building a stronger relationship.
Effective leadership is an important aspect in healthcare and involves various responsibilities
and duties. Following this there are several kinds of challenges that are faced by leaders and
mangers in the health and social care sector or system. In reference to the case study carried
out at Iranian hospitals we can present these reported challenges. For the better understanding
and handling of these challenges they are diversified on the basis of their appearance such as
human resource related, organization related, work nature related, and leaders related
challenges. The study shows that socioeconomic, political, gender-biasness are other
challenges that the leaders face9. The operational and structural factors along with the
5 ibid
6 ibid
7 ibid
8 ibid
9 M. Ghiasipour, A. M. Mosadeghrad, M. Arab and E. Jaafaripooyan, "Leadership challenges in health care
organizations: The case of Iranian hospitals," Medical Journal of The Islamic Republic of Iran, 2017

ESSAY 3
shortage in resources, lack of proper training and support from the leaders are important
factors which affects their leadership qualities to significant extent.10
A survey revealed that achievement is considered as the strongest motivating factor.11 Then, it
is followed by the renumeration, coworkers, and other workplace related factors which can
influence the motivation within an individual. Competition and motivation among the
employee should be in a healthy and harmless manner. Motivation plays a vital role in
healthcare system or any other organization. It motivates the employee to improve their work
quality and to meet their goals and targets proficiently. Theory of motivation is divided into
two subtypes for those who works intrinsically and those who works extrinsically. High
motivational drive is essential as less or no motivation can come over as hurdle in utilization
of resources, extraction of knowledge and learning which would certainly results in
weakening of the performance of the sector.12
Psychological studies show that there are different theories that studies human mind and
extracts the factors that motivates the person to achieve a goal. There are theories which are
based on needs such as, Alderfer’s, Herzberg's and McClelland's theory. Similarly, there are
theories which are based on the thought and mind process such as Adam's, Vroom's and lastly
Locke's theory. Healthcare sector requires effort and is labor-oriented, and focuses majorly
on the quality of product or service over quantity of the same. Another study states that it is
very important for people or employee to follow their leaders and to support their opinions
and decisions as it helps in avoiding and resolving conflicts among themselves at
workplace.13
Motivation is defined as the willingness that make the individual to strive for success and to
achieve goals. A survey was conducted in South Africa, which explored the various factors
and reasons that affected the motivation of person to meet their organizational goals. The
study resulted in the findings that the major motivating factor among the supervisors who
already had a past experience of working as unpaid health workers for the community.
Thereafter, they were promoted as a supervisor which involved managing the supply of the
10 C. F. Dye and A. N. Garman, Exceptional Leadership 16 Critical Competencies for Helathcare Executives,
HealthAdminastationPress, 2006.
11 P. Lambrou, N. Kontodimopoulos and D. Niakas, "Motivation and job satisfaction among medical and
nursing staff in a Cyprus public general hospital," Human Resources for Health, 2010.
12 S. Ardestani , S. Asiabar and A. Ebadifard , "The relationship between hospital managers' leadership style and
effectiveness with passing managerial training courses," Medical Journal of The Islamic Republic of Iran, 2016.
13 D. Reyes, B. Bekemeier and L. Issel, "Challenges faced by public health nursing leaders in hyperturbulent
times.," Public Health Nursing (Boston), 2014.

ESSAY 4
resources, training and recording the work of community health workers. They were best for
the study and analysis since they have raised to the supervisorial level with firm
determination and hard work and involved majorly female workers.
Findings demonstrates that at the community level, the supervisors were motivated majorly
by the non-monetary factors such as appreciation from the workers, incentives in form of
promotion to senior level, learning work related management skills. While at the
organizational level, the motivating factor involves promotion to supervisory level,
participation in creating the target capacity as well as advanced opportunities in the
educational domain. While job security, work related stress, material and logistic issue, poor
management are several factors which employee find as demotivating factor and make them
feel burdened and sometimes the thoughts of quitting the job. However, low salary or
renumeration is not a dissatisfying factor, which is generally thought to be the one.14
Another survey conducted in hospitals of Ethiopia stated that the motivating factor for health
professional in the hospital or health care sector includes location of the hospital, finance
related benefits, performance-based incentives or appreciation from the seniors are the major
motivating factors in Ethiopian health care professionals.
Factors such as incentives, work place interest, monthly allowances gave a significant score
on the bivariate analysis. Health professionals who are enjoying financial benefits every
month are at high motivation compared to the ones who are not deprived of such aids. It is
also revealed that there is no direct relation of level of motivation with sociodemographic
attributes such as age, marital status, race, ethnicity and religion. Apart from this, it is stated
that the motivation level among the health professionals varies from hospital to hospital
within the same state or city.15
In recent times, many organizations have started applying concept of performance
management into their system to improve the productivity and to meet the goals efficiently
and same goes for health care. Performance management focuses on both financial as well as
non-financial organizational goals and targets. Based on the study, researchers observed that
there are majorly five factors that represents the performance of the system such as project
14 O. Akintola and G. Chikoko, "Factors influencing motivation and job satisfaction among supervisors of
community health workers in marginalized communities in South Africa," Human Resources for Health, 06 09
2016.
15 T. Dagne, W. Beyene and N. Berhanu, "Motivation and Factors Affecting It among Health Professionals in
the Public Hospitals, Central Ethiopia," Ethiopian Journal of Health Science, 07 2015.

ESSAY 5
losses, satisfaction of the customer, lead time, nonattendance of the employees and
chargeability rate. Absenteeism or nonattendance of the employee proportion in the specific
time period, highly affects the performance. The percentage should be lower to gain
profitable results. Lead time is the graphical plot of the non-delayed finalized projects versus
total projects. When the calculated percentage is taken into account, it is directly proportional
with the productivity which means higher the percentage, higher the productivity.
Chargeability is defined as the charges paid by the customers for the employees’ working
hour versus the total employee working hours available. The percentage should be higher to
gain the profit as it is directly proportional with the profit. Customer satisfaction is the score
that the customer marks the company on. Project loss means finalized project numbers that
are flooded out of the budget versus total finalized project. The percentage should be lower to
gain large benefits.16 These factors in health and social care sector applies in several cases as
well for instance, while reaching the patient target in palliative care, fast and early diagnosis
of disease using tests.
Performance management consists of major three steps which includes first step to be the
planning and development of the performances to create a clear and distinct idea of the plot.
Second step focuses on management and review of the performances and finally third step
ensures reward of performances. There are several measures that must be taken up by the
organization for easy flow of performance management such as appraisals and pay for
effective performance which highly motivates the employee to achieve better targets day by
day, as it makes them work willfully rather than with the feeling of burden.
The performance management plan must be according to the culture of organization and
should not become a hurdle in its growth. The role of well-organized and resourceful
management is crucial as they help in raising the performance rate. They also help in
regulating the work place related intrinsic crisis which deteriorated the performance growth
of the organization. Well managed performance of the company increases its brand value and
reputation in the market domain and helps in achieving the patients’ satisfaction. Apart from
this, being consistent with the work flow while providing the service or the product is really
important. Effective performance management helps in restoring and maintaining adherence
of employee such as nurses and housekeeping with the organization and it directly
16 A. d. Waal, R. Goedegebuure and P. Geradts, "The impact of performance management on the reults of non-
profit organization," Emerald Insight, 03 2011.

ESSAY 6
encourages them to work hard with a sense of morality and honesty. Hence, managing the
performance of organization and employees as a whole is significant and essential.17
Managing and leading the healthcare or social sector is a responsible task and should be
effectively managed for the better functioning of the system. These days business-oriented
management skills are being taught to the students in colleges and universities. Their
curriculum is designed in such a way that makes them practically updated and skillful before
entering into the corporate market. It includes financial planning, human resource
management, strategizing the business goals, marketing the product to meet the expected
target and to extend the business ventures, operational and supply chain management, which
enhances hospital’s functioning better than before. It helps in striking the targeted goal and
hence make the organization trustworthy and legitimate in the corporate market. Moreover, it
encourages the employee to work hard towards achieving their target and in turn will help the
organization as whole to beat the market competition and flourish with the success.
17 M. Vainieri, F. Ferre, G. Giacomelli and S. Nuti, "Explaining performance in health care: How and when top
management competencies make the difference," Healthcare Management Review, vol. 44, 10 12 2019.

ESSAY 7
Reference List
Akintola O. and Chikoko G., "Factors influencing motivation and job satisfaction among
supervisors of community health workers in marginalized communities in South Africa,"
Human Resources for Health, 06 09 2016.
Ardestani S., Asiabar S. and Ebadifard A. , "The relationship between hospital managers'
leadership style and effectiveness with passing managerial training courses," Medical
Journal of The Islamic Republic of Iran, 2016
Craig L. C., "Is there really nothing so practical as a good Theory?" Business Horizons
(2004).
Dagne T., Beyene W. and Berhanu N., "Motivation and Factors Affecting It among Health
Professionals in the Public Hospitals, Central Ethiopia," Ethiopian Journal of Health
Science, 07 2015.
Dye C. F. and Garman A. N., Exceptional Leadership 16 Critical Competencies for
Helathcare Executives, HealthAdminastationPress, 2006.
Ghiasipour M., Mosadeghrad A. M., Arab M. and Jaafaripooyan E., "Leadership challenges
in health care organizations: The case of Iranian hospitals," Medical Journal of The Islamic
Republic of Iran, 2017
Lambrou P., Kontodimopoulos N. and Niakas D., "Motivation and job satisfaction among
medical and nursing staff in a Cyprus public general hospital," Human Resources for Health,
2010.
Leadership-central.com, "Leadership-central.com," 2010. [Online].
Miner J. B., Organizational Behavior: Foundations, Theories, and Analyses, Oxford
University Press, 2002.
Operations Manual for Staff at Primary Health care Centres, "Leadership And Managment,"
in Operations Manual For Staff At Primary Health Care Centres, 2020.
Reyes D., Bekemeier B. and Issel L., "Challenges faced by public health nursing leaders in
hyperturbulent times.," Public Health Nursing (Boston), 2014.
Vainieri M., Ferre F., Giacomelli G. and Nuti S., "Explaining performance in health care:
How and when top management competencies make the difference," Healthcare Management
Review, vol. 44, 10 12 2019.
Waal A. d., Goedegebuure R. and Geradts P., "The impact of performance management on
the reults of non-profit organization," Emerald Insight, 03 2011.

ESSAY 8

ESSAY 9