Exploring Leadership Theories in Nursing Practice: A Review

This presentation delves into various leadership theories applicable to the field of nursing, focusing on the importance of leadership skills for nurses and healthcare professionals. It begins by highlighting the target audience, nursing students, and the dynamic nature of their roles, emphasizing the need for effective leadership. The presentation then introduces key leadership theories, including the Great Man Theory, Trait Theory, Contingency Theory, Situational Theory, and Behavioral Theory, explaining their relevance in different challenging situations within the nursing profession. The presentation defines leadership and discusses its significance in nursing, including the need for decision-making, resource allocation, and strategic planning. It provides detailed explanations of the Great Man Theory, Trait Theory, and Contingency Theory, illustrating their practical applications in nursing through examples of influential leaders like Florence Nightingale and Dr. Atul Gawande. The presentation concludes by emphasizing the critical role of leadership in nursing and summarizing the discussed theories, highlighting their importance for continuing professional development and effective healthcare delivery. References from various leadership and nursing management sources are included to support the content.

Running Head: LEADERSHIP IN NURSING
LEADERSHIP IN NURSING
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Slide-2: Details about target audience
The presentation is concerned about the development of the leadership skills among the
graduates of nursing courses, during the process of continuing professional development
(CPD). Hence the target audience for this power point presentation is the students pursuing the
course of nursing.
This is because, the job role of a nurse is dynamic and decision making as well as
management of a team is required at each step. Hence, nursing professional should learn
effective leadership through the process for continuation of professional development
The process for continuation of professional development encompasses experiences as
well as activities that make a substantial contribution to the overall development of the
healthcare and nursing professionals. The nurses as well as the midwives in Hashemite Kingdom
of Jordan, have to undergo this process for continuing professional development, so that they are
able to understand the needs as well as the importance of the profession with respect to the area
or region or healthcare sector, in which they are recruited.
Slide-3: Introduction of the key leadership theories
The purpose of this power point presentation is to discuss key leadership theories which
are-” Great Man Theory”, “Trait theory”, “Contingency Theory”, “Situational theory”,
“Behavioral Theory”. All these theories elaborate and emphasize on different attributes of a
leader (Hutchinson and Jackson 2013).

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In case of a dynamic profession like nursing the professionals may face several
challenging situations. Those challenging situation may consist of varieties of leadership issues
which will not be solved by applying one specific leadership theory or style. Hence, every
nursing professional should have the knowledge about varieties of leadership theories (Fischer
2016).
Further all the leadership theories are related to the importance of leadership in the fields
of nursing. Nursing is a field, in which, decision making is a vital thing, because, this profession
deals with the life of several patients. This is the reason why leadership skills are more essential
for healthcare professionals a sell as nurses, as compared to other profession. Another reason
why leadership is very important in the profession of nursing is, there are several spheres in
which the appropriate distribution of the work among healthcare profession, will be required for
the purpose of time management (Huber 2013).
Slide-4: leadership
The term ‘leadership’ refers to the ability of a person to influence as well as guide the
subordinates. An ideal leadership demands for prudent decision making, effective allocation of
resources, appropriate distribution of work among the subordinates within an organization. A
leader should also have the capability of strategic planning (Park 2015).

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Since a few decades, in the past, the role of a nurse has been transformed from the
assistant of a doctor, to the indispensable part of the team that saves the lives of several patients.
Hence, nursing has become field, in which decision making is a vital thing, because, this
profession deals with the life of several patients. This is the reason why leadership skills are
more essential for healthcare professionals a sell as nurses, as compared to other profession.
Another reason why leadership is very important in the profession of nursing is, there are several
spheres in which the appropriate distribution of the work among healthcare profession, will be
required for then purpose of time management (Makaroff, et al., 2014).
Slide-5: The Great Man Theory:
The Great Man Theory states that there are certain people who possess all the essential
attributes of a manager as well as leader of a manager as well as leader, by birth. According to
the assumption of Great Man Theory, the leaders are supposed to born with all the qualities
necessary for leading. This includes the inherited traits or the essential attributes of leadership.
For instance, these traits includes–intellect, confidence, charisma, skills to communicate
effectively and other skills like manage, convince lead as well as motivate subordinates.
According some experts these traits also involve the following qualities: power of decision
making, strategic management, and power to communicate effectively, determination to achieve
individual as well as the organizational goals and objectives (Porter-O'Grady and Malloch 2015).
In case of healthcare profession like nursing this theory will be relevant, this is because
all the patients consider that the nurses as well as other healthcare professionals possess the traits
or qualities to be a healthcare professional from the beginning of their career, this is the reason,

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the patients tend to trust and depend on healthcare professionals like doctors and nurses. This is
the reason why “ Great Man Theory” is relevant with the profession of nursing (Wong
Cummings and Ducharme 2013).
Slide: 6 Trait Theories
Trait theory focuses on different perspectives of the personalities of the leaders. In case
of the traits theory, the traits are basically distinct aspects of the personalities of the leaders. The
assumption of this leadership is same with that of “ Great Man theory”. In other words,
according to the assumption of this theory, the leaders are supposed to born with all the traits or
qualities necessary for leading. Trait theory states that there are certain people who possess all
the essential attributes of a manager as well as leader of a manager as well as leader, by birth.
These includes the inherited traits or the essential attributes of leadership. For instance, these
traits includes–intellect, confidence, charisma, skills to communicate effectively (Shapira‐
Lishchinsky O.R.L.Y 2014).
In case of healthcare profession like nursing this theory will be relevant as the healthcare
professionals like nurses have to play different roles, which can be related with the different
aspects of the personalities of a leader, for example, the a head nurse has to play the role of a
leader and lead the team, simultaneously she needs to be empathetic and careful to the patients
like a mother. Hence, the distinct aspects of the personalities of a leaders is reveled in the
[profession of nursing. Hence, Trait theory is completely relevant in this field (Grossman and
Valiga 2016).
Slide: 7 Contingency Theories:

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Contingency theory States that, there is a positive relationship between determination of
leadership and context. In other words, contingency theory states that, no one can claim that
there is a particular way to lead or organize a corporation. No one can claim any specific style of
leadership to be most effective, in handling all kinds of management problems. Instead this
theory emphasizes on adopting as well as selecting leadership style or theories depending on the
contexts of the management or leadership issues. For example, in case of leadership problem
related to the management of organizational change, an organization may find transformational
leadership effective; where as in case of issues related to crisis management, the situational
leadership theory may appear effective in front of an organization (Scully 2015).
In case of healthcare profession like nursing there may arise various critical situation, in
which sometimes emphasis will be on the management of the time, sometimes decision making
may appear more important. Hence, a healthcare profession should adopt and apply various
leadership traits or styles depending on the requirements of a particular situation. Hence, the
contingency theory is completely relevant for nursing professionals (Finkelman 2017).
Slide: 8 Famous international leaders of different Era
From the example of leadership of Florence Nightingale, it can be said that, case of
healthcare profession like nursing Great man Theory will be relevant, this is because all the
patients consider that the nurses as well as other healthcare professionals possess the traits or
qualities to be a healthcare professional from the beginning of their career, this is the reason, the
patients tend to trust and depend on healthcare professionals like doctors and nurses.

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From the example of leadership of Dr. Atul Gawande, it can be said that,
in case of healthcare profession like nursing trait theory will be relevant as the healthcare
professionals like nurses have to play different roles, which can be related with the different
aspects of the personalities of a leader, for example, the a head nurse has to play the role of a
leader and lead the team, simultaneously she needs to be empathetic and careful to the patients
like a mother. Hence, the distinct aspects of the personalities of a leaders is reveled in the
[profession of nursing. Hence, Trait theory is completely relevant with this field (Démeh and
Rosengren 2015).
From the example of leadership of Joe Biden, it can be said that, contingency theory is
also relevant in healthcare profession like nursing there may arise various critical situation, in
which sometimes emphasis will be on the management of the time, sometimes decision making
may appear more important. Hence, a healthcare profession should adopt and apply various
leadership traits or styles depending on the requirements of a particular situation. Hence, the
contingency theory is completely relevant for nursing professional
Slide: 9 Relationship with key Leadership theories
Relationship with “Great man Theory”, “Trait Theory”- Florence Nightingale, new
leaders such as Dr. Atul Gawande, Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, Joe Biden were the born
leaders.

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Relationship with Situational as well as Contingency theory:
When a profession is dynamic like nursing, the professionals may encounter several
challenging which may consist of varieties of leadership issues. Not all kinds of issues will be
possible to solve with the application of a specific leadership theory or style. Hence, every
nursing professional should be able to determine their own leadership style on the basis of on the
situations encountered by them. contingency theory states that, no one can claim that there is a
particular way to lead or organize a corporation. No one can claim any specific style of
leadership to be most effective, in handling all kinds of management problems. Instead this
theory emphasizes on adopting as well as selecting leadership style or theories depending on the
contexts of the management or leadership issues (Finkelman 2017).
The leadership of Florence Nightingale, new leaders such as Dr. Atul Gawande, Bill and
Melinda Gates foundation, Joe Biden can be related to “Great man Theory”, “ Trait Theory”, as
they possess the traits of an ideal leaders since the beginning. They determine their own
leadership style depending on the situations they face (Démeh and Rosengren 2015).
.
Slide: 10 Conclusion:
In the conclusion, it can be said that, nursing has become field, in which decision making
is a vital thing, because, this profession deals with the life of several patients. This is the reason
why leadership skills are more essential for healthcare professionals a sell as nurses, as compared

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to other profession. Effective leadership in the fields of nursing can be observed in the leadership
of Florence Nightingale, new leaders such as Dr. Atul Gawande, Bill and Melinda Gates
foundation, Joe Biden. Their leadership styles can be related to the “Great man Theory”, “Trait
Theory” and also, “Contingency theory” of leadership. This is because; they possess the traits of
ideal leaders since the beginning. Again, they had determined their own leadership style
depending on the situations they had faced. Hence, “Great man Theory”, “Trait Theory” and
also, “Contingency theory” of leadership, can be considered as the three key leadership theories
that are appropriate in the profession of nursing.

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References
Démeh, W. and Rosengren, K., 2015. The visualisation of clinical leadership in the content of
nursing education—a qualitative study of nursing students' experiences. Nurse education
today, 35(7), pp.888-893.
Finkelman, A., 2017. Professional nursing concepts: Competencies for quality leadership.
Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Fischer, S.A., 2016. Transformational leadership in nursing: a concept analysis. Journal of
Advanced Nursing, 72(11), pp.2644-2653.
Grossman, S. and Valiga, T.M., 2016. The new leadership challenge: Creating the future of
nursing. FA Davis.
Huber, D., 2013. Leadership and nursing care management. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Hutchinson, M. and Jackson, D., 2013. Transformational leadership in nursing: towards a
Makaroff, K.S., Storch, J., Pauly, B. and Newton, L., 2014. Searching for ethical leadership
in nursing. Nursing ethics, 21(6), pp.642-658.
of Advanced Nursing, 72(11), pp.2644-2653.
Park, H.J., 2015. Correlations among nursing professionalism, critical thinking disposition
and self-leadership in nursing students. J Korean Acad Soc Nurs Educ, 21(2), p.227.

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Porter-O'Grady, T. and Malloch, K., 2015. Leadership in nursing practice. Jones & Bartlett
Publishers.
Scully, N.J., 2015. Leadership in nursing: The importance of recognising inherent values and
attributes to secure a positive future for the profession. Collegian, 22(4), pp.439-444.
Shapira‐Lishchinsky, O.R.L.Y., 2014. Simulations in nursing practice: toward authentic
leadership. Journal of Nursing Management, 22(1), pp.60-69.
Wong, C.A., Cummings, G.G. and Ducharme, L., 2013. The relationship between nursing
leadership and patient outcomes: a systematic review update. Journal of nursing
management, 21(5), pp.709-724.