NURS FPX 5007 Assessment 1 Leadership Styles Application

Name

Capella University

NURS-FPX 5007 Leadership for Nursing Practice

Prof. Name

Date

Leadership Styles Application

The role of leadership is complex and often depends on varying circumstances. In the healthcare sector, leaders play a crucial role in improving care quality, which directly affects patient outcomes. Effective leadership is necessary for managing organizational processes, ensuring employee satisfaction, promoting information sharing, and enhancing clinical outcomes. Furthermore, leaders help in cultivating strong and positive organizational cultures. Leadership roles also require guiding and refocusing employees to maintain a productive and safe workplace environment. Healthcare recognizes several leadership styles, and making informed decisions and planning for potential challenges is essential (Cummings et al., 2021).

Case Study

In examining a workplace challenge, we consider the case of Marty, an African American healthcare worker with over six years of experience in rehabilitation care at a university healthcare facility. Marty works independently, providing care to patients across various hospitals. Additionally, she has been employed in an office role for over two years, typically working weekdays. Three years ago, Marty’s mother was diagnosed with dementia, and Marty has since become her primary caregiver. She assists her mother during her off-time, creating work-related challenges.

Marty’s performance has been negatively affected by her caregiving responsibilities. She has been consistently arriving late to work and leaving early for over a year. This pattern has led to frustration among her colleagues. When confronted, Marty disclosed that she has a sleep disorder known as apnea but refuses to use a CPAP machine.

Nursing professionals have expressed concerns, accusing Marty of neglecting her responsibilities and using her mother’s illness as an excuse for early departures. Marty has also taken extended leaves for reasons such as mourning the loss of a sibling and recovering from chronic back pain. Colleagues and staff have reported her behavior to her supervisor, suggesting the need for additional staffing to compensate for her lack of participation. Although Marty is currently on Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), her supervisor is aware of the situation but has taken no action (Cummings et al., 2021).

Relevant Leadership Styles and Practices

Three significant leadership styles applicable to this scenario are democratic, transactional, and transformational leadership. Transformational leadership involves inspiring change, fostering trust, encouraging creativity, and empowering team members. This style leads to improved team performance, psychological empowerment, and increased motivation while reducing burnout, which boosts productivity. Leaders using this approach can assess team members’ strengths and assign tasks based on these strengths to reduce social loafing (Robbins & Davidhizar, 2020).

Transactional leadership focuses on routine tasks, short-term goals, rewards, and intervention when necessary. It sets clear objectives and responsibilities, making it suitable for healthcare environments. Combining transactional leadership with transformational leadership can result in improved care delivery, clinical skills, and better task management (Richards, 2020).

Democratic leadership emphasizes inclusive decision-making, valuing employee input, and fostering teamwork. It empowers employees in policy formation and implementation, boosting self-esteem and optimism, which can improve productivity (Oliveira et al., 2020).

Leadership Style Applicable in the Case Study

Given Marty’s situation and her underperformance, a transformational leadership style is most appropriate for her supervisor and colleagues. The supervisor should adopt this leadership style to address the issues affecting the workplace. Despite Marty’s FMLA status, which entitles her to a maximum of 12 weeks of annual leave, she has exceeded this limit due to her medical condition and caregiving responsibilities. This situation has caused distress among her coworkers. Implementing a transformational leadership approach can highlight the workplace issues and help Marty recognize her violations, such as excessive time off, naps during work hours, and frequent lateness or early departures.

The manager must motivate the team, address concerns, and take action to rebuild trust. Addressing these concerns is critical, as Marty’s colleagues’ complaints have been ignored for a long time, allowing her to disregard workplace rules. Through transformational leadership, Marty can receive guidance on her job responsibilities, while open communication might encourage her to adhere to workplace rules.

Introducing this leadership approach can foster a positive workplace environment where employees feel heard and their concerns addressed. However, due to prolonged inaction regarding Marty’s behavior, initially inspiring employee loyalty may be challenging. A reward system with clear goals could change the office culture, motivate performance, and encourage Marty to reduce absences and adhere to her schedule. This incentive program could benefit all employees by promoting exceptional performance and offering additional leave days over a set period (Richards, 2020).

Positive and Negative Implications

The benefits of implementing this leadership approach include recognizing and rewarding extra effort, promoting a healthy work culture, and enhancing employees’ knowledge and experience. However, transactional leadership could cause occupational stress, requiring employees to exceed expectations for rewards. Marty may not respond well to this approach, leading to further dissatisfaction among her colleagues (Nawaz & Khan, 2020).

A democratic leadership style may also be suitable, as it allows employees to express concerns about Marty’s punctuality and work attitude. By engaging in decision-making, Marty may reconnect with her job, regain a sense of purpose, and improve her productivity. Democratic leadership enhances job satisfaction and employee engagement, ensuring that all employees’ needs are met (Oliveira et al., 2020).

Introducing democratic leadership may strengthen relationships among Marty, her colleagues, and her supervisor, improving employee engagement and fostering effective collaboration. However, the downside is that this leadership style requires time and patience to engage employees and gather input, which may be challenging in a busy healthcare setting (Holmgren et al., 2019).

References

Cummings, G. G., Lee, S., Tate, K., Penconek, T., Micaroni, S. P., Paananen, T., & Chatterjee, G. E. (2021). The essentials of nursing leadership: A systematic review of factors and educational interventions influencing nursing leadership. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 115, 103842. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2020.103842

Holmgren, J., Paillard‐Borg, S., Saaristo, P., & von Strauss, E. (2019). Nurses’ experiences of health concerns, teamwork, leadership, and knowledge transfer during an Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Nursing Open, 6(3), 824-833. https://doi.org/10.1002/nop2.258

Nawaz, S., & Khan, I. U. (2020). The leadership styles and occupational stress: The mediating role of emotional intelligence. Academic Journal of Social Sciences (AJSS), 4(4), 906-917. https://doi.org/10.54692/ajss.2020.04041198

Oliveira, C. D., Santos, L. C. D., Andrade, J. D., Domingos, T. D. S., & Spiri, W. C. (2020). Leadership in the perspective of family health strategy nurses. Revista Gaucha De Enfermagem, 41. https://doi.org/10.7748/nr.13.4.93.s13

NURS FPX 5007 Assessment 1 Leadership Styles Application

Richards, A. (2020). Exploring the benefits and limitations of transactional leadership in healthcare. Nursing Standard, 35(12), 46-50. https://doi.org/10.7748/ns.2020.e11593

Robbins, B., & Davidhizar, R. (2020). Transformational leadership in health care today. The Health Care Manager, 39(3), 117-121. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.hcm.0000285014.26397.e7