Leadership Theories in Practice Assignment Discussion Paper
Review the leadership theories located in the Theory Box on pages 40-48 and Gardner’s Tasks of Leading/Managing Table 1-1 on pages 49-50 in Leading and Managing in Nursing.
Complete the table below:
- Summarize the main points of the theory in your own words in the Summary Definition column.
- Provide an example where you witnessed the theory in practice or suggest a situation where it could be applicable in the Practice Example column. Do not restate the Application to Practice column in the textbook; provide a unique example or suggest a possible scenario.
- Correlate at least one of Gardner’s task to the theory and practice examples in the last column Leadership Theories in Practice Assignment Discussion Paper.
Use at least five in-text citations in the table to support your summaries, practice examples, or application of Gardner’s Tasks. In the References section below the table, create an APA-formatted list to cite each resource.
ORDER YOUR PAPER HERE
| Theory Name | Summary Definition | Practice Example | Application of Gardner’s Tasks |
| Trait Theories | They are based on the innate characteristics of an individual as a leader, advancing that a leader must have these innate characteristics in order to successfully lead others. Examples of the innate leadership characteristics are friendly, caring and sense of humor (Yoder-Wise, Waddell & Walton, 2020). | Applied in nursing practice when a nurse has innate characteristics that facilitate nursing roles, such as compassion being applied in caring for patients. In having and applying compassion the nurse is able to identify and understand the care needs of the patient, and meet them to improve the patient health outcomes (Yoder-Wise, Waddell & Walton, 2020). | Affirming values – this is important for ensuring that nurses have the personal values to effectively complete their professional tasks and responsibilities (Yoder-Wise, 2019). |
| Style Theories | They explain that individuals have their own unique way of learning such that a leader is not born successful, but is created based on learnable behavior. Also, they focus on the actions of an effective leader rather than the behavioral traits of an effective leader. They look at what individuals can do to maintain good relationships within an environment. It denotes that a leader presents positive behaviors in order to build effective relationships with others (Yoder-Wise, Waddell & Walton, 2020). | Applied in nursing practice it has the leader on what the team needs to do in order to achieve its goals. This includes clarifying objectives for a shift, setting deadlines, effective delegation, reward systems, encouraging communication, mentoring and coaching members to optimize performance, actively listening and effectively solving problems, closely observing the progress of members, and encouraging communication (Yoder-Wise, Waddell & Walton, 2020). | Envisioning goals – presenting goals that nurses and patients can pursue in the care environment.
Managing – ensuring the nurses and patients follow established protocols in care delivery. Explaining – teaching and explaining information to promote the functioning of nurses and patients. Renewing – providing self-care information that maximizes the ability of the nurses and patients function (Yoder-Wise, 2019). |
| Situational-Contingency Theories | They recognize that leadership applies different behaviors and approaches based on the setting. An effective/successful leader must alter the leadership tactics to fit the setting (Yoder-Wise, Waddell & Walton, 2020)Leadership Theories in Practice Assignment Discussion Paper. | Applied in nursing practice, it has the leader being dominant when in boardroom discussion to get benefits for nurses, and being understanding in the unit/department when a nurse asks for a shift change because of a personal emergency. This allows the leader to adapt to the situation being faced and matching the right situation (Yoder-Wise, Waddell & Walton, 2020). | Envisioning goals – looking at each situation as unique and envisioning unique goals for that situation.
Motivating – looking at each nurse and patient as a unique individual who requires unique motivations. Managing – matching the established management approaches with individual nurses and patients. Explaining – teaching and interpreting the unique information in the situation to promote nurses and patient wellbeing and functioning (Yoder-Wise, 2019). |
| Transformational Theories | They involve the leader working with followers and team beyond the immediate self-interest to identify the need for change, create a vision for change and guide change through inspiration and influence while executing the change in tandem with the other team members (Murray, 2022).
ORDER YOUR PAPER HERE |
Applied in nursing practice, it has the leader inspiring nurses to have high morale even as they are overworked. This includes recognizing special events, rewarding nurses for hard work, listening to the nurses, and keeping an open dialogue (Murray, 2022)Leadership Theories in Practice Assignment Discussion Paper. | Envisioning goals – leader envisions goals that nurse and patients pursue.
Affirming values – leading by example to appreciate how personal values are matched with care. Motivating – relating to and inspiring nurses to provide the best care. Achieving workable unity – creating conditions that allow nurses to work together in synergy. Developing trust – maintaining open communication lines. Explaining – teaching and interpreting information to promote nurses’ functioning and wellbeing. Serving as a symbol, and representing the group– represent the nursing profession before stakeholders (Yoder-Wise, 2019). |
| Hierarchy of Needs | They apply Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to identify five categories of human needs that dictate the appropriate leadership behavior. The leader identifies the human needs of the followers then meets them (Murray, 2022). | Applied in nursing practice, it has the leader engaging the nurses what they need to improve their performance. If the nurses feel overworked, then the leader can employ temporary nurses from a temp agency to reduce the work pressure. On the other hand, if the nurses feel threatened by patients coming to the facility, they the leader can apply appropriate security measures to ensure that nurses do not feel threatened (Murray, 2022). | Affirming values – needs are matched to values.
Motivating – identifying and meeting needs helps in motivating nurses. Renewing – providing self-care information that helps nurses (Yoder-Wise, 2019). |
| Two-Factor Theory | Also known as Herzberg’s theory, it explains that there are two sets of factors that act independently to influence satisfaction and motivation levels. One set of factors cause satisfaction while another set of factors cause dissatisfaction (Vana & Tazbir, 2021). | Applied in nursing practice, it helps to identify the nurses who are unhappy in their jobs and exhibit low performance and could be considering quitting from the organization. On the other hand, it has help to identify satisfied nurses who perform better, are content with their work and are content on continuing to work with the company. With this information, the nurse leader can implement programs to motivate the dissatisfied nurses (Vana & Tazbir, 2021)Leadership Theories in Practice Assignment Discussion Paper. | Envisioning goals – visioning factors and addressing that influence satisfaction levels.
Motivating – addressing the satisfaction and dissatisfaction factors (Yoder-Wise, 2019). |
| Expectancy Theory | It proposes that an individual acts or behaves in a certain way because of the expected results. If an individual expects that extra work will be rewarded, then that individual would do extra work in order to get the reward. On the other hand, if extra work is not rewarded, then the individual is unlikely to do the extra work (Smith, 2020). | Applied in nursing, it helps in managing overtime by offering additional remuneration/pay so that nurses are motivated to take on extra shifts while expecting additional pay. Another example is the reimbursement rules that reward care quality so that nurses are motivated to provide quality care in expectation for between reimbursed (Smith, 2020). | Motivating – using rewards as motivation to improve nurses’ performance (Yoder-Wise, 2019). |
| Organizational Behavior Modification | It is a technique for leaders to manage personnel/followers through focusing on improving measurable and observable work-related behaviors. It argues for the encouragement of desired behaviors and discouragement of undesired behaviors (Butts & Rich, 2022). | Applied in nursing, it can help to address nurse personnel tardiness, absence, and low quality of work. This would occur through identifying the undesirable behavior (tardiness, absence and low quality of work), measure and analyze the behavior, applying an intervention (such as corrective feedback and positive reinforcement), and evaluating the intervention to ascertain whether it is effective (Butts & Rich, 2022)Leadership Theories in Practice Assignment Discussion Paper. | Envisioning goals – determining which behaviors should be encouraged and which ones should be discouraged (Yoder-Wise, 2019). |
References
Butts, J. B., & Rich, K. (Eds.) (2022). Philosophies and Theories for Advanced Nursing Practice (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC.
Murray, E. (2022). Nursing Leadership and Management for Patient Safety and Quality Care (2nd ed.). F. A. Davis Company.
Smith, M. C. (2020). Nursing Theories and Nursing Practice (5th ed.). F. A. Davis Company.
Vana, P. K., & Tazbir, J. (Eds.) (2021). Kelly Vana’s Nursing Leadership and Management (4th ed.). John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Yoder-Wise, P. S. (2019). Leading and Managing in Nursing (7th ed.). Elsevier, Inc.
Yoder-Wise, P. S., Waddell, J., & Walton, N. (2020). Yoder-Wise’s Leading and Managing in Canadian Nursing (2nd ed.). Elsevier, Inc. Leadership Theories in Practice Assignment Discussion Paper
From Yoder-Wise, P. S. (2018). Leading and managing in nursing (7th ed.). Mosby.
p 40 – 50
Theory development in leading, managing, and following
Theory has several important functions for the nursing profession. First, theory can be used to guide how the nurse approaches a particular situation. Second, theory can be used to frame a research question and guide a research study. Third, theory directs and sharpens the ability to predict or guide clinical and organizational problem solving and outcomes. Because nursing is a practice discipline, it is possible to focus more effort on the doing rather than the theoretical perspective. However, having a theory-based approach can enhance performance and strengthen the value of the theory.
The theoretical basis for understanding leading, managing, and following originates from multiple disciplines. Early researchers in organizational science noted the differences in the ways some organizations operated. The focus was on traits of individual leaders rather than characteristics or functioning of the organization. Studies of individual leaders resulted in awareness that some individuals possessed traits that seemed to produce better organizational outcomes. Trait theory, developed from these studies, is still examined as a leadership factor today, even though it holds less influence than some other theories Leadership Theories in Practice Assignment Discussion Paper.
ORDER YOUR PAPER HERE
Closely tied to this appreciation of traits as one leadership ingredient were observations that a leader could be successful in one environment yet not necessarily in another. The situation at hand and the work environment itself were variables that mattered. Activities being performed were yet another variable that was studied. When the setting required reproducible and repetitive tasks, a charismatic leader may be less effective than in an unpredictable or unstructured situation where the tasks required on-the-spot innovation. Study of these variables advanced knowledge about leading, managing, and following and promoted the development of other theories. These include situational/contingency theory, which examines variables in the external and internal environment, including the nature of the work itself, worker behaviors (individual or group), the predictability or unpredictability of work, and the risk associated with work. Management theories, which address planning, organizing, directing, and controlling aspects of work design, were also included and sometimes were cited as leadership theories. These theories, originating from the mid-1950s, are still relevant today. They continue to evolve and often are combined with other theories to guide professionals into evidence-based organizational practices.
Terms such as leadership theory, transformational leadership, servant leadership, authentic leadership management theory, motivational theory, and even attempts at followership theories are interrelated and cannot be categorized in a mutually exclusive manner. The theories that leaders, managers, and followers use are drawn from yet another set of theories, some of which are addressed later in this book and include change, conflict, economic, clinical, individual and group interactions, communication, and social networking. The Theory Box on p. 9 is organized as an overview to highlight sets of theoretical works that are commonly referenced for the purpose of demonstrating the variety, approach, and constant evolution of theory development in organizational studies. The complex factors associated with clinical care and organizational functioning explain why no single theory fully addresses the totality of leading, managing, and following Leadership Theories in Practice Assignment Discussion Paper.
Using Complex Adaptive Science to Understand Health Care Today
Too often, theories are thought to have evolved from circumstances that do not reflect current practices and are too narrow in scope to be useful. Typically, theory development has been based on assumptions that by reducing something into its component parts, its functioning could be better understood. For example, departments of a healthcare organization, such as laboratory, pharmacy, and dietary, all have leaders and managers. Although they have both responsibility and authority within a department, very often a decision made within the department will have a complex ripple effect on the rest of the organization, and most commonly the nursing department is affected by each of those other departments.
Complexity theory is a nontraditional theory that has emerged over time from the works of physical and social sciences. Complex adaptive science can help us understand health care as it is delivered to patients and families, as well as healthcare systems in general.
Complexity science does not refer to the complexity of the decision to be made or to the work environment, but rather to examining how systems adapt and function—where co-creation of ideas and actions unfold in a nonprescriptive manner. Complexity theory can be used by those in leadership and management roles for understanding an organization as well as in planning and executing changes within an organization. Complexity science promotes the idea that the world is full of patterns that interact and adapt through relationships. These interactive patterns may be missed when one focuses solely on a single part. Complexity scientists pay keen attention to what naturally occurs as patterns in the universe and how these patterns create adaptive change rather than how people create planned or forced change. Stated in nursing terms, nurses care for individual patients who each present a unique challenge. With experience, nurses recognize that patterns of patient behaviors emerge and learn that certain nursing actions lead to effectively managing pain, engaging family members in end-of-life planning discussions and addressing a host of other issues. Most healthcare team members are very focused on problems and predictable solutions that appear to be linear in nature, which is described as technical work. However, if we look more deeply at both disease processes and health care, we realize that both are an interconnected web of physiologic processes and services. Thus, a linear solution may not be feasible, and solutions require adaptations that account for a multitude of factors. The application of complexity science is reflected in the elements of evidence-based nursing practice, which includes patient preferences, along with assessment data, research findings, and clinical expertise. Although much work in health care has focused on acute care organizations, complexity science is applicable in other settings, including long-term care, as illustrated in the Research Perspective Leadership Theories in Practice Assignment Discussion Paper.
Research Perspective
Resource: Colon-Emeric, C., Toles, M., Cary M. P., Batchelor-Murphy, M., Yap, T., Song, Y., Hall, R., Anderson, A., Burd, A., & Anderson, R. A. (2016). Sustaining complex interventions in long-term-care: A qualitative study of direct care staff and managers. Implementation Science, 11, 94. The aim of this qualitative study was to understand perspectives related to the sustainability of an intervention being tested in a long-term care facility.
Complexity science served as the theoretical basis for the intervention portion of the study and thus guided the qualitative study being described here. Fifteen focus groups with 83 participants were conducted. Participants included both managers and direct care staff to get a wide variety of perspectives. The findings identified that all participants believed the intervention was useful because it would ultimately improve the care of residents. The intervention tested was complex. Some participants, especially those with less education, struggled to grasp the intent and how it could affect their roles in the long-term care facility. Although participants valued the training they received, they expressed concern that sustaining change would be difficult because of staff turnover, lack of leadership support, and lack of culture change. Implications for Practice By using the lens of complexity science for this study, nurses can begin to appreciate the numerous factors that come into play when planning, implementing, and evaluating a change in a care process. Being able to sustain a change in behaviors requires that those in administrative roles are supportive, while maintaining a level of accountability for all staff. In complex adaptive leadership, the goal in responding to patient and organizational problems is to examine a problem through multiple lenses. An adaptive leader understands that systems are ecological—they restore themselves—and that change can happen equally from the bottom up or from the top down. Questioning, observing patterns, and generating new patterns through being involved is how change unfolds. Adaptive leaders appreciate that they have influence and can help shape overall outcomes, with no sense that absolute control is either necessary or possible. In complexity science, information is not a commodity to be controlled by those in charge. Instead, it is intended to be shared with and interpreted by a wide audience, to provide varying interpretations of the same scenario. Diverse thinking leads to creative problem solving in which multiple individuals are actively engaged, using diverse skills to be part of the solution Leadership Theories in Practice Assignment Discussion Paper.
Relationships and communication are central factors in complex adaptive leadership. Poor team communication has been directly linked to preventable medical errors, high staff turnover rates, and low morale. On the other hand, team members who communicate effectively with each other and feel that their voices are heard are likely to provide safe high-quality care, be active team members, and stay with the organization for a period of time. In complexity science, every voice counts and every encounter with patients and families merges to co-create a desired outcome. Co-creation, the idea that a change doesn’t belong to one person or group, is critical to moving quality of care and innovation forward.
One of the early references in complexity science and leading and managing identified four concepts:
- Managers must be aware that employees will self-manage themselves into work groups. Rather than exerting control, effective managers stimulate creative problem solving. These groups may start as having a single purpose but may be sustained through achieving positive outcomes.
- Managers must be skillful in providing context. While keeping a clear vision of the objective to be accomplished, employees can be encouraged to explore and develop solutions to complex problems. Concepts of shared governance and adaptive leadership blend well with the overall aim of safe and effective patient care.
- Managers must adapt to the changing environment and use influence where they can have the most impact. Health care is often procedure driven, yet managers must remain cognizant of the communication and relationships necessary to carry out procedures that create positive outcomes.
- Managers must address sources of tension and contradiction. Disagreement and tension may be the result of creative problem solving by the group and are expected when working with diverse groups. Seeking insight and encouraging creativity and communication allow the manager to capitalize on tension for a positive benefit. By addressing this tension, new alliances may be created that contribute to high-quality outcomes (Morgan, 2003).
The ability to do “systems thinking” is a central concept in adaptive leadership because of the broad perspectives needed to understand a situation. The principles of systems thinking theory that we use today were characterized classically by Anderson and Johnson (1997) as: Leadership Theories in Practice Assignment Discussion Paper
- Thinking of the “Big Picture”: The nurse who looks past an individual assignment and comprehends the needs of all units of the hospital, or who can focus on the needs of all the residents in a long-term care facility, or who can think through the complications of urban emergency department overcrowding is seeing the big picture. Such nurses have the ability to envision the context of their work beyond the immediate tasks.
- Balancing Short-Term and Long-Term Objectives: The nurse who recognizes the long-term consequences of actions on the organization or patient, such as the decision of a patient to terminate clinical treatment, can guide thinking about how to balance decision making for quality outcomes.
- Recognizing the Dynamic, Complex, and Interdependent Nature of Systems: All things are connected. Patients are connected to families and friends. Together, they are connected to communities and cultures. Communities and cultures make up the fabric of society. The cost of health care is linked to local economies, and local businesses are connected to global industries. Identifying and understanding these relationships helps solve problems with full recognition that small decisions can have a large impact.
- Using Measurable versus Nonmeasurable Data Systems: This thinking triggers a “tendency to ‘see’ only what we measure.” If we focus our measuring on morale, working relationships, and teamwork, we might miss the important signals that only objective statistics can show us. On the other hand, if we consider only numbers (e.g., number of patients seen), we might miss a perspective such as lack of engagement in the workplace.
ORDER YOUR PAPER HERE
Leading, managing, and following—different but related
Each of these terms—leading, managing, and following—represents a distinct aspect of a nurse’s role. Yet the fluidity of a situation may require a change in roles, such as the quietest follower moving into a leadership role when that person’s talents are best suited to the situation. Nurses need to appreciate the complexity of the work situation and be prepared to assume different roles and to do so in a fluid manner rather than in only a defined time, role, or situation Leadership Theories in Practice Assignment Discussion Paper.
Leading
Leadership can be defined as the use of individual traits and abilities in relationship with others and the ability (often rapidly) to interpret the environment/context where a situation is emerging and enter that situation without the use of a predesigned plan. Leadership is required when the unknown presents itself, necessitating the use of principles to improvise solutions and help others cope, thrive, and function in the situation. Concepts related to leadership are present in nearly all professional disciplines; they are not distinct to nursing and health care. In fact, many of the concepts discussed here originated with other professions and have been adapted for the healthcare environment. Key traits that leaders possess include (1) articulating a vision for the desired future state; (2) seeing possibilities in the midst of challenging, complex, uncharted, or even dire circumstances; (3) communicating effectively, sometimes powerfully, with others; (4) adapting to new situations and environments; and (5) using experience and knowledge to judge reasonable risks. Nurses face the unknown every day. New diseases emerge. Natural disasters, such as hurricanes and tornadoes, create havoc, which leaves many people in need of immediate health care. Clinical procedures have to be adapted to a patient’s physical and emotional challenges. Each of these requires stepping into the unknown, using principles, showing a commanding presence, and taking risks. Interprofessional educational experiences focus on understanding and communicating with other members of the healthcare team and provide opportunities for the development of leadership skills that can be readily applied in the clinical setting. Gardner (1990) described tasks of leadership in his seminal book, On Leadership. These are still applicable today.
Gardner’s Tasks of Leadership
Gardner’s leadership tasks are presented in Table 1.1 to demonstrate that leading, managing, and following are relevant for nurses who hold clinical positions, formal management positions, and executive leadership positions. Note that each role represents the interests of the organization, although the focus of attention is different.
NSG/451 v3: Leadership Theories in Practice
Review the leadership theories located in the Theory Box on pages 40-48 and Gardner’s Tasks of Leading/Managing Table 1-1 on pages 49-50 in Leading and Managing in Nursing.
Complete the table below:
• Summarize the main points of the theory in your own words in the Summary Definition column.
• Provide an example where you witnessed the theory in practice or suggest a situation where it could be applicable in the Practice Example column. Do not restate the Application to Practice column in the textbook; provide a unique example or suggest a possible scenario.
• Correlate at least one of Gardner’s task to the theory and practice examples in the last column.
Use at least five in-text citations in the table to support your summaries, practice examples, or application of Gardner’s Tasks. In the References section below the table, create an APA-formatted list to cite each resource.
Theory Name Summary Definition Practice Example Application of Gardner’s Tasks
Trait Theories
Style Theories
Situational-Contingency Theories
Transformational Theories
Hierarchy of Needs
Two-Factor Theory
Expectancy Theory
Organizational Behavior Modification
References Leadership Theories in Practice Assignment Discussion Paper