Leadership Styles in Professional Nursing

Leadership Styles in Professional Nursing
Kimberly Bibbins
Chamberlain College of Nursing
NR351: Transitions in Professional Nursing
Fall 2010

Leadership Styles in Professional Nursing
Introduction
A leader is someone who takes charge, influences and guides other towards a mutual goal. (Hood, 2010) Leadership is viewed as a skill that not everyone processes. (Collins, 2008) There are several leadership styles in professional nursing being applied on a daily bases that can either enhance or diminish the standards of practice.   There are three basic leadership styles described in the text, which include Authoritarian, Democratic and Laissez-faire. (Hood, 2010). This paper will focus on Authoritarian and Democratic Leadership skills in nursing practice.
Review of Professional Nursing Literature
    The Journal of Nursing Management is an international forum which informs and advances the discipline of nursing management and leadership.   The Journal article discusses various leadership styles in nursing management. The transformational leadership is described as
A process that motivates subordinates by appealing to higher ideals and moral values. The article compares the transformational leader a “gardener, one who shapes who shapes a developing
and growing culture through stimulating and empowering the staff in creative thinking and gives freedom for innovation and individual growth”.   (S, G, & G, 2008) A transactional leader is more focused on structure, role expectations and possibilities to reward the staff.   The article discusses a study that compares the relationship between subordinate’s opinion of preferred leadership and perceived leadership behavior. The results of this study show that staff would prefer that the nurse managers would be clearer about expectations. It also shows that there are managers who are ambiguous when it comes to direction and leadership. There is great emphasis placed on the importance of choosing a manager and that the...