Posted: October 28th, 2023
PLEASE RESPONSE / CRITIQUE FOR DISCUSSION BOARD
• Use the peer discussions to examine both common perspectives on leadership theory and what you learned from your classmates’ posts.
• Critique peer posts using supportive evidence from the assigned readings or other scholarly sources.
Module 1 Discussion: Classic Leadership Theory versus 21st Century Leadership Theory
Leadership styles in nursing have undergone significant changes over the past several years. Understanding the key differences between classical views of leadership and new and emerging leadership theories is essential in becoming a successful leader. Classical leadership theories often emphasize a hierarchical structure with a clear chain of command. Leaders are expected to provide top-down guidance. New theories promote collaborative leadership structures, embodying shared decision-making and empowering team members. This shift acknowledges that leadership can come from various individuals within nursing, not just those in formal positions of management. Classical leadership theories often propose a one-size-fits-all approach to leadership. The same leadership style is assumed to work in all situations. New theories emphasize the importance of adapting leadership styles to specific contexts and individual needs. Leadership theories are evolving to more inclusive, participative, and holistic approaches in nursing leadership.
While emerging leadership theories offer valuable insights into more adaptive and inclusive forms of leadership, they also come with challenges such as potential inconsistency in practice. Inconsistency in leadership is a major problem. Newer leadership theories often include more of a collaborative leadership style. A collaborative leadership theory can often loss structure and endure too many opinions causing employee expectations to be unclear. Classical leadership theories provide a stable framework for employees.
In Tamara Mcleary’s Three Steps for Engaging Employees Through Relationship Building, she focuses more on employee satisfaction than quality metrics. As a current nurse leader, employee satisfaction is essential but quality metrics are what impact patient safety. Employees must be held to a clear and defined standards. Tamara Mcleary states, get the data, don’t just monitor performance metrics- monitor data that indicates how happy employees are working in your organization (Hutson, 2024). There are ways to hold employees accountable while measuring their performance measures and their satisfaction as well. New emerging leadership theories lack clear and measurable indicators of success, making it challenging to assess leadership impact and effectiveness. Ultimately, patient safety comes first. Quality metrics are essential in nursing leadership. Finding a balance between classical leadership theories and emerging leadership theories will help to produce a satisfactory work environment.
References:
Huston, C. (2024). Leadership roles and management functions in nursing: Theory an application (11th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.
Place an order in 3 easy steps. Takes less than 5 mins.