Servant Leadership: Management Style in Nursing

Topics: Leadership, Management, Management Styles, Nursing Words: 591 Pages: 2

Research Question

Within the scope of nursing, does servant leadership contribute to the significant performance of a team more than the other approaches?

Tentative Claim/Thesis (Situated in a Valid Debate)

Healthy relationships within a team are vital to productive work and depend on the managerial approach of the leader – it seems that servant leadership is the most appropriate option to compare with the other styles as it focuses primarily on building such relationships.

Rationale and Research Plan – Background, Overview, Approach, Research Plan, and Possible Complications (at least two full paragraphs)

For a nurse-leader, it is essential to manage his or her team appropriately, founding a leadership style on a solid theoretical background and the best practices. A plethora of scholars pay attention to the issue and provide a strong rationale in favor of servant leadership. Over the last few decades, this style has gained significant popularity and recognition, which indicates its relevance and appropriacy. Then, the quality of services of healthcare establishments highly depends on the way nurses-leaders organize the working environment of their teams. This quality reflects the state of the art of the healthcare system in general; thus, managers should be fully acquainted with the prominent concepts and theories provided by the academic dimension.

The essence of servant leadership may be formulated as an influence on and motivation of team members by a leader through creating healthy relationships and developing the skills of others. It might be assumed that the focus of this approach will contribute to the continuous achievements of a collective more than the other ones. Hence, I will explore relevant literature that discusses the advantages and disadvantages of various leadership approaches in nursing – starting from autocratic and ending with democratic style. I will appeal to a number of case studies to demonstrate solid relation between theory and practice. After the comparison of the styles, I expect to prove the universality of servant leadership in nursing.

Then, the primary complication might take place in the framework of the interpretation of findings. It will be important to emphasize that servant leadership is considered the only proper option. The essay’s focus will be on the arguments proving the fact that servant leadership fits most of the circumstances and teams. The critical point will be to remain unprejudiced to the other styles and recognize their advantages too. What is more, there are many classifications of the mentioned styles provided by scholars. Hence, it will be also crucial to choose and adhere to a reliable and consistent one. This should be done at the initial stages of an in-depth literature review.

Supporting Viewpoint Source
My Position:
Given the fact that servant leaders aim to provide team members with the opportunity to figure out their strengths and weaknesses, this approach seems the most beneficial as employees become aware of their appropriate roles.
One supporting point, then, will involve proving that determined strengths and weaknesses of employees lead to their improved performance.

Opposing Viewpoint Source
Possible Opposing Viewpoints:
It was found that the appropriacy of a particular leadership style in nursing substantially depends on a number of factors.

Source Quoted with Signal Phrase and Citation:
For instance, Savel and Munro (2017) claim that “such work [servant leadership] is important because one usually can find positions within an organization where the areas of strengths are emphasized and the areas of weakness are deemphasized” (p. 98).

Source Quoted with Signal Phrase and Citation:
For example, Pullen (2016) states that autocratic “leadership style is often effective during a crisis or emergency when a decision must be made immediately” (p. 28).

References

Pullen, R. L. (2016). Leadership in nursing practice. Nursing Made Incredibly Easy!, 14(3), 26–31.

Savel, R. H., & Munro, C. L. (2017). Servant leadership: the primacy of service. American Journal of Critical Care, 26(2), 97–99.