Introduction
Due to the complex, critical and dynamic nature of the health sector in the world today, health practitioners are being faced with new challenges and issues that call for attention. Organization and management skills are very critical in ensuring quality health services delivery. Best practice in nursing management and leadership should be one of the major concerns of hospital operations. This is due to the fact that if a hospital lacks an efficient formal command structure between the management and the subordinates, it may prove unreliable and may lead to massive loss of life, especially in crisis situations.
There are two forms of leadership styles often employed in nursing management; transactional and transformational leadership. Transactional leadership involves control by leaders who deliberate and negotiate with the subordinates with an aim of achieving set targets. On the other hand, transformational leadership involves a charismatic leader who seeks to transform the employees by inspirational motivation, idealized influence, and intellectual stimulation.
In my view, the leaders should choose the appropriate leadership style to employ on their employee depending on the employee’s reaction, perception, and attitude towards the applied style as well as the output associated with it. The effectiveness of implementing leadership will not succeed unless there is a mutual understanding between the leaders and the subjects. It is therefore important for the parties involved to master the organizational structure relevant to their hospital and act in accordance.
Nursing leadership and management
The development of nursing leadership is a conflicting issue and faces similar challenges as those facing most of the professions dominated by women. Male and female leadership styles differ in various ways providing diversity in nursing leadership (Lakshmi, 2003). Other factors that enhance leadership qualities include the influence of other people such as parents, colleagues, authors, etc and organizational and work atmosphere (Lakshmi, 2003)
To ensure effective clinical management, the leaders should ensure that there is an effective and accurate mode of communication. Communication is a key aspect of any organization and the process involves a series of steps which include ideation, encoding, transmission, reception, decoding, and response (Tomey, 2005). If this process is interfered with, it is likely to result in distortion of information hence interfering with the response reaction. A leader demonstrates responsibility by following up and ensuring the accurate delivery of information.
The Decision-making process by the leaders should be done through critical analysis of the situation, careful exploration of the available alternatives, and then implementation of the decision based on the best alternative chosen (Tomey, 2005). A good leader evaluates the results to assess whether they have accomplished the desired goal. The leaders should also ensure that the roles and responsibilities of various employees are clearly defined and outlined and assignment of duties should be done in time to avoid unnecessary delays. Leaders should also devise ways of evaluating personnel and also motivate them.
Conclusion
The health sector is one of the most important sectors in any society due to the acute nature of its setting. Their main aim, therefore, remains to be able to provide quality service to its population. Through proper management and leadership of nurses, reliable services will be delivered. This will ensure that through improved health care we can promote life and improve standards of living.
Reference List
Lakshmi, R. (2003). Developing leadership abilities in nursing. Nursing Journal of India. Trained nurses associations of India. Web.
Tomey, M.A. (2004). Guide to nursing management and leadership. Indiana: Elsevier Health Sciences.