Marking Rubric For Nursing Leadership Article Discussion Paper

Leadership Styles In Nursing

A lack of clarified definitive leadership principle, can negatively affect the leadership abilities of a leader, further resulting in detrimental staff relationships and reduced staff retention. (Wilson et al. 2016). The following paragraphs of the report, critically analyze the execution of principles of emotional intelligence in the implementation of leadership practices in the field of contemporary nursing.  Hence, considering the absence of a specific definition on leadership, which can further result in improper leadership practices and the resultant loss in staff retention, the aim of this paper is to discuss the significance, the possible application and the resultant beneficial consequences of the usage of emotional intelligence in the contemporary leadership practices.  Marking Rubric For Nursing Leadership Article Discussion Paper

Prior to the advancement in science, technology and organizational principles, nursing frameworks in traditional medicine were concerned solely on the mere consideration of the alleviation of somatic symptoms of the specified patient. However, rapid emergence of dynamic dimensions in organizational and workforce culture, have empowered the requirement of nurses to consider a multi-faceted role (Denker et al. 2015). This comprises of not just treatment of the patient, but also the exhibition of overall guiding principles of the concerned workforce, through effective and empathetic leadership, understanding of the needs and requirement of the immediate tasks at hand as well the subordinate staff, adequate advocacy and also accurate delegation concerning assignment of employee responsibilities (Scully 2015). With respect the situations outlining urgent medical emergency  and  pressure  in  clinical  patient  surroundings, contemporary  nursing leadership practices emphasize on the usage  of  ‘Emotional  Intelligence’ during the task  of  directing and inspiring the  concerned workforce (Abraham and Scaria 2017).

The usage of effective leadership principles, along with clearly specified definitions, is imperative for the advanced functioning of any organization. Since time immemorial, leadership principles have undergone several modifications, leading to the absence of clarified and well-defined definitions concerning the true characteristics required to be possessed by an ideal leader (D’aunno, Alexander and Jiang 2017). A lack of specified definition concerning principles of leadership can have harmful implications upon a leader’s ability to lead, resulting in inadequate staff functioning and employee retention. The dynamic dimensions outlining organizational cultures at present uphold humane values and empathy as key cornerstones, which only can be exhibited by the usage of effective emotional intelligence in nursing leadership (Spano-Szekely et al. 2016).

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For  the  successful  implementation of organizational  policies and principles, along with  efficient functioning of the concerned workforce regarding the  completion  of organizational goals, the implementation of adequate leadership practices is of utmost importance for any industrial scenario or business setup (Donate and Pablo 2015). The organizational act of leadership implies the successful usage and execution of corrective, yet empathetic principles outlining guidance and direction of a group of individuals by an empowering mentor, for the purpose of fulfillment of collective objectives of a respective organization (Thoroughgood et al. 2018). Since ancient times, the appointment of a leader was imperative for the salient functioning of any respective organization and hence, individual possessing principles, which outline autocracy and dominance, formed the cornerstones of qualifying abilities required for designation of the same (Elwell and Elikofer 2015). However, such a classification of leadership was not devoid of considerable shortcomings, the most prevalent of which, was the sense of complete loss of liberty experienced by followers and subordinates (Khan et al. 2015). This paved the way for the usage of a leadership style, outlining democracy, which aimed to consider the needs and interests of the subordinate population by the respective leader, as a major criteria prior to implementation of the leadership principles executed by him or her (Iqbal, Anwar and Haider 2015). However, the implementation of such extensively feasible leadership styles escalated into a stage of abundant leniency, where the leadership principle so conceived was outlined as ‘laissez faire’. Despite the overall acceptability, accountability and subordinate liberty outlined in this framework of leadership, the resultant loss of minimally required domineering behavioral characteristics, further resulted in a complete loss of law and order and a detrimental importance attached to the true meaning of leadership and what a leader should truly comprise of (Amanchukwu, Stanley and Ololube 2015).

The clinical practice of nursing at present, takes into consideration, several qualities and functionalities outlining a multidimensional and multidisciplinary approach, and not merely the treatment of patients by nurses, for the sole alleviation of somatic symptoms pertaining to the concerned disease condition (Ernis, Happell and Reid-Searl 2015). Organizational principles have now undergone numerous radical and dynamic alterations, where nurses in advanced care roles are required to exhibit a wide variety of qualities and principles, mainly delegation and leadership duties, for the optimum fulfillment of the foundation goals and principles in the clinical scenario they are associated with (Wong 2015). As opined by Balsanelli (2013), a variety of novel leadership strategies are presently under due consideration and usage, for the successful completion of tasks pertaining to nursing, as well the fulfillment of clinical goals and objectives concerning the overall functioning of the medical task force (Balsanelli, 2013).

One of the key leadership principles in nursing, outlining the same, is the transactional mode. A transactional style of leadership acquires its key components with the usage of incentives, gifts or rewards, as a procedure for the fulfillment of required tasks by the concerned staff. While the provision of sufficient rewarding schemes proves to be a considerable motivational drive for workforce functioning, there is seldom a reconsideration of the needs and interests of subordinates, resulting in behavioral incompetency amongst leaders, who often exhibit rudeness and arrogance (Al-Yami, Galdas and Watson 2018). A resultant factor of such leadership principles was the emergence of the transformational mode of leading style, which incorporates key principles of democratic principles, along with an additional requirement of utilizing sufficient inspirational and empowering behavioral practices in order to guide the concerned workforce towards self-actualization (Vaismoradi et al. 2016). Despite the democratically effective characteristics proposed by the same, there is however, an absence of clarified leadership principles especially during situations outlined with medical emergencies and lack of adequate functioning staff. Hence, transformational leadership styles lose their effectiveness, due to lack of minimum authoritarian principles, which is an imperative requirement in the field of nursing due to the presence of rapid emergency and critical patient life and death situations, outlining the need for workforce reinforcement and stringent functioning (Boamah et al. 2018). Hence, with further ramifications, one of the novel approaches to nursing leadership styles have been highlighted in the situational mode of leading practices, which requires the concerned leader to exhibit modified functioning as per the situation. This is outlined as a usage of sufficient leniency, empowerment, inspiration as well as empathetic guidance, during simple problem solving situations which is devoid of critical patient requirements. Hence, a nurse leader utilizing situational style of leadership may employ guidance principles consisting of empathy and leniency for a novel nurse, followed by the usage of considerable autocracy, during the emergence of high pressure and emergencies, which require effective and prompt workforce functioning (Lynch et al. 2018). However, similar to leadership principles outlined in the previous sections, the leadership style outlining situational principles is disadvantageous considering the lack of interaction between nursing superiors and subordinates exhibited by it. An initiation of sufficient discussion with the inclusion of staff groups and nursing leaders is imperative for the due consideration of needs and requirements of the individual subordinates, which will result in the provision of efficient patient treatment and care procedures, further leading to increased quality of nursing services and consumer satisfaction (Rokstad et al. 2015).

As observed from the above mentioned styles of leadership outlined in nursing practices, there is an innate need for the incorporation of novel leadership styles in contemporary field of nursing, which will not only focus on the provision of conventional care for the concerned patients, but also in the discovery of the nurse leader’s purpose and sense of accomplishment (?enyuva 2014). This will involve sound awareness of the concerned nurse leader, regarding the emotional characteristics exhibited by him or her, as well as those displayed by the workforce which he or she has to lead effectively. Acquiring sufficient emotional concern and knowledge concerning the staff members by the nurse leaders, is essential for the proper functioning as well as employee retention, further necessitating the need to follow a universal and clarified definition on what truly should be considered, as an ideal definition of a leader and resultant leadership style (Crowne et al. 2017).

The field of ‘Emotional  Intelligence’ implies the need for  recognition  of the salient emotional needs and interests of oneself, as well as others, for the successful  establishment of healthy  relationships  and sound workforce culture in an organization (Ruvalcaba-Romero et al. 2017).

The usage of adequate emotional intelligence in nursing necessitates the nursing leader to utilize sound recognition of present emotional and personality values of self, as well the concerned staff workforce led by him or her. Nursing leaders, who employ optimum emotional intelligence in their leadership styles, also exhibit the required authoritarian principles, with however, the usage of adequate motivation and positivity (Spano-Szekeley 2016). Emotionally intelligent nurses encourage the formulation of a favorable occupation climate, through the usage of supervision directed at the betterment of the organization, as well the workforce, through due consideration of the emotional aspects of every employee. Despite the research required to justify its implementation, the universal usage of emotional intelligence, as a contemporary nursing leadership style, will not only establish a clear leading definition, but also result in increased staff retention, due to the adequate consideration of the feelings, emotions and interest exhibited by the respective taskforce (Lartey, Cummings and Profetto-McGrath 2014).

The optimum functioning of the workforce outlining any nursing and clinical setting is the implementation of adequate team building and team coordination principles, which is highly prevalent in emotionally intelligent nurses. Nurse leaders, who employ emotional intelligence in their functionalities of leadership, consider the experiences exhibited by the concerned workforce, with further empowerment to work upon past shortcomings and advocate future improvements, through the utilization of empathy and not just mere extraction of the job requirements (Foster et al. 2015). For this reason, there has been a reported incidence of reduced staff turnover, increased retention, enhance positivity in the workplace as well as motivation amongst the members to exhibit better performances (Miao, Humphrey and Qian 2016). The use of emotional intelligence in nursing leadership, is unique due to the absence of stringent hierarchical principles, the presence of which, have been established to exhibit bullying by superiors amongst subordinate nurses – resulting in job dissatisfaction and reduced staff retention (Bawafaa, Wong and Laschinger 2015). Nursing Leadership Article Discussion Paper Hence, the usage of emotional intelligence in nursing leadership leads to the salient eradication of key challenges posed in nursing due to the lack of specified nursing leadership styles. Such challenges include the prevalence of harmful authority, the presence of bullying due to hierarchical discrimination, and the resultant mismanaged handling of clinical emergencies due to the presence of workforce satisfaction (Abraham and Scaria 2017).

In the field of nursing, nurse leaders following emotional intelligence, are not only involved in adequate recognition of the needs and interests of the staff, but also of the emotional requirements of the concerned patients. For this purpose, emotionally intelligent nurse leaders, play close attention to, and are sensitive to the minutest of patient changes in terms of facial expressions, perceptions of pain, reception of the required treatment plan as well as the exhibition of improper or aggressive behavior. Accordingly, the concerned nurse then reports these changes to the concerned doctor immediately, and further initiates empathetic discussions with the patient for the purpose of provision of a comprehensive care plan. One of the primary advantages of emotional intelligent nurse leaders, is that they are prompt in noticing subtle changes in a patient, which may actually be an underlying cause for possibilities of medical emergency. In the possibility of a medical crisis, the emotionally intelligent nurse immediately alerts the doctor, in order to carefully look into the details. (Codier and Codier 2015).

The lack of clarified definitions concerning the ideal leadership style to be considered by a nurse leader, results in significant confusion, a resultant usage of autocratic behavioral principles further leading to strained leader and staff relationships and a detrimental impact on employee retention (José Valente, Dredge Lohmann 2014). The usage of emotional intelligence by nurses who are employed in advanced roles as leaders, further leads to personality enhancements resulting in an improved subordinate following. One of the most essential virtues acquired by emotionally intelligent nurse leaders is the adequate awareness regarding the emotional capabilities possessed by themselves as well the staff members, resulting in a critical appraisal of past workforce shortcomings and a collective guidance for the successful mitigation of the same (Tyczkowski 2015). With the possession of such advanced emotional regulation and awareness, nursing leaders who utilized emotional intelligence, attract increased support from followers through the consideration and assignment of workforce tasks based on the capabilities and interests of the concerned staff. Further, the usage of participative characteristic of leadership, emphasized in emotionally intelligent nursing leaders, further enhances staff performances through the exhibition of guidance, reflection and discussion, concerning the shortcomings faced by the employees and a collective empowerment to reduce the same (Bortuluzzi, Caporale and Palese 2014).

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Emotionally intelligent nursing leaders, understand the capabilities of their fellow staff, as well their physiological shortcomings, hence encourages them to perform well through appropriate task delegation based on staff competency. This not only assists in the growth and development of the concerned employee, but also allows them to gradually learn to deal with stressful situations, without feeling emotionally or physiologically distressed. This further results in the leader as well as the staff being overcome with a feeling of job satisfaction, further resulting in increased performance, reduced sickness, increased retention and enhanced provision of quality hospital services (Karimi et al. 2014).

However, one of the key shortcomings of the usage of emotional intelligence as an appropriate leadership principle in nursing is due to the absence of a definitive framework strongly advocating its inclusion as a necessary theoretical and practical application in the exhibition of leadership in contemporary nursing. (Powell, Mabry and Mixer 2015). For the specific establishment of leadership policy guidelines required to be followed by nurse leaders, there is a need for an adequate evaluation of the surrounding nature of the occupational environment, which is imperative rather than the usage of merely generalized principles (Foster et al. 2015). Despite its functioning advantages, emotional intelligence still lacks an established policy framework for its implementation in nursing practice, hence necessitating the need to conduct an elaborate assessment of the staff functioning and occupational outcomes expected out of the clinical setup. There is a further need for the inclusion of teaching principles concerning the usage of emotional intelligence as part of the nursing curriculum, which will further empower future nursing leaders to consider the usage of empathetic communications as well as recognition of the emotional and experiential capacities of themselves and others (Choi, Song and Oh 2015). This is required, not only for the successful implementation of emotional intelligence in nursing practice, but also in the establishment of clarified definitions of nursing leadership (Abraham and Scaria 2017).

Hence, as evident from the above paragraphs, there is an inherent need for the inculcation of emotional intelligence in future nursing leaders, for the provision of optimum health and treatment of the patient along with healthy staff relationships. However, there is a lack of emotional intelligence in the nursing curriculum, further necessitating the need for future incorporation, with specific policy implementation on paper and paper. As opined by Kemerer and Cwiekala-Lewis (2016), emotional intelligence can be fostered amongst the nursing leader workforce, by instructing them to use the ‘Core Themes of Emotional Intelligence’. These include mindfulness, gratitude, empathy, altruism, compassion, happiness, mindfulness and forgiveness. Nursing leaders must be told to express gratitude, thanking their subordinates and giving them due credit. For the exhibition of effective altruism, nursing leaders must be told pay attention to the concerns of others first. The usage of empathetic conversation towards staff and patients is of utmost importance for emotionally intelligent nurses. To further foster emotional intelligence, potential nursing leaders should be instructed to be aware or mindful of their surroundings, show kindness and compassion to staff or patients even when they do not deserve, forgive wrongdoings with required assertiveness and exhibit happiness and positivity for the provision of a healthy work environment (Kemerer and Cwiekala-Lewis 2016).

Conclusion

Due to the wide array of possible leadership styles in nursing, followed by the vast range of advantage and shortcomings presented by them, there still lies a lack of definitive establishment of the most appropriate nursing leadership style which can produce negative implications upon the leadership capabilities of the concerned leader. Hence, the need of the hour is to establish a universal and specified leadership definition and style, which will guide in the fulfillment of organizational objectives as well the maintenance of appropriate superior-subordinate relationships. The implementation of emotional intelligence as a leadership procedure by nurse leaders proves to be a novel solution to ever-prevalent challenges of staff turnover, bullying and lack of job satisfaction amongst team subordinates. However, there is a need for the adoption of teaching and implementation of emotional intelligence in nursing leadership, as an important part of the academic and occupational curriculum, for the successful reaping of its acclaimed benefits in nursing leadership and staff retention.

References

Abraham, J. and Scaria, J., 2017. Emotional Intelligence: The Context for Successful Nursing Leadership: A Literature Review. Nurse Care Open Acces J, 2(6), p.00054.

Al?Yami, M., Galdas, P. and Watson, R., 2018. Leadership style and organisational commitment among nursing staff in Saudi Arabia. Journal of nursing management, 26(5), pp.531-539.

Amanchukwu, R.N., Stanley, G.J. and Ololube, N.P., 2015. A review of leadership theories, principles and styles and their relevance to educational management. Management, 5(1), pp.6-14.

Balsanelli, A.P., 2017. Leadership in nursing: Challenges and possibilities. Acta Paulista de Enfermagem, 30(1), pp.3-4.

Bawafaa, E., Wong, C.A. and Laschinger, H., 2015. The influence of resonant leadership on the structural empowerment and job satisfaction of registered nurses. Journal of Research in Nursing, 20(7), pp.610-622.

Boamah, S.A., Laschinger, H.K.S., Wong, C. and Clarke, S., 2018. Effect of transformational leadership on job satisfaction and patient safety outcomes. Nursing outlook, 66(2), pp.180-189.  Marking Rubric For Nursing Leadership Article Discussion Paper