Nursing Leaders and Nursing

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Leadership is a challenge for all leaders across different realms and being a nursing leader is not an exemption. This is particularly taking into consideration the circumstances and issues distinctive to the medical and healthcare profession. As a nursing leader, it is imperative to not only be accountable for matters distinctive to their own individual departments or team, but are also responsible for organizing and facilitating interactions with other departments within the organization, to attend to patient health care; both direct and indirect. The prevailing healthcare system is gradually developing and progressing into a new system founded on a vision of health advancement, primary care and community-based home care, with hospitals continuing to be an essential pillar of the healthcare system but not its most important service (Gottlieb et al., 2012). Considering the evolving healthcare situation, a key issue in the contemporary times is that nursing leaders are not cognizant and lack awareness on the areas of strengths and weaknesses within the departments and the organizations as a whole. A key element that is bound to be of paramount importance to resolve to this issue is that continued annual surveys of all members within a department and organization as a whole will help in improving their performance as nursing leaders.

Background Issue

A key issue and problem perceived is that nursing leaders are not cognizant of their nursing management strengths and weaknesses. Yet, devoid of such strengths and weaknesses, it can be quite challenging for them to provide effective leadership. What is more, it is imperative for nursing leaders to comprehend that simply because, and though they are strong and efficacious in a number of elements, they are also weak in certain areas. Therefore, the lack of understanding both sides of their leaderships decreases their level of effectiveness. By taking all these elements into consideration, nursing leaders can form a diverse nursing management team that are able to complement their strong suits and at the same time improve on their weaknesses to improve their level of performance (Gottleib et al., 2012).

The development and advancement of leadership skills ought to be perceived as a process. It is imperative for current and emerging leaders to assess and evaluate their current strengths and weaknesses in the various dimensions of leadership. This need arises from the fact that it is challenging for present day leaders to be able to envisage the knowledge, skills and competences that will be required to provide effective leadership in the future healthcare delivery system (Sherman and Pross, 2010). Every nursing department and organization, as a unit, comprises of individuals that serve the various roles necessitated to meet the necessities of residents. It is imperative to note that the fact that as there are registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, and certified nursing assistants who appear together on a nursing schedule, and who are allotted to function in a certain area of the nursing home, does not necessarily imply that this group operates as a team. Nursing staff can be disjointed and led in dissimilar directions, or they can have a well-defined focus and work in tandem toward mutual goals and objectives. However, it is important to note that the level of success attained is frequently centered on the strength or weakness of the nurse leader and this leader's capability to motivate others (Frandsen, 2014).

With the changing setting in the nursing realm, nursing leaders have to take into consideration four key characteristics. One of them is sense making, which encompasses the capacity to comprehend the incessantly changing business setting and adapt to the consequences of changes within an organization (Al-Sawai, 2013). Secondly, there is relating, which takes into account the capacity to form trusting relationships, have poise between advocacy and inquiry, and nurture networks of helpful peers. The third characteristic is visioning and this encompasses forming reliable and a clear picture of a sought-after future, towards which the organization can work (Al-Sawai, 2013).
Lastly, there is the characteristic of inventing, which encompasses forming new ways of approaching everyday jobs or overcoming apparently intractable issues. In particular, all these individualities are mutually dependent and therefore nursing leaders need to ascertain their own competencies, strengths, and weaknesses. The main objective of the nursing leader is to generate a philosophy whereby the individuals are able to complement the strengths of each other and counterbalance the weaknesses (Al-Sawai, 2013).

Importance of Annual Surveys

In accordance to Morrel-Samuels (2002), there is great certainty that companies can profit and benefit from workplace surveys and questionnaires. A key element pointed out is to make the different departments as the key unit of analysis for company surveys. Despite the necessity to maintain obscurity is supreme, large organizations still need to organize and examine the results of internal surveys at the department or functioning unit level for the reason that they evaluate performance at those levels. Undoubtedly, surveys that are not understood by department will be restricted in their effectiveness and practical value (Morrel-Samuels, 2002).

Use of Denison Surveys

Organizational culture encompasses the extensive fundamental suppositions, belief, and values that are mutual and shared by members of the organization and characteristically operate incontinently. The Denison Organizational Culture Survey is a component that, by design, provides a simple, yet wide-ranging analysis of the culture of an organization by assessing the fundamental cultural traits and management practices that impact business performance. In accordance to Dr. Daniel Denison, the founder of the instrument, there are four underlying traits as the basis for the model, which include consistency, involvement, mission and adaptability (Denison and Neale, 2008). Effective organizations exhibit high levels of these particular cultural traits, which mirror their capacity to provide stability and poise between the vibrant tension between the necessity for stability and the necessity for flexibility within the organization (Casida, 2008).

A rich understanding of organizational culture is imperative for all leaders for the reason that it impacts the manner in which their organizations act in response to the shifting and shifting demands of the business setting. At any particular point in time, the culture of an organization is largely impacted by the preceding achievements and preceding learning's, regarding the different aspects of adaptation and survival. As the business setting, incessantly changes, it is imperative for leaders to relentlessly expect the needed changes and enthusiastically monitor the association between the demands of the setting and the competencies of the organization (Denison and Neale, 2008).

The first trait of the Denison Survey is the mission. Through this, the nursing leaders will increase the level of performance for the organization as it outlines to personnel why they are undertaking the work they do, and the manner in which the work they undertake every single day is a contribution to the organization. This encompasses three elements, the strategic direction and intent, goals and objectives and vision. as such, the mission states the organization's purpose -- what it is attempting to accomplish in the long run, the established goals and objectives that facilitate each employee to perceive how day-to-day activities are linked to the vision and the strategies instituted to operationalize the vision (Baker Strategy, 2016).

The second trait is adaptability. Through this, nursing leaders will have high performing organizations that have their capacity to distinguish and react to the setting, consumers, and reorganize and re-institutionalize behaviors and practices that facilitate them to become accustomed. Through this survey, the nursing leaders are able to generate change by welcoming new conceptions, be enthusiastic to attempt new approaches to undertakings, and perceive generating change as a significant element of the manner in which they undertake business. Another element of this trait is organizational learning, which enables the nursing leaders and their subordinates to attain knowledge from successes and failures (Baker Strategy, 2016).

The third trait of the Denison Survey is consistency, which.....

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