Respond to Anna’s Post below by explaining how the leadership skills they described may impact your organization your personal leadership, or by identifying challenges you see in applying the skills described.
Anna’s Post
Throughout all the leadership theories I have experienced in my career, my currently the leadership I am experiencing has often lacked professionalism through her comments as well as actions. As Marshall and Broom (2017) note that leaders must have some set of ethics or core values. With these given core values, trust is gained through the team yet if they do not carry these and no trust is gained, there is no true leadership. In order to be an effective leader no matter what your theory is, the nurse leader must lead with grace (Marshall and Broom, 2017). Comments that have been made directly to me as well as the group of us nurses have been degrading, disrespectful, and unprofessional.
Having been in a leadership role myself, I learned quickly how important it is to remain professional yet leading with grace and humility gained trust within my team. I now understand the tasks that leaders are presented and respect that it is not often an easy job. With that understanding, it does not excuse one to treat dedicated staff disrespectfully. Having read through the variety of leadership theories that are out there, all situations that arise can be handled with grace and dignity.
Grace and dignity tie in with spiritual leadership theory which was researched and was found to have a very positive effect on the team and their effectiveness. Yang, Huang, and Wu (2019) note that spiritual leadership is values, attitudes, and behaviors that one must obtain to motivate self and have a positive increase in sense of spiritual well-being through membership. Having this membership provides a sense of being part of and feeling as though they are understood and appreciated. When working as a critical care float nurse, my leader practiced in a spiritual manner. It was easily seen that this was effective as we had a great team that trusted and respected her.
Beyond spiritual, I also found a study completed on contingency leadership study vs social identity theory. Hartnell et al., (2016) found that contingency theories were effective when psychological and motivational resources were lacking in the organization’s culture. Within this study, it was researched to show similarities and differences between CEO leadership affects organizational performance. It was found the CEO leadership style has a significant impact on the work culture and performance. With my current leader, several employees have lost their respect for her due to her leadership style and believing she is right always. There is no favored style within contingency theory rather it is determined among situations (Marshall and Broom, 2017). Working with a contingency based leader, it is noted that the inconsistent information creates psychological discomfort which makes them rethink their perceptions (Hartnell et al., 2016). I would find this concerning for my team which may lead to a less effective workflow.
With all the different leadership theories considered, I believe there are positives to each one if you as the leader perform with grace and dignity.
References
Hartnell, C. A., Schurer Lambert, L., Kinicki, A. J., Fugate, M., Doyle Corner, P., & Lambert, L. S. (2016). Do similarities or differences between CEO leadership and organizational culture have a more positive effect on firm performance? A test of competing predictions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101(6), 846–861. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1037/apl0000083
Marshall, E., & Broome, M. (2017). Transformational leadership in nursing: From expert clinician to influential leader (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Springer.
Yang, F., Huang, X., & Wu, L. (2019). Experiencing meaningfulness climate in teams: How spiritual leadership enhances team effectiveness when facing uncertain tasks. Human Resource Management, 58(2), 155–168. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1002/hrm.21943
