Leadership focuses on creating a change direction and creating a vision for the future. The quality improvement and cost restraints require the OR to seek individuals who would use various eldership styles to better the work environment ( Duggan et al., 2015) . Authoritative leaders make quick decisions that make the operation room successful. Situational leaders foster a collaborative environment that encourages trust, communication, and transparency.
The authoritative leadership style is hands-on and involves always making decisions. A nurse who uses an authoritarian leadership style is comfortable making decisions without consulting the team members and sometimes withholds information from the team (Duggan et al., 2015). This type of manager has little tolerance for mistakes. An example of an authoritative leader is Martin Luther King Jr (Duggan et al., 2015). He was able to mobilize a state towards attaining a shared vision. Authoritarian leaders focus on creating a positive work environment and offer the most upbeat setting. On the other hand, the authoritative leadership style does not promote communication and trust among my team members (Aveling et al., 2018). It develops a culture where the valuable knowledge and insight of the team members would be untapped. Further, this leadership style does not encourage transparency and collaborative decision- making, hindering the organization's high-reliability journey.
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The operating is a fast-paced, intense, and detail-oriented setting that needs the nurses to be flexible and organized. Working in this environment also requires a high level of responsibility because nurses must make decisions to solve problems ( Aveling et al., 2018) . The traditional leadership method is useful in this work environment since I can make quick decisions without consulting anyone ( Guo et al., 2018) . This is important, especially in emergencies or when applying the zero occurrence practices. Drug-induced emergencies caused by anesthesia agents and medications could cause malignant hyperthermia, anaphylaxis, and hyperkalemic cardiac arrest in the OR (Guo et al., 2018). As a nurse, it is my responsibility to recognize such issues and recommend treatment immediately. Apart from making decisions quickly, an advantage of the authoritative leadership style is creating a positive and upbeat work setting (Guo et al., 2018). However, as a traditional leader, not every team member would agree with my decision in an emergency. It might be hard to promote communication and transparency in situations where the team members are dissatisfied.
Nurses that utilize the situational leadership method are highly successful since they are flexible and adaptable. Situational leadership is built on critical thinking abilities and a relaxed attitude ( Donnelly, 2017). Situational leaders adapt their management approach to the circumstances at hand, helping them to be the jack-of-all-trades. Dwight D Eisenhower is an example of a leader who uses the situational style of management. During the Second World War, Eisenhower was flexible and changed his management style to fit every situation (Donnelly, 2017). Situational leaders are good at directing, coaching, supporting, and delegating. Situational leadership style occurs because it adapts the team's needs and sets a beneficial balance for the entire organization (Donnelly, 2017). This form of leadership encourages successful collaboration in the work environment and encourages adaptability to fit the present, past, and future circumstances.
Further, this style evaluates individuals within the organization and encourages socio-emotional help to the subordinates ( Wright, 2017). On the other hand, this form of leadership focuses on immediate needs rather than long-term requirements. It could be inefficient in task-oriented settings (Wright, 2017). In some cases, it could be challenging to define an individual's maturity since this kind of analysis depends on the leader's skill level.
I find the situational leadership style useful when training new nurses. The adaptative leadership method encourages me to stock my team members and weigh their abilities in the work environment. It is significant since I can adopt any leadership style that would favor a situation. This form of leadership style also fosters collaboration, and the trainees can ask questions. Nonetheless, situational eldership focuses on the immediate needs of the team members rather than long-term demands. Further, this form of leadership is only useful if the manager has extensive experience handling various situations.
Nurses play an essential role in healthcare organizations. The way leaders handle their followers drastically affect performance and influence the outcomes of the patients. For this reason, nurses must understand various leadership methods and their effect on the staff and those they serve. Excellent leaders do not use only one style in every situation. They are required to change their method to lead and decide how to handle things based on the modifications that happen in the work environment. As a leader, the two leadership styles that I use are authoritative and situational.
References
Aveling, E. L., Stone, J., Sundt, T., Wright, C., Gino, F., & Singer, S. (2018). Factors influencing team behaviors in surgery: a qualitative study to inform teamwork interventions. The Annals of thoracic surgery , 106 (1), 115-120.
Donnelly, T. (2017). Leadership: briefing and debriefing in the operating room. Journal of Perioperative Practice , 27 (7-8), 154-158.
Duggan, K., Aisaka, K., Tabak, R. G., Smith, C., Erwin, P., & Brownson, R. C. (2015). Implementing administrative evidence-based practices: lessons from the field in six local health departments across the United States. BMC health services research , 15 (1), 221.
Guo, L., Decoster, S., Babalola, M. T., De Schutter, L., Garba, O. A., & Riisla, K. (2018). Authoritarian leadership and employee creativity: The moderating role of psychological capital and the mediating part of fear and defensive silence. Journal of Business Research , 92 , 219-230.
Wright, E. S. (2017). Dialogic development in the situational leadership style. Performance Improvement , 56 (9), 27-31.
