Leadership and management are important for the successful delivery of good health services. While leadership and management are similar in some respects, they could be different their outlook, skills, and behaviors. Good managers strive to become good leaders while good leaders require proper management in order to become successful. An effective nurse should have both sets of skills in order to be effective in the workplace. Leadership and management differ in their basic theories and their differences can be used to solve professional issues in the nursing field.
Differences between leadership and management
The main difference between leadership and management is that leaders do not need to occupy any managerial position. The leader does not necessarily need to be an authoritative figure in the organization. A leader can be anyone in the healthcare organization. On the other hand, managers, have to be members of the organization. This basic difference can be found in the Great Man Theory of leadership which states that leaders are born and not made. The trait theory adds that people are born with inherent traits where some of the traits are suited for leadership. People that make good leaders have the right combination of traits and do not necessarily be appointed as an authoritative figure within the healthcare organization.
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Unlike managers, leaders are followed because of their behavior, personality, and beliefs. A leader invests in work and tasks that demonstrate a high passion for their work. Leaders take interest in the success of their followers by enabling them to reach their goals. Such leadership traits can thus be acquired. The characteristic goes along with the behavioral theory which asserts that leaders are made and not born. The theory proposes that leadership traits can be acquired through the acquisition of the necessary skills. The Role theory further proposes that leaders are individuals that can roles for themselves and others based on social learning and reading (Huber, 2017).
Management is different from leadership because they are responsible for carrying primary functions of the organization. The functions have been summarized in Fayol’s five functions for managers which include planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling (Huber, 2017). Planning includes establishing the organization’s mission, goals, procedures, policies, and budgets. Organizing provides the structure required to execute the plans. Staffing involves selecting the right person that can execute a planned task. Directing involves various factors such as motivation, conflict management, delegation, and collaboration to accomplish the work at hand. Controlling involves various issues such as quality control and addressing legal and ethical issues.
Managerial duties usually form part of a formal job description. Subordinates of the manager will follow the orders as a result of the professional title. The manager’s focus is on meeting the organizational objectives and goals and do not put other factors into consideration. Managers are usually held responsible for their actions and that of the subordinates. The manager is directly in charge of employees. The scientific management theory thus proposes scientific management of the employees through developing a science for each work, training workers, encouraging corporation, and dividing labor.
An individual can be appointed to have the position of a manager and not necessarily be a leader. Such individuals have poor leadership qualities and their employees will follow their orders only because it is compulsory to do so. On the other hand, the leader will inspire the employees to undertake a given activity with dedication and passion. Maslow’s theory can be used by the manager to identify the needs of their subordinates. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs includes physiological needs, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualizations. Managers have to ensure that these needs are progressively met in order to motivate their employees.
Situation in a clinical setting that would be addressed by a leader and manager
One example of a clinical issue that any healthcare organization can face is the proper management of clinical health records. Maintenance of accurate health records is important to ensure success in the delivery of quality care. An organization could have poor standards in documentation leading to poor quality care. There are different strategies to improve record keeping. One of the most feasible strategies is the use of electronic health records. The manager and nurse will address the solution in different ways.
The leader will have a vision of the final implementation of the electronic health records and inspire change. The leader should be able to create a team that will create a solution for the implementation of the records. They will inspire the nursing team to understand their roles and the importance of adopting healthcare records to improve the quality of care. One of the key traits of leaders is their excellent communication skills (Duboi et al., 2015). They will use this skill to inform the nursing team about the progress of the health records and any future obstacles that could stand their way. The leader will be responsible for the continuous support of various requirements to accomplish the implementation of the electronic records.
The manager will be involved in the execution of the entire project. The manager will break down the vision of the electronic health record set by the leader and create a roadmap for its execution. The manager will also be involved in the day-to-day efforts required for in implementing the health records. The manager is focused on the people and will cater to their needs (Ram and Ronggui, 2018). The manager will thus be responsible for carrying out training on the use of the electronic health records. He or she should accommodate opinions and requests pertaining changes to the electronic health records.
Challenges facing nursing leaders
Nursing leaders and managers face several challenges in their profession. One of the challenges is ensuring that the staff is adequately trained and that its units are adequately staffed. The field of nursing is frequently faced by an insufficient number of nursing staff (Solman, 2017). The nursing manager is responsible for handling the staff and any problems like that of short staffing are reported directly to the manager. The nurse manager should thus approve overtime and would request nurses to come during their day off. Nurses could also express their frustrations regarding issues with staffing directly to the manager.
Nursing leaders are faced with the challenge of burnout of its staff. They must thus step up and act as cheerleaders that would keep the staff motivated to undertake their daily work. Nurses usually have a high burnout rate and will frequently need extra support. The nursing leader will be responsible for holding meetings and conducting activities like that of team building. The leader will act as the facilitator of these activities and ensure that the staff is continually motivated.
The nursing leader is responsible for implementing changes in the organization that could result from the upper management. Facilitating the change can be a difficult process especially when there is staff that is resistant to change. For instance, the implementation of electronic health records for a health care facility will have some nurses that find it difficult to adopt the changes. The nurse manager should assess the situation and be ready to remediate staff that has difficulty in accepting the change. The nurse manager can recommend further actions like that of education, training, or even discipline.
The nurse manager may also face budgeting and cost limitation and the need to meet the organization’s goals. The manager should always ensure adequate staffing, supplies, and resources are balanced carefully in order to keep the costs down. Nurse managers are thus constantly faced with the challenge of improving efficiency. While the costs should be maintained at low levels, the nurse should not compromise on performance measures in the organization. The nurse managers and leaders should provide enough resources and staff to ensure that the performance measures of the organization are met (Solman, 2017).
Literature review of nursing leadership and management
Previous literature has focused on the benefits of adopting leadership traits for nurse managers. Merrill (2015) studied the effect of leadership style, the impact on patient safety, and the implication for nurse managers. The study found that transformation leadership played a huge role in the contribution of a safety climate. The laissez-faire leadership style that gave everyone the freedom to do as they wished contributed negatively and created a culture of blame. The implication of the study to nursing managers is that they should focus on adopting transformational leadership styles and diminish negative styles of leadership. Adopting proper leadership traits improves the quality of care by improving safety.
Proper nursing leadership can also be linked to positive patient outcomes. Wong (2015) conducted a study that finds the link between leadership and patient outcomes. The study was conducted in different settings such as acute care hospitals, nursing homes, and home health care settings. The study showed a clear evidence and connection between a strong supportive leadership and positive patient outcomes. Some of the outcomes included patient mortality, reduction of infections, improved patient satisfaction, and reduced medication errors. The study also found that an improved quality interpersonal skills, their value for knowledge, and the facilitation of a healthy working condition inspired nursing teams to perform in higher levels of performance.
Fischer, Jones, and Verran (2018) studied the consensus achievement of leadership and the implication of nursing management. The studies showed that specific factors which contribute to a positive organizational climate can improve safety. The study showed that the commitment of leadership to safety is an important factor in improving the quality of patient care. The implication for nursing management is that transformational leaders should employ and consider factors in daily leadership activities. Strong decision-making activities among nurse managers and leaders also improve patient safety.
In conclusion, leadership and management differ in their basic theories. The differences can be used to solve professional issues in the nursing field. Leadership involves having a vision and being able to motivate a team towards a specific goal. Management executes the plan required to achieve the goal. Nurse managers have to adopt leadership traits for the success of the healthcare organization. Strong leadership traits can be used to solve various challenges in the nursing field such as staffing, budgeting, and implementing change. Previous research shows a strong relationship between leadership traits for nurse managers and an improvement of the quality of care and patient safety.
References
DuBois, M., Koch, J., Hanlon, J., Nyatuga, B., & Kerr, N. (2015). Leadership Styles of Effective Project Managers: Techniques and Traits to Lead High-Performance Teams. Journal of Economic Development, Management, IT, Finance & Marketing , 7 (1).
Fischer, S. A., Jones, J., & Verran, J. A. (2018). Consensus achievement of leadership, organizational and individual factors that influence safety climate: Implications for nursing management. Journal of nursing management , 26 (1), 50-58.
Huber, D. (2017). Leadership and Nursing Care Management-E-Book . Elsevier Health Sciences.
Merrill, K. C. (2015). Leadership style and patient safety: implications for nurse managers. Journal of Nursing Administration , 45 (6), 319-324.
Ram, J., & Ronggui, D. (2018). Research and development projects: An empirical investigation of project managers’ traits. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business .
Solman, A. (2017). Nursing leadership challenges and opportunities. Journal of nursing management , 25 (6), 405-406.
Wong, C. A. (2015). Connecting nursing leadership and patient outcomes: state of the science. Journal of Nursing Management , 23 (3), 275-278.
