System of Leadership - Essay Example

?Nursing leadership Leadership scenario Introduction Leadership is an experience that is said to be bounded by structure and system (Fairholm, 2000). This is eventually a very broad definition of what leadership is all about considering the idea about its structure and system encompasses not just the leader’s immediate environment but his or her self. The structure and system of leadership is said to shape cultural and ethical values of an organization (Daft, 2009). Thus, it is important to understand that leadership is better understood when it is based on the human experience rather than relying so much on various or even complicated theories. Below is a specific scenario in nursing leadership that eventually will help improve our understanding about the underlying theories in leadership. Scenario The head nurse was having trouble with one of her team members because of some issue on tardiness. The team member’s name is Julia who has just recently become a regular registered nurse. There were already three consecutive remarkable reported cases of Julia’s tardiness that caught the head nurse’s attention. There were even some instances when Julia was not able to inform in advance her reliever and that the patient angrily reported there was no one attending to her when in fact it was supposed to be Julia who was assigned to assess her. As a result to these consecutive demerits on Julia’s performance, the head nurse decided to follow up her condition by sending her a notice to explain her recent performance at work. The entire move was properly documented and all documents were filed at the human resource department. As a result, the human resource department conducted the investigation, called the attention of Julia for a personal interview. Julia reasoned out well and the human resource was able to give her one last chance to give her best shot at work. Furthermore, that would also serve as final and initial warning for her because what she did is a major offense according to the company’s policies and procedures based on the approved memorandum of agreement. Analysis In topic 1, the leadership in context discusses that writers in leadership are somehow faced with many questions about what constitutes a strong and positive leader and leadership in general. These people remarkably embarked their principles on existing theories or even new discoveries in leadership that they could incorporate in their assumptions in order to justify the reliability of their own theory of leadership. However, what they essentially do in general is study the complex social interaction of individuals on day to day situations. As a result, leadership has a strong background foundation in fundamental theories linking social, political, economic, personal, ethics and legal constructs. In the above stated case, it is implied that in an organization, there should be proper implementation of policies and procedures especially in giving disciplinary actions to concerned individual. An organization should be able to provide the right disciplinary action or required structure and system in dealing with concerned individuals. This approach remarkably presents the fact that an organization needs to follow certain structure and system and it is through this that the true essence of what leadership is all about is put into practice. Although it helps us to understand leadership when the concept about various aspects such as personal, economic, politics, social, legal, ethics are integrated with it, what is the most important point is to remain close to the fact that leadership is bounded by specific structure and system. In this regard, it is important to point out that existing theories about leadership are essential. However, relying so much on them would just make the whole thing about understanding leadership complicated. From the above case, it is proven that what is essential in understanding leadership may not necessarily require so much understanding about politics, social, and so on. What is needed and essential in understanding leadership especially in nursing must be focused on basing the entire human experience. From this, it is important to know that certain system or structure may emerge. Thus, it matters a lot when leadership has to be understood from the point of view of the human experience. The above case can prove that to have a better grasp of what leadership is all about especially in nursing requires not to rely so much on various and complicated theories. It has proven that what is essential in understanding leadership can just be only based on observation of the human experience. Out of this, one may be able to depict the importance of the essential components of leadership such as politics, social, economic, ethics and so on. Leadership scenario 2 Introduction There are some important social concerns in an organization and it involves its internal climate which brings forward internal consistency (Gadot & Drory, 2006). For instance, employees are able to provide information in which some of them could either help them and the organization or might be harmful to them in general. In some instances, the most important point is to understand the social context in which the underlying human behavior is concerned. This specifically is an integral part of organization’s internal climate (Spitzer, 2007). Thus, the most important point that needs to be properly understood is to know the prevailing trend at the level in which the social context is concerned. It is important to know that in an organization, there is a prevailing trend under the social awareness and behavior of the people (Baumeister & Bushman, 2009). Baumeister and Bushman argued that it is important to dig these in detail. They are said to be among of the most important moves that need to be properly considered so as to understand the whole thing on how the entire organization should function as a whole team, as far as certain behavior can be taught (Daft & Marcic, 2010). For this reason, the social issues in an organization should not be overlooked so as to properly depict the eventual sources of conflict due to variation of behavior and individual variability. Below is a specific case in nursing that could prove this. Scenario Gossip at work is very common in the hospital where Jenny who is a registered nurse is currently assigned. Although she does not have any conflict with everyone in there, she noticed that one of the registered nurses whose name is Andrea is a daily subject to gossip among a couple of nurses. Jenny was able to work with Andrea for many times and she does not have any problem with her. In fact, she found her interesting to work with because she has various opinions or ideas that could prove very helpful in improving the quality of their care or service. Furthermore, she found her as one with great potential to become a leader because she works well and does not wait to be told on what to do. She uses her initiative most of the time. One time, Jenny heard that Andrea got conflict with one of the nurses who happened to have many friends in there. Andrea remarkably made her point which in Jenny’s opinion was timely and should never be mad about. Jenny was puzzled why Andrea received many criticisms when in fact she is an asset of the company. In line with this, Jenny informed her head nurse about the issue. The head nurse conducted her initial investigation about the subject matter and eventually found out the same information like what Jenny has. However, she also found out that Andrea is planning to resign very soon. Analysis In the above case, it is shown that one of the known problems in an organization includes the human resource because this is the only entity in an organization that could interact and is socially aware. It is therefore crucial that a leader should be aware and sensitive to the ongoing social trend in an organization so as to be able to spot the existing problems in great detail. Based on topic 2, leadership and dynamics, culture and organizational climate are the very foundation of organizational dynamics. Under the organizational climate are the external and internal climates. Economy, market, politics and so on are integral parts of external climate while behavior, attitudes and feelings are under the internal climate. On the other hand, the systems of rules and regulations that determine how the people in the organization act are part of the organizational culture. As can be observed based on the case and the above concept in leadership and dynamics, the internal climate and organizational culture are eventually integral parts of the human resource because they directly interconnect with the whole point of the social context. Thus, it would be less complicated to identify or define nursing leadership in the context of directly understanding the human resource. The human resource as significant part of the social context of an organization cannot be overlooked because as based on the above case, it helps us realized the true essence of understanding leadership and its dynamics. Leadership scenario 3 Introduction Hospitals certainly are following ethical and legal standards (Ford, 2006; Pozgar, 2010). However, some dilemmas are probably encountered on a daily basis. Hospitals are looking forward to the needs of their patients, but along the way, there are some instances in which ethical and legal considerations are compromised. In fact, these two bound together clinical practices but the major problem exists when they are relatively violated. This is eventually one of the major challenges in clinical institution where the law and ethics surround its entire operation or activity. Below is a case that could prove this. It also shows its impact on nursing leadership. Scenario The doctor got mad at one of the registered nurses because of some concerns that could possibly affect the integrity of the hospital. One day, Angela was assigned to the female ward and was attending to Susan. Susan was an in-patient, 30 years old, single and was about to check out that day. She was confined because of a severe lost bowel movement that almost caused her life. Since she was intensely dehydrated, the doctor decided to give her a remarkable dose of fluid. Susan was an irritable woman and mostly nurses need to obey what she had said because of her massive authority and strong personality. Angela was not an excuse. There was one time she received defaming words from Susan, but she never took it seriously because she reasoned out that such irritability might be due to her patience condition or even side effects of her taken drugs. However, even if Susan was recovering and about to check out, the same attitude and characteristics prevail in her. So Angela decided to believe that it was Susan’s nature to be irritable and perhaps the reason for such condition was way beyond her present condition. Susan aggressively asked Angela to remove the life-saving devices which primarily provided the fluid requirement for her body since her reason was that she was well and about to check out that moment. She was only waiting for doctor’s final monitoring so eventually she reasoned out that she does need them any longer.. Afraid to be nagged by her patient once again, Angela decided to follow her patient’s demand and forgot to inform the doctor about it. Angela eventually received her fearful confrontation from the attending physician. Analysis In topic 4, Ethico-Legal Constructs and Leadership, examine the relationship between leadership, and responsibility and accountability. In this, clinical practices are said to be bounded by law and ethics. This is a general way of looking at how ethics and legal concerns play significant role in clinical practice. However, it is also evident based on the above case that leadership and clinical practice co-exist together in one setting. It is shown that nurses are among of the people highly exposed to some problems concerning the specific boundaries of law and ethics in clinical practice. This is a remarkable proof that leadership and clinical practice co-exist and are interrelated. What is not considered in topic 4 is the fact that clinical practices are trying to provide high value for their patients. Based on the above case, there are some instances in which hospitals are very sensitive to the needs of their patients. Some minor or major requests may somehow make a great impact or difference. In this case, nurses are susceptible or vulnerable to making compromise which eventually is the reason why there is a respective reaction under the legal and ethical consideration. Nursing as a clinical practice is not only confronted with ethical or legal considerations. It also ensures that customers are given with their eventual needs that at some point may compromise the existing legal and ethical standards. Based on the case, nursing leadership therefore needs to enhance their strong social interaction through effective communication. Based on the above case, this is a specific move that will help ensure the existence of legal and ethical standards in clinical practices without compromising the strong support towards giving high and excellent customer value. Based on the above case, nurses should be able to weigh their legal and ethical obligations towards their patients. In doing this, they should concentrate on providing options that are based on the mutual interaction between leadership and clinical practice. Leadership scenario 4 Introduction Nurses are mostly faced with situations that they need to handle among themselves because the essence of them is in line with personal circumstances. It is hard to become a leader especially in clinical services if there are unsettled issues of the past. A nurse needs to establish a valuable and stable emotional stand regarding with important and sensitive issues about life. Leadership is eventually personal because it should go together with the leader’s personal growth (Metzger, 2006; Kouzes & Posner, 2006). Leaders try to move on and learn more (Dotlich et al., 2004). However, what it means to be personal may be in a subjective essence because each individual has the ability to justify his or her own belief, principle or ideology. Below is a specific case that could help prove this. Scenario Catherine is very emotional. As a registered nurse, she constantly receives various encouragements from her peers. She is prone to absorb her patients’ agonies in both physical and emotional aspects especially in events when one of the family members had to die. This is due to the fact that Catherine has memorable related experience about the death of a dearest one, her father. Her father died from cancer and she witnessed how hard he was trying to fight with such excruciating pain. Her father was confined almost a year in a comatose condition with only life-saving devices that sustained his breath. Her mother could no longer bear the pain she saw from her husband and the exorbitant hospital bills. She decided to confine her husband at home with the knowledge that such condition would eventually end his life. Catherine at that time at the age of 13 could not understand her mother’s decision. Until now, such memory hunts her and always becomes her way to confront her mother with anger and great emotional trembling. Catherine learned the principle not to let go of someone dear to her and such principle blinded her from the reality that no one is ever permanent in this world. Analysis In topic 5, leadership is personal, it is emphasized that this perspective examines an individual’s self-awareness and emotional intelligence. However, this perspective is definitely contradicted by an individual’s freedom to adhere to his or her own principle or ideology. It is true that it is hard not to be able to control someone’s personal concerns when in fact leadership is all about controlling or directing others towards a certain direction. Leadership seems to be focus about giving high consideration on the external environment of the leader while there is less obvious consideration on handling one’s self. Thus, the case of Catherine being so emotional about her past would certainly prevent her by becoming an effective leader to someone else. However, one could not prevent her from what she is thinking because she has her own reason in the first place. It is also true that in leadership a leader shhould have strong control of his or her self. In nursing leadership and in the case of Catherine, she has to experience cases when she needs to console or deal with her patients’ emotional needs. Although her task is to provide physical care, her presence sometimes would meet the emotional needs of her patients. Thus, it is important that prior to become effective in doing this part, she needs to be emotionally prepared in all situations and that she needs to leave behind the issues of her past. It might not be appropriate to forget them but the point is for her to have full acceptance that everything is possible and could happen anytime. In this case, Catherine needs to remarkably be prepared in all circumstances and this can only be successfully experienced if she learned to accept the things that happened in the past. She needs to accept them and have strong emotional awareness not just focused on one certain issue, but the general aspect of the whole situation. Catherine remarkably needs to do this in great detail. In the above case, and in topic 5, it is implied that true leadership requires the leader to be substantially prepared in dealing with his or her weaknesses or even the issues of the past. This requires substantial work out and the most important point of it is to be prepared to become more stable in helping others face their issues or problems in life. Nursing leadership as stated in the above case is more than just being a leader to others but above all it is also about dealing with one’s self in order to substantially be prepared in dealing with the external environment. However, it is also clear that one’s own beliefs, principles or ideology may hinder him or her to become an effective leader specially in clinical practice. References Baumeister, R. F., & Bushman, B. J. (2009). Social Psychology and Human Nature. California: Cengage Learning. Covey, S. R. (1992). Principle-centered leadership. New South Whale: Simon & Schuster. Daft, R. L. (2009). Organization Theory and Design. Ohio: Cengage Learning. Daft, R. L., & Marcic, D. (2010). Understanding Management (7th ed.). California: Cengage Learning. Dotlich, D. L., Noel, J. L., & Walker, N. (2004). Leadership passages: the personal and professional transitions that make or brak a leader. California: John Wiley and Sons. Fairholm, G. W. (2000). Perspectives on Leadership: From the Science of Management to Its Spiritual Heart. Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. Ford, G. G. (2006). Ethical reasoning for mental health professionals. New York: SAGE Publications. Gadot, E. V., & Drory, A. (2006). Handbook of organizational politics. Great Britain: Edward Elgar Publishing. Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2006). A leader’s legacy. California: John Wiley and Sons. Metzger, C. (2006). Balancing leadership & personal growth: the school administrator’s guide. Virginia: Corwin Press. Pozgar, G. D. (2010). Legal and ethical issues for health professionals. Massachusetts: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Spitzer, D. R. (2007). Transforming performance measurement: rethinking the way we measure and drive organizational success. California: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. Read More