9-1 Final Project Submission: Parts I and II-theories of leadership-Nursing Paper Examples

Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples

The theories of leadership describe the paths different individuals take to achieve leadership abilities. The paths are based on the traits and behaviors exhibited by exemplary and non-exemplary leaders in fulfilling leadership responsibilities. In this case, the theories analyzed in the paper include trait, situational, and power theories (Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

The theories were chosen since they describe varying traits and behaviors that can be used to categorize leaders into exemplary and anti-exemplary strategies. The exemplary leadership styles are exhibited by leaders like Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, and Winston Churchill, while the anti-exemplary leadership styles are attributed to Idi Amin, Atilla the Hun, and Joseph Stalin.

Analysis

Theories Review

 Major Principles

The principles of trait theory include the centrality of the leader’s traits to organizational performance. Individuals with the right traits increase organizational performance and rely on tools like personality tests to identify leaders with the right traits (Verawati & Hartono, 2020) (Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

Besides, situational theory principles include an emphasis on the specifics of a task, focusing on the leaders’ and group members’ relationship, and the leaders’ authority comprises the high maturity levels while those of employees comprise the low maturity level (Zimenga, 2020). Lastly, power theory principles include leaders’ authority is ultimate, employees can only influence change by gaining their power, and the leaders’ authority is threatened by employee resistance (Schedlitzki & Edwards, 2021) (Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

 Power and Influence

The situational leadership style requires leaders to adjust their approaches to meet the expected objectives effectively. This includes establishing an attractive and collaborative working environment to achieve employee commitment and motivation. Besides, based on the trait theory, Spark and O’Connor (2021) explain that leaders feel valued and entitled since organizational success is centered on their traits and behavior (Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

The leaders can easily succeed since they exhibit the right traits for the jobs. Finally, the power theory grants leaders excess authority over employees, allowing them to dominate every aspect of decision-making within the organization (Schedlitzki & Edwards, 2021). Good leaders can utilize their authority to influence significant organizational change and enhance employee performance through specific and attainable directives (Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

Theories Critique

Strengths (Part I)

The strengths of the situational theory include the ability to enhance a leader’s adaptation to particular organizational circumstances and challenges (Hunt & Fedynich, 2019). It also creates a better working environment for the employees and increases employee collaboration and organizational success. Besides, the strengths of trait theory include the ability to identify a leader’s traits and provide a framework for assessing a leader’s traits and behaviors (Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

Finally, the strengths of power theory include enhancing decision-making and incorporating a one-way communication process, ensuring the information reaches the right audience. Schedlitzki and Edwards (2021) explain that the power theory improves organizational crisis management because the leader can promptly make decisions and boost team morale(Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

Weaknesses (Part I)

Weaknesses of situational leadership theory include failure to consider the organization’s long-term goals, inability to repeat tasks, and focus on the organization’s short-term success, making it challenging to employ long-term goals (Hunt & Fedynich, 2019). Consequently, the weaknesses of trait theory include the generalization of the traits of successful leaders, can incorporate subjective judgments, and does not elaborate on the relationship between traits and behaviors (Hunt & Fedynich, 2019). The weaknesses of power theory include promoting overdependence on a single leader’s skills and traits and being unsuitable when employees resist (Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

Theories Application

Exemplary Leadership (Part I)

Patnaik (2021) illustrates that exemplary leaders like Nelson Mandela employed a situational leadership approach by being goal-oriented and perceiving a bigger picture based on the context of every situation. Winston Churchill employed trait theory by empowering people to press on irrespective of their struggles to ensure they achieve their goals (Churchill, 2022). Lastly, Mother Teresa employed situational leadership theory by being compassionate, determined, and humble in adjusting their operations to meet the demands of a diverse group of people’s needs, like food and medicine (Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

Anti-exemplary Leadership (Part I)

Anti-exemplary leaders like Idi Amin employed the power theory of leadership by being a tyrant, cunning, authoritative, and charismatic leader (Obara & Kebaya, 2019). Atilla the Hun also employed power theory by instigating fear and authoritarianism to overcome aggressors. Lastly, Joseph Stalin employed trait theory based on their wise, bold, inspirational, and genius traits (Linchenko, 2022) (Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

Leadership Theories (Part I)

The trait, situational, and power theories can be applied to past organizational contexts in which the leadership was authoritative and based on power theory. The departmental managers inspired and helped employees achieve their objectives by initiating employee development programs like seminars. The organization’s CEO was talented and decisive and took risks, such as integrating technology into the company operations (Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

Conclusion (Part I)

The principles of the situational, trait, and power theories are integral in achieving organizational change since they offer frameworks to help leaders guide their organizations to success. The situational leadership theory enables leaders to establish attractive and collaborative cultures, while the trait and power theories influence decision-making within the organization. The theories shaped the exemplary leadership styles of Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, and Winston Churchill, and non-exemplary leadership styles attributed to Idi Amin, Atilla the Hun, and Joseph Stalin (Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

Personal Theory

The situational, trait, and power theories align with the personal theory approach, which emphasizes a transformational leadership style. Transformational theory focuses on inspiring and motivating employees to improve performance (Deshwal & Ali, 2020). Wuryani et al. (2021) observe that situational leaders evaluate the needs and abilities of their employees to help shape their leadership styles, making it easy to develop positive relationships with the employees (Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

The trait theory also focuses on a leader’s in-born traits, which can influence employee growth, increasing the potential for success. Also, power theory emphasizes the leader’s ultimate authority in decision-making, which is integral in crisis management since it can be applied to compel employees to overcome the leaders’ dominance by seeking their power through development (Upadhyaya & Tyagi, 2020) (Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples). 

Aspects of the Theories (Part II)

The aspects of situational leadership theory applicable to transformational leadership style include the ability of a situational leader to adapt their leadership styles to the constantly changing organizational needs and delegate duties based on the criteria they perceive appropriate, promoting employee motivation (Wuryani et al., 2021). Besides, the aspects of trait theory applicable to transformational leadership include the traits, behaviors, and thought patterns enabling the leaders to influence transformational organizational change easily (Verawati & Hartono, 2020)(Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

Such leaders can inspire employee performance and create a win-win situation, enhancing organizational transformation. Lastly, aspects of power theory which critical to exemplary leadership and transformational change include the leaders’ ability to influence, support, and maintain authority (Upadhyaya & Tyagi, 2020). Such leaders can manage employee resistance to change by establishing authoritarian leadership as a cultural norm (Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

Theories and Practice Intersection (Part II)

The transformational leadership theory intersects with exemplary leadership approaches since they both emphasize employee motivation and inspiration. Transformational leaders must exert idealized influence, inspire motivation, consider employees at individual levels, and stimulate their intellectual capacities (Tilahun, 2021). They establish a vision and foster employee growth towards the vision through training and development, including establishing a trustful relationship with the employees (Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

Exemplary leaders can inform transformational leadership style by modeling the way for employees by assessing the values and beliefs defining individual behaviors (Schiuma et al., 2022). They can also challenge the organizational culture and processes to ensure that they incorporate employee needs for productive performance. They can also support employee teams by incorporating their views in decision-making to promote commitment and passion.

Essential and Flexible Aspects (Part II)

Essential aspects of the transformational theory of leadership theory include purpose and perseverance since it centralizes vision establishment to guide employee performance. The flexible aspects include persuasion and promise, whereby leaders should not persuade or promise employee benefits if they lead by showing positive examples based on behavior, decision-making, and thoughts (Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

These aspects enable internal stakeholders like employees to align their activities with the organization’s objectives based on the clarity of organizational purpose (Tilahun, 2021). The purpose, perseverance, and promise improve employee productivity and profits, which are crucial to attracting investors and ensuring shareholder satisfaction (Bakker et al., 2022). They also enhance customer satisfaction through the provision of quality services (Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

Challenging and Comfortable Aspects (Part II)

The challenging aspects of the transformational leadership theory include loss of focus among employees due to unclear organizational goals and increased risk of employee burnout when persevering to achieve the objectives (Schiuma et al., 2022). The challenging aspects align with flexible aspects like promise and perseverance since non-essential aspects increase the risk of poor employee performance by compelling employees to pursue established objectives, increasing the risk of unhealthy work-life balance (Tilahun, 2021)(Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

Consequently, the comfortable aspects include emphasizing employee motivation, increasing employee productivity, and professional development. These aspects align with essential aspects like purpose and motivation since they both focus on employee motivation and inspiration. 

Application

Scenario (Part II)

Employee strikes due to low wages were prominent in my previous workplace at a food production company. These strikes reduced employee productivity, affecting internal stakeholders, such as shareholders and the board of directors could not receive any bonuses, and salaries for the top management were reduced by 15%. The employees were demoralized and disengaged, leading to poor performance. Delayed production timelines also affected external stakeholders by interfering with customers’ schedules and late payment of suppliers (Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

Personal Theory (Part II)

The transformational leadership style can be applied at the individual level to improve employee morale by giving them a reason to work toward the organization’s objectives. Tilahun (2021) observes that a leader should also establish a reward-based system for employees, including creating a clear and transformational vision to give employee groups a purpose and encourage them to strive toward the company’s objectives, irrespective of the challenges experienced (Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

Also, the leader should create effective feedback and promote teamwork to help improve productivity across every organizational level by combining various skill sets and capabilities to accomplish tasks (Schiuma et al., 2022). Effective communication can help identify employee concerns, make them feel valued and motivated, and increase productivity.

Decision-making (Part II)

The transformational leadership theory informs decisions on improving the productivity of the company. Its focus on motivation enhanced understanding of the employees’ high turnover rates and reluctance to pursue the organization’s goals. Also, its emphasis on individualized consideration informed the need to support and encourage employees through effective communication to address individual concerns, enabling them to embrace change. The decisions to motivate and inspire employees resulted in increased productivity by enabling the employees to work towards a shared vision, reducing backloads of uncleared raw materials and processed food products, and reducing the additional costs of storing the products (Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

Effectiveness of Theory (Part II)

The transformational leadership theory effectively enhanced transformational change due to its ability to address employee concerns at a personal level. It boosts employee morale and promotes ethical leadership, which is necessary for establishing trustful and collaborative engagements (Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

However, its weakness related to transformational change includes the increased potential of missing crucial factors that could improve employee morale and productivity (Jensen et al., 2019). The theory’s success depends on the understanding and collaboration among employees, increasing its vulnerability to failure if the employees have varying interests (Jensen et al., 2019).

Evaluation Tool (Part II)

A Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) can be used to evaluate the transformational leadership theory. It can comprehensively assess the effectiveness of the leadership style in the organization, making it suitable for evaluating transformational change. Also, its components, such as individualized consideration (IC), can enhance a leader’s ability to collaborate and establish individualized engagements with the employees for improved motivation (Batista-Foguet et al., 2021) (Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

Summary (Part II)

The transformational leadership approach provides ample opportunities for improving employee morale and productivity at the food production company. It can motivate, inspire, and boost employee morale. It can help mitigate organizational problems, such as reducing employee wages, demoralizing, increasing turnover rates, high costs of storing raw materials and processed food products, and delayed payment of suppliers and creditors (Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

Leaders can apply the theory by establishing a clear organizational vision, nurturing idealized influences in employee groups, and encouraging teamwork through effective communication. It promotes ethical leadership, addresses employee concerns at a personal level, and enhances leadership support and engagement. An MLQ tool can be used to determine its effectiveness through a comprehensive assessment of every aspect of the leadership style (Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

Conclusion

Taught Others 

The leadership theory can be taught to others by encouraging them to establish compelling visions that align with the organizational goals (Tilahun, 2021). The organizational resources and employee capabilities must be incorporated into the awareness program to enhance transformational change in a contemporary organization by improving the adaptation of every aspect of the change initiative (Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

Aspiring leaders must be taught to implement the leadership approach consistently to help the leaders integrate a specific schedule and procedure into the organizational culture (Tilahun, 2021). Aspiring leaders should be encouraged to foster growth, motivation, and trust, which are the core concepts of transformational leadership theory (Theories of Leadership-Nursing Paper Examples).

References

Bakker, A. B., Hetland, J., Olsen, O. K., & Espevik, R. (2022). Daily transformational leadership: A source of inspiration for follower performance? European Management Journal. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2022.04.004

Batista-Foguet, J. M., Esteve, M., & van Witteloostuijn, A. (2021). Measuring leadership an assessment of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. Plos One, 16(7), https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254329

Churchill, W. (2022). The most significant works of Winston Churchill. Czechia: DigiCat.

Deshwal, V., & Ali, M. A. (2020). A systematic review of various leadership theories. Shanlax International Journal of Commerce, 8(1), 38-43. https://doi.org/10.34293/

Hunt, T., & Fedynich, L. (2019). Leadership: Past, present, and future: An evolution of an idea. Journal of Arts and Humanities, 8(2), 22-26. https://doi.org/10.18533/journal.v8i2.1582

Jensen, U. T., Andersen, L. B., & Jacobsen, C. B. (2019). Only when we agree! How value congruence moderates the impact of goal‐oriented leadership on public service motivation. Public Administration Review, 79(1), 12-24.https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13008

Linchenko, A. (2022). Between memory and myth: The images of Joseph Stalin in new Russian media1. In Michal, H. & Piotr, J. Image, History and Memory (pp. 232-240). Routledge.

Obara, G. N., & Kebaya, C. (2019). Representation of the big man typology in the rise and fall of Idi Amin. Nairobi Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 3(4), 40-56.https://doi.org/10.58256/njhs.v3i4.387

Patnaik, K. (2021). The path to leadership. Jaico Publishing House.

Schedlitzki, D., & Edwards, G. (2021). Studying leadership: Traditional and critical approaches. (3^rd ed.). United Kingdom: SAGE Publications.

Schiuma, G., Schettini, E., Santarsiero, F., & Carlucci, D. (2022). The transformative leadership compass: Six competencies for digital transformation entrepreneurship. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 28(5), 1273-1291. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-01-2021-0087

Tilahun, G. (2021). Practice and role of transformational leadership on organizational performance. Germany: Bod Third Party Titles.

Upadhyaya, M. & Tyagi, N. (2020). Leadership: Find your way to lead. Authors Tree Publishing.

Verawati, D. M., & Hartono, B. (2020). Effective leadership: From the perspective of trait theory and behavior theory. Jurnal REKOMEN (Riset Ekonomi Manajemen), 4(1), 13-23.https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d57a/9f30e3e4c88a3a0610372818d3bdb5e75693.pdf

Verawati, D. M., & Hartono, B. (2020). Effective leadership: From the perspective of trait theory and behavior theory. Jurnal REKOMEN (Riset Ekonomi Manajemen), 4(1), 13-23.https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d57a/9f30e3e4c88a3a0610372818d3bdb5e75693.pdf

Wuryani, E., Rodlib, A., Sutarsib, S., Dewib, N., & Arifb, D. (2021). Analysis of decision support system on situational leadership styles on work motivation and employee performance. Management Science Letters, 11(2), 365-372. http://dx.doi.org/10.5267/j.msl.2020.9.033

Zimenga, T. (2020). Situational leadership theory. What kind of leadership style should be adopted to lead the employees of a McDonald’s restaurant? Germany: GRIN Verlag.