Case study on leadership styles in nursing

Annotated Bibliography

Case Study Analysis: Tug of war with the Director of Nursing

Name

Institution

Case Study Analysis: Tug of war with the Director of Nursing

Question 1

In respect to the reading of reference, Joe Atkins leadership style is Autocratic. This is evidenced by the fact that this health care professional was confrontational when he disagreed with his subordinates. In many instances, Joe assigned personal blame when things did not go well. What this particular point reveals is that Joe was a leader who was not willing to take responsibility for mistakes committed by the subordinates. What exceptional leaders do is that they assume the responsibility of the mistakes committed by their subordinates because they know that they are working as a team. In the case of teamwork such as this, a mistake made by one member is a mistake by the team and not one individual (Hart, 2015).

Margaret Bond’s leadership style is Paternalistic. This type of leadership style is evidenced by the fact that this leader treated her subordinates as though they were members of an extended family. The assistant DON, for instance, was given preferential treatment. This kind of treatment shows that Bond was committed to making her subordinate staff feel like they were one team. The significance of creating a team mentality in an organization is that it compels many employees to share knowledge. The second importance of a teamwork mentality is that it prevents possible conflicts in the workplace (Rau, 2016).

Tim Wagner employed a transformational leadership style. As evidenced in the case study of reference, Tim was so much concerned about the welfare of the patients than even the nurses that were supposed to be attending to the patients. A good leader in my view should be one that follows up on the duties assigned to his or her subordinates. If Tim should have ignored following up on the duties that were assigned to Claudia, this particular case will have been worse. The fact that Tim went ahead to inform the top management about the existing issue demonstrates further that he was deeply concerned (Hart, 2015).

Question 2

From my point of view, it was appropriate for Tim Wagner to intervene in the situation of concerning Ruffle Jacob. This is for the reason that the life of this patient was in danger. It would be a show of being inhuman if Tim will have seen a patient whose health condition is worsening and then ignore him. If the patients or even the guardians that brought the patient to the hospital had seen this, they will have advertised the health facility negatively through word of mouth. The impact of this is that it will have damaged the image of the facility (Rau, 2016).

Question 3

As I see it, the DON did not have Mr. Jacob’s situation under control. The most appropriate thing that this leader should have done to bring the situation under control is to get another nurse to help the patient. Better still; the DON should have attended the patient on his own. The reason why I am saying this is that Tim had already trained as a nurse. What this means is that he had the knowledge and skills needed to attend to the patient. If Tim would have chosen to attend to the patient, he would have led by example. This will have motivated the other staff members to lead by example (Hart, 2015).

Question 4

It was appropriate for Tim Wagner to grant Nancy a day off because this is recognized under the labor union regulations. According to the labor union rules and regulations, all employees are supposed to be given a leave whenever they there is an urgent need on their part. An urgent need on the part of the employees, in this case, refers to those circumstances as sickness situations or even when the employee feels unwell. The significance being given a leave, in this case, is to allow the employees enough time to overcome the challenge being faced. This is because working while facing personal challenges leads to poor quality of work (Rau, 2016).

Question 5

If you ask me, a nursing home administrator should visit on weekends and nights. These kinds of visits should, however, be approached in a manner that does not in any way demoralize health facility employees. Nursing home health facility employees get demoralized when an administrator pays an impromptu visit and then begin to scorn the workers. The impact of being demoralized is that it compromises on the quality of the services being delivered in the health care organization. Other than compromising the quality of services being delivered, scornful reactions from the administrators can lead to loss of employees (Hart, 2015).

Question 6

It was not appropriate for Tim Wagner to take over the PPS meeting because this made Claudia think that she was not trusted in terms of fulfilling her duties. The last thing that an organizational leader should do is show that he or she does not trust the subordinates. The danger of this is that it influences the subordinates to fear taking responsibility for their actions. When the subordinates realize that their supervisor does not trust them, they will leave the role of making decisions to the supervisor. It is usually difficult under this circumstance for an organization to perform well (Rau, 2016).

Question 7

From my personal judgment, the tug of war existed as a result of a lack of trust. The best way that Tim should manage the existing conflict he has with the DON is through learning to avoid overreacting to crises. One of the things that evidence mistrust as the main issue is the happenings during the PPS meeting. Tim decided to take over the meeting because he did not trust Claudia. Claudia realized that Tim did not trust her and then asked him to find out whether Tim recognized the fact that she fulfilled her duties (Hart, 2015).

References

Hart, B. (2015). Conflict in the Workplace. Behavioral Consultants, PC. MIT Sloan Management Review, 48(2), 5.

Rau Foster, M. (2016). Conflict in the Workplace. Retrieved from Uche, UW (1986).” Twenty Five. Journal of Behavioral Studies in Business, 5, 1.