Nature of Mr Nahar Alrshidis Leadership, a Nursing Supervisor at Retina Eye Hospital - Case Study Example

Leadership and Management for Health Professionals Name Course Instructor’s Name Date Leadership and Management for Health Professionals Within an institution, a series of events and factors requires delegation for successful achievement of the organization’s goals. However, in order to affect this, every institution requires a leader. Nursing as a profession requires not only diligence but also right focused and committed individuals with humane in order to thrive in the medical field. This paper seeks to analyse the nature of Mr. Nahar Alrshidi’s leadership, a nursing supervisor at Retina Eye Hospital.1 In order to obtain both the positive and negative traits of Mr. Alrshidi’s leadership style, servant leadership theory will be our analytical tool under the human resource framework aimed at, and exhaustively focusing on his achievements and the nature or his roles as a supervisor within the hospital fraternity (House, 2004). The rationale of the analysis will be to recognize the elements of successful leadership within the context of a nursing leader, as shown by the features and performance of Mr Nahar Alrshidi’s leadership. Elements of Effective Leadership A good leader must be able to influence others. They must be able to give their followers a chance to express their feelings. He/she must be focused and able to delegate. They must be able to lead in the right direction. They must be able to show improvement as results of their leadership, both in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. The above-mentioned styles are universally used; however, there are other types falling under these broad categories (Morgeson, 2005). These includes the situational leadership style that allows the leader to make use of the various styles as stated, depending on the current situation and the employee competence in handling the prevailing situations in a given period within the healthcare setup. A good leader therefore should not only be conversant with one leadership style in order to deal with different situations as they arise (Yukl, 2006 & Clinton, 2004). A leader should use a particular style to deal with a particular issue or situation.  A nurse supervisor should thus be able to use various leadership styles when dealing with their subordinates or even patients, depending on the scenario at hand, and not be too dictatorial or pass on the blame to others when matters go wrong. For example, Description of the Leadership Theory Mr Alrshidi uses the servant leadership theory (House, 2004), which implies that a leader should focus more on doing what best suits the followers rather than on what pleases them as a leader. As a servant leader, Mr Alrshidi puts the interests of others before his own ambitions. He adheres very much to the specifications of this theory, such as respecting the moral ethics of his subordinate staff, incorporating his own ideas with those of his staff and believing in teamwork. As a nurse supervisor, he respects the other nurses’ opinions on medical issues like diagnosis and treatments. Moreover, he focuses more on the needs of the patients instead of trying to win favours with his superiors (Warneka, 2006). Other that the suspects mentioned above, good leadership should awaken the passion and persistence among the workers for instance, nursing especially the department that deals with the eye, any treatment or management decision can result into eye correction, partial or permanent vision impairment. Mr. Alrshidi created a good rapport with the workers within the hospital set up, an act that reduces cases of mistakes as the whole hospital fraternity embraces the fact that not no body is perfect and as a team we can achieve even higher than the expectations. His ability to transform organizations dreams into reality (Kouzes & Posner, 2002), through the enormous procedures practiced in the quest to problem solving under different circumstances increases the morale of the employees through their involvement in decision-making. However, with establishment of a friendly working environment, Mr. Alrshidi understands his workers best and have different strategies of dealing with them in case of demoralizing situations through inspiration and motivation for the betterment of the hospital and the society. Leadership Theories There are various leadership theories that a nurse supervisor can put into practice. These include the servant leadership theory (House, 2004). This theory implies that a leader should focus more on doing what best suits the followers rather than on what pleases them as a leader. As a servant leader, one has to put the interests of others first before their own ambitions. Servant leaders adhere to respecting moral ethics, incorporating their own ideas with those of their followers and believing in teamwork. As a nurse supervisor, they need to respect the other nurses’ opinions on medical issues like diagnosis and treatments. A nurse supervisor using this theory will focus more on the needs of the patients rather than trying to win favours with their superiors (Warneka, 2006). They are also very rational in their decision-making and seek to question the status quo (Morgeson, 2005). They are visionary and concentrate more on building social and communication structures in the working environs. As leaders, the nurse supervisors should be willing to tap into the knowledge of their nurses by training them in areas where they may be lacking, develop their areas of expertise, and involve them in setting up objectives. If they do this, it motivates their subordinates who will work harder, since they feel integrated in the process. According to (Warneka, 2007 & Clinton, 2004), a servant leader should have a good persona, put others first, and have great interpersonal skills. There are elements in the servant leadership theory that a nurse supervisor should adopt and use in their daily job routines. In the theory, a servant leader should be a good listener (Kaiser, Hogan & Craig, 2008). That is, the nurse supervisor should listen carefully when patients are describing their symptoms, which helps in proper diagnosis, hence best treatment. If they do not listen, this will lead to misdiagnosis, the wrong medication prescribed, which might result in the deaths of patients. Another element is being empathetic (Warneka, 2006). A nurse leader, as implied by the servant leadership theory, should learn how to create cohesion and improve teamwork. They should seek to heal injured feelings and improve relations between patients and nurses, nurses and nurses, and nurses and management (Morgeson, 2005). Another quality that a nurse leader should adopt from the servant leadership theory is the need to persuade rather than dictate terms to subordinates. They should create consensus and weigh both sides of the issue at hand to take the necessary steps (Mumford, Zaccaro, Harding, Jacobs, & Fleishman, 2000). This gives room for negotiation, thus making them understand their subordinates’ point of view. They should also be concept implementers and be patient. That is, they should adopt concepts that improve service delivery, even when it does not benefit them as individuals. The eventuality theory as described by (McGovern, Simmons & Gaken, 2008), illustrates what the delegated supervisor should use in their leadership endeavours. In this theory, the focus is more on other factors that would influence a person to be a leader by using a particular leadership style. The theory as explained by McGovern et al. (2008) suggests that a leader should interchange the leadership styles to suit the situation, depending on competences of the followers and the complexity of the situation, among other variables. The nursing supervisor in this situation can assess the scenario at hand and choose to use either of the above discussed leadership styles (Campbell, 1990 & Clinton, 2004). For example, if the situation requires very fast action, the supervisor can give instructions without engaging the juniors for consultations. The nursing practitioner should also be in a position to use other leadership styles such as the Participative leadership styles in case of other emergencies arising elsewhere, and as such, the juniors perceived to assume his role. Styles Some examples of leadership styles include the autocratic style of leadership in which the leader gives the orders to their subordinates without seeking their opinions about the issue at hand. In a nursing environment, a nurse prescribing a certain medical prescription to a patient may adopt this style (Klein, Ziegert, Knight, & Xiao, 2006). Another style of leadership is the independent leadership style in which the leader consults with others in order to come to a decision. The leader considers other people’s ideas and opinions, debating the ideas until all agree to take certain action. A third style of leadership known as the Participative Leadership where duties delegated to the workers and monitored by the supervisor. This is important in helping to motivate employees and challenges them to take on bigger responsibilities (Morgeson, 2005). Moreover, this helps them be equipped during emergencies when the leader is absent and when quick decisions or actions taken. This style requires cautiousness, though, since some leaders may use it maliciously (House, 2004). That is, they may use it to pass on blame to others when things go wrong or to evade blame. Doctors or nurse supervisors who give nurses the chance to make decisions during emergencies use the delegative style in nursing management. This may happen when a nurse supervisor is out of reach and a patient suffers an attack. In this case, the nurse expected to take appropriate action to curtail damage caused by the attack, or even prescribe medication that would ease pain or control the situation until the doctor clears a different procedure. This is applicable in situations like in emergencies due to accident were a large number of patients may be referred to one health institution, this situation may overwhelm the doctors on call till they have no option that to delegate the duties to the other nurses and health workers available to resuscitate the patients (Torbert, 2004). Analysis of Leadership Style The most important aspect in leadership is the behaviour and relationship between the leader and the followers. However, with reference to the servant leadership theory (House, 2004), Mr Alrshidi’s leadership style inspires the followers to tirelessly work Nature of the Leadership Role The role of Mr Alrshidi as the nurse supervisor is to oversee the operations of the hospital as far as the duties of the nurses are concerned. He is keen to involve his nursing team in every decision that he makes. This shows how important it is for the nursing team to share their views in order to work as a team regardless of the position an individual holds within the health institution. This has greatly improved the nurses’ quality and quantity of production. Strengths and Weaknesses of Leadership theories There are two main weaknesses in his leadership, not all decisions be generalized like in the hospital situation which is very delicate due to involvement in life issues, and only the leader should make a final decision within his / her jurisdiction. In addition to that, for instance when a court case requires an explanation as to why the decision that lead to loss of life made, it would be an offence for the nursing leader to state that all the nursing staff had to come to an agreement on the way foreword. Such cases would lead to automatic imprisonment. Additionally, a leader should act within the capacity allocated or else, Mr. Alrshidi would not been selected to lead the group. Mr. Alrshidi demonstrates very strong associations with his fellow nurses following the good quality healthcare services, proper patient management, in time and procedural reports accompanied by workers coordination due to the good rapport between the workers and management. The second strength is that he is able to understand the nurses’ views in order to solve any conflict that may occur. Finally, he efficiently and effectively improved the situations both within the healthcare and financially ever since he took over office a few months ago. However, for every good idea available there have to be a demerit. Recommendations for Improvement It is important to note that all the leadership theories are related and can be applicable within one or more situations in the organization at the same time to produce excellent results. The delegate leadership style, for instance, could be very useful to Mr Alrshidi’s leader in that there would be more concern, dedication and commitment competitively to achieve the expectations. This style leaves the decision making process in the hands of the employees, respecting and trusting their judgments, and believing that they are capable of making sound decisions without any disruptions. Through motivation, the employees are challenged to work extra hard in order to be rewarded afterwards (Morgeson, 2005). In addition, to the delegation theory, the workers behaviour towards their duties and responsibilities should be positive in order for the patients to be well taken care of, it is important to apply the behavioural assumption, whereby Mr. Alrshidi will be able to natural the character traits of every leader. These will restraint the duty allocation depending on the job complexity, which corresponds to the determination, self-confidence and concern. Finally, it is important to note that leadership, not found in a person or position, but rather it is an activity achieved through practice, the leader should contribute apart from being a leader to enhance the combined standard of practice and service delivery. Conclusion As explained above, a nurse supervisor should seek to fulfil the desires of the patients and collaborate on other nurses ideas in their decision-making. This demonstrated in the case of Mr Alrshidi who has practised the style of participative or democratic leadership and the theory of servant leadership. This has led to improved service delivery, which has the effect of satisfying patients. This therefore implies that a nurse supervisor should be able to integrate the leadership styles in the different theories that they choose to employ. This could include the servant leadership theory that allows a nurse leader to tap into every individual’s potential, thus improving performance. The leader could also decide to use the contingency theory, the behavioural theory or the management theory according to the leadership structure of the organisation they are working for or according to the situation at hand. References Campbell, J. (1990). An overview of the Army selection and classification project. Personnel Psychology, 43, 231-240. House, R. J. (2004). Culture, Leadership, and Organizations: The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies. 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