It goes without saying that effective clinical leadership plays a highly essential role in contemporary clinical settings as it ensures the provision of safe and efficient health care. In general, competent health care professionals should identify various theories and styles of leadership relevant to their practice. Such competency helps to develop professional skills, become a leader, ensure high-quality health care delivery, and establish positive relationships with colleagues and subordinates.
The transformational leadership theory may be regarded as one of the most efficient and applicable theories in current medical settings. Introduced by James MacGregor Burns and subsequently extended by Bernard M. Bass, it addresses a specific relationship between a leader and a follower, “in which they motivate each other to higher levels, resulting in value system congruence” between them (Xu, 2017, p. 156). Supported by personality and a strong vision, a leader motivates a follower to adjust opinions, expectations, and inspirations in order to achieve common goals (Andersen, 2018). The theory has four main components that include strong motivation, ideal impact, personal consideration, and intellectual stimulation (Xu, 2017). Another commonly applied leadership theory in nursing is the participative leadership theory developed by Kurt Lewin in the 1930s (Xu, 2017). It implies the involvement of followers in the decision-making process when a leader considers their opinion while still keeping control.
In general, both theories are highly efficient as they help to improve health care delivery and increase productivity in clinical settings as employees feel respected and motivated. Participative leadership is especially effective in hospitals, information technology companies, universities, and pharmaceutical firms, while transformational leadership may be applied in all types of facilities. However, there is no universal leadership style or theory that may be applied in absolutely any situation. Thus, both theories may be less efficient in the case of an emergency with limited time when a strong leader should take all responsibility for patient outcomes.
References
Andersen, J. A. (2018). Servant leadership and transformational leadership: From comparisons to farewells. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 39(6), 762-774. Web.
Xu, J. –H. (2017). Leadership theory in clinical practice. Chinese Nursing Research, 4(4), 155-157. Web.