Critical Sample Essay on Nursing Leadership

Critical Sample Essay on Nursing Leadership

A review of the available literature provides a wealth of examples of authors advocating leadership as an essential quality in nursing. For example, Shackleton (1950) emphasises that nursing needs strong leadership and recommends a strong transactional approach of reward and punishment to get results and promote teamwork. However, more recently, authors have moved towards the concept of charismatic and transformational leadership (Smith, 2001; Jones, 2004). These qualities are also an integral part of the new recommendations in the NHS Plan (DOH 2002).

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Charisma appears to be a complex phenomenon to define. Davidzhar (1991) suggests that it is an aspect of personality which makes the individual irresistible to others, in terms of their ability to persuade and empower others. However, other authors, such as Romano (1996) and Harvey (2000) highlight the intangible nature of charisma and emphasise the frustrating point that individuals know charisma if they see it, but find it difficult to define.

It appears problematic, therefore, to identify exactly how charisma can become an integral part of developing transformational leadership in nursing, if it is a quality which, in itself, is difficult to define. For example, Smith (2001) maintains that transformational leadership uses a combination of charisma and interpersonal skills to enable achievement. However, identifying potential transformational leaders may be a difficulty if the pre-requisite for identifying charismatic individuals is an integral part of this selection process.

Jones (2004) argues that the key ability of a transformational leader is the ability to empower others, while Fea (2001) maintains that their key strength is to increase feelings of self-worth and capability in their team members. On reflection, my own experience of transformational leadership appeared to be based principally on being persuaded, by the sheer force of personality of the individual, that I had the potential to contribute and achieve. It seemed to me that it was their apparent faith in me and their power of persuasion that enabled me to become an effective team member.

This requirement for charisma in transformational leadership, therefore, may indeed be based on individual personality factors that enable others to feel good about themselves and their achievements. There is some evidence that this is the case. Jones (2003), for example, argues that transformational leaders are born and cannot be made. Regisara (2003) also maintains common key personality traits can be identified in effective transformational leaders, which have probably been present since childhood. It seems, therefore, that the key requirement of the NHS Plan (2002) for the training of transformational leaders is not as straightforward as they first envisioned, as the available literature suggests that these leaders are born, rather than made…………….