Leadership vs. Management
Running head: LEADERSHIP VS. MANAGEMENT IN NURSING
Leadership vs. Management in Nursing
Deborah L Schumann
Leadership and Professional Development, VNSG1231
Central Texas College
School of Nursing
April 15, 2012
Leadership and management are not the same but, in the healthcare field both leadership and management skills are needed. A manager can be a leader but, a leader is not necessarily going to be a manager. A manager is appointed to ensure that the patient is well taken care of by the healthcare employees and to ensure policy and procedures are followed by the employees. A leader is someone that goes above and beyond to care for the patients. Examples of leadership include: walking by a room of a patient and seeing the aid struggle with the care of a patient and offering to help and teaching them better ways of handling the situation or possibly walking by the room of another nurse and hearing the patient crying and going in to check on the patient. Example of management: manager walks by a room and finds an employee performing a procedure differently from the way that company policies and procedures dictate and writes the employee up for not following policies and procedures.
Leaders help inspire, motivate and influence other employees while, nurse managers control work schedules, policies, make decisions and either reward or reprimand employees for the jobs they perform.
Healthcare facilities must have a good mix of both leaders and managers to ensure excellent patient care. Not everyone has the ability to manage and not everyone has the ability to lead but, sometimes a little training can help them to learn.
Leadership is more of an art than a science. Whereas management is often thought of as a science in which a series of logical steps can be followed to implement whatever their job requires , leaders differ from managers in a variety of ways. Leaders are active in formulating goals and objectives for the employees.
Leadership vs. Management in Nursing
Deborah L Schumann
Leadership and Professional Development, VNSG1231
Central Texas College
School of Nursing
April 15, 2012
Leadership and management are not the same but, in the healthcare field both leadership and management skills are needed. A manager can be a leader but, a leader is not necessarily going to be a manager. A manager is appointed to ensure that the patient is well taken care of by the healthcare employees and to ensure policy and procedures are followed by the employees. A leader is someone that goes above and beyond to care for the patients. Examples of leadership include: walking by a room of a patient and seeing the aid struggle with the care of a patient and offering to help and teaching them better ways of handling the situation or possibly walking by the room of another nurse and hearing the patient crying and going in to check on the patient. Example of management: manager walks by a room and finds an employee performing a procedure differently from the way that company policies and procedures dictate and writes the employee up for not following policies and procedures.
Leaders help inspire, motivate and influence other employees while, nurse managers control work schedules, policies, make decisions and either reward or reprimand employees for the jobs they perform.
Healthcare facilities must have a good mix of both leaders and managers to ensure excellent patient care. Not everyone has the ability to manage and not everyone has the ability to lead but, sometimes a little training can help them to learn.
Leadership is more of an art than a science. Whereas management is often thought of as a science in which a series of logical steps can be followed to implement whatever their job requires , leaders differ from managers in a variety of ways. Leaders are active in formulating goals and objectives for the employees.
References: Hughes RL, Ginnett RC, Curphy GJ (2007) Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience. 5th edn. McGraw Hill, Boston Marquis BL, Huston CJ (2009) Leadership Roles and Management Functions in Nursing: Theory and Application. 6th edn. Wolters/Kluwer/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia Muchinsky PM (2007) Psychology Applied to Work: An Introduction to Industrial and Organisational Psychology. 8th edn. Thompson/Wadsworth, Australia