Transformational Leadership In Nursing

The very nature of the nursing environment is one, which is highly fluid requiring rapid adaptability to unexpected change. The nature of change and individual levels of adaptability can, and often do, create levels of inequalities within the scope of the nursing environment. There consists a diversity of different management theories and approaches to organisational flow and management, yet to create supportive and equality based environments the transformational leadership and management module proves more applicable to the environment of nursing. According to Hurley and Hutchinson “there is an equally pressing need for nurses to be more capable of leading themselves, other professional staff and in leading on the care delivery” (Hurley and
On the surface it is reasonable to deduce that management manages and leadership leads however Burn’s research led him to conclude two distinctively different approaches which are transformational leadership and transactional leadership. The transactional module appears more suited to the role of management as, in its simplest form, is built on the principle of give and take. This form of give and take may create feelings of inequality due to disproportions in the give and take dynamic. The transformational leadership seeks to foster change from leading within as a means of fostering external change while creating an environment, which seeks to promote equality (Burns, 1978). This beckons consideration of whether effective managers can act as effective leaders. In the context of nursing according to Hurley and Hutchinson “Within a well resourced and structured hospital… mentors and leadership competency standards were used to develop leaders who also held managing roles” (Hurley & Hutchinson, 2013). However even though leadership is considered an essential component of nursing practice it is divergent from the practice of management (Stanley, 2006). While these two opposing perspectives have merit, one thing is fundamentally clear and that nurses need to feel supported in change if effective forward progression within the industry is to occur
In consideration of this transformational leadership does not necessarily require strict adherence to positive moral values. In support of this Malloy & Penprase (2010) suggest that transformational leaders may have the propensity to apply commanding influence over followers who willingly trust and respect the leader. Transformational leaders could have narcissistic tendencies, which would predispose them to lead arising from a need to exist on power and manipulation. Additionally followers may have a personality, which positions them to become dependent and as a result establish solid yet unhappy ties to their leaders (Malloy & Penprase,