Democratic Leadership: Drawing Distinctions With Distributed Leadership, Term Paper Example

Introduction

This essay embraces a comprehensive analysis of my leadership style comparing it with that of a theorist whose style it could be identified. The discussion would feature elements such as identification of my personal leadership style with examples of its implementation as well as selecting one other comparing the characteristics with my own. The discussion continues relating my personal leadership style weaknesses, and how they can be changed into strengths Ways in which leadership theory could be applied by me to different levels of nursing staff will be outlined.

A section on leadership is presented engaging some evidence-based practice example evaluating the flow of leadership from positions of power in the work setting out into the community or vice-ver. The way in which leadership influences change and change theory is a valuable input in this essay. Leadership influences in the workplace embracing its impact on quality improvement forms a significant part of the discussion .Finally, a review of how an astute leader manages conflict in his/her organization would engage the reader s attention.

Identification of personal leadership style with examples of Implementation of personal leadership style

In identifying my personal leadership style, it would be correct to describe it as democratic. When a democratic approach leadership is adapted the persons who are being led participate in the decision making process. Essentially, this type of leadership is also known as participatory leadership. Characteristically, it is shared leadership meaning that both top up and top down communication styles are utilized. The strength of a democratic process is the potential towards open to communication (Howell, 2012).

Specifically, it is communicating concerns and making decisions, which are relevant to development of the organization along with fostering the well-being of individual employees. Organizations, which have adapted a shared decision making philosophy tend to be more productive because employees feel valued. Concerns are heard and addressed through a fair, firm and friendly industrial atmosphere. Leaders function with precision not because they have exceptional qualities, but because followers are confident in their leadership due to the shared decision making process (Howell, 2012).

Identification of one other leadership style and comparing Characteristics of that leadership style with my personal style

This is unlike an autocratic leadership style where leaders make all decisions and subordinate staff is compelled to follow without questioning. A great example is when nurses are asked to discuss specific issues pertaining to improvement patient care. Each member of the team offers an idea and decisions are made from a culmination of ideas. Societies where democracy is not practice leaders engage in the authoritarian dictatorship style of social administration. It can benefitted as very unproductive. Some theorists argue however that it might the necessary for leaders to practice both democratic and authoritative leadership style as a blend since both have their strengths and weaknesses (Woods, 2010).

For example, in some situations where democracy is the rule employees could undermine the process by prolonging the decision making process complication progress. It it here when the authoritative approach should be applied subtly or a smooth transition form a stale mate into an appropriate decision. A true charismatic leader would regonize when this weapon has to be applied in bringing order to the work environment when employees undermine the decision making process through indecisiveness (Woods, 2010).

Optimal setting for implementation of the personal leadership style

The optimal setting, in my opinion  for effective implementation of my personal leadership style is the clinical area or ward environment whereby a team of nurses are assigned patient care duties. Registered nurses are leaders ,in their own capacity of heading nursing teams in clinical settings such as intensive care or medical surgical environments. As a team leader opportunities are opened for demonstrating democratic leadership. While ideally democratic leadership styles are applicable to organizations where large number of employees interact, this strategy could be practiced in a clinical setting too among a team of nurses. This can further extend to units and developed among unit leaders.

Comparing my personal leadership characteristics with a nursing theorist

However, a nursing theorist with whom my leadership style could be compared is Ida Orlando (1972). She advanced a middle range theory with the assumption that leader-follower relationships are dynamic. Concepts embodying the theory are closely linked to democratic leadership in that there is shared decision making between leader and follower (Martindale, 2011). Essentially, the theory is known as one pertaining to the nursing process discipline. Her leadership perception was contained in the nurse patient relationship with the nurse being the leader and patient follower. The example given was one in which the patient appeared to have a need for help (Orlando, 1972).

Underlying that masked appearance was a desire for being respected, appreciated and valued as a human being. Within the dynamic leader follower process the leader nurse must demonstrate perception that uncovers the hidden need for help in the patient (Orlando, 1972). In my opinion this is associated with the democratic process whereby the follower could be anyone in the organization forming a team of workers. It is believed that the ‘who’ following makes the difference between a nursing leader and one outside of a healthcare organization (Woods, 2010).

Weaknesses of my personal leadership style and how They are changed into strengths

A notable weakness of my personal leadership style pertains towards the tendency of throwing my leadership responsibility upon subordinate staff under the guise of leading from behind and the democratic process of participatory leadership. On many occasions it does not work out either because the persons are immatured in leadership or have a conflicting leadership style to mine. Consequently, a strategy, which could be adapted to strengthen this weakness, is first evaluating the person’s leadership skills before assigning any responsibility, which requires leadership interventions (Woods, 2010).

Application of leadership theory to staff members with Varying levels of experience and age gaps

The application of leadership theory to staff members with varying levels of experience and age gaps would require a leader, as Ida Orlando’s (1972) theory advances, to use perception in the dynamic leader follower relationship. In case of the patient nurse conception of apparent need for help being interpreted at a deeper level, similarly, staff members become individual followers with need requirements to be perceived by leaders (Orlando, 1972).

The flow of leadership from positions of power in the work Setting out into the community or vice-vers

Consequently, the flow of leadership from positions of power in the work setting out into the community or vice-versa, in most instances there is a political or social administration influence with respect to policy.  Leaders communicate policy changes and concerns from leaders within organizations and they are transferred to community leaders. The modern world is highly impacted by people with positions of power in the community or society. They include stakeholders who make financial contributions to community focused programs. Many programs cannot reach their full execution potential if stakeholders or partnerships are removed from the planning experience. This is how leadership flows from the community into the work setting. Usually who pays the piper calls the tune. As such, the influence is strong entering the workplace from the community setting. This could be is true when it moves outward from the workplace into the community. In nurses execution of health promotion projects these are executed from  a position of power (Woods, 2010).

One evidence-based practice article concerning leadership

One evidence-based practice article concerning nursing leadership was written by Duffy and colleagues. It pertained to Evidence-based nursing leadership: Evaluation of a Joint Academic-Service Journal Club. This article discusses the essentials of nursing leadership in joint ventures. It was discovered that there is very little study conducted on evidence-based nursing leadership. Besides, there has been limited application of evidence-based leadership in nursing practice (Duffy, Thompson, Hobbs,  Niemeyer-Hackett  & Elpers, 2011).

How leadership influences change and change theory

Leadership influences change and change theory through the leader’s philosophy and charisma. Many changes theories advance that leaders are initiators of change. Change is the only constant in any relationship. Change is inevitable. Consequently, the style adopted could either build or destroy persons functioning in an organization. From my experiences  leadership influences change and change theory impacts leadership change. As leaders work with creating new leadership styles changes occur. These changes over time become evidence-based practices through research studies. Evidence-based practice emerges from theory derived from scientific investigations (Wood, 2010).

How leadership influences quality improvement in the work place

As such, leaders who have adopted a leadership style whereby staff and patients realize that they are valued and appreciated these attributes influence quality improvement in the work environment. Some people seem to born leaders being motivators of people. For people to be motivated by a leader he she must be loved by followers. Besides, during the modeling process significant qualities must be demonstrated, which followers would like to emulate

How leadership manages conflict and conflict resolution

Astute leadership is equipped with relevant strategies to manage conflict and its resolution. Once people of different cultural backgrounds, age groups and ethnicity mingle in a work environment conflict is inevitable. As such, the first step to management of conflict is limiting its occurrence in the workplace. Then when it does surface strategies must be designed to address them from a specific to general perspective. From a specific it means identifying the issue creating the disturbance and devising resolution strategies, especially, from an individual level. Modern nursing strategies apply systems thinking as an approach to conflict resolution. The technique moves from specific to general starting where the root  source of the problem  begins (Woods, 2010).

References

Duffy, J. Thompson, D. Hobbs, T. Niemeyer-Hackett, N., & Elpers, S (2011). Evidence-based nursing leadership: Evaluation of a Joint Academic-Service Journal Club. J. Nurs Adm, 41(10):422-7

Howell, J. (2012). Snapshots of Great Leadership. London, GBR: Taylor and Francis

Martindale, N (2011). Leadership Styles: How to handle the different personas. Strategic Communication Management 15 (8): 32–35

Orlando, I. J. (1972). The discipline and teaching of nursing process: An evaluative study. New York: G. P. Putman’s Sons.

Woods, A.P. (2010). Democratic leadership: drawing distinctions with distributed leadership. International Journal of Leadership in Education 7 (1): 3–36.