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Evidence Based Article Review
Jessica Alred
Auburn Montgomery
Giltinane, C.L. (2013). Leadership styles and theories. Nursing Standard, 27(41), 35-39.
Giltinane’s article on leadership was selected for review because the reader strives to have a more comprehensive understanding of popular leadership styles and theories utilized in the modern healthcare era. The reader’s reaction to the article is that it is an excellent, well thought out article. The reader also believes that the article is very informative. In addition, the article has increased the reader’s understanding of the importance of adopting and incorporating a leadership style into practice.
In the article, Giltinane first defines and summarizes the overall goals of leadership. The author then explains the important role an individual’s emotional intelligence plays in becoming a successful leader. The author also identifies and analyzes three leadership styles that are prevalent in healthcare organizations. The three leadership styles identified include transactional leadership, transformational leadership, and situational leadership. The first leadership style is transactional leadership, which is defined as a dictatorial and task-oriented leadership style, where rewards are given to team members in exchange for compliance. Transformational leadership is defined as a nurturing leadership style, where the leader inspires and empowers team members to reach his or her full potential, as well as reach organizational goals, without being overbearing or dictatorial. Situational leadership allows an individual to change leadership styles as needed in order to successfully lead others in any given situation. Given the ever-changing realm of healthcare, the author suggests that situational leadership is an ideal leadership style for a successful healthcare leader to utilize. Lastly, the positive and negative aspects of each leadership style are identified followed by a reflective situational example of each leadership style.
The reader believes that the author is successful in providing a comprehensive explanation of transactional leadership, transformational leadership, and situational leadership. Unfortunately, however, the reader thinks that the author utilizes too many quotes instead of original ideas. Within the article, the author provides a platform for the reader to compare and contrast the three leadership styles by illustrating situational examples of each style. The situational examples provoke and enable the reader to reflect on personal experiences with the leadership styles identified in the article. The reader is therefore able to identify which type of leadership style is suitable to adopt for personal use.
The reader believes the author has three main purposes in writing the article. The first purpose is to compare and contrast transactional, transformational, and situational leadership styles. The second purpose is to examine the strengths and shortcomings of transactional and transformational leadership styles. The third purpose is to delineate situational leadership as an all-inclusive leadership style that may be utilized by leaders to effectively navigate any situation that may arise.
The author is effective in expressing her position on several ideas within the article. The author expresses her position on transactional leadership in a negative connotation by using words to describe transactional leaders such as non-holistic, controlling, power-oriented, and closed-minded. The author also uses a negative situational example of transactional leadership in the article to portray her position. In contrast, the author characterizes transformational leadership in a more positive context. For example, transformational leaders are depicted in the article as empowering, loyal, motivating, inspiring, charismatic, and democratic. In addition, the author uses a positive situational example of a transformational leader, which is further evidence of this belief. Lastly, the author states that she believes that situational leadership is the most desirable approach to healthcare leadership. The overall tone of the article is critical of transactional leadership and supportive of both transformational and situational leadership styles.
The reader believes that there are two additional points that should be examined in the article. First, a positive situational example should be given for transactional leadership. Second, a negative situational example should be given for both transactional and situational leadership styles. Incorporating the two additional points into the article would give the reader a more complete and unbiased illustration of each leadership style in action. It would also allow the reader to better reflect on which type of leadership should be used in her personal leadership practice.
The paradigm of the article is that there is not one leadership style that is perfect or ideal for every situation. Instead, there are several leadership styles that may be useful or effective for a multitude of leadership situations. The theoretical perspective is that practicing situational leadership enables an individual to practice all of the styles interchangeably in order to provide the most effective leadership.
The reader believes that the author made several meaningful statements throughout the article. There are two statements that the reader identifies with in particular. The first statement is “although some people are natural born leaders, everyone can be a leader, given the necessary knowledge and skills” (Giltinane, 2013, p. 35). This statement is meaningful to the reader because it provides hope that as long as the reader is willing to learn more about leadership theories and attempt to put them into practice, there is potential that the reader can become an excellent nurse leader in the future. The second meaningful statement is “leadership is not restricted to people with designated leadership roles…everyone can contribute to the leadership process” (Giltinane, 2013, p. 35). This statement is important because the reader currently exhibits many leadership qualities and frequently takes the lead in work and academic situations, despite the lack of a designated leadership role.
Nursing and healthcare leadership is a multidimensional process that requires an individual to have an abundance of leadership knowledge and skill. Giltinane’s article on leadership has provided the reader with a great deal of needed information regarding leadership styles that will assist and enable the reader to create an effective leadership persona for future leadership roles.
Abbott, J. & Ellis, P., (2013). Leadership and management skills in healthcare. Nurse Prescribing, 11(5), 251-254.
The article by Abbott and Ellis was selected for review because the student strives to have a future career in nursing leadership and management. The student believes this article provides a plethora of information regarding the skills that are needed to become an effective nurse leader and manager.
In their article on leadership and management, Ellis and Abbott examine the ideal leadership and management skills that are needed in a healthcare setting. The authors explore the difference between leaders and managers and suggest that leadership and management are mutually exclusive. The importance of effective communication between leaders and team members is also discussed. In addition, the functional leadership model and the leadership continuum model are examined. According to the authors, the functional leadership model attempts to balance the needs of the individual team members, the needs of the group, and the needs of the tasks being undertaken by the group. The leadership continuum model includes four levels of leadership including the tell level, selling level, consult level, and participate level. The authors suggest that a leader may move between levels in order to provide the most effective leadership. Lastly, the positive attributes of transformational leadership are discussed.
The reader believes that the article is very informative and well written. The article demonstrates excellent organization of ideas, which allows the reader to easily follow the authors’ thoughts. The article provokes the reader to reflect on personal beliefs regarding leadership and management as well as personal experiences with leadership. Lastly, the reader believes that the author provides a balanced and unbiased illustration of modern leadership theories.
The reader believes that the author has several main purposes for writing the article. The first purpose is to inform the reader regarding what constitutes good leadership. For example, good leadership includes having a vision of desired goals; concern about the organization and team members; acting with integrity, consistency, and humility; being ethically cognizant; and most importantly having excellent communication skills. The second main purpose is to provide information regarding modern leadership and management theories that are present in healthcare organizations. Another main purpose of the article is to differentiate leadership from management.
The reader believes that the authors did an excellent job in supporting their position. For example, the authors used an adequate amount of outside sources and references. The authors also used devices such as diagrams, lists, and charts to explain and clarify important points within the article. The reader thinks that the authors were successful in stating their position without appearing overly biased toward any particular leadership model. The reader does not believe that there are any additional points that need to be examined in the article given the thoroughness of the authors’ depiction of effective leadership ideals, styles, models, and theories.
There are several theoretical perspectives within the article. One theoretical perspective in the article is that anyone in a group of team members may exhibit leadership because leadership is not limited to individuals who have management titles. The second theoretical perspective is that the greatest leaders inspire others as well as have vision and passion for their goals. Another theoretical perspective is that leadership skills may be innate as well as developed and perfected throughout one’s life and career. The reader believes that the paradigm within the article is that different situations require different styles of leadership. Therefore, there is not one perfect style or model of leadership an individual should follow for all situations. Instead, an effective leader should be able to identify and implement a leadership style that is appropriate for the situation.
The reader identified numerous meaningful quotes within the article. One meaningful quote is “leaders do the right things and managers do things right” (Abbott & Ellis, 2013, p. 251). This quote is meaningful due to the reader’s personal belief in following the rules and doing things right whenever possible. The second meaningful quote is “to be effective in any area of leadership or people management, it is important to have a well-developed sense of who you are” (Abbott & Ellis, 2013, p. 251). This quote is exceptionally meaningful because the reader is currently on a personal journey of self-discovery.
The article by Abbott and Ellis offers the reader an abundance of valuable insight into how to become a successful nursing leader and manager. In an effort to become the effective leader the reader strives be, the reader will attempt to incorporate the information provided in the article into practice.