Introduction
A leader is an authoritative person who plays a leading role in the organization of work and regulates relations in the team. The organization of the group, its composition, and the desire to achieve goals and outcomes depend on the leader (Schedlitzki & Edwards, 2021). The more responsible and stronger they are, the more cohesive the team will be. One of the most significant approaches is behavioral and trait leadership theories. The former claims that any qualities and skills can be obtained in the process, while the latter suggests that a person has an inborn set of leadership traits. This paper aims to identify how behavioral and trait leadership theories can be applied in a medical education setting and determine how they are traced in the leaders’ behavior during university clinical rotations.
Behavioral and Trait Leadership in a Medical Education Setting
Primarily, it is vital to compare and contrast the chosen theories. The behavioral approach has created the basis for classifying leadership styles or behavioral styles. This has become an immense contribution and a valuable tool for understanding the complexities of leadership. This approach to the study of leadership focuses on the leader’s conduct. According to this theory, effectiveness is determined not by the leader’s personal qualities but rather by their manner of behavior toward subordinates (McGiboney, 2018). Thus, any demeanor or quality can be copied or gained. One’s actions can be predicted by how one acts; later, it becomes a habit. An essential investment of the behavioral approach to leadership theory is that it helps analyze and classify styles and how a leader behaves with his subordinates. This approach differentiates between several leadership styles: status quo, people or task-oriented, autocratic, democratic, and other leaders.
In contrast, a trait theory suggests that the leader has some unique set of stable qualities that do not change over time. Based on this, scientists have attempted to identify leadership traits, learn how to measure them, and use them to identify a genuine leader. This theory is based on the belief that leaders are not made but are born (McGiboney, 2018). The most significant characteristics of chiefs are physical and emotional endurance, understanding of the purpose of the organization and the direction of its activities, enthusiasm, friendliness, affection, and decency (McGiboney, 2018). However, this theory did not establish a close connection between qualities and leadership. Additionally, it was difficult to effectively identify leaders in practice since the list of potentially essential leadership qualities turned out to be almost endless. Therefore, it is impossible to create the right leader’s image.
Healthcare educational settings require strong leaders to train intelligent students. If the behavioral approach is implemented in such surroundings, the leader should be adaptable to the people they work with (Turner, 2018). It implies that if the students are responsive, they may use a people-oriented style in order to establish contact with them (Ibrahim, 2017). On the other hand, if the trainees tend to idle, the trainer should be stricter and take a role of an autocratic leader to make them more responsible.
When applying the trait leadership theory, it is vital to remember the indispensability of innate qualities. Team members typically sense if an individual is a natural leader. If a person is open to communication, conscious, and agreeable, their students will be ready to follow their instructions (Diggele et al., 2020). Otherwise, too much introversion may cause adverse outcomes such as team disorganization and dissatisfaction.
These theories’ manifestation is evident via people’s behavior in the educational clinician rotations. The inborn leader will permanently preserve their views, whereas the behavioral leader will adjust their conduct according to the situation (Kennedy et al., 2021). During educational spins, innate chiefs will express self-confidence and give instructions to subordinates right away. At the same time, the other leader will observe each member’s manners, responsiveness, and environment before giving orders (Fennell, 2021). In general, when choosing the approach, one must rely on their experience and expertise.
Conclusion
In summation, numerous leadership theories have been established to emphasize a particular character of a true leader. Behavioral and trait leadership theories are one of the most widely implemented approaches since they are traced in almost every organization. The first one presumes that a leader is capable of gaining the chief’s qualities while obtaining experience, while the second claims that the leading position is an outcome of inborn traits. Hence, the a significant difference between these approaches in the way of gaining qualities. Healthcare institutions demand influential leaders to guide the personnel. Thus, it is vital that the students in medical, and educational organizations have powerful chiefs who would lead them to success. When applying behavioral theory to such a setting, a leader must choose a concrete style to guide his subordinates. Once they observe their trainees’ conduct, they may decide which qualities to demonstrate to them. In the meantime, the trait leadership theory dictates that an individual already has a set of characteristics to be a genuine leader. Thus, such people only have to give directions and listen to others. On the whole, leadership theories are large frameworks that one must apply carefully while relying on previous knowledge and experience.
References
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Fennell K. (2021). Conceptualizations of leadership and relevance to health and human service workforce development: A scoping review. Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, 14, 3035-3051. Web.
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Kennedy, K., Campis, S., & Leclerc, L. (2021). Human-centered leadership in healthcare: Evolution of a revolution. Morgan James Publishing.
McGiboney, G. W. (2018). Leadership theories and case studies: An epidemiological perspective. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Schedlitzki, D., & Edwards, G. (2021). Studying leadership: Traditional and critical approaches. SAGE Publications.
Turner, P. (2018). Leadership in healthcare: Delivering organizational transformation and operational excellence. Springer International Publishing.