Clinical Practice Leadership Theories Essay

Introduction

There is a number of various leadership theories and practices that may be applied in clinical practice. One of them is the transactional leadership style in which leaders use rewards and punishments to promote compliance by workers and keep them motivated for the short term. Opposed to this style is transformational leadership theory, which is rather relevant in current stressful and turbulent health care work. Giddens (3) notes that precisely this theory “has become a predominant leadership style practiced by leaders across many industries and disciplines, including nursing.” Transformational style is characterized by the leaders’ ability to motivate, inspire and stimulate their followers. Such leaders typically focus on creating changes by emphasizing different values and on building relationships with other people. The transformational leadership style has its special strengths and limitations in relation to the development of nursing leadership in the UAE.

Transformational Leadership Style

Transformational leadership theory is a particular style that is notable for leaders motivating, inspiring and encouraging their employees in order to create changes and innovations and help to shape and grow the company’s future success. Transformational leadership style consists of four key components: idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration (6, 7). All these components are positively and closely related to organizational and individual performance.

Transformational Leadership Style in UAE Nursing: Strengths

One of the strengths of transformational leadership theory in UAE nursing is that it leads to visitors’ high satisfaction with the quality of services they get. Moreover, since employees are constantly motivated, inspired and encouraged by their leaders, they always remember that they are cared about, their work matters, and the provided support is more powerful than any stress (4). This strength has a positive influence on the UAE healthcare system and improves its quality. Another advantage is most evident precisely in UAE nursing development. Since medical workers communicate with sick people, they need to share good vibes and energy in order to provide patients with additional help (5). The more positive feelings the employees get from their leaders, the more vibes they pass to the visitors.

Transformational Leadership Style in UAE Nursing: Limitations

Unfortunately, though this theory suits nursing leadership in the UAE, it has some significant limitations. First of all, the transformational leadership style does not let medical staff act correctly in situations or emergencies that require prompt problem-solving or quick decision-making, and it slows down the development of the UAE healthcare system (2). Another limitation flows from the previous one: transformational leadership is rather conceptual (1). Medical workers cannot focus on some tasks while performing their duties without the support of their leader. If medical workers are not independent, the development of nursing leadership in the UAE becomes rather challenging.

Conclusion

To draw a conclusion, one can say that most of the various theories and practices, even the best ones, have their own strengths and limitations. However, it is hard to disagree that the transformational style is the right choice for the development of nursing leadership in the UAE. It lets medical staff be even more interested in performing their job correctly and communicating with the patients and visitors ethically. However, for this theory to work successfully in the UAE nursing leadership, it is of vital importance to consider and try to avoid all limitations.

References

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Giddens J. Transformational leadership: what every nursing dean should know. Journal of Professional Nursing. 2018;34(2): 117-121.

Hadabi AA, Khan M, Hussain M. Personality of leaders in the context of transformational leadership in the UAE. International Journal of Human Resources Development and Management. 2019;19(4): 355-366.

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