1. At the hospital where you work as a nurse, a recent change in nurse managers resulted in a dramatic change in leadership styles. Your previous nurse manager, while ensuring patient competent care, rarely held detailed staff meetings and maintained a notebook within the nurses station of suggested professional readings. Charge nurses were instrumental in monitoring quality assurance and dealing with staff needs. Your current nurse manager spends significant time and energy interacting with his nursing staff and develops opportunities for staff to receive continuing education (CE) opportunities during monthly staff meetings. He is very aware of all the dealings within his unit and staff members know they can go to him with needs and concerns related to nursing and the workings of the unit. He encourages peer collaboration, and each member of the nursing staff understands ones personal importance to the functioning of the unit as a whole. (Learning Objectives 1, 4, and 6)
a. Describe the leadership style of your previous nurse manager.
b. What rationale would you present to support your label?
c. List the strengths and weaknesses of this leadership style.
d. How does your current nurse manager demonstrate his leadership style?
e. How might the current leaders style impact the organizations goal to achieve Magnet recognition?
f. Regardless of the leadership style of a nurse manager, outline a skill that is critical to all nurses in their professional practice.
2. On the hospital unit where you are a nurse, there is a dilemma of patient call lights going unanswered for an unacceptable period of time. For 2 months, the issue has been briefly addressed at unit staff meetings without a reduction in response time. Obviously, the current measures have not been effective. (Learning Objectives 1, 6, and 7)
a. How might each of the leadership styles address the issue?
b. Describe how the resistance to change might be overcome.
c. What specific actions could decrease staff resistance to change?
d. How might delegation contribute to this problem?
