American Academy Of Nurse Practitioners Certification Board Inc.: Case Study

The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Board Inc. (AANPCB) is a self-regulating non-profit certifying board whose purpose is to offer an official and reliable program for the assessment of those needing to enter, continue, and/or advance in the nurse practitioner occupation through the certification process. The organization was recognized in the early 1990s by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. In 1999, AANPCB became separately incorporated as the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners National Certification Board, Inc. and the credential NP-C, which stands for Nurse Practitioners-Certified, was registered and trademarked. The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Board’s national certification

At AANPCB, the Business Manager, John Smith provides the three practices of exemplary leadership by “monitoring employees’ activities, determining whether the organization is moving toward its goals, and making corrections as necessary” (Daft, 2011, chap 1). The three practices include: model the way, inspired a shared vision, and challenge the process (Kouzes & Posner, 2002).

Model the Way. Smith model the way by swaying his voice and affirming shared values. As a Business Manager of AANPCP, Smith shows the critical importance of leading by example through showing up early to work and often times staying up late or working on weekends. There is nothing he is not willing to do to provide strong leadership within the organization. He does not think his role is too good to help with simpler tasks or too cool to shout of words of encouragement to his employees during staff meetings. He knows his actions are louder than words, hence he often models what to do rather than telling his

The second strength of the company is its ability to maintain client confidentiality. AANPCB offers annual cumulative performance data reports to universities and colleges to help continuing curriculum evaluation and as a factor of program accreditation. The cumulative Score Report is considered a confidential record that is provided to nurse practitioner program directors, program coordinators, assistant deans, and deans. In order to protect individual applicants’ confidentiality, exam score results are not provided to programs that have fewer than five candidates sitting for one of the certification exams during the annual reporting