Leadership Theories In Nursing

Leadership has many definitions. Chin, Desormeaux, and Sawyer (2016) define leadership as a relationship between followers and a leader with the intent to promote change through a mutual vision. Therefore, leaders are active influences in the outcome of organizations, through their decision-making, strategies, and influence on followers (Dinh et al., 2014). Additionally, in the nursing context, it has been documented that a leader 's style plays a factor in patient outcomes (Fischer, 2016). Indeed, in an ever-changing, complex health care environment, nursing leadership has become a crucial factor in managing challenges and maintaining patient safety (Fischer, 2016). To accommodate for these challenges, the Canadian Nurses Association [CNA]

In fact, leadership is a "complex phenomenon that operates across multiple levels of analysis" (Dinh et al., 2014, p. 37), and as such, a leadership philosophy generated from one theoretical perspective would lack dimensional and methodical depth. Thus, this leadership philosophy is heavily influenced by transformational and diversity leadership theories. On the one hand, transformational leadership highly emphasizes on relationships and personal attributes, such as leader-follower dyads (Backman, Sjögren, Lindkvist, Lövheim, & Edvardsson, 2017). Accordingly, much of the transformational leadership research focuses on the personal attributes of effective charismatic leaders. On the other hand, diversity leadership brings light to the contextual influences of diversity and leadership in organizations where the leader is also perceived as a linguistic and/or visible

A leader may achieve this with captivation, emotional intelligence, and through the empowerment of followers (Hutchison & Jackson, 2013). Moreover, transformational leadership research focuses on individual traits and leader-follower dyad characteristics that influence organizational change. Many research studies explore this theory and its impact on the nursing profession (Fischer, 2016). Largely, transformational leadership in the nursing context is directly and indirectly associated with staff satisfaction, decreased turnover, and improved patient outcomes (Fischer, 2016; Bormann, & Abrahamson, 2014; Merrill, 2015). It is possible to connect the benefits of transformational leadership styles to the leader 's ability to empower followers, simultaneously increasing their commitment to the organization (Fischer, 2016; Bormann, & Abrahamson, 2014; Merrill, 2015). Consequently, based on its success in the nursing context, transformational leadership is a heavy influence on this philosophy of