Effective Approaches in Leadership and Management
In this assignment, you will be writing a 1,000-1,250 word paper describing the differing approaches of nursing leaders and managers to issues in practice. To complete this assignment, do the following:
1. Select an issue from the following list: bullying, unit closers and restructuring, floating, nurse turnover, nurse staffing ratios, use of contract employees (i.e., registry and travel nurses), or magnet designation.
2. Describe the selected issue. Discuss how it impacts quality of care and patient safety in the setting in which it occurs.
3. Discuss how professional standards of practice should be demonstrated in this situation to help rectify the issue or maintain professional conduct.
4. Explain the differing roles of nursing leaders and nursing managers in this instance and discuss the different approaches they take to address the selected issue and promote patient safety and quality care. Support your rationale by using the theories, principles, skills, and roles of the leader versus manager described in your readings.
5. Discuss what additional aspects mangers and leaders would need to initiate in order to ensure professionalism throughout diverse health care settings while addressing the selected issue.
6. Describe a leadership style that would best address the chosen issue. Explain why this style could be successful in this setting.
Use at least three peer-reviewed journal articles other than those presented in your text or provided in the course.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. Refer to the LopesWrite Technical Support articles for assistance.
This benchmark assignment assesses the following programmatic competencies:
RN to BSN
1.1: Exemplify professionalism in diverse health care settings.
1.3: Exercise professional nursing leadership and management roles in the promotion of patient safety and quality care.
3.4: Demonstrate professional standards of practice.
Sample Answer
Nurse Bullying
Bullying in the nursing workplace is an epidemic so ingrained in the nursing culture that it is often considered a rite of passage. It begins right from the school days and goes on in the bedside and the boardroom. This paper will describe bullying, how it impacts care quality and patient safety, and how professional standards can help rectify it. It will also address the differing roles of nursing leaders and managers in bullying and the different approaches they take to address it. Aspects managers and leaders need to initiate to ensure professionalism while addressing bullying will also be presented, and a leadership style that can best address it.
Bullying
The American Nurses Association (ANA) terms bullying as harmful, unwanted, repeated actions meant to offend, distress, and humiliate recipients (ANA, 2015). Bullying is characterized by either overt or covert behaviors. It is easy to recognize overt bullying, which often includes verbal criticism, extreme micromanaging, insults, and threats. Secret bullying is indirect and usually involves gossip and rumors, unfair workloads, withholding information, undesirable tasks, and low grades as sabotage and punishment. Bullying has been expanded by the digital world, where online forums, text messages, and social media have made direct, indirect, and anonymous bullying easier (Edmonson and Zelonka, 2019).
Impact on Care Quality and Safety of Patients
Bullying negatively affects the emotional and physical health of the nurse. It leads to stress-related symptoms like frequent illness, headaches, anxiety and depression, fear of going to work and absenteeism, reduced productivity, and even suicide. Such conditions prevent nurses from bringing their best to work. It obstructs communication, inhibits teamwork, decreases collaboration, increases medical errors. A bullying culture promotes a hostile or toxic work environment in hospitals and units and is strongly associated with reduced patient safety and compromised care qualities (Al Omar et al., 2019).
How Professional Practice Standards should be Demonstrated
The ANA’s Code of Ethics for Nurses asserts that nurses should foster ethical environments and cultures of kindness and civility. Registered nurses and employers in all settings are responsible for collaborating and creating cultures free of workplace violence, bullying, and incivility (ANA, 2015). The Code of Ethics and Standards 11, 12, and 13 of the Scope of Practice establish a guide for the professional conduct of nurses. Standard 11 encourages the nurse to develop practical communication skills that promote professional growth while seeking opportunities for improving conflict resolution competencies and communication among colleagues.
Good communication is reiterated in standard 12. It also emphasizes the responsibility of nursing leadership to guide staff in developing conflict resolution and communication competencies that are reflective of professional dignity, trust, and respect (Brown-Oliver, 2019). Professional collaboration is encouraged in standard 13 and employing negotiation techniques in resolving conflicts in the workplace. Therefore, nurses should adhere to an ethical code of conduct, have zero tolerance for bullying, and follow standards that govern behavior to create safe work environments.
Differing Roles of Nurse Leaders and Managers
Nurse leaders and nurse managers both emphasize and use leadership, but in differing capacities. Nurse leaders undertake a more strategic and higher-level operational view, while nurse managers undertake more hands-on duties. A successful resolution of bullying requires that someone with power in the organization intervenes. Nurse managers are often more directly involved with staff. Since they have more positional power, they have a more significant opportunity to control the discourse and influence action (Johnson et al., 2015). Discourse theory posits that the more power an individual or groups of people have, the greater their ability to control the discourse. A staff member can report a case of bullying. However, it is the manager who ultimately decides whether or not to act on these reports.
To effectively deal with bullying in the workplace, managers need clear and consistent ideas of what constitutes bullying behavior, how to respond, and nurse leaders’ support. Managers often describe bullying as a complex and nuanced problem that is challenging to manage. Actions taken often include taking charge, supporting staff, or doing nothing in uncertain situations (Johnson et al., 2015). Nurse leaders play a crucial role in supporting, directing, and maintaining a straightforward anti-bullying program or policy to provide a way forward to nurse managers. A culture of safety and respect must begin at the top. Leaders need to develop clear communication and collaboration skills with all employees while modeling the behavior they expect the managers and staff to follow (Edmonson and Zelonka, 2019).
