Ethical and Care Leadership in Nursing: Principles and Practices
Ethical Leadership
The leadership role has also been studied from the field of ethics. According to Begoña Roman, a philosopher and expert on organizational ethics, “An ethical leader becomes so by virtue, by ethical necessity. When circumstances require someone to assume power, one accepts the mission to bring the team to goals that are good. The ethical leader leads people, not cattle, assuming they lead the orchestra, but without the orchestra, they cannot.”
Four Stages of Leader Formation
- I think, and I decide: The need to share leads to group decision-making.
- We believe, and I decide: The group provides information for the decision.
- We think and decide: Group consciousness in diversity, consensus decisions.
- You think and you decide: No immediate leadership, itself from the authority and consultation.
The Model of Task-Centered Leadership
This model focuses on the qualities of leadership and the situational approach to leadership. It incorporates Maslow’s and Herzberg’s theories on motivation. It highlights the importance of understanding the mechanisms of how individuals are constituted as a group and the need to identify the influences that exist between them. The model is configured from the “theory of personality and group needs.” It is found that groups are always unique; each group develops a personality that is unlike any other.
Maslow sought to establish a hierarchy of basic human needs to apply to the comprehension of motivation. He defined the needs and divided them into five levels:
- Physiological: The need to eat, drink, and sleep.
- Safety: The need to feel safe and protected from environmental hazards.
- Social Relations: The needs of group membership, social activities, and love.
- Esteem: Self-esteem, status, and recognition.
- Self-Actualization: Growth, personal development, and success.
A sixth level of need, not originally raised by Maslow, is now recognized: the need for transcendence. Thus, the leader is defined as “a person with certain qualities of personality and character that are appropriate for the general situation and which are complemented by a degree of relevant knowledge and some experience, which is capable of carrying out the functions necessary to lead the group towards a purpose, and also maintains and builds its unity as a team, and it makes it all with input from team members in proper proportion.” – John Adair
Care Leadership
Nursing team leaders should develop their roles as leaders and managers/administrators in:
- Knowledge Management: The nursing leader must establish mechanisms to ensure that team members have the skills to deliver quality care. Therefore, it is necessary to have plans to welcome new employees so they obtain the appropriate level of knowledge as soon as possible, encourage team members to continuously update their knowledge through ongoing training, and encourage interest in scientific evidence and research.
- Material Resource Management: The equipment used in providing nursing care includes a variety of resources: drugs, consumables, linen, sterile material, food, stationery, furniture, and waste. The responsible consumer should make pacts and operationalize equipment.
- Time Management: The leader and head of care is also the guarantor that nursing time is suited to the needs of patients. This involves the administration of contract and available time, ensuring coverage of shifts, contract requests, drafts, and vacation planning.
- Multidisciplinary Relationship Management: Caregiver activity is conducted in coordination with other professionals and services of the organization. The nursing leader participates in developing agreements and multifaceted intervention protocols.
Differences Between
- Effectiveness: Achievable benefits / Maximum conceivable benefit
- Efficacy: Profit achieved / Maximum profit achieved
- Efficiency: Effectiveness / Cost
DPO (Management by Objectives)
The reason for any manager is to promote all the means available to achieve an optimal product, streamlining the investment, enhancing the profitability of the resources available, and introducing management tools that facilitate the participation and motivation of people within the organization.
The Group
“Working groups are extremely important because people spend a lot of the time they are awake in them.” – John Adair (2009)