Critique and analysis of academic sources

Leadership is a challenge for all leaders across different realms and being a nursing leader is not an exemption. This is particularly taking into consideration the circumstances and issues distinctive to the medical and healthcare profession. As a nursing leader, it is imperative to not only be accountable for matters distinctive to their own individual departments or team, but are also responsible for organizing and facilitating interactions with other departments within the organization, to attend to patient health care; both direct and indirect. The prevailing healthcare system is gradually developing and progressing into a new system founded on a vision of health advancement, primary care and community-based home care, with hospitals continuing to be an essential pillar of the healthcare system but not its most important service (Gottlieb et al., 2012). Considering the evolving healthcare situation, a key issue in the contemporary times is that nursing leaders are not cognizant and lack awareness on the areas of strengths and weaknesses within the departments and the organizations as a whole. A key element that is bound to be of paramount importance to resolve to this issue is that continued annual surveys of all members within a department and organization as a whole will help in improving their performance as nursing leaders.

Background Issue

A key issue and problem perceived is that nursing leaders are not cognizant of their nursing management strengths and weaknesses. Yet, devoid of such strengths and weaknesses, it can be quite challenging for them to provide effective leadership. What is more, it is imperative for nursing leaders to comprehend that simply because, and though they are strong and efficacious in a number of elements, they are also weak in certain areas. Therefore, the lack of understanding both sides of their leaderships decreases their level of effectiveness. By taking all these elements into consideration, nursing leaders can form a diverse nursing management team that are able to complement their strong suits and at the same time improve on their weaknesses to improve their level of performance (Gottleib et al., 2012).

The development and advancement of leadership skills ought to be perceived as a process. It is imperative for current and emerging leaders to assess and evaluate their current strengths and weaknesses in the various dimensions of leadership. This need arises from the fact that it is challenging for present day leaders to be able to envisage the knowledge, skills and competences that will be required to provide effective leadership in the future healthcare delivery system (Sherman and Pross, 2010). Every nursing department and organization, as a unit, comprises of individuals that serve the various roles necessitated to meet the necessities of residents. It is imperative to note that the fact that as there are registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, and certified nursing assistants who appear together on a nursing schedule, and who are allotted to function in a certain area of the nursing home, does not necessarily imply that this group operates as a team. Nursing staff can be disjointed and led in dissimilar directions, or they can have a well-defined focus and work in tandem toward mutual goals and objectives. However, it is important to note that the level of success attained is frequently centered on the strength or weakness of the nurse leader and this leader's capability to motivate others (Frandsen, 2014).

With the changing setting in the nursing realm, nursing leaders have to take into consideration four key characteristics. One of them is sense making, which encompasses the capacity to comprehend the incessantly changing business setting and adapt to the consequences of changes within an organization (Al-Sawai, 2013). Secondly, there is relating, which takes into account the capacity to form trusting relationships, have poise between advocacy and inquiry, and nurture networks of helpful peers. The third characteristic is visioning and this encompasses forming reliable and a clear picture of a sought-after future, towards which the organization can work (Al-Sawai, 2013). Lastly, there is the characteristic of inventing, which encompasses forming new ways of approaching everyday jobs or overcoming apparently intractable issues. In particular, all these individualities are mutually dependent and therefore nursing leaders need to ascertain their own competencies, strengths, and weaknesses. The main objective of the nursing leader is to generate a philosophy whereby the individuals are able to complement the strengths of each other and counterbalance the weaknesses (Al-Sawai, 2013).

Importance of Annual Surveys

In accordance to Morrel-Samuels (2002), there is great certainty that companies can profit and benefit from workplace surveys and questionnaires. A key element pointed out is to make the different departments as the key unit of analysis for company surveys. Despite the necessity to maintain obscurity is supreme, large organizations still need to organize and examine the results of internal surveys at the department or functioning unit level for the reason that they evaluate performance at those levels. Undoubtedly, surveys that are not understood by department will be restricted in their effectiveness and practical value (Morrel-Samuels, 2002).

Use of Denison Surveys

Organizational culture encompasses the extensive fundamental suppositions, belief, and values that are mutual and shared by members of the organization and characteristically operate incontinently. The Denison Organizational Culture Survey is a component that, by design, provides a simple, yet wide-ranging analysis of the culture of an organization by assessing the fundamental cultural traits and management practices that impact business performance. In accordance to Dr. Daniel Denison, the founder of the instrument, there are four underlying traits as the basis for the model, which include consistency, involvement, mission and adaptability (Denison and Neale, 2008). Effective organizations exhibit high levels of these particular cultural traits, which mirror their capacity to provide stability and poise between the vibrant tension between the necessity for stability and the necessity for flexibility within the organization (Casida, 2008).

A rich understanding of organizational culture is imperative for all leaders for the reason that it impacts the manner in which their organizations act in response to the shifting and shifting demands of the business setting. At any particular point in time, the culture of an organization is largely impacted by the preceding achievements and preceding learning's, regarding the different aspects of adaptation and survival. As the business setting, incessantly changes, it is imperative for leaders to relentlessly expect the needed changes and enthusiastically monitor the association between the demands of the setting and the competencies of the organization (Denison and Neale, 2008).

The first trait of the Denison Survey is the mission. Through this, the nursing leaders will increase the level of performance for the organization as it outlines to personnel why they are undertaking the work they do, and the manner in which the work they undertake every single day is a contribution to the organization. This encompasses three elements, the strategic direction and intent, goals and objectives and vision. as such, the mission states the organization's purpose -- what it is attempting to accomplish in the long run, the established goals and objectives that facilitate each employee to perceive how day-to-day activities are linked to the vision and the strategies instituted to operationalize the vision (Baker Strategy, 2016).

The second trait is adaptability. Through this, nursing leaders will have high performing organizations that have their capacity to distinguish and react to the setting, consumers, and reorganize and re-institutionalize behaviors and practices that facilitate them to become accustomed. Through this survey, the nursing leaders are able to generate change by welcoming new conceptions, be enthusiastic to attempt new approaches to undertakings, and perceive generating change as a significant element of the manner in which they undertake business. Another element of this trait is organizational learning, which enables the nursing leaders and their subordinates to attain knowledge from successes and failures (Baker Strategy, 2016).

The third trait of the Denison Survey is consistency, which delineates the values and systems that are the foundation of a strong culture. In particular, it offers a fundamental source of incorporation, collaboration, and control. Through this trait, the nursing leaders will be able to generate internal systems of governance centered on mutual support. Through this trait, the nursing leaders are able to have highly dedicated employees, key fundamental values, a distinctive technique of doing business, a propensity to promote from the inside, and a clear group of pertinent behaviors. In addition, this trait creates a strong culture centered on a mutual system of principles, standards, and symbols that are comprehended by members of an organization. This can be an efficacious way of attaining harmonization and assimilation predominantly in unfamiliar circumstances. They facilitate individuals to respond in an expectable manner to an erratic setting by laying emphasis on a few overall, value-based philosophies upon which actions can be grounded (Denison and Neale, 2008).

The final trait of the Denison Survey is involvement. In particular, this is a characteristic of a largely engrossed culture, in which the participation and involvement of employees is largely encouraged and infuses a form of ownership and accountability exists. In this sort of system, the employees are dependent upon informal, controlled, and implicit control systems, instead of relying on official, unequivocal, administrative control systems. In particular, from this sense of ownership emanates a high level of dedication to the organization and capability for independence. Employees have a tendency of being more involved and committed to constructive organizational results. As a result, this cultural trait places emphasis on employee participation and enablement as a reaction to swiftly changing circumstances in the external setting of the organization. Employee satisfaction, dedication, and determination are significant aspects of organizations with strong involvement culture. Therefore, nurse managers ought to concentrate on motivating staff nurses to be involved and to contribute concertedly in decisions that influence organizational efficacy (Denison and Neale, 2008).

The purpose of feedback is to augment and develop an organization's efficacy and performance. It also assists people to attain a better depiction of their organization's strengths and challenges. Therefore, the Denison Survey also matches a variety of management purposes within the comprehensive domains of organizational development and change by functioning as a way of analysis, feedback, and benchmarking. Organizational culture has a very substantial influence on behavior and performance of leaders and staff. Through the Denison Organizational Culture Survey, nursing leaders will be able to measure opinions and perceptions of personnel regarding the fundamental beliefs, philosophies, and suppositions held within the organization and also the practices and behaviors that epitomize and underline them. What is more, through this approach, the nursing leaders will be able to facilitate significant conversations and also bring about considerate actions that instigate change. What is more, by scrutinizing both individual results and organizational outcomes, nursing leaders are better able to comprehend the influence their leadership has on the culture within the framework of the organization (UNT Health Science Center, 2011).

Situational Leadership

Situational leadership theory suggests that an effective leader necessitates a sensible understanding of the situation and a fitting response, instead of simply being an appealing leader with a great number of committed followers. Effective situational leadership progresses from the comparison between being task-oriented or people-oriented. The range between these two signifies the magnitude the leader emphasizes on the necessitated tasks or on their association with their followers. As a style of management, the situational leadership theory insists on the need to relay the style of leadership to the level of maturity of the followers. Leaders who are task-oriented delineate the roles for the followers, hand out proper instructions, form organizational patterns, and set up formal channels of communication. On the other hand, leaders who are relation-oriented, exercise worry and concern for others, try to minimize emotive conflicts, endeavoring to attain collaborative relations and order equivalent participation (Mccleskey, 2014).

Leadership is a valuable component within an organization as leaders are responsible for providing direction and management. Situational leadership largely aids leaders to acquire and advance skills necessitated to achieve best quality services. Situational leadership can be beneficial to nursing leaders in improving their performance. In particular, situational leadership imparts that nursing leaders ought to initially undertake a diagnosis and thereafter act upon such analysis to have an effect on augmenting their performance. This implies that the nursing leaders ought to take note of their SWOT analysis for the organization and enhance on the weaknesses and shortcomings. The execution of situational leadership within the organization encompasses understanding the weakness and strength of the nursing styles of leadership in the various departments and how such awareness can be applied to the emerging situations efficiently and effectively (Mwai, 2011).

In order to be an efficacious leader, it is imperative to be familiar with the kind of leadership to apply to every with respect to the different situations that arise. In this case, situational leadership will facilitate the nursing leaders to develop proficiency and dedication to the different tasks, and also the direction needed to be given. Situational leadership generates an open communication within the organization and develops self-assurance (da Graca Batista et al., 2011).