Leadership concepts and applications

Leadership

Leaders are often put into the position of having to make difficult decisions. At times, the leader must tackle difficult ethical issues. In the situation of the posthumous father, the leader at the hospital is being forced to make a decision for the same reason that many leaders must: there are no set policies for the issue and nobody else wants to make the decision because it is too difficult. Leadership is being the place where the buck stops.

When faced with a difficult ethical dilemma, the leader should be able to make a calm, rational assessment. In a situation such as this, the leader will inevitably upset somebody with his or her decision. Another component of leadership is being able to communicate the decision is a clear, decisive manner that diffuses any potential difficulty. Emotions in this situation are high on all sides, so the decision must be rendered in such a fashion that emotions are not raised any further.

In this instance, the policy may not have used death as an example, but the word and spirit of the policy appear to support a decision not to donate the sperm. The wife may wish the hospital to do something very important to her, but it is certainly not the hospital's obligation to follow those wishes. The administrator must, in this situation, weight the interests of the organization above those of the individual making the request. It must always be remembered to whom the duty of care is owed. In this case, that is the hospital. The leader may ultimately make this decision on the basis of reducing legal risk to the hospital, but the true leadership is in the rendering of that decision in such a way that all stakeholders, even the ones with the most to lose by the decision, feel confident in the person's ability to make the decision. Thus, the leader here will likely decide not to allow the posthumous sperm removal and must show strength and clarity in announcing this decision to the stakeholders in order of importance, directly and personally.