Essay Sample on Difference between Leadership & Management

Leadership and management, though two closely-knit terms, are quite distinct terms but have very different meanings in the management of organizations. The assignment describes the difference between leadership and management, addresses the question that should all nurses be considered as leaders and the characteristics which make them leaders, and comparing and contrasting the responses with the views of power as per servant leadership.

Difference between Leadership & Management

At times, the two words leadership and management are used interchangeably; however, there are quite different entities in themselves. Management is simply getting things done by other people in an organized manner. Leadership, on the other hand, is influencing people in such a way that they are motivated to work for the achievement of organizational goals and objectives to reach defined outcomes while following a vision set by the leader (Khoshhal & Guraya, 2016), which are higher than the outcomes expected of simple management supervision. Therefore, leadership is based on inspiring others, and as such, leaders take commanding positions in their organization, whatever level they are at. The peculiar characteristic of leadership is planning the services while the managers focus more on the execution and supervision of day to day tasks. The ultimate goal of a manager is to be a leader, as leadership is one of the most influential positions in management.

Should All Nurses be considered as Leaders & What Characteristics make them Leaders?

All of the nurses should be considered to be leaders. This is because the nurses are always in a position of leadership when it comes to patient care and planning for better patient outcomes, which forms the basis of the nursing strategy. The leadership style of nurses has a direct impact on the quality of care they provide (Sfantou et al., 2017).

Nurses demonstrate leadership in various activities they undertake which are characteristic of a leader. Nurses have clinical expertise and those having higher levels of expertise inspire their juniors to acquire the same by teaching, coaching and mentoring them. Nurses act as health educators, thereby inspiring others to adopt healthful lifestyles and behaviors which are promotive of health and well-being. Nurses undertake advocacy for their patients, and in doing so, the exhibit leadership traits. Nurses act as role models in their professional life while modeling healthful behavioral changes in another.

Comparison & Contrast with View of Power According to Servant Leadership

Servant leadership is defined as a style of leadership based on such philosophies and activities which enrich the lives of people, building more efficient organizations and therefore creating such communities that have justice and care for their members. The theoretical model of Servant leadership defines the co-existence of behavioral-humility and action-based behaviors (Sousa & van Dierendonck, 2015).

My responses to the question that can all nurses be considered as leaders & what characteristics make them leaders compare with the view of power acceding to the philosophies of Servant Leadership. This is because nurses carry out all their leadership functions in an action-driven manner yet are very humble while performing their leadership functions like health education, mentoring, coaching and undertaking advocacy for their patients and their communities. The nurses thus demonstrate humility in their actions which is in line with the philosophy of Servant Leadership.

References

Khoshhal, K. I., & Guraya, S. Y. (2016). Leaders produce leaders and managers produce followers. A systematic review of the desired competencies and standard settings for physicians’ leadership. Saudi medical journal, 37(10), 1061–1067. doi:10.15537/smj.2016.10.15620

Sfantou, D. F., Laliotis, A., Patelarou, A. E., Sifaki-Pistolla, D., Matalliotakis, M., & Patelarou, E. (2017). Importance of Leadership Style towards Quality of Care Measures in Healthcare Settings: A Systematic Review. Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 5(4), 73. doi:10.3390/healthcare5040073

Sousa, M., & van Dierendonck, D. (2015). Servant Leadership and the Effect of the Interaction Between Humility, Action, and Hierarchical Power on Follower Engagement. Journal Of Business Ethics, 141(1), 13-25. doi: 10.1007/s10551-015-2725-y