Posted: September 30th, 2024

Leadership Styles and Management in Mental Health Care Essay

Leadership Styles and Management in Mental Health Care

Leadership Styles and Management
Discuss the impact of transformational and transactional leadership styles on the management of violence and aggression within UK regional maximum security forensic mental health hospital. Effective leadership is crucial in managing crisis situations, and understanding the different leadership styles can help in developing strategies to improve patient care. Incorporating organisation structure, change management, multidisciplinary working, staff motivation and retention, legal and ethical implications for nursing practice.

Executive Summary:
In this essay we discuss the transformational and transactional leadership styles in the management of violence and crisis situations within the clinical setting and in mental health units. The importance of effective leadership in managing crisis situations cannot be overstated, and understanding the different leadership styles is essential in developing strategies to improve patient care. We begin our discussion with studies on the need for disaster management teams and structured command system within hospitals to help ensure that patients receive proper care when needed.

Introduction:
Leadership styles within the nursing practice can be evaluated by understanding the relationship between management and planning, change operations and organisation structure. Effective leadership is critical in managing crisis situations, and understanding the different leadership styles can help in developing strategies to improve patient care. As Zane and Prestipino (2004) point out, hospital disaster manuals and response plans lack formal command structure in most cases and the hospital authorities rely on the presence of certain individuals who are familiar with hospital operations or hold leadership positions and abilities during the routine operations and management of the hospital.

However such leadership patterns in which the hospital does not have a formal command structure may be unreliable and during critical conditions, the relying on a few individuals may be inadequate as the concerned persons may not be available at all times and even for prolonged events of crisis, this is not a feasible option or proper management. The lack of a formal command structure can lead to confusion and delays in responding to crisis situations, which can have serious consequences for patient care. The Hospital Emergency Incident Command System (HEICS) is a command structure and a method suggested that provides a structured pattern of leadership which does not have to rely on specific individuals for crisis management (such as inpatient violence, or serious injury) and is more flexible and can be applied in all kinds of services such as fire services, emergency medical services, military, police agencies and improves ease of communication among professionals during crisis periods.

Considering the necessities of a disaster response team and the need for effective leadership styles of management of crises situations, in this essay we would discuss the various styles of leadership and how this relates to change management, nursing practice, and the quality of care during emergency and normal conditions . Understanding the different leadership styles is essential in developing strategies to improve patient care, and effective leadership is critical in managing crisis situations. Several issues are considered here along with examples from evidential studies and clinical research.

Leadership Styles in Clinical Management –
Our discussion will revolve around two forms of leadership patterns – mainly the transactional and the transformational styles of leadership. The transactional leadership style is based on control and hierarchy, while the transformational leadership style is based on charisma and inspiring others. The differences between transactional and transformational leadership styles were first given by Weber (1947, in Turner, 1998) who suggested that transactional leadership is based on control on the basis of knowledge and hierarchical power and transactional leaders aim to negotiate and bargain to achieve higher efficiency.

Hendel et al(2005)examined the relationship between leadership styles and the choice of strategy in conflict management among nurse managers. The study found that transformational leadership was more effective in managing conflict situations, and that nurse managers who used transformational leadership styles were more likely to use compromise as a conflict management strategy. The study identified conflict mode choices of head nurses in general hospitals as nurses deal with conflicts on a daily basis and have to implement effective choice of conflict management mode to deal with the complicated situations.

Katz and Kirkland (1990) point out that violent behaviour in mental hospital wards is widespread although there may be differences in incidence and distribution. The study suggests that violence is a symptom of disorder not only in the biological and psychological field but also in the socio-cultural field, and that effective leadership is critical in managing violent behaviour. Their study suggested that are varying patterns to show the relation between staff behaviour, management styles, social organisation of the unit and the levels of violence.

The role of personality in transactional and transformational leadership has been examined by Bono and Judge (2004). The study found that personality traits such as extraversion and agreeableness were associated with transformational leadership, and that neuroticism and conscientiousness were not associated with transformational leadership. Their study was based on meta-analysis of the relationship between personality and ratings on transformational and transactional leadership behaviours.

Leadership styles also affect performance and not just personality patterns and behaviours. The study by Bass et al (2003) found that both transformational and transactional leadership styles positively predicted unit performance, suggesting that both leadership styles can be effective in improving performance. The overall performance of a unit has been critically examined by Bass et al (2003) assessing both transformational and transactional leadership styles.

Prenkert and Ehnfors (1997) measured organisational effectiveness in relation to transactional and transformational leadership in nursing management. The study found that there was a low or significant connection between leadership styles and organisational effectiveness, suggesting that leadership styles may not be the only factor in determining organisational effectiveness. The relative influences of transactional (TA) and transformational (TF) styles of leadership on organisational effectiveness (OE) was measured as the degree of goal attainment and reflected on the quality of nursing care (NQ) provided.

Conclusion:
In this study we discussed various approaches to transformational and transactional leadership styles and behaviours and in the course of the discussion we showed the different views and perceptions on leadership styles. Effective leadership is critical in managing crisis situations, and understanding the different leadership styles can help in developing strategies to improve patient care. In general most of the studies discussed here suggest that transformational leadership is preferred and is the more positive form of leadership as it emphasises on individual power and charisma to change the surroundings and the situation.

Recommendations:
Following the discussions and evidential studies above, we suggest several moves for better services and improvement of leadership behaviours in the clinical settings keeping in mind the ethical implications. Effective leadership is critical in managing crisis situations, and understanding the different leadership styles can help in developing strategies to improve patient care. These can be given as follows:

Conducting interviews, using surveys and questionnaires to understand nurse attitudes and perceptions towards leadership styles

Performing personality tests to identify traits correlating with the different leadership styles to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the workforce

Having transformational and transactional leadership style training, education and analysis to make nursing staff suitable for handling crisis situations especially in mental health units

Increasing awareness on leadership styles among and showing the importance or use of each leadership behaviour during crisis in hospitals and psychiatric wards

Forming a disaster management team or emergency team that will be well informed of leadership styles and relative characteristics or advantages of each

Bibliography

Manis, M. (2024). Leadership Style as a Predictor of Organizational Culture in Mental Health Care Settings: A Quantitative Study (Doctoral dissertation, Capella University).
Rinfret, N., Laplante, J., Lagacé, M. C., Deschamps, C., & Privé, C. (2020). Impacts of leadership styles in health and social services: A case from Quebec exploring relationships between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership. International Journal of Healthcare Management, 13(sup1), 329-339.

Specchia, M. L., Cozzolino, M. R., Carini, E., Di Pilla, A., Galletti, C., Ricciardi, W., & Damiani, G. (2021). Leadership styles and nurses’ job satisfaction. Results of a systematic review. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(4), 1552.

Khairunnisa, P., & Nadjib, M. (2023, September). Effect of leadership style on service quality and job satisfaction among hospital nurses: A systematic review. In The International Conference on Public Health Proceeding (Vol. 4, No. 02, pp. 461-470).

Suliman, M., Almansi, S., Mrayyan, M., ALBashtawy, M., & Aljezawi, M. (2023). Effect of nurse managers’ leadership styles on predicted nurse turnover. Nursing management, 30(5).

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Tags: Crisis Management, Leadership Styles, Mental Health Care, Transactional Leadership, Transformational Leadership