Healthcare Managers/Executives/Administrators
OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to explore the self-reported and perceived leadership practices, examine leadership strengths and report professional development needs of nurse managers.
METHODOLOGY This study was conducted at Ben Taub General Hospital (Houston, Texas), utilizing a convenience sample of six Nurse Managers – one from each critical and surgical unit and 50 Registered Staff Nurses working under their direct supervision. Participants completed the Leadership Practices Inventory. The Nurse Managers were all female and on average 48 years of age. Ninety percent of the Staff Nurses were female, with 40 percent falling in the 41-50 years of age classification.
KEY FINDINGS Nurse Managers rated their most frequent leadership behavior as Enabling, followed by Modeling and Encouraging, then Inspiring, and least frequently Challenging. Staff Nurses viewed Modeling as the most frequent leadership behavior of their supervisors, followed by Encouraging and Enabling, then Inspiring and Challenging. The frequency scores of Nurse Managers were significantly higher than those reported from Staff Nurses on Modeling, Inspiring, Challenging and Enabling but not Encouraging.