MANAGEMENT OF POWER

Management of Power

St Louis Medical Center (SLMC) is a healthcare facility offering healthcare services to the community in Summerville, Ironridge and the neighborhoods of Chamberlain County in South Carolina. The contribution of the facility to the community for the last 50 years has been immense. The facility has more than 500 physicians and about 450 nurses and is considered among the largest employers of the Chamberlain County. The nursing department is very crucial in the attainment of the goals at SLMC. As a nursing executive, it is my responsibility to ensure that operation in the nursing department flows seamlessly and that patients get the best quality of care. I understand that in my capacity I have the responsibility of introducing changes in the clinical environment. As a nurse executive, the main types of power that I will use in the management of power include referent, expert, reward, and legitimate. Power is considered the ability of one party to change or control behavior, attitudes, opinions, objectives, needs, and values of other individuals (Ojo, 2015). This paper will discuss the leadership theory as a means of understanding the management of power, and analyze how different organizational structures may affect the management of power for the role of nurse executive. 

Leadership Theories

As a nurse executive at SLMC, I understand the huge task placed on me to steer a large team of nurses in delivering high-quality services to the patients. To effectively achieve this, I would seek to utilize expert, referent, legitimate, charismatic, and reward power. The theory of transformational leadership involves transforming the follower into a leader and emphasizing on a vision that provides a meaning and motivation. Transformational leaders are able to communicate an attractive vision with enthusiasm and confidence. As a nurse executive relying on this leadership theory, I will strive to provide the nurses with a strong sense of identification with the organization and convince them to transcend their personal interests (Hutchison & Jackison, 2013). As a transformational leader, expert power originates from the ability of a leader to carry out the accompanying tasks in an excellent manner. Another important power associated with the transformational leadership is the charismatic power where leaders are expected to portray an ability to inspire followers to achieve their maximum capacity in the attainment of goals. To exercise the referent power, I would need to associate regularly with the followers to understand fully the issues facing them and come up with solutions to solve them. Transformation leaders are known to be masters in helping people to do things they were not sure they could achieve by giving them encouragement and praise. This would be a means of utilizing the reward power. 

Another leadership theory that would be effective in bringing out my management of power as a nurse executive would be servant leadership. This theory was developed by Robert Greenleaf in 1970s. It describes leaders who can influence and motivate others through building relationships and skills of the individual team members. In this leadership style, a leader is expected to ensure that the needs of the individual team members are addressed. Here the entire team’s input is considered in the decision-making process based on the organization’s values and ideal (Igram, 2016). In the management of power, I would make use of the legitimate power that comes naturally from being in a position of power. With this power, I would seek to create devoted followers by granting them positive attention and ensuring that they feel my presence. Another form of power that would be supported by the leadership theory is referent power. This power would entail being trusted and respected. Under the servant leadership, I would expect that the followers trust what I do and respect the manner in which I handle different situations. 

Organizational Structures

The different types of power are affected directly by the organizational structure adopted by an organization. Among the most common types of the organizational structure include a centralized hierarchy structure and flat organization structure. In organizations with the centralized hierarchy structure, positions of power are clearly defined and focus of power in a few individuals. The decision-making authority is concentrated at the upper levels of an organization (Al-Qatawneh, 2014). Leaders in organizations with this kind of structure are more likely to use referent, legitimate, coercive and reward powers at the expense of charismatic power. 

Unlike the centralized hierarchy structure that promotes top-down communication style, flatter organizational structure endeavors to open up the channels of communication and collaboration by removing layers of authority. Such organizations are able to make better use of employees’ skills and knowledge. The managers in such organizations are required to take greater individual responsibility. A key element of success for this organization structure is that each individual manager needs to be in a position to make own decision and work autonomously (Andersson & Zbirenko, 2014). This would imply that as a nurse executive at SLMC, I would be responsible for running the affairs of the nursing department. Under such circumstances, the forms of power that I would largely utilize would be referent, legitimate, reward, expert, and charismatic.

Conclusion

The discussion presented above reflects how I would seek to utilize different forms of power while acting in the capacity of a nurse executive at St Louis Medical Center, which has more than 450 nurses. Power entails the ability to influence others. The two leadership theories that have been highlighted are transformational and servant leadership. Transformational leadership entails transforming the followers into a leader and emphasizing on a vision that provides a meaning and motivation. The powers that most applicable to this theory include expert, charismatic, and expert power. Servant leadership involves leaders who can influence and motivate others through building relationships. The forms of power applicable here include referent and legitimate powers. The organizational structure that may support the management of power described includes centralized hierarchy and flatter organizational structures.

References

Al-Qatawneh, M. I. (2014). The impact of organizational structure on organizational commitment: A comparison between public and private sector firms in Jordan. European Journal of Business and management, 6(12), 30-37. 

Hutchinson, M., & Jackson, D. (2013). Transformational leadership in nursing: towards a more critical interpretation. Nursing Inquiry, 20(1), 11-22.

Ingram Jr, O. C. (2016). Servant Leadership as A Leadership Model. JMSBI, 1(1), 21-26.

Ojo, A. (2016). Leadership and power: A study of the constructs of followers perceived leadership style and leadership power. Journal Of Behavioral Studies In Business, 8.Zbirenko, A., & Andersson, J. (2014). Effect of organizational structure, leadership, and communication on efficiency and productivity: A qualitative study of a public health-care organization. DIVA Portal. Retrieved from https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:735889/fulltext01.pdf