Week 9: Health Leadership & Systems Thinking

Transformational and Transactional Leadership

Approaches to effective leadership may be likened to two sides of the same coin. Consider for example that the success of an organization relies on the effective management of its leader. That is, an organization is dependent on a leader who is able to inspire, motivate, and mobilize followers to accomplish the organization’s long-term vision. Yet, an organization is not successful if it is not able to perform and execute necessary tasks in a day-to-day fashion that might not necessarily contribute to the long-term vision of the organization in the short-term. How might health care administration leaders employ these two seemingly opposing perspectives to execute effective leadership?

This week, you explore transformational and transactional theories of leadership as they might apply for health care administration practice.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

· Analyze the relationship among leadership perspectives

· Apply transformational and transactional leadership

· Analyze leadership challenges in health care administration crises

Learning Resources

Required Readings

· Nahavandi, A. (2015). The art and science of leadership (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Chapter 6, “Current Era in leadership” (pp.178-201)

· Gostin, L.O., Lucey, D., & Phelan, A. (2014). The Ebola epidemic: A global health emergency. Journal of the American Medical Association, 312(11), 1095-1096.

· Melvyn R. W., Hamstra, N. W., Yperen, V., Wisse, B. & Sassenberg K. (2011). Leadership styles and followers’ regulatory focus fit reduces followers’ turnover intentions. Journal of Personnel Psychology , 10(4), 182–186.

· Lindebaum, D., & Cartwright, S. (2010). A critical examination of the relationship between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership. Journal of Management Studies, 47(7), 1317-1342.

· Silvia, C., & McGuire, M. (2010). Leading public sector networks: An empirical examination of integrative leadership behaviors. The Leadership Quarterly, 21(2), 264-277.

· Weberg, D. (2010). Transformational leadership and staff retention: An evidence review with implications for healthcare systems. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 34(3), 246-258.

Optional Resources

· Babou. (2008, August 4). Transactional leadership vs. transformational leadership. Leadership & Project Management Champions. Retrieved from http://leadershipchamps.wordpress.com/2008/08/04/transactional-leadership-vs-transformational-leadership/

· Gupta, A. (2009, June 29). Transformational leadership. Practical Management. Retrieved from http://www.practical-management.com/Leadership-Development/Transformational-Leadership.html.

· Leadership-Central. (2015). Leadership theories. Retrieved from http://www.leadership-central.com/leadership-theories.html#axzz1dlH7YU4o.

Discussion Part

Leadership Perspectives: Transactional and Transformational

Although often difficult to define, leadership presents a pivotal aspect in any organization. Over the course of history, various leaders have embodied characteristics and qualities that have proved effective and ineffective within various situations. For example, a health director of a small clinic might exhibit a different leadership perspective than a director of staff for an intensive care unit at a large hospital. Though characteristics and qualities may vary among leaders, their primary goals for followers and organizations may be similar. Understanding the most appropriate leadership perspective may impact your future leadership perspective in the field of health care administration.

1. For this Discussion, review the resources for this week. Reflect on your understanding of the theories in relation to various situations. Additionally, consider how these theories relate to previous leadership perspectives of Trait Theory, Skills Approach, and behavioral perspective covered in this course.

By Day 3

2. Post an explanation of how transformational leadership and transactional leadership relate to Trait Theory, Skills Approach, and behavior perspective. Then, explain under what circumstances a transformational leadership might be preferred and under what circumstances a transactional leadership might be preferred for the practice of health care administration. Provide an example and justify your response.

By Day 5

Continue the Discussion and provide a substantive reply to your colleagues in one or more of the following ways:

· Expand on the colleague’s posting with additional insight and resources.

· Offer polite disagreement or critique, supported with evidence.

In addition, you may also respond as follows:

· Offer and support an opinion.

· Validate an idea with your own experience.

· Make a suggestion or comment that guides or facilitates the discussion.

Support your postings and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources and the current literature.

Submission and Grading Information

Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:

Week 9 Discussion Rubric

Post by Day 3 and Respond by Day 5

To participate in this Discussion: Week 9 Discussion

Assignment Part

Case Study

As a future leader in the field of health care administration, you may face many chronic health threats to various systems. As you work to combat these threats and ensure community wellness, you are likely to become an agent of social change. This objective may be more challenging and critical to achieve in matters such as health emergencies and outbreaks. For leaders, outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics elicit critical and timely attention to situations in health care administration.

1. In this week’s article by Gostin, Lucey, & Phelan (2014), the authors highlight the challenges present with an Ebola epidemic on a global scale. Using this Learning Resource from this week as well as 2–4 additional resources you may find from the Walden Library, current events, etc., consider your leadership perspective during an outbreak, epidemic, or pandemic.

As you collaborate with your team, individually select one of the following leadership roles that would respond during this outbreak:

· Director, FEMA

· Director, CDC

· Governor of an afflicted state

· Incident Response Commander

· Response Leader, American Red Cross (or other nongovernmental organization)

· Health Care Administrator for a large medical center

After selecting your leadership role, use a systems approach to work with your group to establish immediate response in preventing another pandemic.

The Assignment—Part 1:

Case Analysis (1–3 pages):

Based on the leadership role you selected for the Assignment, include the following:

· A summary of the leadership challenges this leader would face in assuring the system changes necessary to be prepared for the next outbreak, epidemic, or pandemic

· An explanation of how your leadership challenges as this leader relate to challenges of the other leaders listed above

Note: The leadership challenges that you describe should be those you would face as an individual in the role of your selected leader, rather than the functional challenges of the agency this individual leads.

The Assignment—Part 2:

Case Study Analysis (2–3 pages):

Then, using your leadership Assignment for the Case Study, collaborate with your colleagues to create a Case Study Analysis that includes:

· An explanation of how the challenges identified in the individual case analyses collectively affect crisis response by the system and the individuals within it

· An explanation of how transformational and transactional leaders might influence outcomes within this case

· A summary of how poor leadership might affect the outcome of the case

Submit your Assignment—Part 1 by Day 7.

By Day 7

Support your Case Study with specific references to all resources and current literature used in its preparation. You are to provide a reference list for all resources, including those in the Learning Resources for this course.

Submission and Grading Information

To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following:

· Please save your Assignment using the naming convention “WK9AssgnP1+last name+first initial.(extension)” and “WK9AssgnP2+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name.

· Click the Week 9 Assignment Rubric to review the Grading Criteria for the Assignment.

· Click the Week 9 Assignment link. You will also be able to “View Rubric” for grading criteria from this area.

· Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computer button. Find the document you saved as “WK9AssgnP1+last name+first initial.(extension)” and “WK9AssgnP2+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click Open.

If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global Reference Database.

Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.

Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:

Week 9 Assignment Part 1 Rubric

To access your rubric:

Week 9 Assignment Part 2 Rubric

Check Your Assignment Draft for Authenticity

To check your Assignment draft for authenticity:

Submit your Week 9 Assignment draft and review the originality report.

Submit Your Assignment by Day 7

To submit your Assignment:

Week 9 Assignment Part 1

To submit your Assignment:

Week 9 Assignment Part 2