D.Cur. (Professional Nursing) / As a result of the dynamic changes and developments which have taken place over the past years in the nursing and health services it has become imperative that attention should be paid to the leadership abilities and skills of nursing service managers who are in control of such services. It is essential for nursing service managers to develop leadership qualities, because the nursing service manager is responsible for the management of nursing services. The nursing service manager is responsible for rendering quality nursing to the individual, families and the community. Therefore nursing service managers cannot afford to lag behind where development and handling of changes in health services are concerned. As the nursing service manager develops and grows personally and professionally he/she is enabled to facilitate the professional nurses' quest for wholeness. They, in their turn, can facilitate the patients' quest for wholeness. This research originated because of the needs and shortcomings with regard to inadequate management skills that became evident in conversations with nursing service managers on various management levels in practice, and also because of existing research by nursing service management experts. Research and discussion with nursing management experts showed that there is a need for leadership development in nursing service managers and that the need becomes more pronounced as a result of the dynamic changes that are taking place in the nursing and health services. These changes in their turn are brought about by the political and socia-economic demands and pressure on health services. The question arose of how to address the problem of leadership development of the nursing service manager in the best possible way. It was decided to address the problem directly through research, in order to determine how nursing service managers could and should be educated in leadership development, in order to satisfy the demands made on them. Due to the nature of the problem, it was decided to follow a qualitative, explorative and descriptive design in the research, with a theory generating approach based on the model of theory generation of Dickoff, James and Wiedenbach (1968: 415/435) . The first related and three levels viz factor isolation, factor related and situation related theories were generated. In phase one of the research an explorative, descriptive, contextual design, where a focus group technique of interviewing was used, was followed. It was done in order to investigate the leadership dimensions of nursing service managers, to address level one factor isolation of theory generation and to identify the specific concepts with regard to leadership development. After the results had been transcribed validation discussions were conducted with some of the participants, in order to enhance the credibility of the research. A control of literature was done, in order to compare the results of the study with existing literature and research on the topic. Six main concepts in the process of leadership development were identified by means of concept-identification, and concept classification (level one factor isolation theory). They are role model,ยท values, participating leadership, change management, self management and interpersonal skills. These concepts contribute to answering research question viz: To what extent can the exploring and description of the nursing service manager's leadership practice serve as foundation for the generation of a leadership development model and for the provision of guidelines for leadership development. The reliability of the research was constantly ensured by careful discussion of the methodology. The conceptualized model for leadership development of nursing service managers was validated by three nursing model experts and three nursing management experts. Following on clarifying discussions with model and nursing management experts the model was refined and hypotheses/relation statements were identified. Factors are not seen in isolation any more. The research therefor now moves to a level two factor related theory. The description of the model takes the research up to a level three situation related theory. The description of the model implies a description of the structure and process. Hypotheses are stated after the recommendations because discussions is only taken up to a level three situation theory. As a result the model for leadership development of nursing service managers can be validated by subsequent research. Thereafter formulated hypotheses of theory generation can be taken to theory verification. The model for leadership development is evaluated on previously stated criteria and the research succeeds to conceptualize a model for leadership development of nursing service managers in a logical, systematic way. The model is an answer to the research questions and clearly shows how nursing service managers can and should be educated. The nursing service manager's quests for leadership excellence, in order to be able to contribute to the quest for wholeness of other nursing service managers and followers and to the community. Conclusions, recommendations and operational possibilities of the research are suggested and finally, guidelines for a leadership development programme are proposed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:10969 |
| Date | 08 May 2014 |
| Creators | Nel, Albertha Hendrika |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | University of Johannesburg |
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