<p> Leadership is essential for the survival of the healthcare organization in the midst of challenging times due to health care reform and the public's desire for transparency and improved quality outcomes. Transformational leadership is desirable for nurse leaders in a rapidly changing environment, but nurse leaders are often challenged with the inability to meet the demands of this complex environment for a variety of reasons. The increasing competition for resources, both human and fiscal, leading to wider spans of control is one of those challenges. The purpose of this quantitative, correlational research study was to explore the relationship between span of control and the leadership style of nurse leaders. The setting for the study was a multi-facility healthcare system in the Midwest. Avolio and Bass' (2004) Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Form 5X Short (MLQ) was utilized to determine the nurse leader's leadership style along the full range of leadership continuum. The span of control or number of direct reports each nurse leader had was collected along with other demographic data. </p><p> The Pearson product moment correlation was utilized to analyze the relationship between span of control and transformational leadership, and span of control and transactional leadership. The Spearman's rho correlation coefficient was utilized to analyze the relationship between span of control and passive/avoidant behavior. The data suggest that there is no relationship between span of control and the leadership style of nurse leaders. While no relationship was found, the findings remain significant to nurse leaders as they navigate the complex territory of healthcare and make strategic decisions about organizational structures.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:3631496 |
| Date | 30 September 2014 |
| Creators | Williams, Damita J. |
| Publisher | Indiana Wesleyan University |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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