Transactional Leadership In Health Care

Introduction
The health care industry has seen many changes throughout the years. Hospitals and other health care facilities have expanded their services to, not only to treat illnesses, but to provide education on prevention and health promotion to the community. For many years, doctors have been the forefront of healthcare. However, in recent years, due to changes in the healthcare needs of the population, nurses’ roles became more complex and their scope of practice have expanded. Nurses today are well-educated and highly trained than nurses in the past. Behind these nurses are leaders that offer guidance, support and motivation in achieving their highest potential.
Leadership Style
There are several different type of leadership styles

12). Nurse leaders are more task-oriented where rewards are usually dependent on job performance. Transactional leaders are characterized by their practicality and resistant to change. They work within the boundaries of the organization and do not deviate from it. One of the advantages of transactional leadership is that the staff is motivated for doing their job and are rewarded based on their yearly performance reviews by a pay raise or bonuses. A disadvantage to the transactional leadership, according to Higgins (2015), is that “leaders who use this approach are reactive rather than proactive” (p. 18). They attempt to solve the problems as it happens. Nurse leaders fail to analyze the root cause of the situation to prevent further problems from occurring in the

8), is an autocratic leader. This type of leadership takes control of the department and assigns some tasks to staff under close supervision. Leaders are not open to suggestions or discourage staff from expressing giving advice or expressing opinions. In addition, they are characterized as powerful, firm, lack of trust, and not a team player. This type of leadership is not very popular however there are still organizations that are controlled by an autocratic leader.
One of the advantages is that tasks will get done, regardless if completed by staff or leader. However, the leader takes full responsibility and credit for it. A disadvantage, according to Tromp and Blomme (2010), is “this autocratic leadership behavior can cause strain amongst followers, resulting in negative spillover effects” (p. 90). The staff may feel demoralized and underappreciated under this rule. As a result, they leave their jobs, which will cause added strain to the remaining employees and it can affect the entire team. The leader’s failure to recognize and appreciate their strengths lead to a decrease in staff morale and an increase in negativity in the workplace. Furthermore, due to unhappy nurses, turnover was high, which lead to stressed out and overworked