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- QUESTION
Week 3: Organizational Structures and Leadership
Introduction
How does the structure of an organization impact planning and decision making? What is the significance of organizational structure for your role as a nurse leader?
This week you look at formal organizational structure, which is typically depicted through an organizational chart. In addition, you consider the informal structure of organizations, which relates to the often unnoticed or underappreciated relationships and interactions that are actually quite influential. Also this week, you consider the use and functions of committees, task forces, and councils in health care settings. In addition, you examine the impact of formal and informal leadership within the organization.
Objectives
Students will:
- Differentiate among different types of organizational structures
- Analyze attributes associated with centralization and decentralization
- Contrast concepts of formal and informal organizational structure
Readings
- Marquis, B. L., & Huston, C. J. (2015). Leadership roles and management functions in nursing: Theory and application (8th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins. ◦Chapter 2, “Classical Views of Leadership and Management” ( THIS IS THE TEXT BOOK FOR THE CLASS so it’s vital that it is used for references)
The information introduced through this chapter relates to this week’s Discussion, and will also be referred to in future weeks of the course.
◦Chapter 3, “Twenty-First Century Thinking About Leadership and Management”
This chapter examines new thinking about leadership and management and how this may influence the future of nursing.
◦Review Chapter 12, “Organizational Structure”
- Allmark, P., Baxter, S., Goyder, E., Guillaume, L. and Crofton-Martin, G. (2013), Assessing the health benefits of advice services: using research evidence and logic model methods to explore complex pathways. Health & Social Care in the Community, 21, pp. 59–68. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2524.2012.01087.x
This manuscript examines causal pathways between the provision of advice services and improvements in health. It may also be useful to commissioners and practitioners in making decisions regarding development and commissioning of advice services.
- Downey, M., Parslow, S., & Smart, M. (2011). The hidden treasure in nursing leadership: Informal leaders. Journal of Nursing Management, 19(4), 517–521.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
Informal leaders can have a strong impact in the workplace. This article explores the value informal leaders can provide.
- Stetler, C. B., Ritchie, J. A., Rycroft-Malone, J., & Charns, M. P. (2014). Leadership for Evidence-Based Practice: Strategic and Functional Behaviors for Institutionalizing EBP. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 11(4), 219-226. doi:10.1111/wvn.12044
Except from Abstract: Making evidence-based practice (EBP) a reality throughout an organization is a challenging goal in healthcare services. Leadership has been recognized as a critical element in that process. However, little is known about the exact role and function of various levels of leadership in the successful institutionalization of EBP within an organization.
Media
- Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2012a). Diverse organizational structures. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Organizational Structures and Leadership
In most health care settings, it is unlikely that you would hear the terms “ad hoc” or “matrix” as you walk down the hallway. Although it is helpful for any organization to delineate pathways of responsibility and authority in an organizational chart, the lived experience of these structures is most apparent through the inquiries and behaviors people share everyday.
In your own workplace, you may find yourself wondering, who should I turn to when I have a practice dilemma? or Where can I go to learn more about this issue? These questions speak to the intricacies of formal and informal organizational structure and leadership.
To prepare:
- Review the information presented in Chapter 12 of the course text. Focus on the information about formal versus informal structure as well as the types of organizational structures.
- Consider the overall structure or hierarchy of your organization or one with which you are familiar. Which organizational structure best describes your organization—line (or bureaucratic), ad hoc, matrix, service line, or flat? Note: It is possible to have a combination of structures in one organization. Is decision making centralized or decentralized in this organization?
- What is the role of committees, task forces, and councils in the organization, and who is invited to join? Consider how this relates to formal and informal leadership.
- Reflect on how decisions are made within a specific department or unit. Which stakeholders provide input or influence the decision-making process? Assess this in terms of formal and informal leadership.
- To support your analysis, consider your own experiences and investigate these matters by speaking with others at the organization and reviewing available documents. Be sure to consider how the concepts of formal and informal structure and leadership relate to one another and are demonstrated in the organization and in the particular department or unit.
On the Week 3 Discussion Board, post on or before Day 3 a depiction of your organization’s formal structure, indicating whether it is best described as line, ad hoc, matrix, service line, flat, or a combination. Describe how decisions are made within the organization and within one department or unit in particular, noting relevant attributes of centralized/decentralized decision making. Explain the influence of formal and informal leadership on decision making within this department or unit.
Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.
Respond by Day 6 to at least two of your colleagues on two different days using one or more of the following approaches:
- Ask a probing question, substantiated with additional background information, evidence or research.
- Share an insight from having read your colleagues’ postings, synthesizing the information to provide new perspectives.
- Validate an idea with your own experience and additional research.
- Make a suggestion based on additional evidence drawn from readings or after synthesizing multiple postings.
| Subject | Administration | Pages | 7 | Style | APA |
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Answer
Leadership and the conditions within an organization’s set up affect both the casual and formal relationships within ranks. Organizations that have had a change of leadership in the past, those that are dependent on authority, and those that have close contact with the supervisors, tend to have unstable organizational structures but enjoy casual relationships within the ranks as compared to those with stable and are autonomous with little or no interaction with the authority. These have well defined and predictable organizational structure but lack casual relationships within their ranks. This study looks into how a nursing organizational structure impacts planning and decision making, the significance of the structure to the nurse leader, different types of organizational structures, the attributes of centralization and decentralization and the contrast between formal and informal organization structures. Each nursing organization requires some form of organizational structure and defined leadership to operate well but above all they all need relationships within the structure to survive and grow.
There are different types of organizational structures, the main one being the functional organizational structure. Here, the structure forms departments for each function enabling specialization, for example, all the sales personnel would fall under a single department and the same would be for all other areas of specialization (Lankshear, Kerr, and Laschinger & Wong 2013).
The second type of organizational structure is the divisional structure. This is mainly used in large organizations and those that operate in different geographical areas or organizations that have multiple outlets but all under one umbrella. All the divisions are complete with their own teams, for example, there is an independent sales team in each division. The final structure is the matrix. The matrix is a combination of both the divisional and functional structures. It is mainly used in large multinational organizations. Though stable, it could create power struggle between the different managers who all line up in the same level on the structure. Organizational structure can additionally be formal or informal. Formal organization structure is those that have a clear distinction of the superiors and the subordinate while the informal one talks of a relationship between the two (superior and subordinate) but at the social level (Huber, 2013).
The structure of organization a nursing unit decides to implement dictates the flow of information from either ends and additionally the success or the failure of the leadership of the organization. Organizations structures are advantageous in decision making and planning as they allow for different people at different management levels to share ideas on they see fit for the organization. The top management is mainly charged with policy making accept ideas from the lower levels of management (Marquis& Huston, 2009).
The organizational structure can affect positively or negatively the type of a nurse leader. Like any other leader, a nurse leader who is involved in key decision making processes ends up feeling empowered, valued and motivated to give the best possible in patient care, likewise one that feels isolated will be demotivated would most likely give less attention to the group and the patients as well ( Downey, Parslow & Smart, 2011). As a lead nurse the expectation is that I am involved in decision making as I am an integral member of the management.
Different organizations, depending on their sizes employ either the centralized or decentralized decision making process in their organization structure. The centralized model is mainly used my small businesses where the owner decides on the key operational decisions while the decentralized model is where there are several individuals responsible for key decision making in the organization (Marquis & Huston, 2009). The key advantage of the centralized model is the fact that there is efficiency in decision making as only the owner is the key decision maker. On the other end, though it could be time consuming, the decentralized model is made up of many decision makers but with different skills and understanding and probability of failure is low as compared to the centralized model (Clavelle, O’Grady & Drenkard, 2013).
In conclusion, an organization’s success or failure is predetermined by the structure of leadership in place. There are many structures to choose from but the most important factor is the relationship between the individuals involved and the process of decision making chosen. The degree of involvement a nurse leader has in decision making determines the value the leader puts on the work given.
References
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Clavelle, J. T., O’Grady, T. P., & Drenkard, K. (2013). Structural empowerment and the nursing practice environment in Magnet® organizations. Journal of Nursing Administration, 43(11), 566-573. Downey, M., Parslow, S., & Smart, M. (2011). The hidden treasure in nursing leadership: Informal leaders. Journal of Nursing Management, 19(4), 517-521. Huber, D. (2013). Leadership and nursing care management. Elsevier Health Sciences. Lankshear, S., Kerr, M. S., Laschinger, H. K. S., & Wong, C. A. (2013). Professional practice leadership roles: The role of organizational power and personal influence in creating a professional practice environment for nurses.Health care management review, 38(4), 349-360. Marquis, B. L., & Huston, C. J. (2009). Leadership roles and management functions in nursing: Theory and application. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
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