This paper examines contemporary leadership styles used within organizations and their impact upon the risk of burnout among human service workers. Specifically, the paper focuses upon research drawn from the nursing literature to identify styles most effective in promoting a positive work environment. Transactional leadership and laissez-faire leadership both appear to promote the negative conditions that contribute to employee burnout. In contrast, two leadership styles that appear particularly effective in facilitating the protection of human service workers from the development of burnout: transformational leadership and authentic leadership. Transformation leadership focuses upon motivating followers through strategies such as creating
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Kansate (2014) reports that nurses prefer environments characterized by "good support and feedback, job clarity, autonomy and low levels of complexity in their work" (p. 4). Additional factors include access to organizational information, adequate resources to complete job responsibilities, and opportunities to engage in professional development (Laschinger et al., 2013). These findings suggest that organizational leaders can actively employ strategies to diminish the risk of their employees suffering from burnout. Traditionally, the subjects of leadership and worker burnout have been evaluated in isolation. As Kanste (2014) observers, "leadership and burnout have been mainly examined as separate elements, and not enough attention has been paid to the relationship between these phenomena" (p. 4). However, as leaders and managers consider the real impact of the decisions they make, their interests necessarily shift to consider issues of employee motivation such as burnout. Many different leadership styles exist. Past studies have considered the effects upon employee motivation by identifying particular styles and surveying the attitudes of workers. Studied leadership styles include transactional leadership, laissez-faire leadership, transformational leadership, and authentic …show more content…
The source of commonality linking these two distinct styles appears to be empowerment. Empowerment is a job characteristic highly valued by nurses: "employee empowerment is a fundamental component of healthy work environments that promote nurse health and retention" (Laschinger et al., 2013, p. 541). As a highly educated set of professionals working in a high stress environment that literally involves the life and death of patients, nurses face very high levels of stress, and they respond positively to leaders who demonstrate their appreciation for the expertise of their
Kansate (2014) reports that nurses prefer environments characterized by "good support and feedback, job clarity, autonomy and low levels of complexity in their work" (p. 4). Additional factors include access to organizational information, adequate resources to complete job responsibilities, and opportunities to engage in professional development (Laschinger et al., 2013). These findings suggest that organizational leaders can actively employ strategies to diminish the risk of their employees suffering from burnout. Traditionally, the subjects of leadership and worker burnout have been evaluated in isolation. As Kanste (2014) observers, "leadership and burnout have been mainly examined as separate elements, and not enough attention has been paid to the relationship between these phenomena" (p. 4). However, as leaders and managers consider the real impact of the decisions they make, their interests necessarily shift to consider issues of employee motivation such as burnout. Many different leadership styles exist. Past studies have considered the effects upon employee motivation by identifying particular styles and surveying the attitudes of workers. Studied leadership styles include transactional leadership, laissez-faire leadership, transformational leadership, and authentic …show more content…
The source of commonality linking these two distinct styles appears to be empowerment. Empowerment is a job characteristic highly valued by nurses: "employee empowerment is a fundamental component of healthy work environments that promote nurse health and retention" (Laschinger et al., 2013, p. 541). As a highly educated set of professionals working in a high stress environment that literally involves the life and death of patients, nurses face very high levels of stress, and they respond positively to leaders who demonstrate their appreciation for the expertise of their