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Leadership
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3

Body...........................................................................................................................................4

PART 1...................................................................................................................................4

PART 2...................................................................................................................................9

Conclusion................................................................................................................................12

References................................................................................................................................14
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Introduction

It can be said that leadership is one of the most important elements in terms of making a

company successful in the long run. On the other hand, leadership is also a combination of

the management concept in recent times. Leadership is concerned with doing the right things

whereas management is only doing things (Hackman and Johnson, 2013). It has been

suggested by some of the eminent scholars that leadership is mainly concerned with what

things should be done with regards to defining the standard and setting goals for achieving

the goals. On the contrary, the management mainly maintains the things which are already

done in the right track. It has been also suggested by the literature that a leadership that is

quite effective is connected with the excellent quality of care as well as the satisfaction of the

job (Van Rossum et al. 2016). Throwing light on the above-mentioned discussion it can be

said that leadership is marked as the core-competency requirement to the healthcare domain.

In general terms, leadership is a practical skill as well as the research area that tends to

encompass the organization's or an individual's ability for guiding other teams, individuals or

the entire firm. It must be understood that leadership is quite vital as it tends to set the vision

as well as communicates effectively to colleagues and subordinates. Furthermore, the clear

vision also tends to provide them an excellent understanding with regards to the

organizational direction and also makes them realize their responsibilities and roles. It can be

said that the healthcare segment is mainly characterized by the continuous reforms that are

aimed specifically at the efficient delivery of effective, safe as well as high-quality care.

Hence, effective leadership is an absolute necessity for driving and leading changes at all

levels of the health system for actualizing the goals with regards to the ongoing reforms in

healthcare companies. Management, as well as leadership with regards to the healthcare

professionals, is quite important for strengthening the quality as well as integration with
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regards to the care. Effective clinical leadership is also linked with a wide range of functions

(D’Innocenzo et al. 2016).

Body

PART 1

The shared leadership is mainly practicing in terms of governing by expanding the number of

individuals involved in terms of making the vital decisions that are related to the

organization. It can be said that shared leadership can be defined in a number of ways but all

of the definitions tend to describe the same phenomenon. It has been stated by this scholar

(Hoch and Kozlowski, 2014), that shared leadership is where the individual members of a

team tend to engage in the activities that in return influences the entire team as well as the

other team members to a great extent. Furthermore, shared leadership is also commonly

thought of as the “serial emergence" with regards to a lot of leaders over the life of a team

Shared leadership tends to differ a lot from the team leadership as shared leadership is mainly

an emergent property of a team in terms of the mutual influence along with the shared

responsibility along with the members of the team and they tend to lead each other for

achieving a particular goal (E. Hoch, 2014). It can be argued that although shared leadership

is a brand new concept still it can be traced back earlier. Shared leadership is becoming quite

popular as a lot of team members tend to bloom as the leaders and it specially happens when

they have the knowledge/skills/expertise that is needed by the team. On the other hand,

distributed leadership is the analytical, as well as the conceptual framework in terms of

understanding how they work of leadership, tends to take place among the individuals and in

the context of a complicated firm. Moreover, it is mainly used in education research still in

recent times; it is also applied in some other domains also such as tourism and even in the

business (Drescher et al. 2014). On the other hand, distributed leadership is mainly concerned
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with leadership practice than particular leadership responsibilities along with the roles. It

tends to equate with the collective, shared as well as the extended practice of the leadership

that also builds the capacity for enhancement and alteration. Some of the scholars have

defined the distributed leadership as sharing of the generic leadership tasks for influencing

the availability of the resources, goal setting as well as decision making within a perspective

of a company (Lingard et al. 2012).

Distributed along with shared leadership can be regarded as the two most recognized

concepts in recent times. It can be said that there are some of the scholars that have stated that

in the usage of the distributed and shared leadership between the sectors as well as countries,

for instance, the articles about the distributed leadership mainly published in the educational

sector (Fulop, 2012). In recent times, however, the distributed leadership has become much

more connected with the health care setting as a model of the collective leadership that is

perfect for this specific setting to a great extent. However, distributed leadership tasks with

regards to the settings of the healthcare may seem to be quite natural from the perspective of

the clinical managerial work because of the interdepartmental as well as the interdisciplinary

work procedure. On the other hand, empowering the leadership can be observed as the

approach that tends to offer prescriptions to the leaders for arranging the exercise as well as

the distribution of the power (Trong Tuan, 2012).

It has been observed by the researchers are mainly two types of leadership in recent times that

is favoured by the social and healthcare policymakers and these are distributed as well as

shared leadership (Trong Tuan, 2012). The distributed along with the shared leadership shifts

the role of the leader from the bottom is the grass-roots approach which can help in terms of

meeting the challenges in the policy. The two elements that distributed and shared leadership

consists of are distributed and shared. In general terms, it can be said that distributed and

shared leadership tends to involve two or more leaders who may have various skills or even
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the professional background within a company. Distributed and shared leadership not only

creates a reciprocal influence procedure but also the leadership practice is also shaped via the

interactions between the followers and the leaders (Oborn et al. 2013). It has been stated by

the scholars that the distributed and shared leadership can be divided into two elements. The

literature has also suggested that the followers under the distributed and shared have job

satisfaction, self-efficacy as well as innovative behaviour. The distributed and shared

distributed leadership includes sharing of the authority as well as the job duty among the

members of the team; more communications can be created as well as resulting in terms of

building a relationship in the team. On the other hand, distributed and shared leadership every

member of the team also has a right for saying in the team as well as an informal dynamic

will be created (Bolden, 2011.). Arguably, the group members can be one of the most

prominent barriers with regards to the distributed and shared leadership as various

professionals may have different types of beliefs on leadership. It has been suggested by a

study that a professional in the healthcare setting who has excellent identification is quite

likely to have the greatest level of agreement with the shared leadership. It has been also

observed that the distribution as well as the shared leadership not only tends to have the same

benefits, for instance, the better performance of the team, higher empowerment of employees,

but also it creates group communications as well as trust-building in the team. There are some

of the most remarkable benefits noticed with regards to the shared and distributive leadership

in the entire healthcare settings without any doubt (Martin and Waring, 2013).

It can be argued that both distributives along with the shared leadership tend to provide

excellent chances for the employees in the healthcare system such as nurses for

communicating with their seniors in an effective manner as they are mainly in a shared role

and not the traditional top-down approach. In Hong Kong, some nurses in hospitals think that

the managers of the hospital do not provide an opportunity for them in terms of getting
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involved in the decision making as well as not in aware in terms of their contribution. It is

needless to say that the distributed along with the shared leadership indicates the distributed

authority to the bottom employees and then acknowledges the contribution from the members

of the team. In Hong Kong, the distributed and shared leadership have mainly advocated a

shared responsibility which also tends to allow the colleagues in terms of working together

for avoiding extra expectations. After observing the role of the shared and the distributive

leadership in the healthcare settings it can be said that distributed and shared leadership is the

only way forward in terms of the leadership within the present care and health settings to a

great extent (Goodwin, 2013).

The dominance in the medical sector is also present in Hong Kong at an alarming rate and it

has been argued by some of the scholars that the doctors mainly make a decision in an

independent manner without involving the nurse of a similar department. The medical

profession is not at all willing in terms of following an individual who is mainly the assistant.

The distributed along with the shared leadership can be clearly defined as a shared role

between the leaders as well. All of the leaders that are present in the medical settings tend to

collaborate with each other for minimizing the hierarchical conflict to a great extent

(VanVactor, 2012).

It has been observed that shared and distributed leadership is mainly welcomed by a lot of

professionals in the medical settings of Hong Kong. It also tends to allow various background

team members for sharing their different opinions as well as gathering resources. In the entire

team, the members of the team share the equal duty and rights for avoiding the hierarchical

concept as well as encouraging a team dynamic in an excellent manner. The distributed, as

well as shared leadership, may not be the single way in terms of commanding the healthcare

sector of Hong Kong but it can be said that it is one of the finest ways in terms of facilitating
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the present situation of health care of Hong Kong for providing a supportive and shared role

to the Hong Kong medical practitioners for relieving their stresses to a great extent.

There are some of the studies with regards to the health care teams where the researchers

mainly attended in terms of the distribution of role among the leadership constellation

members as well as tightening or losing practices between the leaders mainly (D’Innocenzo

et al. 2016).

The distributed along with the shared leadership is the types of leadership that are gaining a

lot of attention internationally especially in the U.K. there are researchers from all across the

globe who have stated both of these leadership tends to solve the potential challenges as well

as enhancing the healthcare services as the development structure in the healthcare settings.

In recent times the distributed leadership has been also adopted as one of the main strands of

policy in UK National Health Services. Arguably, there is some amount of confusion that is

connected over the meaning of the distributed leadership as well as its uncertainty over the

non-clinical and clinical staff. The distributed leadership is mainly intended for empowering

along with it engaging so that there is a vertical flow of power from the center downwards as

well as perhaps even beyond the boundaries of the company. Therefore, it can be argued that

power must be distributed in an equal manner than in the traditional hierarchy and the

employees of the medical settings must be able to make decisions and act upon them in a

constructive manner. There are some of the questions that may take place in the future in

terms of future research work. One of the most significant questions is to what extent as well

as under what conditions are these distributed others are willing as well as able to share in the

leadership with regards to the health services (Godolphin, 2015).

Shared leadership is a bit different from the distributed leadership. The shared leadership is

mainly democratic as well as the organic procedure that does not need any factor or someone
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to do so, on the other hand, in terms of the distributed leadership still need some factor or

someone for doing so.

PART 2

Recommendations/implications for organisational and professional practice

Considering Hong Kong and the context of this country’s healthcare sector, shared and

distributed leadership seems the two most effective leadership styles. In this part of the

current study, the implications of these two leadership styles at the administrative and nursing

level are discussed followed by and the implications of the same on the professional

healthcare practice in the healthcare sector of Hong Kong. Along with this, recommendations

in relation to shared and distributed leadership to the healthcare system are also provided with

proper justification.

Implications

Shared leadership was initiated for developing leaders for improving the healthcare services

and with the aim of distributing leadership capacity at the clinical leads as well as at levels of

middle management the level where healthcare services are developed, delivered as well as

evaluated. Shared leadership is a relatively low-cost and simple intervention that is designed

for testing a hypothesis that uses to provide structured support to the teams in order to

improve its functioning at the clinical level (West et al. 2014). This leadership refers to

a management model of nursing that supports nurses in order to extend their influence on the

decisions that are responsible for affect their nursing practice, professional development, self-

fulfillment, and work environment. In order to retain and attract talented people to join the

nursing profession shared leadership is very important and effective. Creating a healthy

working environment and empowering nurses, shared leadership plays a vital role and also, it

strengthens enhance relationships and continuous learning both are the foundations in the
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nursing profession. Upon these foundations, nurses develop a strong and new kind of

relationship with each other and with the management of the healthcare organisation for

which they work. Shared leadership leads to improvements in the processes of a team. As

stated by Spillane (2012), distributed leadership ensures the sharing of generic leadership

tasks for influence resource availability, goal setting, and decision making within an

organisation. In nursing, the application of shared leadership allows leading by themselves

and leading by others whereas distributed leadership practice allows leaders and subordinates

to interact with each other (Günzel-Jensen et al. 2018). Both shared and distributive

leadership is effective in nursing whereas shared leadership is more effective in nursing

compared to distributed leadership because it allows sharing of cognition among the team

members (team of nurses) which is highly significant in nursing (Günzel-Jensen et al. 2018).

At the hospital administration level, the approach of shared leadership for the doctors has the

potential for inherent collaborative healthcare and shared clinical practices’ nature. The

reforms in healthcare policy, generally, mean that in a hospital all the doctors are required to

be engaged with leadership at the different levels and with the different degrees of

professional formality (Willcocks and Wibberley, 2015). Shared leadership is a vital

precondition for ensuring the success of healthcare policy reforms. The main concern of

every hospital administration is to improve patient experience and as healthcare refers to a

touch business and all about building relationships, shared and distributive leadership both

are very effective at administrative levels (longwoods.com, 2019).

Where the hospital administrative is running under the conventional leadership style, doctors

act as leaders in a medical team and they held responsible for setting up the clinical protocol

and instructing the nurses under their team as well as the executives of the healthcare

organisation they work for. Under this leadership approach, doctors do not use to involve

nurses very often in the process of clinical decision making. Also, doctors often found
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reluctant in order to adjust or consider feedback from nurses for reshaping the protocol they

have designed. On the other hand, under the shared and distributed approaches of leadership

in hospital administration, doctors are not considered as the only person responsible for

designing the clinical protocol and decisions (Crawford, 2012). The doctors are bound to

coordinate with their subordinates and nurses for designing the protocol and making patient

care and safety related decisions. For instance, if it is required to make a protocol for serving

the patients suffering from neurological problems, the practicing doctors must consult with

neurologists and neuro-specialist nurses. The application of shared and distributive leadership

has improved administrative practices of hospitals by increasing reliability and transparency.

More specifically, these two leadership styles used to ensure improved performance of all the

medical and clinical practitioners, and the engagement of a medical team that altogether

ensure a hassle-free and conflict-free administration (Spurgeon et al. 2017).

Recommendations:

Healthcare is an art and thus, it not only involves clinical judgment but also involves

relationships between different healthcare professionals such as doctors with the nurses,

patients with their families, and the providers of healthcare services with the patients and

their families. In order to ensure a balance between all these relationships and to restore the

art of healthcare practice re-visioning of these relationships is required as functional and true

partnerships. In Hong Kong, shared leadership and distributed leadership are the two

common themes in relation to the large-scale transformation of health systems (Best et al.

2012). Both of these two leaderships are relevant for improving the quality of patient care

along with the degree of patient safety because the direct contact with the patients and with

their families made on the front-lines (at the patients’ bedside, at the emergency departments,

and in the waiting rooms) where the science and art of healthcare get practiced every day, not

in the boardrooms of executive (Barr and Dowding, 2019).

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In recent times, distributive leadership becomes more associated and relevant with healthcare

setting in Hong Kong. A collective leadership model is more effective in such settings

compared to individual leadership (Barr and Dowding, 2019). In the healthcare setting,

distributing and shared leadership increases organisational efficiency and performance of

every individual member of a team because the autonomous workers in healthcare

organisation having the responsibility for their patients not found responding appropriately

under authoritarian leadership whereas under shared leadership they respond well. In Honk

Kong’s healthcare system, shared leadership stands as a fluid and ongoing process which

ensures continuous evaluation and acts responsively to the ever-changing challenges in

healthcare, and presumes a strong work relationship between different healthcare

professionals. Similarly, distributive leadership helps medical professionals to formulate an

ethos to allow individuals to offset the weakness of one another and complement strengths

one another throughout the healthcare organisation (Al-Sawai, 2013).

Conclusion

In the concluding remarks it can be said that shared and distributive leadership plays one of

the most important role in the healthcare settings in Hong Kong and all across the globe and

the leaders are using this theory to a great extent. It can be argued that both distributive along

with the shared leadership tends to provide excellent chances for the employees in the

healthcare system such as nurses for communicating with their seniors in an effective manner

as they are mainly in a shared role and not the traditional top down approach. In the Hong

Kong some nurses in hospitals think that the managers of the hospital does not provide an

opportunity for them in terms of getting involved in the decision making as well as not in

aware in terms of their contribution. It is needless to say that the distributed along with the

shared leadership indicates the distributed authority to the bottom employees and then
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acknowledges the contribution from the members of the team (Willcocks and Wibberley,

2015). In Hong Kong the distributed and shared leadership have mainly advocated a shared

responsibility which also tends to allow the colleagues in terms of working together for

avoiding extra expectations. After observing the role of the shared and the distributive

leadership in the healthcare settings it can be said that distributed and shared leadership is the

only way forward in terms of the leadership within the present care and health settings to a

great extent.
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