Journal of Nursing Management, 2011, 20, 912920

Nursing leadership in an academic hospital in Gauteng

D.R. MABOKO

MSc Nursing, B. Nurs, RN

Lecturer, Department of Nursing Education, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Correspondence
D. R. Maboko
Department of Nursing Education
University of the Witwatersrand
Johannesburg
South Africa
E-mail:[email protected]

(2011) Journal of Nursing Management 20, 912920

Nursing leadership in an academic hospital in Gauteng

MABOKO D.R.

Aim This study was aimed at describing nursing leadership in an academic hospital
in Gauteng, South Africa.
Background Nurse managers leadership styles affect nurses attitudes, behaviour
and work performance. However, little is known about how nurses experience
nurse leadership and what leadership styles are found in academic hospitals in
Gauteng.
Methods The study was based on Maxwells framework of leadership (relationships, equipping, leadership and attitude). A qualitative design was used in order
to describe the experiences of registered nurses and nurse managers. The population
of the study was all registered nurses and nurse managers of the hospital in which
the study was conducted. In phase one of the study, a discussion group with 35
registered nurses using the nominal group technique was held to respond to the
following statement: Please explain how you have experienced leadership by nurse
managers in this hospital. In phase two of the study, five nurse managers were
interviewed individually, using a semi-structured interview guide.
Results Some nurse managers were practising autocratic leadership in this hospital.
Implications for nursing management The nurse managers need to be taught about
contemporary leadership styles such as transformational leadership and visionary
leadership and also about supervision, role modelling and caring.
Keywords: autocratic, Gauteng, hospital, leadership, nursing
Accepted for publication: 17 October 2011

Introduction and background

One of the most critical problems facing South African
hospitals currently is the high nursing staff turnover.
Strachota et al. (2003) suggest that 37% of nurses leave
their jobs because they did not receive support from
their managers. They also suggest that while managers
expect nurses to go the extra mile they themselves do
not do so.
Another study by Larrabee et al. (2003) found that
the major predictor of the nurses intent to leave was job
912

satisfaction. The major predictor of job satisfaction was

psychological empowerment. Predictors of psychological empowerment were hardiness, transformational
leadership style, nursephysician collaboration and
group cohesion. These results show that one of the
important aspects that empowers and retains nurses is
the use of the transformational leadership style by nurse
managers.
However, the transformational leadership style is not
commonly used in nursing practice. According to
Murphy (2005) historical influences still permeate
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2834.2011.01336.x
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Nursing leadership in an academic hospital

contemporary nursing practice. These are mirrored in

organizational philosophies, transactional and autocratic leadership styles and disempowered staff. This,
therefore, shows that many nurses are led by autocratic
leaders and are not allowed to participate in decisionmaking. Autocratic leaders have poorly developed
leadership skills, as they do not manage the problems
faced by nurses adequately.
According to Koukkanen and Katajisto (2003)
authoritarian leadership is an impediment to nursing
empowerment. Authoritarian leadership does not enhance the important functions of nurse management
such as listening, empowering, conflict management,
championing nurses, teamwork, communication and
leadership or being an agent of change (Anthony et al.
2005).
While there is a disparity among the theorists definitions of leadership, there is consensus pertaining to
the attributes necessary to realize effective leadership
(Murphy 2005). One could ask the question, what is the
leadership style that is needed to realise effective leadership? Murphy (2005) continues by stating that
transformational leadership is heralded as a new criterion for nurse managers and can be achieved through
training, education and professional development in key
leadership competencies. To achieve a chain reaction,
charismatic transformational leaders espouse intellectual stimulation and individual consideration to empower staff and enhance patient care. Nurse managers
that develop and foster transformational leadership can
surmount oppressive traditions, and confidently navigate a complex and rapidly changing health-care environment, to take care of public needs regarding health
and nursing care.
However, to understand nursing leadership we must
establish the differences between management and
leadership. According to Van Dyk et al. (2003), the aim
of the manager is to maximize the output of the organization through administrative implementation. To
achieve this, managers must undertake the functions of
planning, organization, staffing, directing and controlling. Conversely, leaders ensure attainment of organizational goals through the facilitation of healthy
relationships among employees. This is achieved through
free communication, utilization of group dynamics,
participative decision-making and motivation towards
change.
Furthermore, Van Dyk et al. (2003) state that the
main differences between management and leadership
are: managers have employees but leaders have followers; managers command and control but leaders
empower and inspire; management can be taught but
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Journal of Nursing Management, 2012, 20, 912920

leadership must be experienced to be learned; managers

seek stability but leaders seek flexibility; managers
make decisions and solve problems but leaders set
directions and then empower and enable their teams to
make their own decisions and solve their own problems.
Managers accept the organizational structure and culture but leaders look for a better way. Managers think
incrementally and so do things by the book and follow
policies but leaders think radically and follow their
intuition, which may be more beneficial to the company. Managers control but leaders let vision, strategies, goals and values be their guide. Lastly, managers
must be respected because they have obtained a position
of authority given them by the institution and followers
through time and loyalty but leaders are people whom
others naturally follow through their own choice (Van
Dyk et al. (2003).
Laurent (2000) in her research on the use of a nursing
theory for nursing leadership describes the dynamic
leaderfollower relationship by stating that the first step
to moving from a manager to a leader is to release
control. She says that nurse managers use what they
have learned from patient care, control and crisis
management in their management of nurses thereby
teaching others to manage, not lead. Laurent (2000)
continues by stating that managers do not encourage
leadership among their subordinates. They maintain the
status quo but leaders take risks by allowing others to
voice their ideas and participate in decision-making,
which is a basic aspect of participative management and
democratic leadership.
According to Jooste (2003), involving followers in
obtaining solutions to problems leads to team spirit.
This produces job satisfaction, cost effectiveness and
better solutions. Also, where there is conflict, the
empowering leader should ensure that it is constructively solved. Nurses feel unhappy when problems they
encounter at work (for example conflict between nurses) are not adequately addressed by their leaders. The
relationship between the nurses and the nurse managers
can be adversely affected by the nurse managers
inability to meet the nurses expectations, the negative
perceptions nurse managers have about professional
nurses and their behaviour towards nurses.
James et al.s (2005) study on the relationship experiences of professional nurses with nurse managers
showed that professional nurses experienced a breakdown of the relationship with nurse managers for various reasons. The reasons were mainly that nurse
managers did not provide necessary resources and were
unprofessional. Negative relationships between nurse
managers and professional nurses led to professional
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D. R. Maboko

nurses inability to perform their duties effectively.

Therefore the behaviour or leadership styles of nurse
managers can affect the competency of professional
nurses.

Problem statement
The problem is that nurse managers leadership styles
affect the nurses attitudes, behaviour and work performance. However, it was unclear how nurses were
experiencing this at the academic hospital in Gauteng
used in this study. Furthermore, the leadership styles
used by nurse managers in this hospital were unknown.
Little has been written on the leadership styles of nurse
managers in academic hospitals in Gauteng, which
prompted the researcher to conduct this study.

Purpose of the research

The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences of registered nurses regarding leadership by nurse
managers and to determine which leadership style was
dominant among nurse managers in an academic hospital in Gauteng.

Research objectives
The objectives of this research were:
To describe the experiences of registered nurses
regarding leadership issues and leadership styles used
by nurse managers using the framework of leadership

described by Maxwell (2005) relationships, equipping, leadership and attitude.

To describe nurse managers perceptions of leadership and leadership styles they use by means of the
framework of leadership described by Maxwell
(2005).

Definitions of terms
The terms used in this paper are defined in Table 1.

Literature review
In McLennans (2005) study, when asked what they
would like to see changing in their health service, 35%
of the respondents identified the highest priority for
change as an improvement in nursing management and
leadership. This shows that nurses are mostly concerned
about the manner in which they are being managed and
led by nurse managers.
The aim of the literature review in this study was to
define nursing leadership and to outline the qualities
and functions of an effective contemporary nurse leader
or nurse manager according to recent literature on
nursing leadership. The extent of knowledge that nurse
managers possess about leadership was also explored.
However, during the review of literature on nursing
leadership, it was difficult to concentrate on these
leadership characteristics without also looking at job
satisfaction and the retention of nursing staff two
major issues in nursing currently. However, this

Table 1
Definitions of terms used
Term
Leadership
Leadership style
Registered (professional) nurse

Nurse managers

Academic hospital
Maxwells leadership framework
Transformational leadership

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Definition
A complex process by which a person influences others to accomplish a mission, task or objective and
directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent (Bennis 2002, in Jooste 2003)
The manner and approach of providing direction, implementing plans and motivating people
(Van Dyk et al. 2003)
A nurse or midwife who is registered according to section 31 of The Nursing Act 33 of 2005. A nurse who
has done at least 4 years of training to obtain a nursing degree or diploma. The categories of professional
nurses used in this study were: unit managers (who manage wards), clinical facilitators (who are
responsible for clinical teaching) and area managers (who manage a number of wards and to whom the
unit managers report)
Registered nurses employed as assistant directors in charge of various departments in the hospital and
reporting directly to the nursing service manager, and to whom clinical facilitators, unit managers and
area managers report
A teaching hospital where medical, nursing and other allied health professions students fulfil their
practical requirements
Leadership according to Maxwell (2005) is based on four pillars: relationships, equipping, leadership
and attitude
A contemporary leadership style that emphasizes vision, planning, communication and creative action
which has a positive unifying effect on a groups values and beliefs to accomplish a clear set of
measurable goals and affects both individuals and the organization (Mwale 2000).

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Nursing leadership in an academic hospital

literature review concentrated on leadership roles, the

leadership styles of nurse managers and lastly on the
experiences of leadership in nursing by nurses.
Leadership in nursing, according to Sieloffs (2004)
review of literature on behaviours that foster nursing
group power, can be defined as the process whereby a
person, who is a nurse manager, facilitates the actions
of others in goal determination and achievement.
Therefore, the question that follows is what constitutes
effective leadership in nursing?
Jooste (2004), when aiming to outline the image of an
effective future-orientated nurse leader in the healthcare context, identified that a different type of leader
should emerge to lead in a new way that was different
from those leadership styles we have known of in the
past. She continues, stating that the following principles
should be maintained by the nurse leader in the current
health care environment of South Africa: stewardship,
respect, caring, advocacy, honesty, confidentiality and
initiating an ethics programme.
Stewardship is recognizing the limitations of the
health plans resources, promoting policies that ensure
continued availability and equitable distribution of
those resources. His or her stewardship should focus on
prevention, community health and individual responsibility. Respect refers to protecting and supporting the
important relationship between caregivers and their
patients as well as honouring the individual needs of
people. Caring refers to valuing patients emotional and
spiritual needs, respecting their preferences, valuing
good communication skills and focusing on multidisciplinary team approaches to care. Advocacy is involving
doctors in setting good policies so that the best quality
of care is delivered. Honesty refers to making sure those
relevant individuals have all the information they need
to understand how their health plans work. Confidentiality means supporting the protected relationship between caregivers and patients and the use of private
information. Initiating an ethics programme is developing a clear code of conduct for employees that is
value based and addresses cross-cultural issues.
In addition, Mahoney (2001) states that in todays
ever-changing health-care environment, nurse managers
require leadership skills that provide new directions for
nurses. The qualities essential in becoming a nurse leader are described as having competence, confidence,
courage and creativity, using collaboration and therapeutic communication skills, and celebrating these.
Mahoney (2001) goes on to describe the functions of a
nurse leader. The leader should act as a role model,
provide expert nursing care based on theory and research
results and demonstrate knowledge about organizational
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Journal of Nursing Management, 2012, 20, 912920

theory to support and influence organizational policies.

Collaborating with others to provide optimum health
care and assuming responsibility for providing information and support to patients are functions of todays nurse
leader. The nurse leader must use advocacy to help effect
changes that will benefit patients and the health-care
organization and use nursing codes of ethics and standards of practice as guidelines for individual and professional accountability.
However, there is a discrepancy between how nurses
are being led by nurse managers and how they would
like to be led. Sellgren et al.s (2006) study aimed to
explore what nurse managers and subordinates see as
important in nursing leadership and to explore subordinates opinions of their nurse managers performance.
The results showed that there are statistically significant
differences in opinion about preferred leadership between managers and subordinates, especially related to
production and relation orientation. The subordinates
perception of real leadership behaviours of nurse managers had lower mean values than their preferred leadership by nurse managers.
Another issue seems to be the fact that nurse managers do not have enough knowledge about leadership
to be able to lead effectively or to meet the expectations
of their subordinates. This is illustrated in a quantitative
explorative study that was conducted by Lourenco et al.
(2005). This study aimed to identify the nurse managers knowledge regarding management and leadership.
The results showed that the nurse managers lower
knowledge in management and leadership is related to
visionary leadership, management and leadership conceptual differences, the leaders behaviour and situational leadership. The nurse managers greater
knowledge is related to power, teamwork and coherence between values and attitudes.
As mentioned earlier, most of the studies conducted
on nursing leadership focus on how the job satisfaction
and retention of nurses is affected by the way nurses are
being led by their managers. There are few studies that
focus solely on leadership characteristics in nursing.
There is therefore a need to explore nursing leadership
characteristics without including job satisfaction and
nursing retention.

Research framework
This study was based on Maxwells (2005) four pillars
of leadership. According to Maxwell (2005), there are
four crucial or key features of successful leadership,
namely, relationships, equipping, leadership and attitude (Figure 1).
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D. R. Maboko

Relationships

Equipping

Leadership

Attitude

Connecting with
others
Respecting others
Sharing
experiences
Trust
Reciprocity
Mutual enjoyment
Knowing others
Encouraging
others
Listening
Serving others

Deciding to equip
the team
Gathering the best
team
Paying the price
Doing things
together
Empowering the
team
Praising the team
Evaluating the
team
Eliminating nongrowers
Creating new
opportunities
Giving chances for
success

Getting influence
through
hardwork
obtaining trust
through
competence,
character and
connection
Having a vision

Leaders should do
the following:
Evaluate their
attitude
Believe bad
attitudes can be
changed
Change thought
patterns for the
better
choose to have a
right atitude

Research design
The design used in this study was a basic qualitative one.
A qualitative approach was chosen because the study
sought to describe the experiences and the perspectives
of registered nurses and nurse managers. Qualitative
research according to Burns and Grove (2003) is useful
in understanding human experiences such as pain, caring, powerlessness and comfort. Qualitative research is
based on the world view that reality, based on perceptions is different for each person and changes over time.
The research design included two phases. The first phase
was in the form of a discussion group using the nominal
group technique and the second phase comprised individual interviews with nurse managers on leadership
and leadership styles.

Data collection and analysis

Phase one
A discussion group was conducted to hear the experiences of nurses about how they are led by nurse managers. The nominal group technique was used to
facilitate the discussion group. The registered nurses
were asked to respond to the following broad openended statement during the discussion group: Please
describe how you have experienced leadership by nurse
managers in this hospital. The registered nurses were
also given copies of Maxwells (2005) framework of
leadership to reflect on during the discussion.
According to Swanepoel (2003), the nominal group
technique entails using multiple inputs from several
persons. The information can be obtained in a structured format and it is a structured variation of small
group discussion methods. Each subgroups leader informed the researcher about the subgroups priorities
and the ideas were recorded on a flip chart so that

916

Figure 1
Research framework.

everyone could see all of the ideas and could refer to

them during a discussion by all the subgroups and the
researcher. Eventually, all the ideas of the participants
were prioritized and integrated. This process prevents
the domination of discussion by a single person and
encourages the more passive individuals to participate.
Field notes were used with the permission of the nurses
during the discussion group.
The flip charts and the sheets of paper used during the
discussion group were read to identify the priority issues
raised by registered nurses about their experiences of
leadership by nurse managers. Furthermore, these sheets
of paper were read to identify leadership issues in the
hospital. The researcher was immersed in the data and
identified themes. Lastly, the themes were compared with
Maxwells (2005) framework of leadership.
Phase two
Interviews were done with five nurse managers as data
saturation occurred after these five interviews. A semistructured interview guide with five open-ended questions based on Maxwells (2005) framework of leadership was used during the individual interviews. Probing
questions were asked and clarification of questions was
carried out to obtain full explanations from the nurse
managers (Box 1). These interviews were tape-recorded
and field notes were written with the permission of the
nurse managers.
Data analysis was an ongoing and emerging process.
First, the tape-recorded information from the interviews
was transcribed. Second, all the transcripts were read
thoroughly and carefully and ideas that came to mind
were written down. Third, one interview was selected at
a time and questions such as What is this about? and
What is important or of value in the information gathered? were asked while going through the interview.
Fourth, writing down of thoughts in the margin of every
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Journal of Nursing Management, 2012, 20, 912920

Nursing leadership in an academic hospital

Box 1
Semi-structured interview guide
Tell me about your relationship with the registered nurses in this
hospital.
How do you as a nurse manager, develop or train the registered
nurses in this hospital?
Tell me about your leadership as a nurse manager, how do you lead
the nurses?
Tell me, how do you feel about your job as a nurse manager?

transcript was done. Fifth, a list of topics was compiled

from the data, these topics were abbreviated as codes and
were written down next to the appropriate parts of the
text. Lastly, the most descriptive wording for topics was
found and these were sorted into categories, the number
of categories was reduced by grouping related topics together and drawing lines between the categories to show
how they were interrelated (De Vos 1998).

Ethical considerations
Ethical clearance was obtained from the ethics committee of the University of the Witwatersrand. Permission to conduct this study was sought from the
management of the hospital in which the study was
done and the Gauteng Department of Health. To obtain
an informed consent from each study participant, each
of them was given an information letter and a consent
form. They were also given information about tape
recording and asked to sign another consent form.
The right of the participants to self-determination or
autonomy was respected as they were not coerced to
participate in the study but decided on their own whether
or not they wanted to participate. They were informed
that they could withdraw from the study at any time; they
could also choose not to participate. Their right to anonymity was respected, as reference numbers were used to
refer to the study participants.
The interviews and discussion group were conducted
in quiet and private rooms to provide privacy to the
study participants and to avoid outside disturbances.
Confidentiality was maintained as much as possible
considering the fact that a group of people was present
during the nominal group discussion. The ethical principle of non-maleficence was upheld, as no harm was
inflicted upon the study participants.

Measures of trustworthiness
According to Babbie and Mouton (1998), to ensure
trustworthiness a researcher must convince his or her
audience that the results of the inquiry are worth paying
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Journal of Nursing Management, 2012, 20, 912920

attention to. This can be done by ensuring credibility.

Credibility is the true value of the research. To ensure
credibility, participants were interviewed until saturation of data occurred to allow prolonged engagement
with the participants and were also observed during the
interview to see their facial expressions and gestures
when answering the interview questions to ensure
constant observation. Data source triangulation was
ensured by the use of three methods of data collection
namely, semi-structured interviews, a discussion group
and writing field notes. Referential adequacy was ensured by tape recording the interviews. Peer debriefing
and member checking were also done to ensure the
accuracy of the results.

Results
Phase one
The main theme that emerged from this phase was that
some nurse managers were practising autocratic leadership in this hospital. The other themes which
emerged were relationships, equipping, leadership and
attitude (Table 2). The negative effect of the autocracy
was expressed during the nominal group technique.
The registered nurses expressed that they have feelings
of being unappreciated, abused, blamed and criticized.
These feelings show that the registered nurses have a
low morale which has a negative impact on staff
retention and patient outcomes. According to the registered nurses, some of the nurse managers also lack
professionalism and appear not to care about the
nurses. This should not be the case because positive
role modelling is essential in ensuring that the
registered nurses also act professionally and care for
patients.

Phase two
The themes that emerged from the interviews with the
nurse managers were: relationships, equipping, leadership and attitude (Table 3). The results from the interviews were mostly positive and nurse managers
expressed their views regarding their leadership. They
stated that their leadership was professional and good.
From the data it is clear that the nurse managers felt
that they were doing their best to lead the registered
nurses but did also verbalize that their job was difficult.
Some of the nurse managers stated that they really did
their best to create a good relationship with the registered nurses and to provide the registered nurses
opportunities for training.

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D. R. Maboko

Table 2
Leadership experiences of registered nurses (sample quotations)
Themes
Autocratic leadership
Equipping

Relationships

Attitude

Description by registered nurses

The experience I had is that most managers are autocratic, they dont consult, they take decisions alone
They do not have the power to empower their subordinates
The nurse managers do not acknowledge the superior skills of some unit managers and are not prepared to learn those
skills to develop themselves
The relationship was not good, she (the nurse manager) was detached and we spoke only on professional levels only
(not sociable)
They tended to have favouritism and this led to people not trusting them because they did not show the integrity required
for trust and a good relationship to develop
No listening skills, they are always right
The nurse managers are only nice to unit managers when they want something in an area that they are not competent
They take sides, they are judgemental. Their attitude is bad. Even if you meet them in the corridors they will not even say
morning or hello

Table 3
Leadership from the nurse managers perspective (sample quotations)
Themes
Relationships

Equipping

Leadership

Attitude

Description by nurse managers

They dont like me much because you know Im strict and I dont take nonsense. So, there are one or two who dont like
to be corrected or whatever, but generally I have a I think I have a good working relationship with them
I recognize their wedding days, birthdays and we organize outings and we have meetings with them once a month
where I allow them to participate and to voice their concerns, to tell me what they want and what they dont want
If I find that they are working in a certain unit and they need in-service on a specific topic, then I will I wont let everyone
go. I will select the people from the wards where I know theyre going to benefit themselves as a person, and where I
know that when they come back theyre going to benefit the ward and they are going to benefit the whole floor and the
whole of the block as well that they are in
I cannot have a nurse who is working in my department for more than a year and not send her for study leave. Whether
you like it or not once in my department I must send you for the course and when you come back you will implement
what you learned and youll implement the best
I actually love my job, I think in my specific case its very rewarding. It is very difficult, I work directly with the deputy
director, human resource, clinical executives and chief executive officer depending on what I have to do but I find it very
rewarding and satisfying

Summary of results (themes)

Figure 2a shows that according to the experiences of the
registered nurses in this hospital, leadership, autocratic
leadership in this instance is the major pillar upon
which the nurse managers in this hospital base their
leadership. The other pillars, namely, equipping, relationships and attitude are being used by the nurse
managers in varying degrees (Figure 2a) according to
the registered nurses. In contrast, Figure 2b shows that
nurse managers think that they do use all Maxwells
pillars of leadership equally in their leadership.

that nurse managers in this hospital have limited

information regarding contemporary leadership styles
such as transformational leadership style and visionary
leadership, which may be the root cause of the leadership problem in this hospital.
According to Koukkanen and Katajisto (2003)
authoritarian (autocratic) leadership is an impediment
to nursing empowerment. Authoritarian leadership
does not enhance the important functions of nurse
management such as listening, empowering, conflict
management, championing nurses, teamwork, communication and leadership or being an agent of change
(Anthony et al. 2005).

Discussion
From the results of this study, autocratic leadership was
the most important theme as it affected all the other
themes. A dysfunctional form or style of leadership is
being used, which makes the nurse managers leadership
ineffective and is causing resentment among the nurses.
The results of this study have also highlighted the fact
918

Limitations of the study

The data collection for this research study was done
1 month after the national public service strike. This
could have led to the respondents being generally negative and angry and not only because of the autocratic
leadership by nurse managers. Only unit managers,
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Journal of Nursing Management, 2012, 20, 912920

Nursing leadership in an academic hospital

(a)
Autocratic
Leadership

Equipping

Relationships

Attitude

(b)

Relationships

Equipping

Leadership

Attitude

Figure 2
(a) A schematic representation of the leadership experiences of
registered nurses. (b) A schematic representation of the leadership
from the nurse managers perspective.

clinical facilitators and area managers participated in the

study representing registered nurses, as the lower levels of
registered nurses involved with patient care could not
participate because of operational constraints.

Conclusions
According to Shaw (2007) the development of nursing
leadership is critical to the future of health services across
the world. If enough nurses develop their leadership
capacity, nursing leadership can have an impact on all
levels and sectors of health services as well as on health
policy at all levels. It can help maintain high standards of
care and can benefit patients and communities by contributing to wise priority setting and effective use of
available resources. However, the relationship between
quality of care and quality of leadership is not yet fully
determined and warrants further study.
It is not only the nurse managers that need to change
but the department of health should also intervene to
change the way nurses are being led. According to the
Gauteng Department of Health (2004), one of its strategic thrusts for 200409 is to implement a peoples
contract through effective leadership and governance.
This should entail making more opportunities for
2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Journal of Nursing Management, 2012, 20, 912920

nursing leadership development. South Africa needs to

learn from other countries. However, South Africa is in
a unique position of straddling developed and developing health systems. The health system is under pressure because of reduced staffing levels and high levels of
industrial action. The leadership styles are invariably
affected by the context, which is an international issue.
This means the Department of Health in South Africa
should be using benchmarks from other countries to
address these nursing leadership issues.
Some countries have consciously made leadership
development opportunities available to large numbers
of nurses thus helping to ensure a critical mass of
leaders for the complex and rapidly changing world of
health-care systems today. The preparation of nurse
leaders often yields visible results at individual level
quite quickly. Skills and attributes become apparent in
peoples leadership behaviour and develop more with
ongoing experience. Nurse leaders can exert leadership,
inspiring and motivating others toward the achievement
of a vision or of specific goals held in common. This is
often particularly visible in work or professional environments (Shaw 2007).

Recommendations for nursing management,

practice and education
It is recommended that the nurse managers be taught
about contemporary leadership styles such as transformational leadership and visionary leadership and about
supervision, role modelling and caring. Leadership
development should be emphasized in nursing curricula,
especially at the post-basic level. It should be a core
module for all post-basic nursing training.

Source of funding
Funding through a study Bursary was received from the
Democratic Nurses Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA)
and the Gauteng Department of Health.

Ethical approval
Ethical approval number: M070204. Approved by:
Human Research Ethics Committee (Medical) of the
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South
Africa.

Acknowledgement
Dr Ansie Minnaar (Supervisor) Funding through a study
bursary was received from the Democratic Nurses
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D. R. Maboko

Organization of South Africa (DENOSA) and the

Gauteng Department of Health. Dr Sue Armstrong,
assisted in editing this article.

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