Management functions and roles in health care Essay

Management functions and roles in health care - Essay Example Such a setting does not necessarily have to be in the health sector for leadership practices to achieve the desired goals and objectives. However, leadership is fundamental in the health care setting, just like it is in any other setting. The significance of leadership is derived from the fact that it can be transformational, transactional, or both. Whichever the case, leadership enhances operations in the environment within which it is applied. In the health care setting, leadership exhibits both transformational and transactional properties. There are numerous stakeholders in the health sector, an aspect that makes health care management a cooperative and collaborative effort between these stakeholders (Showalter, 2012). For an organization in the health setting, transformational leadership fosters functional relations between all the parties involved in the running of health care operations. Inspiration and motivation of health care practitioners constitute the primary objective of transformational leadership in health care. Under transformational leadership, the leadership lowers itself to the position of the employees, thus working together under an environment that can be said to observe no leadership hierarchy. On the other hand, transactional leadership is result-oriented (Afo, Thomason, & Karel, 2006). Here, duties, roles and responsibilities are clearly defined. Power and authority rules, and management hierarchy is the order of the day. This aspect of leadership is designed to prompt the health care organization to perform efficiently and effectively in its operations. Activities are well coordinated for the purpose of meeting the desired results. Leadership oversees the smooth running of operations in the organization. The ultimate practice is to unite the different departments that make up the organization for the purpose of achieving