Case Study
Joe Garcia has been an operating room nurse for 5 years. He is often on call on Saturdays and Sundays, but he enjoys his work and knows that he is good at it.
Joe was called to come in on a busy Saturday afternoon just as his 5-year-old daughter’s birthday party was about to begin. “Can you find someone else just this once?” he asked the nurse manager who called him. “I should have let you know in advance that we have an important family event today, but I just forgot. If you can’t find someone else, call me back, and I’ll come right in.” Joe’s manager was furious. She said, “I don’t have time to make a dozen calls. If you knew that you wouldn’t want to come in today, you should not have accepted on-call duty. We pay you to be on call, and I expect you to be here in 30 minutes, not 1 minute later, or there will be consequences.”
As a result of this interaction, Joe decided that he no longer wanted to work in that institution. With his 5 years of operating room experience, he quickly found another position in an organization that was more supportive of its staff.
Using the issues described in this Case Study as your basis, choose and answer 5 questions from below. Question 6 is a required.
- Describe the style of leadership and school of management that seemed to be preferred by Joe Garcia’s manager.
- Assess the qualities and behaviors of leaders and managers that the nurse manager displayed. Describe which ones did the nurse manager not display.
- Explain why it is important for nurses to be good leaders. Describe qualities you have observed that exemplify effective leadership in action and how these behaviors improve the outcomes of patients.
- Are effective followers as important as effective leaders?
- Review the various leadership theories discussed in the chapter. If you were to apply one of the theories in your area, describe the one you would choose and why.
- Describe your ideal nurse manager in terms of the person for whom you would most like to work. Then describe the worst nurse manager you can imagine and explain the difficulty of working with this person.
- If you were Joe, describe what would you have done and why. If you were the nurse manager, what would you have done and why.
- Analyze who you think was right, Joe or the
Activity Outcomes
1. Explain nursing and leadership responsibilities during ethical and legal dilemmas.
2. Analyze and evaluate information critically and competently, efficiently and effectively.