Leadership styles of the Nursing Directors at the Ministry of Health, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: The need to define the leadership styles of the nursing directors is imperative as it gives the organization an insight of what to achieve. This study determines the leadership styles of the nursing directors in the Ministry of Health, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This research aims to assess the association of the age, gender and year of employment of the nursing directors to their identified leadership styles. Methods: This research employed the correlational approach in probing the leadership styles of the nursing directors in the Ministry of Health, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. There were 22 nursing directors (100 % response rate) participated in the study. The researcher used the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, Form 6-S (MLQ- 6S) by Bass and Avolio. Results: The data suggests that nursing directors employed transactional leadership style in leading their subordinates. It is found out that age has a significant difference in the transactional leadership styles (.037>.05). However, gender and year of employment revealed no significant difference to transformational leadership (.792), transactional leadership (.857), and the laissez-faire (.346). Conclusion: Demystifying the leadership styles of the nursing directors and its variables can contribute to the understanding of the leadership needs to carry out towards organizational outcomes. The study implies a clear demarcation between an expectation of the leaders and the employees of how leadership and work shall be carried out in the organization. Keywords: Laissez-Faire, Leadership Styles, Transformational, Transactional, Nursing Directors