A Broader View of Nursing Leadership: Rethinking Manager–Leader Functions

Since its inception, the development of leadership theory has been closely related to and often intertwined with the development of management theory, and for years, there have been differing perspectives on the differences between them. Some have claimed that managers and leaders have fundamentally different personalities1; some have argued that they perform distinctly different functions2; whereas still others have cautioned that the traditional manager versus leader argument undermines the value of a broader, more contemporary concept of management.3 Accompanying these viewpoints have been claims that many of today's organizations are being overmanaged and underled.4 Numerous books have been written and articles published about the manager–leader distinctions. Yet despite these conflicting views, most everyone agrees that in the face of substantive change, both sound management and strong leadership are essential to the longer-term viability of today's healthcare organizations (HCOs).