Analysis of a Theoretical Framework for Leadership-A Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example

Analysis of a Theoretical Framework for Leadership-A Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example

Leadership refers to an individual or group’s ability to influence and guide their followers or members of an organization or the community. Individuals have to exhibit effective leadership qualities to influence followership positively. Leadership theory constitutes perspectives brought forward explaining why particular people are leaders by emphasizing specific traits. Leadership theories are pivotal in management and behaviors that people should employ to bolster their leadership abilities. A theoretical framework for leadership enables a leadership analysis to identify traits of inspiring leaders that one can adopt to become a better leader. This paper discusses the theoretical framework for leadership basing on the book “Mother Teresa: Caring for the World’s Poor.”(Analysis of a Theoretical Framework for Leadership-A Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Theoretical Framework, Style, and Leadership Traits

The book depicts Mother Teresa as a servant leader who desired to serve and inspire others, especially the vulnerable and the poor. In her work, she has helped people attain better living standards by demonstrating love and care. From the onset, Mother Theresa devoted herself to helping the less privileged in India and other countries globally(Analysis of a Theoretical Framework for Leadership-A Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example). She gave voice to the unheard, ignored, and neglected and played a core role in charity work. Her desire to help others began before she was a nun. She established direct contact with the impoverished masses in India as a young nun teaching in Loreto convent school at Darjeeling (Slavicek, 2007). She developed a spiritual attitude towards human suffering, and throughout her life, she focused on improving people’s living standards through charity. She was a selfless servant leader who was ready to give up the comfort of teaching in Loreto convent school to work in the streets of Calcutta serving the needy. She was a great listener and vented on helping others grow and become better people in society. She led the Missionaries of Charity, which completed 610 missions in about 123 countries globally, helping individuals with HIV, leprosy, and tuberculosis (Grzybowski et al., 2016). To sum up, she is a leader who believes in treating people equally with the same dignity and respect.(Analysis of a Theoretical Framework for Leadership-A Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Servant leaders have defining characteristics, actions and words, that distinctively demonstrate that their concerns for others are a priority. They place their followers’ interests and success before their own and lead by being a role model to their followers, encouraging self-sacrifice (Gandolfi & Stone, 2018). On numerous occasions in the book, including when she left a comfortable teaching responsibility to serve the poor in the streets of Calcutta, Mother Teresa demonstrates self-sacrifice. She offered a homeless woman her sandals and fasted for days to increase the awareness of the living conditions in Indian slams (Slavicek, 2007)(Analysis of a Theoretical Framework for Leadership-A Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example). Mother Teresa influenced many people to follow her and dedicate their time and life to the Missionaries of Charity through her servant leadership. She was humble and altruistic with a strong motivation and a deep-seated desire to help others. Her primary objective was to serve the needy despite her position and not accept credit for her missions. She was visionary, resilient, and possessed infectious optimism, traits that increased her followership. Mother Teresa was close to the people, allowing her to understand their needs, goals, and abilities to help them attain their full potential.(Analysis of a Theoretical Framework for Leadership-A Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Leadership as a Vocation

The book describes Mother Teresa hearing a voice “speaking in her heart” on the night train from Calcutta to Loreto Sister’s retreat in the Himalayas. She believed the voice was a heavenly summon to give up her comfortable life and live to care for the needy in the Calcutta slums. She embraced her leadership role as a vocation and did not consider disobeying the voice because it would break the faith(Analysis of a Theoretical Framework for Leadership-A Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example). The plan was to resign her then role in Loreto and develop a new missionary focused on serving the impoverished and the abandoned individuals (Slavicek, 2007). She went ahead to establish the Missionaries of Charity to help the poor globally. She is a leader who, from the calling, realized her purpose in life and passionately took the role that became her lifetime commitment. She considered leadership a vocation in response to the calling. Servant leaders believe that their role is a vocation, and they give up their interests and comfortable lives only for the most straightforward life necessities to serve others and help them grow. Mother Teresa believed in living the same life as those she served and encouraged her followers. She was not serving the poorest of the poor to receive accomplishments but to serve her life purpose. Helping the poor was not what she did for a living, but it was an act of will and a response to a call from beyond her strengths and abilities. (Analysis of a Theoretical Framework for Leadership-A Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Qualities to Emulate

Mother Teresa was selfless, humble, resilient, and visionary. I want to emulate these leadership traits to lead by example and inspire followership. Servant leaders are selfless, and they prioritize other people’s needs and interests, helping them grow and achieve their goals (Kiersch & Peters, 2017). They are humble and understand other people’s needs to succeed, constantly looking for ways to expand the leadership opportunities of those they work with (Ingram, 2016). Mother Teresa encouraged her followers to live the lives of the people they serve to understand their needs better. I want to be a visionary leader like Mother Teresa. She mobilized teams and her followers to work towards her vision and had large followership in her Missionaries of Charity. Her leadership responsibilities were challenging, but she was resilient and overcame these challenges to continue serving the poor. I need the ability to bounce back from setbacks and sustain high energy levels under pressure. (Analysis of a Theoretical Framework for Leadership-A Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Leadership Shortcomings

Mother Teresa was a controversial figure, and some people criticized her concerning her views on abortion and contraception. Other perceived her houses for the dying were in poor conditions. Leaders will always face criticism for some of their principles, values, and beliefs. I want to be a principled leader who understands other people’s values, beliefs, and worldviews. I want to be more accepting and tolerant of other people’s views of life and controversial practices like gender identity, race and ethnicity, and religion.(Analysis of a Theoretical Framework for Leadership-A Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Conclusion

Mother Teresa is admired for her charitable work and commitment to helping others improve their life. She vested her life and privileges to serve the poor and took her leadership role in charity work as a vocation. She was a servant leader who prioritized other people’s needs and interests and lived the life of the poor. She was humble, selfless, resilient, visionary, and led by example, encouraging her followers to follow in her footsteps. I want to emulate her leadership traits to become a better leader and influence followership positively.(Analysis of a Theoretical Framework for Leadership-A Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

References

Gandolfi, F., & Stone, S. (2018). Leadership, leadership styles, and servant leadership. Journal of Management Research, 18(4), 261-269.(Analysis of a Theoretical Framework for Leadership-A Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Grzybowski, A., Sak, J., & Korecki, K. (2016). Misericordia and leprosy in the 20th century. Clinics in dermatology, 34(1), 11-15.(Analysis of a Theoretical Framework for Leadership-A Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Ingram, O. C. (2016). Servant leadership as a leadership model. Journal of Management Science and Business Intelligence, 1(1), 21-26.(Analysis of a Theoretical Framework for Leadership-A Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Kiersch, C., & Peters, J. (2017). Leadership from the Inside Out: Student Leadership Development within Authentic Leadership and Servant Leadership Frameworks. Journal of Leadership Education, 16(1).

Slavicek, L. C. (2007). Mother Teresa: Caring for the world’s poor. Infobase Publishing.(Analysis of a Theoretical Framework for Leadership-A Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/