Ledarskap inom äldreomsorgen - ur undersköterskors perspektiv

Research within the subject of leadership has grown over the past 60 years with the common aim of finding certain styles of leadership which will lead to productive work teams and an effective organization. Research about leadership in a nursing home setting is limited and tends to highlight leadership from the leader’s perspective, eliminating staff's, in this case nurses', view on the topic. Simultaneously, the nurse turnover has reached an all-time high pointing to dysfunctional leadership or a lack thereof as an important contributing factor. The aim of this study is to high point nurses’ views on leadership, particularly its role in making well-functioning teams to lower the turnover and provide a better ground for an effective organization. The goal is to find styles of leadership that create work satisfaction, pride and motivation within teams. The study focuses on different ways in which a leader can contribute to these factors. After performing five qualitative interviews with nurses from two nursing homes in a small town in southern Sweden the results show that there is not one leadership style that does best in reaching the above factors. What determines the most suited style of leadership is the current situation and maturity of the team, where different situations and levels of maturity demand different things from the leader. The conclusion is that a leader must be flexible enough to adapt one’s leadership style to meet the needs of the organization and its employees. Furthermore, the results show that autonomy, good relations and shared goals within the team are important motivational factors. There is a lack of research focusing on the practical approaches to a flexible leadership, which is why further research within the field would be beneficial. Likewise, more extensive research on leadership in nursing homes is desired. This study may contribute to a better understanding of nurses’ views on leadership in a nursing home setting, providing important insights to social workers working or wanting to work within this setting