Führung in der Pflege ‒ Eine Untersuchung von unterstützenden Führungsverhalten in ausgewählten Führungssituationen der stationären Pflege

The aim of this study is to obtain findings on appropriate management behavior in relevant management situations of nursing care in an acute hospital. The research question will be answered, which leadership behaviour of middle management staff in acute care is described as favourable in selected typical leadership situations to support them in their task fulfilment. The explorative sequential study consists of two consecutive phases with an empirical data collection by means of two focus group interviews with department heads of inpatient nursing to develop realistic short descriptions of concrete management situations and 20 focused individual interviews with qualified nursing staff. In summary, it can be stated that the participating nurses name 13 of 15 of the supervisor's behaviours defined by Yukl (2012) as supporting for their tasks. It can be stated that, contrary to the necessary shift from the management dimension of task orientation to employee orientation mentioned in the literature, it is important not to neglect or even omit the behaviour patterns from the management dimension of task orientation. From the point of view of the nursing staff, it is precisely these behaviours in demanding situations with a high workload that enable a perceptible relief, which gives them more time for their actual task, the care of the patients. The results of this study also point out that often only the interaction of different behaviours from different management dimensions is efficient. The results further show that not all leadership behaviour is equally important in every situation. In their entirety, however, they should be part of the repertoire of leadership behaviour of a ward manager. For the role of the manager, it is therefore of crucial importance to correctly interpret the situations that occur in everyday life in an inpatient ward and to show the corresponding appropriate behaviour. According to the results of this study, the implementation of just one management style alone, which ultimately covers only a selection of behaviours, will not be sufficient to meet the expectations of the nursing staff and to provide them with the leadership that will support them in fulfilling their tasks.