An Empirical Study of Situational LeadershipⓇ in Korean Hospitals

In order to overcome fierce competition and economic difficulties from worldwide financial crisis and economy slowdown, managing people is one of the toughest challenges around. For organizations to achieve excellence in today's world, the commitment to develop people is becoming increasingly important. The Situational LeadershipⓇ Program is the world's most influential leadership program and it is time now to examine suitability of the Situational LeadershipⓇ Program in Korea. This descriptive, comparative, exploratory and correlational study was conducted to compare perceptions of leadership style of head nurses as perceived by head nurses and RN staff using Situational Leadership Model. the study sample includes 29 head nurses and 231 RN staff from 25 general hospitals including 21 university hospitals throughout the country. The findings revealed that there was a significant difference between the leadership style range of head nurses as perceived by the head nurses compared to the leadership style range of head nurses as perceived by their nursing staff. There was a significant difference between the leadership style adaptability of head nurses as perceived by the head nurses and the leadership style adaptability of nurse mangers as perceived by their nursing staff members. There was a significant relationship between the leadership style adaptability of head nurses as perceived by RN staff and job satisfaction level of RN staff. The more adaptable the leader the greater the job satisfaction level. The overall findings led to the conclusion that a leader's level of adaptability can have significant impacts on job satisfaction level of employees. Findings from this study are very encouraging for use of the Situational Leadership Model in Korea to improve performance through improving job satisfaction level of employees.