Running Head: FINAL RESEARCH PROJECT 1

Research Question

The research can be “Does the use of autocratic leadership style adversely impact the

behavior and attitude of employees and culture of the organization? In order to get the answer of

this question, following questions will also be considered:

 What are actions and reactions of a leader in different situations like problem solving?

 What are actions and reactions of employees in different situations?

 What are the pros and cons of each leadership style?

Problem Statement

The general problem to be addressed is to identify the most suitable and result-oriented

style of leadership which can help in producing synergistic results and contributes to the success

of organization. To address this problem, in-depth study of various leadership styles adopted by

various healthcare organizations is required. Like many other rural hospitals in the U.S., Evans

Memorial Hospital in the city of Claxton, Georgia has struggled to keep its doors open while

treating patients who tend to be older, poorer and often uninsured (Wingfield, 2019). To be

specific, the problem identified here is related to the style of leadership. Currently, the

organization is running with autocratic leadership where entire decision-making is in hands of

top management without consulting the employees, who are working on ground facing real-

problems in day-to-day life. At the same time, use of autocratic style has resulted into decreased

productivity and morale.

Nowadays, nursing and evidence-based medicine are recognized as important tools to

establish high quality of care and improved productivity of healthcare organizations (Sfantou et
PURPOSE STATEMENT & QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH QUESTIONS 6

al., 2017). In healthcare sector, leadership and management of the organization is critical up to

the mark where it can take or spare the life of a patient. Keeping this criticality in the mind, it is

important to invest upon hiring and developing high quality leaders who can lead the teams in a

direction towards success of organization along with their patients’ wellness.

While leadership styles can be of different types, there are six major styles identified and

recognized to be very common. These are: transformational, transactional, autocratic, laissez-

faire, task-oriented, and relationship-oriented leadership. It is not that a leader has to adopt any

one style particularly to be successful, rather the requirement is to be spontaneous and adopt the

suitable leadership style as per the situation.