Abstract:
Over the years, leadership has been studied extensively in various contexts and theoretical foundations. In some cases, leadership has been described as a process, but most theories and research on leadership look at a person to gain understanding. In a comprehensive review of leadership theories, several different categories were identified that capture the essence of the study of leadership in the twentieth century. It is mostly predominant that competencies in leadership are the new trend and various research lead to the identification of these competencies. Leadership in nursing has largely been studied but at no stage did anyone identify any leadership competencies. This has been viewed as a shortcoming and therefore the researcher engaged into this research. The purpose of this study was to determine the leadership competencies specifically for nursing. The available literature has been studied in order to gain a broad spectrum with regard to the concept of "leadership, management" and "competencies". Studies done in South Africa served as the reference base in the determining of leadership competencies. These competencies were drafted into a list of criteria in order to select candidates to be interviewed. A qualitative research design was used. Six nurse leaders were chosen randomly from all the nurse leaders of the nursing field in Gauteng. An interview based on the phenomenological paradigm, was used to determine these nurse leaders' experience of nurse leadership. Content analysis was used to analyse, quantify and interpret the research information. The results indicated eighteen nurse leadership competencies. These competencies include enthusiasm, interpersonal effectiveness, modeling of values, empowerment, emotional maturity, energy, motivator, facilitator of change, visionary, standardsetter, teamwork, initiative an spontaneity, humanity, fair, innovative, inspiring, trustworthy and integrity. Some of these competencies correlate with the research in South Africa but some are uniquely identified by these nurseleaders. Recommendations for future research are made.
