Leadership development in a nursing service. A South African ethnographic perspective

Leadership development at operational level in a nursing service is important to cope with all the transformation required. The purpose with this study is to explore and describe the views of black professional nurses on leadership behaviour, within the context of an operating theatre department, and to determine the influence of their occupational history on these views. An exploratory and descriptive research design, with an ethnographic perspective, was employed by means of semi-structured interviews (views on leadership) and questionnaires (occupational history). The results compare positively with the theoretical description of leadership behaviour. Guidelines for leadership development of these nurses were formulated, and should be followed by the necessary capacity building regarding leadership practice by professional nurses.