8/14/2019 2nd Reading Leadership & Management ^^

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/2nd-reading-leadership-management- 1/2

No Such Thing As A 'Born Leader,' Study In

Fish FindsSource: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090129122516.htm

ScienceDaily (Jan. 31, 2009) — Followers are just as important to good leadership as are the leadersthemselves, reveals a new study of stickleback fish published online on January 29th in CurrentBiology, a Cell Press publication.

By randomly pairing fish of varying degrees of "boldness," the researchers showed that each member of a pair adopts the role of leader or follower. More importantly, they found, the behavior of eachmember of the pair is strongly influenced by its partner.

" Our study shows that the process by which leaders and followers emerge is a dynamic one," saidAndrea Manica of the University of Cambridge. "Individuals aren't simply born leaders or followers,

but their role in a pair—and, we could speculate, in a larger group—is the result of social feedback where everyone plays a role."

In many animal groups, certain individuals consistently appear at the forefront of coordinatedmovements, the researchers explained. But exactly how those leaders are chosen has been poorlyunderstood.

In the new study, the researchers studied the behaviors of individual stickleback fish to establish their

willingness to leave the cover of some weeds to enter "riskier" waters in search of food, an indicationof how bold or shy they tend to be. Those fish were then randomly paired with one another to seewhich of the two would emerge as the natural leader.

When paired, both the bolder and the shyer of the two fish made more food-gathering trips together andstayed out for longer periods of time. Most of the time, those forays were initiated by whichever of thetwo fish had independently been shown to behave more boldly.

The findings show that leadership arises from individual differences in the way that fish respond totheir partner's movements, they report, a phenomenon they refer to as social feedback.

" If a shy individual is paired with a very bold individual, the latter 'inspires' the former into becominga very faithful follower," Manica said. "Conversely, a very shy individual seems to bring out the

leadership of the bolder companion, which becomes a much stronger leader than if it was paired with aless shy companion."

The results show that leadership is a matter of what one might consider personality, he added.Surprisingly—or perhaps not so surprisingly—though, the personality of the leader is not all important.

The researchers include Jennifer L. Harcourt, Tzo Zen Ang, Gemma Sweetman, Rufus A. Johnstone,and Andrea Manica, of the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

8/14/2019 2nd Reading Leadership & Management ^^

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/2nd-reading-leadership-management- 2/2

Reaction:

Nurse leaders, regardless of the position they hold in an organization, are the individuals who

continually question the status quo, offer suggestions about how to improve patient care, and entice

(not demand or require) colleagues to work toward a new level of excellence. These individuals are

familiar with what is being written by experts in the field and draw on this literature to formulate a

vision for improving their own area of practice (e.g., care of cancer patients,the homeless, patients

undergoing surgery, or poor children in school). These individuals have a high degree of energy and are

passionate about practice. In other words, they never give up. They challenge our thinking, propose

alternative approaches to care, and are creative.

Nursing is an integral and major component of the health-care organization, with nursing being

the largest group of employees within the health-care setting. As a result, it is essential that nurses

know their organization, the structures within which they function, and be able to relate this to their

individual clinical unit. As health-care delivery expands, organizations will continuously take on anew

look and approach to structure. By studying and learning the organizational structure, nurses will better

understand their role within it. The nurse is the key person at the bedside, coordinating the care for the

patient. Registered nurses work within a matrix of systems within the health-care organization, being a

gatekeeper of information that can improve outcomes for the organization.