Situational leadership: a model for leading telecommuters.
OBJECTIVE
To describe a leadership model aimed at assisting health care leaders to incorporate situational leadership into their practice when leading telecommuters.


BACKGROUND
Technological developments have grown in two areas, including medicine and communication, which have facilitated an enhanced information exchange in health care. These technological enhancements have allowed the health care arena to expand and improve its capabilities, including the delivery of health care and the information exchange among patients, providers and workers.


RESULTS
Traditional leadership styles must be modified to respond to the needs of telecommuters. Situational leadership gives structured guidance to the nursing leader when managing telecommuters.


CONCLUSIONS
Situational leadership has been used in the traditional work setting and can be used in the virtual workplace. The strategies and techniques used have to be modified for the telecommuter and must focus on increasing communication.
Farmer
Leigh Ann
LA
VHA Inc., Greensboro, NC, USA. lfarmer@vha.com
D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D007857:Leadership; D017146:Models, Organizational; D009718:Nurse Administrators; D015401:Nursing Administration Research; D048108:Nursing Informatics; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013685:Telecommunications / Q000458:organization & administration*