title: Nursing Leadership, Missing Questions, and the Elephant(s) in the Room: Problematizing the Discourse on Nursing Leadership.
abstract: To expose inconsistencies and contradictions in the nurse leadership literature ("text"), this article adopts a deconstructive approach and draws upon the work of Derrida in examining the text or discourse. What is almost entirely missing in the literature are articles that ask difficult, searching questions that challenge some of the taken-for-granted truths or maxims about nursing leadership. The current examination of the literature, described in this article, shows: (a) a lack of convergence of the literature and health care/nursing organizations concerning leadership, (b) a conflation of nursing leadership with managerial or administrative positions, and
authors.affiliation: a Wright State University, Center for Nursing Research, College of Nursing and Health, Dayton, Ohio, USA, and Cutcliffe Consulting , Hampden , Maine , USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cutcliffe
authors.affiliation: b University of Western Sydney, School of Nursing and Midwifery , Sydney , New South Wales , Australia.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cleary
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D009745:Nursing, Supervisory; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing