Leadership Roles and Management Functions in Nursing – Study Guide
& Practice Questions
E. All of the above
Rationale: Control, decision making, analysis, and results are all crucial elements of successful
management - correct answer ✔✔What aspect of business should managers emphasize?
A) Decision making
B) Analysis
C) Results
D) Control
E) All of the above
C. Focus on group process, information gathering, and feedback
Rationale: While managers are more often part of a formal organization and focus more on
result-oriented tasks, leaders tend to focus more on things such as group process - correct
answer ✔✔Which is a characteristic of a leader?
A) Always assigned a position of authority
B) Usually part of a formal organization
C) Focus on group process, information gathering, and feedback
D) Focus on decision making and results
A. Bureaucratic functions
,Rationale: Weber developed the theory of bureaucratic organizations. Management functions
theory was developed by Fayol. Taylor developed scientific management theory and Gulick
developed activities of management theory - correct answer ✔✔Which was the focus of
Weber's management theory?
A) Bureaucratic functions
B) Management functions
C) Scientific management
D) Activities of management
True
Rationale: Trade-offs can be a useful tool to achieve goals - correct answer ✔✔Tell whether the
following statement is True or False:
A characteristic of leadership management is to use trade-offs to meet goals.
C. Moral distress
Rationale: Moral distress occurs when the individual knows the right thing to do but
organizational constraints make it difficult to take the right course of action. With moral
uncertainty or conflict, an individual is unsure which moral principles or values apply. An ethical
dilemma occurs when an individual is being forced to choose between two or more undesirable
alternatives - correct answer ✔✔A nurse witnesses another nurse providing care without
proper hand hygiene and reports this to the charge nurse. The charge nurse is friends with the
other nurse and refuses to take action. This is an example of:
A) Moral indifference
B) Moral conflict
, C) Moral distress
D) Ethical dilemma
B. False
Using an ethical framework of utilitarianism encourages decision making based on what
provides the greatest good for the greatest number of people. The intuitionist framework allows
the decision maker to review each ethical problem or issue on a case-by-case basis, comparing
the relative weights of goals, duties, and rights - correct answer ✔✔Tell whether the following
statement is True or False:
A nurse manager who makes decisions based on what will benefit the majority of the nurses in
his or her charge is using the intuitionism ethical framework for decision making.
D. Pragmatism
Rationale: The principles of ethical decision making include autonomy, beneficence,
paternalism, utility, justice, truth telling (veracity), fidelity, and confidentiality - correct answer
✔✔Which is not an element of ethical decision making?
A) Beneficence
B) Paternalism
C) Utility
D) Pragmatism
A. True
Rationale: The 51 Nurse Practice Acts representing the 50 states and the District of Columbia
are examples of statutes. These Nurse Practice Acts define and limit the practice of nursing,
& Practice Questions
E. All of the above
Rationale: Control, decision making, analysis, and results are all crucial elements of successful
management - correct answer ✔✔What aspect of business should managers emphasize?
A) Decision making
B) Analysis
C) Results
D) Control
E) All of the above
C. Focus on group process, information gathering, and feedback
Rationale: While managers are more often part of a formal organization and focus more on
result-oriented tasks, leaders tend to focus more on things such as group process - correct
answer ✔✔Which is a characteristic of a leader?
A) Always assigned a position of authority
B) Usually part of a formal organization
C) Focus on group process, information gathering, and feedback
D) Focus on decision making and results
A. Bureaucratic functions
,Rationale: Weber developed the theory of bureaucratic organizations. Management functions
theory was developed by Fayol. Taylor developed scientific management theory and Gulick
developed activities of management theory - correct answer ✔✔Which was the focus of
Weber's management theory?
A) Bureaucratic functions
B) Management functions
C) Scientific management
D) Activities of management
True
Rationale: Trade-offs can be a useful tool to achieve goals - correct answer ✔✔Tell whether the
following statement is True or False:
A characteristic of leadership management is to use trade-offs to meet goals.
C. Moral distress
Rationale: Moral distress occurs when the individual knows the right thing to do but
organizational constraints make it difficult to take the right course of action. With moral
uncertainty or conflict, an individual is unsure which moral principles or values apply. An ethical
dilemma occurs when an individual is being forced to choose between two or more undesirable
alternatives - correct answer ✔✔A nurse witnesses another nurse providing care without
proper hand hygiene and reports this to the charge nurse. The charge nurse is friends with the
other nurse and refuses to take action. This is an example of:
A) Moral indifference
B) Moral conflict
, C) Moral distress
D) Ethical dilemma
B. False
Using an ethical framework of utilitarianism encourages decision making based on what
provides the greatest good for the greatest number of people. The intuitionist framework allows
the decision maker to review each ethical problem or issue on a case-by-case basis, comparing
the relative weights of goals, duties, and rights - correct answer ✔✔Tell whether the following
statement is True or False:
A nurse manager who makes decisions based on what will benefit the majority of the nurses in
his or her charge is using the intuitionism ethical framework for decision making.
D. Pragmatism
Rationale: The principles of ethical decision making include autonomy, beneficence,
paternalism, utility, justice, truth telling (veracity), fidelity, and confidentiality - correct answer
✔✔Which is not an element of ethical decision making?
A) Beneficence
B) Paternalism
C) Utility
D) Pragmatism
A. True
Rationale: The 51 Nurse Practice Acts representing the 50 states and the District of Columbia
are examples of statutes. These Nurse Practice Acts define and limit the practice of nursing,
