Free Essay Sample: Leadership Style of Clara Barton

Introduction

The world is characterized by outstanding leaders and humanitarians who stood up and pioneered humanity in their various fields or areas of specialization. The success of the various leaders is attributable to their leadership styles and inherent characteristics that they are born with or learned. The styles make them distinct in the way they carry their mandates and influence their followers or those they come into contact with. The various leadership styles can be traced and identified through the behaviors and the persuasive nature of the leader. In this paper, the focus is on the leadership styles of Clara Barton, the comparison of her leadership styles to other forms, and how her approach to leadership influences others and can be applied to other fields.

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Brief History of Clara Barton

Clarissa Harlowe Barton, popularly referred to as Clara is one of the women who are highly honored when it comes to American history. She was born on the 25th day of December 1921 in Oxford, Massachusetts, and became the youngest, being the fifth child to Sara and Stephen Barton. She was raised by a middle-class family and home-schooled until she turned 16 years old when she became a teacher (Regan, 2014). She established a free public school in Bordentown, New Jersey. She became a teacher for nearly a decade, after which she moved to Washington, DC, where she became a recording clerk at the patent office of the U.S. (Strickler, 2018). She became the first woman to get the job, and this profoundly influenced other women to strive and take up such tasks that were deemed to be for men.

During her childhood, she enjoyed treating injured pets and animals in their neighborhood, and this gave her the foundation to become a better nurse, given her compassionate nature. Clara was highly involved during the military wars as a nurse, and she had

to risk her life to ensure the soldiers got the required supplies. She founded the American Red Cross in the year 1851, while at the age of 59, and became the first president of the body. Barton actively took part in the affairs of the body, which she led for 23 years. The experience enabled her to understand the various ways she could give assistance to those in distress situations. In her lifetime, she was a nurse during the Civil War, an activist, founder of the American Red Cross, and a school teacher (Strickler, 2018).

She became widely known as the "Angel of the Battlefield" due to her extensive contribution during the battles in which she nursed the wounded soldiers. She provided the services to the troops from 1861 up to 1865. The military pass that was signed by General William Hammond, in 1862, allowed Clara to give nursing services to the troops on the front line and offer other supplies such as water and food (Strickler, 2018). Upon the end of the Civil War, she led an effort nationwide to locate the missing soldiers of which 22,000 missing men were located.

In 1869, Clara Barton visited Geneva, Switzerland, while working alongside the International Red Cross to help the Franco-Prussian war soldiers. During the war, she offered help to the Grand Duchess of Baden to prepare the various military hospitals (Oates, 1995). Consequently, she received the awards of the Iron Cross of Germany and the Golden Cross of Baden for her immense contribution to the battles and for ensuring the injured soldiers were well taken care of to minimize the fatality rate.

In 1882, Clara and her Red Cross committee appealed for disaster relief following the flooding that caused many deaths and left many people without homes. The organization, through her leadership, championed relief during various disasters such as fire, floods, and hurricanes. The organizations responded to multiple events to provide shelter, medical care, food, and clothing to the affected individuals. Clara never relented in her call to serve humanity, and even after helping the U.S. to raise the flag on the Andersonville grounds, she continued to respond to the rallying calls to help society. Clara later died on the 12th day of April 1912 while at her place in the Glen Echo, in Maryland. The legacy, of "Service to humanity" left behind by Clara at the Red Cross still leaves on and is highly embodied in the core aspects of the organization worldwide.

Clara Barton’s Leadership Style

Throughout her journey as a humanitarian, Clara Barton deployed certain leadership qualities, skills, and styles that made her successful in all that she undertook. Various leadership styles exist, and leaders choose to implement the skills and tactics that make them effective in managing their activities. Clara displayed immense leadership when she became the founder of the American Red Cross and led on the battlefield as a top nurse on the front line. She displayed various qualities that were crucial in her progress, and they included persistence, bravery, and authoritarianism. Her qualities and leadership style made her distinct, among others, and this enabled her to effectively offer her humanitarian services.

The evident leadership style undertaken by Clara Barton is the authoritarian form. She had a greater concern for humanity and could not withstand any delays or decisions that she viewed could impact human life negatively. Clara made all the decisions for the group after considering what she deemed fit for the service of humanity. The leadership style used by Clara was crucial in her success in the activities she undertook. Their notable achievements are in the military, where she took part and led other women nurses on the battlefield. Clara authoritatively led the service provider for the wounded soldiers in the front line. The style was crucial in her making decisions quickly on whether to proceed to the frontline despite the risk. Quick decision-making enables her to save many lives by increasing her responsive nature. Nursing requires instant response hence playing a critical role in minimizing casualties.

By deploying the leadership style, Clara was able to utilize her experience, ideas, and judgment in making the right choices on the appropriate course of action. This made her accepted among men on the battlefield as she produced consistent outcomes that enabled her to cement her status as a leader on the battlefield. Clara's inherent characteristics enabled her to work best under pressure since all eyes were on her to lead the nurses in attending to the wounded soldiers.

The pressure played a crucial role in enhancing the quality of the services she offered. The pressure to serve led to her to form the Red Cross to pioneer service delivery to the affected in the society. Serving as a nurse in the military and the formation of the American Red Cross requires one to make minimal mistakes in carrying out the mandates. Authoritarian style limits the mistakes occurring as a result of the involvement of many people in the decision-making chain. Consequently, quick decisions are made by the experienced Clara Barton.

Through the style, Clara was able to have a clear vision of where she wanted the Nation to be in terms of enhancing equity and ensuring human sufferings are alleviated. She acted as a mentor, whom others looked up to in society as a guide toward the enhancement of humanity. The style also enables Clara to develop empathy, and this was crucial in helping her understand the feelings and emotions of others, especially those who were following her and those she was attending to—understanding the emotions of others aided Clara in adapting to the changing conditions hence serving humanity effectively both in the military and the Red Cross.

The authoritarian style enabled Clara to effectively motivate her followers, leading to the formation of the Red Cross. Volunteering towards the course was crucial for the expansion and growth of the body, and to achieve this, the followers needed to understand the benefit and satisfaction derived by enhancing humanity through all aspects of life. The immense growth of the body is a clear manifestation of the work put in place by Barton to serve humanity. By enhancing empathy, Clara was able to receive goodwill from the general public and organizations hence offering the support and finances needed to respond to various calamities. Through empathy, Clara was able to clearly understand the various challenges and roadblocks that were hindering her progress in enhancing humanity (Merrill, 2011).

The style is mainly applicable during periods of struggles or changes to enhance the response rate, and that is why it was more appropriate for Clara Barton on the battlefield and during the formation of the Red Cross. Understanding the situation played a crucial role in the success of Clara as she got the work done by all means through lobbying and ensuring the various calamities that befall mankind are addressed.

It becomes clear that the success of a leader depends on the style chosen and the ability to influence others through the style. Clara Barton successfully deployed the style despite it having some shortcomings. The followers believed in her and their ability to accomplish the tasks she set to achieve hence the reason for the success of her leadership style.

Clara’s Leadership Style Compared to Other Types of Leadership

While Clara's leadership style focuses mainly on efficiency and results, there exists another leadership style that is deployed by certain leaders, depending on their characteristics and quality. Besides Clara's autocratic style of leadership, there exist other leadership types, and they include the democratic leadership style, Laissez-faire or hands-off leadership style, transformational style, paternalistic, and transactional leadership style.

Democratic leadership tends to be the opposite of the authoritative style. It is also known as the participative style in which the leader involves the followers or the team when it comes to decision making. The view of the group is considered to enhance unity and avoid any fallout that may arise hence reducing the efficiency of the decision making. Even though the benefits accruing to the democratic style of leadership are numerous, such as better decisions due to the involvement of many people, it may not be applicable to the situations Clara found herself in. The consultations involved in the process are time-consuming hence the great importance of the autocratic style since it enhances quick decision making.

Additionally, the democratic style may involve followers within the group who may not have the experience required to make decisions in situations that need a prompt response. The military field and the Red Cross, in which Clara was heavily involved require quick response and faster decision-making in order to save lives, and that is the reason for the application of the autocratic style in her case.

Laissez-faire tends to be the extreme opposite of the authoritarian leadership style. In this leadership style, there is no clear leadership role since all the decision-making is left to the followers. The followers are allowed the freedom to make decisions and ensure the tasks assigned to them are completed. The leader only offers guidance when requested to do so hence leaving the followers to enjoy self-rule. The approach is mainly essential and applicable where the employees have adequate experience to carry out specific tasks and make decisions based on their past experience. The leader provides the required materials to enable the followers to accomplish the tasks.