Guatemala Health Care Practitioners' Leadership Styles: Medical Worker Perception Versus Leader Self-perception

The use of a cross-sectional survey research methodology facilitated the identification of perceptions among survey respondents. The decision to use this method related to the feasibility of this approach to the purpose of the study. Study participants were 30 medical physicians and 300 nurses as well as medical assistants for a total sample population of 330 individuals. Health care professionals in the study were employed in a public hospital in Coatepeque, Guatemala and from the Rosario Private Hospital in Coatepeque, Guatemala. Two Spanish version Leadership Practices Inventory surveys were used to collect data. The LPI was chosen because it profiled five distinctive characteristics of leadership.

Punishments are not always mentioned, but they are also well-understood and
formal systems of discipline are usually in place. The early stage of Transactional
Leadership is in negotiating the contract whereby the subordinate is given a
salary ... When things go wrong, then the subordinate is considered to be
personally at fault, and is punished for their failure (just as they are rewarded for
succeeding).