A phenomenological investigation of the impact of leadership styles on nursing teams' morale

This thesis addresses a literature gap concerning the relationship between nursing leadership and the morale of healthcare teams within the National Health Service (NHS), particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic. Although leadership is frequently identified as a mechanism for improving staff wellbeing, engagement and organisational performance, the ways in which leadership behaviours shape individual and collective morale remain insufficiently understood. An initial exploratory review established the conceptual foundations of the study and informed a systematic literature review examining individual and team morale across healthcare organisations. The evidence identified leadership as an important influence on staff experiences and showed how leadership behaviours are experienced within nursing practice. Building on these findings, the empirical phase employed Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) of semi-structured interviews with thirteen participants, of whom six were nurse leaders and seven were nurse practitioners. This approach enabled the exploration of their lived experiences with leadership, professional identity, team relationships, and morale. Four themes emerged: Negative Leadership Behaviours, Impact on Professional Identity, Positive Leadership Behaviours, and Team Dynamics and Morale. The findings demonstrate that leadership affects morale through a dynamic process that begins at the individual level and extends into team relationships and organisational functioning. Negative behaviours were associated with diminished professional identity, reduced motivation and poorer interpersonal dynamics, whereas positive leadership behaviours supported professional confidence, cohesion, psychological wellbeing and constructive team functioning. A contribution of the thesis is the development of four conceptual frameworks illustrating how leadership behaviours are transmitted from individual experiences to team morale, organisational culture and performance. The thesis advances understanding of morale as a relational and organisational phenomenon rather than solely an individual attribute. This thesis concludes that nursing leadership is critical to sustaining morale and that leadership development should prioritise behaviours that strengthen professional identity, team cohesion and organisational resilience within the NHS.