Week 3 Plastic Surgery Center of Hampton Roads

During my work week, I took time to notice leadership theories in action. The implicit leadership theory states that people use their preconceived notions in evaluating the effectiveness of an organization and the situation as a whole. Stereotypically, when people think of a successful surgeon, they think of a male. This stereotype is largely due to the fact that a career as a physician is very demanding and historically the role has predominantly been filled by males. At the Plastic Surgery Center of Hampton Roads, the four surgeons are all males, as mentioned in my previous post. Besides these four males, the rest of the staff is comprised of females as nurses, CST’s, technicians, patient counselors, and receptionists. These roles filled by the females are typically known to be roles that require a lot of compassion and understanding, characteristics stereotypically better associated with females.

In evaluating how patients view the fact that the surgeons are all males, as stereotypically predicted, I am able to see how patients could view this in a positive and negative light. On one hand, because it is more stereotypical to have males in this role, patients will have increased confidence in the surgeons off the bat. On the other hand, because the patients are predominantly females, they may feel uncomfortable with a male surgeon evaluating and judging their bodies. Because society has created an expectation as to how female bodies should look, encouraged by males, patients may feel that the male surgeon suggesting a procedure is only further perpetuating this standard. In this case, female patients might feel more comfortable with a female surgeon as they would be better able to relate.