Discuss why a leader must have the skill set to change and transform a punitive culture.

LEADERS MUST HAVE THE SKILL SET TO CHANGE AND TRANSFORM A PUNITIVE CULTURE
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A punitive culture causes the employees to fear to make mistakes, they are afraid of the punishment that they will receive, in worst cases, they are afraid that they will get fired. The fear of punishments leads to errors, system failure and many other reckless actions to not being reported. A punitive culture would write up the person responsible instead of the cause of why the mistake was able to happen in the first place. If a system failure fails to be reported the health care system will not be able to improve and thereby the safety of the patients won’t increase. Therefore, a leader of a healthcare organization needs to acquire the skills to change and transform the punitive culture that is becoming rampant in many hospitals and healthcare organizations and thus embrace the “just culture.” As the “just culture” will ensure reliable, quality and very safe healthcare practices to the patients across the board.
In the year 2014, an “Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality study” reported that of the hospital employees, 56% did not come forward for one year to report any of the errors in their medical practices (Diesing 2015). Which brings a miscalculation in the number of unpropitious incidents that have taken place to those submitted during the period.
In the “just culture” type of system which should be employed by all leaders, it brings about a clear distinction of the blunders committed by faulty and unreliable systems and those by humans and hence shifting the blame from individuals to digging deep and investigating the problems that lay within the system operations.

This will indeed make sure that errors committed are not kept a secret but revealed by the employees for proper investigations without fear of actions being leveled against them, thus creating a safe environment as suggested by the Joint Commission (formerly JCAHO)(Schyve 2009).
In conclusion, leaders gaining skills to transform a punitive culture to a “just culture” will benefit the healthcare sector and thus the change should be made as pleasant as possible for the employees to avoid much resistance.
References
Schyve, D.M. (2009). Leadership in healthcare organizations: A Guide to Joint Commission leadership standards. Retrieved from www.jointcommission.orgDiesing, G. (June 18, 2015). “Culture of Safety Lies in Nonpunitive Leadership Approach.” Retrieved from http://www.hhnmag.com/articles/3389-culture-of-safety-lies-in-nonpunitive-leadership-approach