Health Care Management Theories, Styles, and Methods
As a general rule, managers of health care organizations exists within a unique professional culture (Seidel, Seavey, & Lewis, 1989, p. 10). They are, of course, first and foremost, managers; they are educated and socialized to think, act, and talk like managers. However, unlike managers in other industrial sectors, they are distinguished by an education that privileges the appreciation of differences between needs, demands, and wants and the necessity of responding to all three (Seidel, Seavey, & Lewis, 1989, p. 10). They must appreciate the ethical and professional requirements and results of their actions and incorporate the often sizeable implications of discounting either (Seidel, Seavey, & Lewis, 1989, p. 10).
Most theorists discuss effective management skills by focusing on three basic concepts. The first is the management role, i.e, management's behavior in an organization (Taylor, 1994, p. 20). The second is the management function or the varying tasks performed by managers. The third concept is management style, the way the roles or functions delineated above are carried out (Taylor, 1994, p. 20). Generally, these three concepts encapsulate the factors needed for effective management in virtually all organizations.
These three managerial functions are then incorporated into the organizational design of the health care organization. For the organization to be truly efficient and effective, the managerial position must complement the organizational design. Although definitions of organization development vary significantly, the most widely accepted is that "[o]rganization development is an effort planned organization wide and managed from the top to increase organization effectiveness and health through planned interventions in the organization's processes using behavioral science knowledge" (Boss, 1989, p. 18). It is designed to improve an organization'...