Developing competent public hospital managers: a qualitative study from Iran
International Journal of Workplace Health Management
ISSN: 1753-8351
Article publication date: 8 February 2021
Issue publication date: 16 March 2021
Abstract
Purpose
Hospitals need highly trained and competent managers to be responsible for the strategic development, overall operation and service provision. The identification and confirmation of core management competency requirements is a fundamental first step towards developing the competent management workforce for sustainable hospital service provision. This paper reports on the finding of a recent study focusing on identifying managerial competencies required by middle and senior-level managers in the public hospitals in Iran.
Design/methodology/approach
The qualitative research design included position description analysis and focus group discussions with middle and senior-level public hospital managers in Iran. When analysing the identified knowledge, skills and attitudes, the validated MCAP framework was used to guide the grouping of them into associating management competencies.
Findings
The study identified 11 to 13 key tasks required by middle and senior-level managers and confirmed that the position descriptions used by current Iranian hospitals might not truly reflect the actual core responsibilities of the management positions. The study also confirmed seven core managerial competencies required to perform these tasks effectively. These core competencies included evidence-informed decision-making; operations, administration and resource management; knowledge of healthcare environment and the organisation; interpersonal, communication qualities and relationship management; leading people and organisation; enabling and managing change and professionalism.
Research limitations/implications
Competencies were identified based on managers' perceptions. Views and experiences of other stakeholders were not captured.
Practical implications
The seven core management competency identified in the current study provides a clear direction of competency development among senior and middle-level managers working at the Iranian public hospitals. The study also confirms that position descriptions do not reflect the actual responsibilities of current hospital managers, which are in need to urgent review.
Originality/value
This is the first study that has identified the core managerial competencies required by middle and senior-level hospital managers in Iran.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the hospital managers who participated in this study. The authors also thank Dr Peter Howard (Adjunct Associate Professor, La Trobe University) for assistance with language editing, proofreading and comments that greatly improved the manuscript.Funding: This study was conducted as part of EK’s PhD thesis which was funded by the Tabriz University of Medical Science (NO Grant: 61581). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.
Citation
Kakemam, E., Janati, A., Mohaghegh, B., Gholizadeh, M. and Liang, Z. (2021), "Developing competent public hospital managers: a qualitative study from Iran", International Journal of Workplace Health Management, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 149-163. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJWHM-07-2020-0120
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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