Responsibilising Managers and Clinicians, Neglecting System Health? What Kind of Healthcare Leadership Development Do We Want?; Comment on “Leadership and Leadership Development in Healthcare Settings - A Simplistic Solution to Complex Problems?”

Document Type : Commentary

Author

Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK

Abstract

Responding to Ruth McDonald’s editorial on the rise of leadership and leadership development programmes in healthcare, this paper offers three arguments. Firstly, care is needed in evaluating impact of leadership development, since achievement of organisational goals is not necessarily an appropriate measure of good leadership. Secondly, the proliferation of styles of leadership might be understood in part as a means of retaining control over public services while distributing responsibility for their success and failure. Thirdly, it makes a plea for the continued utility of good administrative skills for clinicians and managers, which are likely to become all-the-more important given recent developments in healthcare policy and governance.

Keywords

Main Subjects


  1. McDonald R. Leadership and leadership development in healthcare settings – a simplistic solution to complex problems? Int J Health Policy Manag 2014; 3: 227-9. doi: 10.15171/ijhpm.2014.101
  2. Martin GP, Currie G, Finn R. Leadership, service reform, and public-service networks: the case of cancer-genetics pilots in the English NHS. J Public Adm Res Theory 2009; 19: 769-94. doi: 10.1093/jopart/mun016
  3. Hartley J, Martin J, Benington J. Leadership in healthcare. Coventry: Institute of Governance and Public Management; 2008.
  4. Trastek VF, Hamilton NW, Niles EE. Leadership models in health care—a case for servant leadership. Mayo Clin Proc 2014; 89: 374-81. doi: 10.1016/j.mayocp.2013.10.012
  5. Macrae C. Early warnings, weak signals and learning from healthcare disasters. BMJ Qual Saf  2014; 23: 440-5. doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2013-002685
  6. Jones A, Kelly D. Deafening silence? Time to reconsider whether organizations are silent or deaf when things go wrong. BMJ Qual Saf 2014; 23: 709-13. doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2013-002718
  7. Evetts J. New professionalism and new public management: changes, continuities and consequences. Comp Sociol 2009; 8: 247-66. doi: 10.1163/156913309x421655
  8. Martin GP, Learmonth M. A critical account of the rise and spread of “leadership”: the case of UK healthcare. Soc Sci Med 2012; 74: 281-8. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.12.002
  9. Williams Z. The entire schools inspection culture is the problem. The Guardian [Internet]. [cited 2014 Oct 19]; Available from: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/19/schools-inspection-ofsted-rachel-de-souza
  10. Boyne GA, Meier KJ. Burdened by bureaucracy? Determinants of administrative intensity in public organisations. Int Public Manag J 2013; 16: 307-27. doi: 10.1080/10967494.2013.817261
  11. Woolhandler S, Campbell T, Himmelstein DU. Costs of health care administration in the United States and Canada. N Engl J Med 2003; 349: 768-75. doi: 10.1056/nejmsa022033