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Healthcare leadership: Impact of short‐term intensive and long‐term less intensive training programmes

David Bergman (Medical Management Centre, Department of Learning, Informatics, Management, and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden)
Stina Fransson‐Sellgren (Medical Management Centre, Department of Learning, Informatics, Management, and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden)
Rolf Wahlström (Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, and Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden)
Christer Sandahl (Medical Management Centre, Department of Learning, Informatics, Management, and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden)

Leadership in Health Services

ISSN: 1751-1879

Article publication date: 1 May 2009

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to study the impact of two leadership programmes for healthcare managers regarding their attitudes to, and views on, their leadership.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 53 managers participated in two different leadership programmes i.e. one‐week (OW‐DGL) intensive leadership course and long‐term support groups. Of those, 39 (74 per cent) responded to the Wheel Questionnaire, both soon before and six months after the end of their respective leadership programmes. Overall, eight focus group interviews were conducted, and the data were analysed through content analysis.

Findings

Both leadership programmes seem to have strengthened the managers in their leadership roles. The OW‐DGL course supported the managers in learning about group dynamics and relationship‐orientated leadership. The programmes' methods differed, but the conclusion is that they complemented each other. The long‐term support groups helped the managers to structure and cope with everyday leadership situations in their occupational environment.

Practical implications

The OW‐DGL course was found to be good for inexperienced managers and the long‐term support groups for more experienced managers.

Originality/value

There is a lack of intervention studies regarding the efficacy of leadership programmes directed toward managers in health care. Two different approaches to leadership training are compared in this paper, using both quantitative and qualitative methods.

Keywords

Citation

Bergman, D., Fransson‐Sellgren, S., Wahlström, R. and Sandahl, C. (2009), "Healthcare leadership: Impact of short‐term intensive and long‐term less intensive training programmes", Leadership in Health Services, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 161-175. https://doi.org/10.1108/17511870910953805

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2009, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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