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Dynamics of distributed leadership during a hospital merger

Charlotte Jonasson (Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark)
Anne Mette Kjeldsen (Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark)
Maria Shubhra Ovesen (Research Support and External Relations, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark)

Journal of Health Organization and Management

ISSN: 1477-7266

Article publication date: 6 August 2018

Issue publication date: 3 September 2018

934

Abstract

Purpose

Mergers have become an influential part of public hospital development, and the successful implementation of such mergers requires skillful management. Recent studies have pointed to the impact of the distribution of leadership tasks amongst employees for implementing planned radical changes, yet this lacks examination with regard to hospital mergers. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the emergence of distributed leadership and this leadership’s influence on the implementation of a hospital merger.

Design/methodology/approach

The emergence of distributed leadership is examined through a qualitative case study of two Danish hospital units in the context of a large hospital merger. The data consist of 21 interviews and documents collected over a three-year period.

Findings

The findings suggest dynamics of widened and restricted distributed leadership being influenced by and influencing the merger at hospital and local-unit levels, respectively. Importantly, the perceived purpose of widened and restricted distributed leadership mediated the actual effects of widened and restricted distributed leadership on the implementation of a merger. Moreover, the findings show that mergers on both the hospital and local level lead to variations in top-down and bottom-up distributed leadership across pre-merger organizational boundaries.

Practical implications

Perceived purposeful widening and restriction of distributed leadership at various hospital levels enables merger integration and collaboration across organizational boundaries and hierarchies.

Originality/value

The paper addresses the need to understand the complex dynamics of widened and restricted leadership distribution in a merger context.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The study is part of the project “Distribution of leadership and organizational change processes,” which is funded by VELUX Research Foundation, Denmark. The VELUX Research Foundation has not been involved in the research process from study design to submission. No other funding has been received nor do the researchers have any affiliation with other entities than their home university institution. The authors would like to thank VELUX Research Foundation for funding the project, “Distribution of leadership and organizational change processes” which this study is a part of. The authors thank the project researcher group for their support. The authors are also profoundly grateful to the participants at the hospital without whom this study could not have been conducted.

Citation

Jonasson, C., Kjeldsen, A.M. and Ovesen, M.S. (2018), "Dynamics of distributed leadership during a hospital merger", Journal of Health Organization and Management, Vol. 32 No. 5, pp. 691-707. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHOM-08-2017-0225

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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