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While critical approaches have enriched research in proximate fields, their impact has been less marked in studies of healthcare management. In response, the 2016 Organizational Behaviour in Health Care Conference hosted its first-ever session dedicated to the emergent field of critical healthcare management studies (CHMSs). The purpose of this paper is to present five papers selected from that conference.

In this introductory paper, the authors frame the contributions as “green shoots” in a field of CHMS which contains four main furrows of activity: questioning the taken-for-granted; moving beyond instrumentalism; reflexivity and meanings in research; and challenging structures of domination (Kitchener and Thomas, 2016). The authors conclude by presenting an agenda for further cultivating the field of CHMS.

The papers evidence the value of CHMS, and provide insight into the benefits of broadening theoretical and methodological approaches in pursuit of critical insights.

CHMS works to explicate the multiple and competing ideologies and interests inherent in healthcare. As pragmatic imperatives push the provision of health and social care out of the organisational contexts and into private space, there is a particular need to simultaneously understand, and critically interrogate, the implications of new, as well as existing, forms of care.

This paper reviews, frames and details practical next steps in developing CHMS. These include: enhanced engagement with a wider range of actors than is currently the norm in mainstream healthcare management research; a broadening of theoretical and methodological lenses; support for critical approaches among editors and reviewers; and enhanced communication of critical research via its incorporation into education and training programmes.

The paper contributes to an emerging stream of CHMS research, and works to consolidate next steps for the field.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the relevance of psychoanalysis to an emerging sub-field known as “critical healthcare management studies” (CHMS).

Building upon a wave of critical scholarship in the broader field of management, scholars and practitioners of healthcare management have begun to forge a critical scholarly movement of their own. CHMS, short for “critical healthcare management studies,” formally denotes a new subfield of inquiry dedicated to challenging entrenched assumptions, exposing power relations, and cultivating critical praxis, all the while serving as a vital counterpoint to mainstream scholarship. This paper seeks to augment the CHMS movement with psychoanalysis, and particularly the critical vein of organizational psychoanalysis already well-established in critical management studies.

The argument is made that a greater engagement with psychoanalysis offers novel avenues for critical theorizing and practice in healthcare management. Specifically three areas are considered: 1) the exploitative role of guilt in the caring professions, 2) the resurgence of authoritarianism and its implications for unconscious organizational dynamics, and 3) the potential for a psychoanalytically informed critical healthcare praxis.

While there remain wide differences of opinion about the utility of psychoanalysis outside of the clinical arena, this paper reveals just how psychoanalysis can inform today's healthcare organizations, and more broadly the social and political organization of health in society.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a hybrid approach to the research developed during a multi-researcher, ethnographic study of NHS management in the UK.

This methodological paper elaborates a hybrid approach to the sociological analysis – the critical-action theory – and indicates how it can contribute to the critical health management studies.

After exploring the various theoretical, methodological and philosophical options available, the paper discusses the main research issues that influenced the development of this perspective and the process by which the critical-action perspective was applied to the studies of managerial work in four health service sectors – acute hospitals, ambulance services, community services and mental healthcare.

This methodological perspective enabled a critical analysis of health service organisation that considered macro, meso and micro effects, in particular and in this case, how new public management drained power from clinicians through managerialist discourses and practices.

Healthcare organisations are often responding to the decisions that lie outside of their control and may have to enact changes that make little sense locally. In order to make sense of these effects, micro-, meso- and macro-level analyses are necessary.

The critical-action perspective is presented as an adjunct to traditional approaches that have been taken to the study of health service organisation and delivery.

The purpose of this article is to report on case study research conducted in a German hospital and describe the implications that the “Management by walking about” approach had on healthcare employees. “Management by walking about” is widely seen as one of the favoured procedures for increasing employee commitment and shared understanding as well as supporting high trust work relations.

This case study set out to examine the actual labour processes and the concrete experiences of healthcare employees behind the “Management by walking about” approach in a German hospital. This was achieved by means of a six month field study of day‐to‐day life in the hospital's nursing division.

In this case study, the popular initiative of “Management by walking about” was used as a means of managerial control and, as such, the internal promotion of soaring values and path‐finding visions was met with both scepticism and cynicism.

Pre‐commitment and motivation levels were high among healthcare employees, they were passionate about their healthcare work and they actively engaged in open communication and organisational development. But all this had little to do with “Management by walking about”, and its implications raise questions about its influence on high trust work relations more generally.

The paper concludes that a more critical analysis is necessary to challenge the way in which “Management by walking about” is examined by healthcare management academics and practitioners.

This study aims to present Lean Six Sigma (LSS) deployment and sustainment strategies for the healthcare sector from a multi-level perspective. The objective is to present LSS implementation insights to enable policymakers, practitioners and academicians to test and develop an LSS framework for healthcare sectors.

The strategies identified are the result of a multi-method research design involving literature review, action research (AR) and Delphi study. Further, the AR portion of the study involved more than 10 years of projects focused on the deployment of LSS in the healthcare sector.

The strategies include a holistic view from the multi-level perspective, considering the Top Management Level, Middle Management Level and Operational Level. The authors ascertained 27 strategies across the three levels of organizational structure for the effective deployment of LSS. Further, the authors present a customized LSS “pocket guide” from the healthcare perspective for quick reference.

The strategies delineated in this study are based on the Indian healthcare section only; thus, further research in additional geographic contexts is needed. Also, further research is necessary to provide additional empirical validation of the effects of the identified strategies on LSS program outcomes and to verify that the strategies operate at the proposed organizational levels. Future research should also focus on identifying the interrelationships between strategies within and across levels, developing a “road map” for LSS implementation in hospitals and designing the LSS curriculum for medical schools and other medical training programs.

Observations of this study can contribute to developing a holistic framework for successful LSS implementation in the healthcare sector for academicians, practitioners and policymakers. This, in turn, ensures an enhanced value proposition, improved quality of life and reduced healthcare operational costs. Thus, it ensures a win-win situation among all the stakeholders of the healthcare sector.

The strategies put forth will enable the LSS researchers, academicians and, more particularly, practitioners to delve deeper into specific enablers and safeguard the LSS deployment from backlash. The research has two significant benefits. Firstly, it enhances the understanding of LSS from the healthcare perspective. Secondly, it provides direction for future studies with specific components for hospitals’ LSS framework, which can be further tested, refined and improved.

The aim of this study is to identify the critical factors of green supply chain (GSC) and to adapt these factors to the taxonomy of green practices in healthcare.

A qualitative multiple-case study approach was followed based on 60 interviews with nine French hospitals. An intra-case and a cross-case analysis were implemented.

The findings provide a taxonomy of healthcare GSC and show that regulation, cost reduction, top management commitment, employee training, information technology and measures of environmental performance are critical factors for GSC implementation. The study also underlines a few emergent critical factors including the purchasing group, environmental champion, building construction, combining safety and green approaches.

This study was conducted in France following a qualitative methodological approach. Future research can consider other national and cross-national investigations and other quantitative or mixed methods approaches.

The research provides managers and policy makers numerous invaluable suggestions for the implementation of GSC practices in healthcare facilities. To accelerate GSC implementation, managers can invest in the construction of new buildings, in information technology, and in the automation of flows.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper identifying the critical factors of GSC implementation in the healthcare sector. It is also the first attempt to provide a taxonomy of hospitals according to their green approaches (reactive, receptive, and proactive).

The purpose of this study is to develop a structured hierarchical interrelationship-based model to evaluate the critical failure factors (CFFs) that affect the sustainable Lean Six Sigma (SLSS) framework implementation in a healthcare organization. Further, solution approaches have been provided that guide to eliminate them.

The CFFs has been identified through empirical study and clustered into six major categories for their better understanding. The interrelation among CFFs has been developed through total interpretive structural modeling (TISM) and classifies the nature using MICMAC technique. Further, prioritized the CFFs based on its driving and dependents power. The methodology enabled the decision-makers, practitioners to systematically analyze the CFFs and develop a structural model for implementing SLSS in the healthcare environment.

A total of 14 leading CFFs have been identified, and 7-level structured interrelationship-based model has been formed. The experts have provided the solution approach after careful analysis of the developed model. Based on the analysis, it was observed that the significant CFFs affect the deployment of the SLSS framework in healthcare organizations.

The structured model and methodological approach have been tested in a healthcare organization. In the future, the approach can be applied in the different service sectors.

The present study has been conducted in a real-time industrial problem. The practitioners, decision-makers and academicians expressed the usefulness of methodology for understanding the CFFs interrelation and their effect on SLSS implementation. This study also guides decision-makers to systematically tackle related problems.

The development of a structured CFFs based model for SLSS framework implementation using the integrated TISM-MICMAC with a detailed solution approach is a unique effort in a healthcare environment.

Green transformation is more than simply a trend; it is a way of life, a set of habits, a field of knowledge and a dedication to resource conservation. Going green is surely a creative and transformative process for both individuals and organizations. This paper aims to “identify,” “analyse” and “categorise” the readiness factors for green transformation process in health care using total interpretive structural modelling (TISM) and neutrosophic-MICMAC.

To address the study objectives, the study used TISM and neutrosophic-MICMAC analysis. To identify the readiness factors, a literature study was conducted, and the factors were face-validated by the healthcare experts. The factors influence on one another were captured by using a scheduled interview with a closed ended questionnaire. The TISM addressed the identification and analysing of factors and the categorization and ranking the readiness factors is addressed by using neutrosophic-MICMAC analysis.

This study identified 11 green transformation process readiness factors for healthcare organizations. The study states that the key factors or driving factors are awareness of green governance principle, environment leadership and management, green gap analysis, information and communication technology and innovation dynamics.

The factor ranking is sensitive to the respondents’ ratings. The study relied on the past literature and experts’ opinion may result in the subjective biases. The complex nature of healthcare ecosystem challenges to capture all the factors. The study focussed on Indian hospitals.

Study significantly impacts the healthcare practitioners, academicians and policymakers by providing critical insights into the readiness factors required for the healthcare green transformation process. The study offers a better understanding of the crucial or key or driving factors that aid in embracing green and sustainable practices.

Identifying a gap in conceptual and theoretical frameworks for green transformation readiness factors in healthcare organizations and in Indian context. The study addresses this gap by aiming to create a thorough theoretical framework and highlighted by its focus on Indian hospitals.

While the intellectual capital perspective has been widely applied to research in knowledge‐intensive industries, less attention has been paid to the healthcare sector. This exploratory study aims to investigate how hospitals view the importance of intellectual capital and performance in the healthcare sector. It identifies the elements and relative importance of intellectual capital and performance measurement in the Taiwanese healthcare industry.

This study was executed by a developmental process comprising four phases: the generation of critical elements; expert review and perceptual assessments of the elements; data collection; and data analysis. This study developed a preliminary checklist with detailed IC elements and performance indicators derived from both literature reviews and practices. The questionnaire was refined by expert review. The pilot study collected data from 30 healthcare managers.

The critical intellectual capital elements and performance indicators regarded as important for performance management practices in the Taiwanese hospital industry were identified. They reveal the relative importance and ranking of human, organizational and relational capitals, and performance indicators.

By using the intellectual capital navigator (ICN) and the Effector Plot, this study analyzed resource transformations and resource influence among human, organizational and relational capital. This study highlighted five noteworthy issues.

This study will contribute to both theory and practice. Theoretically, it generalizes IC in the healthcare setting and is a starting point for exploring healthcare IC and performance in Taiwan. Practically, it contributes to references for healthcare managers, giving a prioritized array of critical resources and performance measurements in practice.

The purpose of this study is to contribute to the knowledge base on how performance measurement drives improvements in healthcare practice.

The study is based on a single in-depth case study. The critical incident technique (CIT) has been applied in order to identify significant occurrences of performance measurement in terms of events, incidents, processes, and issues identified by respondents from the case organization. These critical incidents have been analysed and interpreted using a theoretical framework suggesting that performance measurement may be applied for exploratory or regulatory purposes as well as ad hoc or continuously in healthcare practice.

The study suggests that performance measurement may be a versatile method for driving improvement in healthcare organizations. Six types of activities directly or indirectly drive improvement in the clinical department: continuous follow-up in formal arenas and meetings; improvement work; professional efforts; goal deployment; reporting based on external demands; and creating awareness in everyday clinical work. Healthcare organizations that strive to practice performance measurement as a driver for improvement need to find infrastructures in which it is being integrated into the daily life of organizational healthcare practice.

The study provides an original account of the prerequisites and actions for driving improvement through performance measurement in a healthcare setting. Since the operations management perspective in healthcare is significantly lacking, the study offers a unique perspective which may be the basis for both practice development and further scholarly inquiry and theory development.