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The purpose of this paper was to assess two different leader development interventions by comparing their effects on leadership behaviour and evaluating their combined impact after two years, from the viewpoints of both the participating managers and external raters.

The study was a longitudinal randomised controlled trial with a cross-over design. Health care managers (n = 177) were first randomised to either of two 10-month interventions and a year later were switched to the other intervention. Leadership behaviour was rated at pre-test and 12 and 24 months by participating managers and their superiors, colleagues and subordinates using a 360-degree instrument. Analysis of variance and multilevel regression analysis was performed.

No difference in effect on leadership behaviour was found between the two interventions. The evaluation of the combined effect of the interventions on leadership behaviour showed inconsistent (i.e. both increased and decreased) ratings by the various rater sources.

This study provides some evidence that participation in leadership development programmes can improve managers’ leadership behaviours, but the results also highlight the interpretive challenges connected with using a 360-degree instrument to evaluate such development.

The longitudinal randomised controlled design and the large sample comprising both managers and external raters make this study unusually rigorous in the field of leadership development evaluations.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relation between leadership and social capital and what qualities of leadership are important for social capital among employees in hospital settings over time.

A cohort of employees in hospitals answered a questionnaire at three occasions. Five small (approx. 100-bed) or mid-sized (approx. 500-bed) hospitals were included. The response rate was 54 percent at baseline (n=865), 59 percent at one-year follow-up (n=908) and 67 percent at two-year follow-up (n=632).

Repeated measures over time showed differences between groups in levels of social capital with respect to levels of leadership quality. Relation-oriented leadership had the strongest association with social capital. There was evidence that leadership was associated with social capital over time and that different kinds of leadership qualities were associated with social capital.

This study conducted and analyzed quantitative data, and therefore, there is no knowledge of managers’ or employees’ own perceptions in this study. However, it would be interesting to compare managers’ decreased and increased leadership quality and how such differences affect social capital over time.

The findings feature the possibility for healthcare leaders to build high quality leadership as an important resource for social capital, by using different leadership orientations under different circumstances.

The paper showed that leadership was an important factor for building social capital and that different leadership qualities have different importance with respect to certain circumstances.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between leadership profiles and differences in managers’ own levels of work stress symptoms and perceptions of work stressors causing stress.

Cross-sectional data were used. Healthcare managers (n = 188) rated three dimensions of their leadership behavior and levels of work stressors and stress. Hierarchical cluster analysis was performed to identify leadership profiles based on leadership behaviors. Differences in stress-related outcomes between profiles were assessed using one-way analysis of variance.

Four distinct clusters of leadership profiles were found. They discriminated in perception of work stressors and stress: the profile distinguished by the lowest mean in all behavior dimensions, exhibited a pattern with significantly more negative ratings compared to the other profiles.

This paper proposes that leadership profile is an individual factor involved in the stress process, including work stressors and stress, which may inform targeted health promoting interventions for healthcare managers.

This is the first study to investigate the relationship between leadership profiles and work stressors and stress in healthcare managers.

A Workshop sponsored by the EIPC in an attempt to provide insight into data transfer technology and its use for the printed circuit board industry was held in Berlin on 11–12 May. Course notes on the EIPC Electronic Data Transfer Committee (EDT Committee) and its activities were provided and the electronic host system, ECIS (EIPC Communication and Information System), was explained in detail.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the aspects of being a physician that such medical professionals mention in dialogue groups when given the opportunity to choose their own topics of discussion.

Over a period of two years, 60 physicians participated in eight dialogue groups at one of the main hospitals in Stockholm, Sweden. Five focus group interviews were performed after the final dialogue group session.

Qualitative content analysis showed that three themes dominated in the physicians' perceptions of their role: hierarchy and subgroups; understanding of learning and knowledge; clinical work. Very little time in the dialogue groups was spent discussing the third theme, i.e. problems or issues related to patients or their families. The hierarchy among doctors seemed to influence many aspects of the role of these individuals, their healthcare organisation and their work environment. The methodology in the dialogue groups challenged the prevailing hierarchical structures and seemed to improve the relations between different groups of doctors in the hierarchy. For some of the physicians, this also resulted in a new way of perceiving and acting in their professional role.

The results of this study represent only one hospital.

The findings may help healthcare managers understand physicians' conceptions of their role.

Few intervention studies have considered management programmes directed towards physicians. The present investigation is the first qualitative analysis of the use of dialogue groups within a healthcare setting.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

CEMEX 94 ‐As requested by the 1992 Annual General Meeting, the CEMA Management Committee has been considering a number of options for the next CEMEX show, to be held in 1994.

This paper aims to explore if and how employees in a healthcare organisation perceive changes in their managers’ leadership behaviour over time.

An interview study was conducted with employees whose managers had participated in a two-year leadership development programme offered by their employer, Healthcare Provision Stockholm County. Qualitative content analysis was applied, and the interview discussions focused on areas in which the majority of the informants perceived that a change had occurred over time and their answers were relatively consistent.

The majority of employees did discern changes in their managers’ leadership over time, and, with very few exceptions, these changes were described as improvements.

The knowledge that employees perceived changes in their managers’ leadership supports investments in leadership development through courses, programmes or other initiatives.

The present findings contribute to a deeper empirical understanding of leadership as it is practised over time in everyday contexts among employees in healthcare organisations.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether dialogue groups for physicians can improve their psychosocial work environment.

The study assessed the impact of eight dialogue groups, which involved 60 physicians at a children's clinic in one of the main hospitals in Stockholm. Psychosocial work environment measures were collected through a validated instrument sent to all physicians (n=68) in 1999, 2001 and 2003. Follow‐up data were collected after the termination of the groups.

The overall score of organizational and staff wellbeing, as assessed by the physicians at the clinic, deteriorated from 1999 until 2003 and then improved 2004. This shift in the trend coincided with the intervention. No other factors which might explain this shift could be identified.

In a naturalistic study of this kind it is not possible to prove any causal relationships. A controlled survey of management programmes concerning the work environment among physicians would be of interest for further research.

The results suggest that dialogue groups may be one way to improve the psychosocial work environment for physicians.

There is a lack of intervention studies regarding the efficacy of management programmes directed toward physicians, concerning the effects on professional and personal wellbeing. This is the first time dialogue groups have been studied within a health care setting.