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The aim of this paper is to examine health care organizations' power structures from the first‐line management perspective. What liable power structures derive from the theoretical bases of bureaucratic, professional and result based organizations, and what power type do health care organizations represent, according to the empirical data? The paper seeks to perform an analysis using Mintzberg's power configurations of instrument, closed system, meritocracy and political arena.

The empirical study was executed at the end of 2005 through a survey in ten Finnish hospital districts in both specialized and primary care. Respondents were all first‐line managers in the area and a sample of staff members from internal disease, surgical and psychiatric units, as well as out‐patient and primary care units. The number of respondents was 1,197 and the response percentage was 38. The data were analyzed statistically.

As a result, it can be seen that a certain kind of organization structure supports the generation of a certain power type. A bureaucratic organization generates an instrument or closed system organization, a professional organization generates meritocracy and also political arena, and a result‐based organization has a connection to political arena and meritocracy. First line managers regarded health care organizations as instruments when staff regarded them mainly as meritocracies having features of political arena. Managers felt their position to be limited by rules, whereas staff members regarded their position as having lots of space and influence potential.

If the organizations seek innovative and active managers at the unit level, they should change the organizational structure and redistribute the work so that there could be more space for meaningful management.

This research adds to the literature and gives helpful suggestions that will be of interest to those in the position of first‐line management in health care.

Explores strategic and first‐line managers' perspectives on their role in human‐resource management and human‐resource development.

Uses information collected from 76 hotels, owned by Hilton UK, via self‐administered questionnaires to strategic and first‐line managers.

Reveals that a higher proportion of strategic managers than first‐line managers reported involvement in HR activities, despite the operational and teamwork emphasis of first‐line managers' jobs in particular. The personal level of responsibility for team members and responsibility for HR in teams is perceived to be higher among the strategic‐manager respondents than first‐line respondents. Only the strategic managers considered that HRD is viewed as important. The strategic managers rated their working relationships with HR specialists in their hotels higher than the first‐line managers did. A large majority of first‐line managers saw heavy workloads and short‐term job pressures as hindrances to involvement in HR roles.

Contends that there is potential for first‐line managers in Hilton's UK hotels to engage more in the HR activities that underpin the company's service culture.

Highlights the importance of ensuring that HR is seen as a critical component of all hospitality‐management education programs.

The purpose of this paper is to explore different levels of line manager perspectives, namely strategic and first‐line on their role in human resource management (HRM) and human resource development (HRD), and to identify enablers of and barriers to devolving HR to line managers.

Using a deductive approach, case study data was collected from 76 hotels, owned by Hilton UK, via self‐administered questionnaires to strategic and first‐line managers. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the quantitative results, prior to significance tests being conducted in SPSS to identify differences in means based on managerial positions.

A number of points of divergence in opinions are revealed, implying that there is potential for the case organisation to secure greater engagement of its first‐line managers in HR roles. Reducing the workloads and short‐term job pressures of these managers, together with capitalising on the good relations with the hotel HR specialists are means to develop greater engagement. Importantly, improving all line managers’ understanding of the organisational basis of their involvement in HR may bolster their performance in HR activities.

This paper offers a fusion of two theoretical perspectives (HRM and HRD), in addition to identifying differences in perceptions of two different levels of line managers.

The purpose of this article is to revisit data from a previous study of leadership in an industrial company that was in the process of implementing a process‐oriented, team‐based form of organisation. Based on these data, it aims to explore the assumption that process‐orientation implies “new” leadership behaviours and relationships with co‐workers. More specifically, it aims to focus on analysing how the managers and co‐workers understood and practised the ideas about leadership for learning and development that were introduced in connection with the new production organisation. The purpose is also to determine what factors constrained and facilitated these leadership practises.

The study was conducted with a large industrial company using case study methodology. The empirical material consists of 35 qualitative interviews with production managers (n=4), first‐line managers (n=14), and operators (n=17).

The results indicate that performance‐oriented leadership with a focus on facilitating adaptive learning is emphasised more than development‐oriented leadership, which facilitates critical reflection and innovative learning. Furthermore, the study suggests that the administrative workload greatly limits the potential for development‐oriented leadership. Overall, first‐line managers appear to have more in common with system administrators than leaders.

This study highlights the need to find a balance between performance and development in organisations. Specifically, there is a need for leaders to create opportunities and support for increased developmental learning at work. It is also necessary to emphasise critical reflection both in connection with daily operations and in the formal education of co‐workers and leaders.

This study demonstrates the gap between the rhetoric of new leadership and the organisational realities that leaders experience in their daily work. At the same time, the study points to the dual nature of leadership for learning and the constraints on its realisations in practise.

This research brings together two streams of thought applied to decision-making: lean thinking and stakeholder theory. Both have been identified as ways to improve organizational value. Previous studies disagree regarding whether they can work together. This study investigates if managers balance stakeholders and lean thinking in decision-making.

This research investigates if both lean thinking and stakeholder salience share common literature by using data mining. It surveys organizations that perceive themselves as lean and have multiple diverse stakeholders to determine whether waste and salience are considered when making decisions. An ANOVA is done to see if organization type, management level, organization size, geographic location, or lean maturity has an effect on the priority of stakeholder salience or lean thinking's waste variants when making decisions.

Findings of this research are: 1) stakeholders salience criteria are considered more often than lean thinking's waste variants in decision-making by managers as a whole and in particular by middle-level managers and senior managers. However, lean thinking's waste variants are considered as often as stakeholder salience criteria by first-line managers. 2) The ranking of stakeholder salience in making decisions is not affected by organization type, respondent position, organization size, perceived lean experience, or geographic location. The organization type, organization size, lean experience, and location do not affect the ranking of lean thinking variants either. But the ranking of lean thinking's waste variants is significantly different for first-line, middle-level, and senior managers. Middle-level managers rank lean thinking higher than that of either first-line or senior-level. Because of this, middle managers have a more balanced approach in using lean thinking and stakeholder salience than other managers. 3) Stakeholder salience criteria have a significantly higher ranking than lean thinking variants in making decisions for all organization types: manufacturing and nonmanufacturing.

This research demonstrates a significant disconnect exists between lean thinking and demands of stakeholders that impacts the value of an organization, and only middle-level managers bring balance and awareness of both streams of thought. An empirical instrument has been developed to balance the stakeholder salience criteria with the lean thinking variants.

This paper aims to identify conditions affecting sustainability of Lean implementations in Swedish psychiatric healthcare, from a socio-technical perspective.

Longitudinal focus group interviews were conducted with 24 first-line managers within Swedish psychiatric healthcare. The analysis was made using Cherns’ ten socio-technical principles and a framework for sustainable development work in healthcare.

The most critical socio-technical principles for a sustainable Lean implementation were boundary location; power and authority; and compatibility. At hospital level, socio-technical principles were inhibited by the weak ownership of the Lean implementation. However, strong ownership at division level meant the same principles were supported. Unclear goals made follow-ups difficult which had negative effects on the learning processes in the Lean implementation. The role and responsibility of first-line managers were unclear in that they perceived they lacked power and authority resulting in negative effects on the participation – an important sustainability concept.

Empirically based papers assessing Lean implementations in psychiatry are rare. This study is a contribution to the research area of sustainable Lean implementations in healthcare. The practical implication of this study is that decision makers, senior managers, first-line managers and psychiatrists can be supported in reaching sustainable implementations of Lean.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate hierarchical impacts on specific transformational leadership (TFL) behaviors (i.e. idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration).

Survey data on TFL, job satisfaction, and hierarchy were collected from 448 managers from a multinational corporation in Sweden.

Idealized influence and inspirational motivation occurred more frequently among upper rather than middle managers, while there were no differences for intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration. Also, idealized influence, inspirational motivation, and intellectual stimulation were more effective in strengthening subordinates' job satisfaction among upper rather than middle managers, while individualized consideration was similarly effective in both groups.

The cross‐sectional research design precludes causal conclusions and potentially allows for common method bias. With the main research interest pertaining to hierarchical differences in TFL, however, method bias seems unlikely to fully account for the results.

Study results emphasize the necessity to strengthen TFL on lower managerial levels. Organizations might achieve this by cutting administrative constraints and empowering lower level leaders.

The study addresses repeated calls for a consideration of contextual factors in TFL research. It points to the role of hierarchy as a boundary condition of TFL.

This paper aims to examine the leadership competencies of first-line nurse managers (FLNMs) at the unit level in the eastern region of Ghana.

The paper is a quantitative cross-section design.

Nurse managers exhibited a moderate level of knowledge and ability to apply leadership competencies. Gender, rank, qualification, professional experience, management experience and management training jointly predicted the leadership competencies of FLNMs [(R² = 0.158, p = 0.016]. However, only management training was a significant predictor in the model.

Inappropriate leadership competencies have severe consequences for patients and staff outcomes. This situation necessitates a call for a well-structured program for the appointment of FLNMs based on competencies.

This study is the first in Ghana which we are aware of that examined the leadership competencies at the unit level that identifies predictors of leadership competencies.

The Purpose of the study was to investigate the construct validity and internal consistency of the LaMI among staff in the context of elderly care in Sweden.

Questionnaire data from a longitudinal study of staff working in elderly care were used. Data were collected using the Leadership and Management Inventory. First data collection was for explorative factor analysis (n = 1,149), and the second collection, one year later, was for confirmatory factor analysis (n = 1,061).

The explorative factor analysis resulted in a two-factor solution that explained 70.2% of the total variance. Different models were tested in the confirmatory factor analysis. The final model, a two-factor solution where three items were omitted, showed acceptable results.

The instrument measures both leadership and management performance and can be used to continually measure managers’ performances as perceived by staff to identify areas for development.

The purpose of this study was to explore what learning-oriented leadership could mean in practice and to identify possible sources of variability in this leadership between first-line managers (FLMs). The empirical basis of the study comprised FLMs in nursing homes for elderly care.

The study was carried out using a sequential mixed-method design based on interviews, observations and documentary analysis.

The study contributes an in-depth analysis of two modes of learning-oriented leadership: development-oriented and production-oriented. The two orientations represent an open and enabling pattern versus a constraining and controlling pattern of leading and organizing employee learning and development. The observed differences in learning-oriented leadership between the FLMs were interpreted in terms of the demands–constraints–choices model proposed by Stewart (1982; 1989).

Future research should include data from employees to analyze how the mode of learning-oriented leadership shapes the conditions and opportunities for learning at work.

Employee learning and development issues should be clearly linked to business strategies, and it is imperative that senior managers actively support and follow up on FLMs’ work with these issues. Furthermore, there is a strong need for training and development of FLMs – formal and informal – to improve their knowledge of and skills in leading and organizing workplace learning.

The study adds to previous research by elaborating what learning-oriented leadership could mean in practice and how it can be theoretically understood.