Dissertation: Doctors see themselves as bad managers
Anne Kujala’s dissertation focuses on a very important and current issue – health and social management.
In general media discussion it has been said many times that hospitals have poor management and especially the doctors are bad managers.
In general media discussion it has been said many times that hospitals have poor management and especially the doctors are bad managers.
According to Kujala’s research the doctors believe this myth and see themselves as bad managers.
Lic.Sc. (Admin.) Anne Kujala studied managers’, who work in the health and social sector, ability to professionally manage their own organizations and workplaces. The subject of her research was the capability for profession management, a.k.a. the knowledge and skills of management behavior that are acquired by education and practice.
– Paramedical Science degree managers estimates themselves to be better, and the medical directors to be weaker profession managers, than in other groups of managers, says Kujala who will defend her thesis in the University of Vaasa.
The myth of doctors as bad managers is however not the reality. According to the research results, among the managers with the degree Doctor of Medicine, are more of those managers whose management profile can be classified as profession managers, than in other groups of managers.
When measured with Finnish school grades the profession management skills of the managers in health and social sector were seen as 7 (satisfactory) or 6 (fair).
Authoritarian and narsissistic managers
Among the Paramedical Sciences Degree managers, were the most of those managers whose management behaviour obtained the most authoritarian, a.k.a. unpredictable management behaviour compared to other groups of managers.
– Respectively, among Paramedical Science Degree managers, narcissistic management behavior occured the most, where the manager drove their own interests at the expense of their employees than other managers, says Kujala.
Movie was shown to the managers
In the research, over 400 managers of health and social sector were shown movie clips about managing, from which the managers and the supervisors’ task was to recognize 30 different profession management capabilities. The advantage of the research method was that it was shown the same to all of the managers who participated in the research.
As the result of this dissertation, the film ”Oh bosses!” was created, to develop the health and social sector’s managers capabilites for profession management.
Kujala says that good management of health and social sector needs managers who are able to regulate their own leadership behavior.
– A manager who has good capabilities for profession management, appreciates their own employees, and the organization they are managing, is also appreciated.
Public defence
The public examination of Lic.Sc. (Admin.) Anne Kujala’s doctoral dissertation ”Esimiesten ammattijohtamisvalmiuksien mittaaminen visuaalisella kehyskertomuksella – murtuuko myytti? Tarkastelussa terveys- ja sosiaalialalla toimivat esimiehet” will be held on Friday, 25 September at 12 o’clock at lecture room F362A (Fabriikki), University of Vaasa.
Professor Leena Turkki (University of Oulu) will act as an opponent and professor Pirkko Vartiainen as a custos. The examination will be held in Finnish.
Further information: Anne Kujala, tel. +358 50 427 0944, e-mail: firstname.lastname@hus.fi
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