LEADERSHIP IN HEALTH ORGANISATIONS

Abstract

Leadership and management in health organisations are essential and frequent topics of discussion among professionals and other staff, who are directly or indirectly involved with the operation of the said organisations. In a hospital setting for example, managers are appointed at different functional or unit levels. Though more often than not, we refer to them as the heads or managers or by any other names, the leadership component might be assumed to be just part but not the most important aspect of their roles. A vivid picture of the typical hospital managers' regular tasks would be like the planning and budgeting meetings they have to chair, listening to the frustrated statements expressed about the lack of staff for the existing services; what more with the plans to expand additional services, thinking about the contractors who had abandoned the projects for additional facilities, wondering how to pacify the chairman of the board of management as a result of the complaints in the local papers... the list goes on.