Relation between leadership styles and hospital performance indicators

¯Abstract Background: Hospitals are social foundations which appear to maintain and promote healthy life and today they are known as inevitable necessity for health sector development. Since manpower is recognized as the most important resource in organization, the leadership our direction of manpower is considered to be one of the most essential duties of hospital managers. Objective: To assess the leadership styles of hospital managers and chiefs and also their further effects on hospital operational indicators. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study carried out in Qom province (Iran) during 2004. A total of eight hospitals (3 charity hospitals and 5 public hospitals) were investigated. The target population included all hospital managers and leads (8 managers, 8 leads). Data were collected using two types of questionnaires and analyzed by SPSS software. Findings: Consultative style was found among 75% of leads and the rest was benevolent- authoritative style. Among managers, 75% of leadership style was consultative followed by benevolent-authoritative style (12.5%) and exploitative-authoritative style (12.5%). On the average, managers and leads leadership style was mainly consultative. Data were indicative of a better status of hospitals indicators in Qom province compared to other parts of the country. Conclusion: Findings reveal that Iranian hospital managers and leads are reluctant to practice participatory management methods and do not intend to involve staff actively in decision making processes about hospital affiars. They do, however believe that despotic way of dealing with hospitals and health care facilitis affiars, is more approprite than the participatory method