Management or leadership?

Full Abstract

This article considers the roots of the division between management and leadership, and suggests that the division encourages individuals and organizations to displace responsibility for problems in health services onto others. Given the significant limits to the power of leaders, the difficulty of establishing a science of leadership, and the increasing complexity facing health service management, the problems might appear insurmountable. However, drawing on lessons from the different approaches of the combatants in the infinitely greater complexity of the Second World War, it is suggested that trying to "manage" the chaos by controlling it, or relying on "leaders" to solve our problems, or buying in yet more consultants, are deeply problematic strategies; only mass leadership and collective responsibility are likely to solve the problems.

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Author information

Author/s: Grint, Keith (K);

Affiliation: Saïd Business School and Templeton College, Oxford University, Oxford OX1 1HP, UK.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Journal of health services research & policy (J Health Serv Res Policy), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Oct; vol 7 (issue 4) : pp 248-51

Dates: Created 2002/11/11; Completed 2003/02/11; Revised 2004/11/17;

PMID: 12425785, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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