Development of a national medical leadership competency framework: The Dutch approach

Background: The concept of medical leadership (ML) can enhance physicians' inclusion in efforts for higher quality healthcare. Despite ML's spiking popularity, only a few countries have built a national taxonomy to facilitate ML competency education and training. In this paper we discuss the development of the Dutch ML competency framework with two objectives: to account for the framework's making and to complement to known approaches of developing such frameworks. Methods: We designed a research approach and analyzed data from multiple sources based on Grounded Theory. Facilitated by the Royal Dutch Medical Association, a group of 14 volunteer researchers met over a period of 2.5 years to perform: 1) literature review; 2) individual interviews; 3) focus groups; 4) online surveys; 5) international framework comparison; and 6) comprehensive data synthesis. Results: The developmental processes that led to the framework provided a taxonomic depiction of ML in Dutch perspective. It can be seen as a canonical 'knowledge artefact' created by a community of practice and comprises of a contemporary definition of ML and 12 domains, each entailing four distinct ML competencies. Conclusions: This paper demonstrates how a new language for ML can be created in a healthcare system. The success of our approach to capture insights, expectations and demands relating leadership by Dutch physicians depended on close involvement of the Dutch national medical associations and a nationally active community of practice; voluntary work of diverse researchers and medical practitioners and an appropriate research design that used multiple methods and strategies to circumvent reverberation of established opinions and conventionalisms. Implications: The experiences reported here may provide inspiration and guidance for those anticipating similar work in other countries to develop a tailored approach to create a ML framework

Cultural and leadership predictors of corporate social responsibility values of top management: A GLOBE study of 15 countries.

This paper examines cultural and leadership variables associated with corporate social responsibility values that managers apply to their decision-making. In this longitudinal study, we analyze data from 561 firms located in 15 countries on five continents to illustrate how the cultural dimensions of institutional collectivism and power distance predict social responsibility values on the part of top management team members. CEO visionary leadership and integrity were also uniquely predictive of such values. Journal of International Business Studies (2006) 37, 823–837. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400230

Twenty Practices of an Entrepreneurial University

The idea of an entrepreneurial university caught on fast after the American sociologist Burton R. Clark published his books on entrepreneurship in universities (Creating Entrepreneurial Universities, 1998; Sustaining Changes in Universities, 2004). Inspired by the alluring of the notion of an entrepreneurial university, and by decreasing levels of state funding for universities, we undertook a study on four very active ECIU universities (ECIU = European Consortium of Innovative Universities, www.eciu.org). To evaluate and quantify their level of entrepreneurship, we extracted from Burton Clark’s case studies twenty organisational practices against which a University’s entrepreneurship can be measured. These twenty practices or factors in effect formed the basis for an entrepreneurship audit. During a series of interviews, the extent to which the universities are seen as entrepreneurial by the interviewees was surveyed. We showed that the practices have been implemented only to various degrees and rather unsystematically. There are important differences among the universities, to some extent depending on the level of ambition that each university has regarding each practice. There are also important similarities; especially that entrepreneurship within universities has to be welcomed and facilitated top-down, but organically occurs and develops bottom-up. Implementing entrepreneurship at universities is thus about stimulating a culture of organic intrapreneurship and we provide practical recommendations and further research options to that effect.

L'université entrepreneuriale : Vingt pratiques distinctives

L'idée d'une université entrepreneuriale s'est imposée rapidement dès la publication par le sociologue américain Burton R. Clark d'une série d'ouvrages sur l'esprit d’entreprise à l'université (Creating Entrepreneurial Universities, 1998, Sustaining Changes in Universities, 2004). Inspirés par la notion séduisante d'une université entrepreneuriale et conscients de la baisse de niveau des financements publics, nous avons entrepris d'étudier quatre universités très actives membres de l'ECIU (European Consortium of Innovative Universities, www.eciu.org). Pour évaluer et quantifier leur degré d’entrepreneuriat, nous avons relevé dans les études de Burton Clark vingt pratiques au regard desquelles il est possible de mesurer l'esprit d’entreprise d'une université. En fait, ces vingt pratiques ont constitué le fondement d'un audit de l'entrepreneuriat. Une série d'entretiens a permis de déceler dans quelle mesure les personnes interrogées assimilaient les universités à des entreprises. Nous avons démontré que les pratiques n’ont été adoptées qu’à des degrés divers et de façon assez peu systématique. Il existe entre les universités d'importantes différences qui dans une certaine mesure sont fonction de l'ambition avec laquelle chaque université a recours à telle ou telle pratique. On observe aussi d'importantes similitudes : il faut en particulier que l'esprit d’entreprise soit bien accueilli dans l’université et son adoption facilitée selon une approche descendante, or, dans l’organisation proprement dite, il émerge et se développe de bas en haut. Par conséquent, insuffler un esprit d’entreprise dans les universités revient à stimuler une culture d'intrapreneuriat organique, et c'est dans cette optique que nous proposons des recommandations pratiques et des pistes de recherche.