Firm Culture and Leadership as Firm Performance Predictors: a Resource-Based Perspective

In this study, we tested part of the resource-based view of the firm by examining two 'soft' resources, firm culture and top leadership, as predictors of 'hard' or bottom-line firm performance.Transformational top leadership was found to predict firm performance directly while the link between firm culture and firm performance was indirect: via transformational top leadership.Firm culture was operationalized as the employees' views about the degree of optimization of four organizational practices (job autonomy, external orientational, interdepartmental orientation, and human resource orientation).We conclude that, rather than strong cultures, firms need best organizational practices and transformational leadership.Organizational culture;Leadership firm performance;Resource-based theory of the firm

Van bedrag naar gedrag: Bezuinig gemeenten, door continue te leren verbeteren!

Organisaties bezuinigen om kosten te verlagen en de efficiëntie en/of effectiviteit te verhogen. Eerder onderzoek heeft naar voren gebracht dat de wijze waarop het bezuinigingsproces wordt ingericht bepalend is voor het succes van de organisatie op de lange termijn. Uit de resultaten van deze interviewstudie naar de bezuinigingsprocessen van achttien van de vijfentwintig grootste Nederlandse gemeenten blijkt dat de onderzochte organisaties vooral oog hebben voor de korte termijn. Via voornamelijk formatie- en taakreductie wordt geprobeerd bezuinigingstaakstellingen te realiseren, terwijl een langetermijnstrategie lijkt te ontbreken. Mede in het licht van de verstrekkende gevolgen van de huidige bezuinigingen voor zowel de organisaties en hun medewerkers als burgers en instellingen lijkt het raadzaam om bezuinigingen niet als tijdelijke klus te benaderen, maar als mogelijkheid om continu te verbeteren. De auteurs pleiten voor (veel) meer aandacht van zowel politici als gemeentesecretarissen en andere gemeentelijke topmanagers om bezuinigen te zien als een permanent, creatief en toch beheerst proces, waarin verbeter- en bezuinigingssuggesties in samenwerking met ambtenaren, burgers en instellingen actief gegenereerd en gebruikt worden

Effective cooperation influencing performance: a study in Dutch hospitals

Objective: This study focuses on cooperation between physicians and managers and aspects of that cooperation that can provide leads for interventions aimed at enhancing hospital performance. - \ud Design: We performed a qualitative study on cooperation between physicians and managers and the influence of that cooperation on hospital performance, and structured the resulting data according to the conditions of Allport's theory on intergroup conflicts. - \ud Setting: General hospitals in the Netherlands. - \ud Participants: Thirty physicians (surgical and internal) and managers (strategic, tactic and operational) working in five different hospitals. - \ud Interventions: In-depth interviews exploring the influence of cooperation between physicians and managers on hospital performance. - \ud Main Outcome Measures: Respondents confirmed the complexity of the relationship between physicians and managers and the link between their cooperation and hospital performance. Mentioned aspects such as power and status differences, clarity in decision-making and personal click, are important in determining the effectiveness of the cooperation between physicians and managers. - \ud Results: Our study suggests that the effectiveness of cooperation between physicians and managers is related to the uptake of quality initiatives and hospital performance. - \ud Conclusions: The complex relationship between physicians and managers can be referred to as an intergroup conflict situation. We combined Allport's Contact theory conditions with aspects found in our study leading to the following facilitating conditions: address common goals; create interdependent tasks; arrange the support of authorities and respect the medical domain. They will enhance intra-hospital cooperation and therewith hospital performance

Firm Culture and Leadership as Firm Performance Predictors:a Resource-Based Perspective

In this study, we tested part of the resource-based view of the firm by examining two 'soft' resources, firm culture and top leadership, as predictors of 'hard' or bottom-line firm performance.Transformational top leadership was found to predict firm performance directly while the link between firm culture and firm performance was indirect: via transformational top leadership.Firm culture was operationalized as the employees' views about the degree of optimization of four organizational practices (job autonomy, external orientational, interdepartmental orientation, and human resource orientation).We conclude that, rather than strong cultures, firms need best organizational practices and transformational leadership

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