The Health Care Manager Volume 34, Number 4, pp. 350–358 Copyright # 2015 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
Early Careerist Interest and Participation in Health Care Leadership Development Programs Jon M. Thompson, PhD; April Temple, PhD, NHA Health care organizations are increasingly embracing leadership development programs. These programs include a variety of specific activities, such as formally structured leadership development, as well as mentoring, personal development and coaching, 360-degree feedback, and job enlargement, in order to increase the leadership skills of managers and high-potential staff. However, there is a lack of information on how early careerists in health care management view these programs and the degree to which they participate. This article reports on a study undertaken to determine how early careerists working in health care organizations view leadership development programs and their participation in such programs offered by their employers. Study findings are based on a survey of 126 early careerists who are graduates of an undergraduate health services administration program. We found varying levels of interest and participation in specific leadership development activities. In addition, we found that respondents with graduate degrees and those with higher compensation were more likely to participate in selected leadership development program activities. Implications of study findings for health care organizations and early careerists in the offering of, and participation in, leadership development programs are discussed. Key words: early careerists, health care leadership, leadership development programs, resource dependency
EALTH CARE MANAGEMENT has been described as one of the most challenging professions, as complexity and change within external and internal environments of health care organizations have prompted the need for new leadership skills.1 During the past decade, many health care organizations have created and offered leadership development programs. These programs have been recognized as important in building the knowledge and skills of managers and other staff in order to improve organizational performance. The
H
Author Affiliations: Health Services Administration Program, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia. The authors report no conflicts of interest. Correspondence: Jon M. Thompson, PhD, Health Services Administration Program, James Madison University, MSC 4301, Harrisonburg, VA 22807 ([email protected]). DOI: 10.1097/HCM.0000000000000082
popular health care management literature and empirical research studies have addressed the importance of leadership development programs in enhancing the knowledge and skills of managers.1-4 Such programs have been advanced also to address the need for succession planning in health care organizations, because of the recent growth in number of retirements of senior managers in these organizations.2 However, whereas there is a growing body of literature describing leadership development programs in health care organizations, there is a notable absence of health care management literature that addresses manager and staff interest in and participation in such programs when offered by their organizations. Leadership development programs are broadly comprised of several specific organizational initiatives that are offered to managers and staff in order to enhance leadership knowledge, skills, and practices. Following McAlearney3 and Kim and Thompson,4 we have defined leadership
350
Copyright © 2015 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
Health Care Leadership Development Programs development as educational interventions and skill-building activities designed to improve the leadership capabilities of individuals. Such initiatives not only serve to increase leadership competencies, but also serve as a means to ensure stability within organizational talent and culture through career advancement and succession planning.2 Leadership development activities in health care organizations have been defined in the existing literature and include the following initiatives: Leadership development program: training and leadership development on a variety of required topics, offered through a formally designated program, using structured learning and competency-based assessment using various formats, media, and locations4 Courses on leadership and management: didactic training offered through specific courses offered face-to-face, online, or on a hybrid basis4,5 Mentoring: formal methods used by the organization for matching employees with midlevel and senior executives to assist in and support their organizational learning, social development, and personal growth5,6 Personal development coaching: formal organizational efforts to assist in improving performance by shaping attitudes and behavior and focusing on personal skills development5,7 Job enlargement: the offering of expanded responsibilities, developmental assignments, and special projects to individuals in order to cultivate leadership skills to advance within the organization5,6,8 360-degree performance feedback: a multisource feedback approach where an individual staff member or manager receives an assessment of performance from several key individuals (eg, peers, superiors, other managers, and subordinates) and opportunities for improvement5,6 Tuition assistance/career counseling: organizational benefits provided for formal career guidance and tuition assistance, in part or in full, to facilitate enhanced knowledge and skills through completion of graduate courses, or completion of a graduate degree or certificate6
351
The purpose of this article is to describe a study of early careerists in health care management undertaken to determine the availability of leadership development activities at their current employer, perceptions as to the importance of these offerings, and the degree of participation in these activities. Surveyed were 220 graduates of an undergraduate program in health services administration who entered the workforce in the period 2004 to 2011 and who were employed in a staff or managerial position in a health care organization. Findings are based on 126 respondents with complete study data. This article provides an important contribution to the literature on early careerist interest and participation in leadership development activities and also has important implications for organizations considering developing or expanding their focus on leadership development by identifying what is important to early careerists. BACKGROUND AND PRIOR LITERATURE Over the past decade, there has been a growing body of literature in health care management that addresses the offering and characteristics of leadership development programs. Most of this literature addresses leadership development in hospitals and health systems. In early research on leadership development, McAlearney9 reported on a study of health care key informants about the use of mentoring in health care organizations and found that 1 in 3 respondent organizations offered a formal mentoring program. Also, McAlearney3 surveyed health care organizations and key informants to determine the availability of leadership development programs and their role in improving quality and efficiency and found that these programs enhanced the skills and quality of the workforce, improved efficiency in educational development, and reduced staff turnover. McHugh and colleagues10 examined high-performing health organizations and found that these organizations use various techniques to develop leaders internally, including assessments to identify candidates for upward movement, career development planning, job rotations,
Copyright © 2015 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
352
THE HEALTH CARE MANAGER/OCTOBER–DECEMBER 2015
and developmental assignments. Scott7 states that health care organizations need to create a learning culture by enabling leaders to develop the skills and knowledge to become effective coaches. Effective coaching by senior leaders, according to Scott, is critical to effective leadership development. Supporting McHugh and colleagues,10 Ferna´ndez-Ara´oz8 suggests that organizations should identify potential high performers and offer them development opportunities to push them beyond their comfort zones. He states that the right stretch assignments and job rotations will help potential high performers in their development to become well-rounded and balanced leaders. More recent studies have examined characteristics of leadership development programs and best practices. A 2010 study by the National Center for Healthcare Leadership examined leadership development in health and non–health care organizations and found that best practices included 360-degree performance evaluation, mentoring, coaching, and experiential learning.11 McAlearney12 examined US health systems and found that approximately half of health systems offered a leadership development program. She found that leadership development initiatives helped the systems focus on employee growth and development and improved employee retention. More recently, Kim and Thompson4 and Thompson and Kim13 reported on a study of leadership development programs in hospitals and found that 48% of community, acute-care hospitals offered leadership development programs. In addition, they found that leadership development programs were associated with larger facilities, hospitals located in Metropolitan Statistical Areas, hospitals located in competitive markets, not-for-profit facilities, and facilities with longer average length of stay and higher occupancy.13 There have also been a number of case studies reported in the literature that have examined the development of leadership skills among clinical staff in community hospitals, including physicians and nurses. These reports discuss structured training through leadership development programs and institutes, skills development efforts, and special projects and developmental assignments.14-17
On the other hand, very little is known about the demand for leadership development programs in health care organizations as expressed by individual employees. A recent study by Hamori and colleagues18 addressed employee interest in various leadership development activities. These researchers found that there is an important gap between these activities offered by their organization and what was deemed important by entry-level managers. For example, training, coaching, and mentoring were all found to be offered at a lesser extent than what is desired by managers. This study suggests that employee interest and participation in these activities can be directly affected by the approach organizations take to leadership development. Lipman19 also notes that employee development can also be hampered by senior executives focusing on other more pressing operational demands, with limited time to devote to development activities. In addition, lack of assessment of leader needs among managers constrains effective leadership development. Buckingham20 points out that aspiring leader needs are very idiosyncratic, and leadership development programs should be tailored to an individual’s strengths and improvement needs rather than be designed as general approaches that are targeted to all managers and aspiring leaders. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK Leadership development activities of health care organizations can be understood using the resource dependency theory. This theory has been used in other empirical studies of leadership development programs4,13 and is a helpful conceptual framework to guide the present study. Resource dependency, as advanced by Pfeffer and Salancik,21 suggests that health care organizations are dependent on critical external resources. Moreover, organizations will engage in actions to address resource needs and promote organizational autonomy. However, the internal and external environments of health care organizations create significant uncertainty regarding acquiring necessary resources. Leadership talent is a significant and critical resource for health
Copyright © 2015 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
Health Care Leadership Development Programs care organizations, and as described in prior studies of leadership development, health care organizations can engage in actions to reduce the uncertainty for leadership talent within the organization.4,13 Uncertainty can be reduced by developing leader talent internally, avoiding dependence on outside leader resources such as recruitment firms and management contracts.13 Motivational theory is also relevant to explain the demand side of leadership development programs. Motivational content theories suggest that individuals have a range of unique needs and seek to have their needs met through their work and workplace.22 Many of these needs are reflected in professional growth and development and career advancement, which can be addressed through the offering of leadership development program to staff and managers. From the perspective of the employee, leadership development programs can meet their intrinsic needs and interests, while also promoting more effective leadership for the organization. Together, these 2 conceptual frameworks guide the understanding of leadership development activities that address the needs of both the individual employee and the organization. METHODS Participants This study surveyed recent graduates of an undergraduate health administration program at a large, mid-Atlantic state university. All students who graduated between 2004 and 2011 were eligible to participate in the study to reflect early careerists in the field. A total of 220 graduates with current contact information was identified from program management files. The program director e-mailed these graduates in the spring of 2012 to invite their participation in an anonymous alumni survey about their employment, career progression, and leadership development. The e-mail described the purpose of the research and the study procedures. Informed consent was obtained if the participant accessed the link contained in the e-mail to an online survey
353
administered by Qualtrics.23 Graduates were sent follow-up e-mails at 1 and 2 weeks after the initial e-mail invitation. All study procedures were approved by the institutional review board at the authors’ university. Measures This study used an alumni survey developed by program faculty and reported previously in the literature.24 The scope of this article is restricted to presenting the results of the leadership development activities of early careerists. Demographics. The survey contained the following items relating to graduates’ demographic information: year of graduation, gender, and race/ethnicity. Respondents were asked whether they had completed or were enrolled in any graduate courses and whether they had completed a graduate degree. Current employment. Employment status was assessed as employed full time, employed, part time, not employed/looking for work, not employed/not looking for work, or attending school. Respondents were also asked to indicate the organizational setting and annual salary of their current employment. Leadership development activities. In order to address the research questions, several key leadership development activities that may be offered by health care organizations were identified based on the literature described earlier in this article. These included formal mentoring program, leadership development program, personal development coaching, job enlargement, career counseling, 360-degree performance feedback, courses on management topics, and tuition assistance. Multiple-choice and Likert-scale questions were used to assess whether the respondents’ organization offered these types of leadership development activities, the respondents’ perceptions of the importance of these activities, and whether these early careerists have participated in these activities. Analyses This study provides a descriptive summary analysis of the leadership development activities of early careerists. Aggregate quantitative
Copyright © 2015 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
354
THE HEALTH CARE MANAGER/OCTOBER–DECEMBER 2015
data from the survey were analyzed using PASW Statistics (version 18.0.2), and descriptive statistics including frequencies and means with SDs were calculated; 2 or independent-samples t tests were used to examine differences in participation in leadership development activities by demographic variables of interest including gender, graduate education, years employed, and salary. RESULTS In total, 153 graduates completed the survey for an initial response rate of 70%. The analytic sample for this study consisted of 126 graduates with complete survey data on the leadership development study variables. As presented in Table 1, the respondents had a mean of 4 years of employment postgraduation. They were primarily female (75%) and white (86%), which is generally representative of the population of undergraduate students in this program. Approximately 31% had completed or were enrolled in graduate courses, whereas 19% indicated they had completed a graduate degree. Nearly all (92%) were employed full time, and the most common settings of employment were a hospital or health system (34%) followed by long-term care (11%), consulting (10%), physician private or group practice (6%), an accreditation or licensing organization (6%), or a pharmaceutical, medical supplier, or information technology company (6%). The average annual salary of the sample was $54 714 (SD, $21 972). Table 2 presents the percentage of respondents who indicated their health care organizations offered the 8 surveyed leadership development activities and the percentage of respondents who participated in these same leadership development activities. Approximately half or more of respondents’ organizations offered tuition assistance, 360-degree performance feedback, job enlargement, courses on management, leadership development programs, and personal development coaching. Only approximately one-third of respondents’ organizations offered activities including formal mentoring and career counseling. In terms of participation, the greatest participation among respondents was in 360-degree performance
Table 1. Sample Characteristics (n = 126)
Variable
Mean (SD) or %
Years employed 4.0 (2.25) Gender Male 25 Female 75 Race/ethnicity White 86 African American 4 Hispanic 2 Asian 6 Other 2 Completed/enrolled in 31 graduate courses Completed graduate degree 19 Employment status Employed full time 92 Employed part time 3 Not employed, attending school 5 Not employed, looking for work 0 Current organizational setting Hospital/hospital system 34 Physician practice/group 6 practice Ambulatory clinic/surgery 4 center Managed care organization/ 2 insurer Long-term care 11 Consulting firm 10 Accreditation/licensing 6 organization Public health program/ 2 department Association 2 Pharmaceutical/medical 6 supplier/information technology company Other 17 Salary, $ 54 714 (21 972)
feedback (60%), job enlargement (48%), and courses on management topics (46%). Approximately one-third of participants participated in leadership development programs and personal development coaching, whereas relatively few participated in formal mentoring, tuition assistance, and career counseling. For all of the leadership development activities, a greater percentage of respondents indicated the activities were offered by their respective organizations than participated directly in the activities. The most common leadership development activity offered was tuition assistance (74%), although this was among the lowest activity in terms of participation (20%).
Copyright © 2015 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
Health Care Leadership Development Programs Table 2. Leadership Development Activities Offered to and Participated in by Early Careerists (n = 126) Offered Participated (% Yes) (% Yes)
Activity Formal mentoring program Leadership development program Personal development coaching Job enlargement Career counseling 360-degree performance feedback Courses on management topics Tuition assistance
33
25
48
36
46
33
58 30 64
48 14 60
54
46
74
20
Early careerists’ perceptions of the importance of various leadership development activities are presented in the Figure. The vast majority of respondents indicated all of the leadership development activities to be very or somewhat important. The most important activities to early careerists were courses on management topics and tuition assistance (89%), and the least important activity was career counseling, albeit this activity is still rated as important to the vast majority of respondents (65%). Relatively few (
Early Careerist Interest and Participation in Health Care Leadership Development Programs Jon M. Thompson, PhD; April Temple, PhD, NHA Health care organizations are increasingly embracing leadership development programs. These programs include a variety of specific activities, such as formally structured leadership development, as well as mentoring, personal development and coaching, 360-degree feedback, and job enlargement, in order to increase the leadership skills of managers and high-potential staff. However, there is a lack of information on how early careerists in health care management view these programs and the degree to which they participate. This article reports on a study undertaken to determine how early careerists working in health care organizations view leadership development programs and their participation in such programs offered by their employers. Study findings are based on a survey of 126 early careerists who are graduates of an undergraduate health services administration program. We found varying levels of interest and participation in specific leadership development activities. In addition, we found that respondents with graduate degrees and those with higher compensation were more likely to participate in selected leadership development program activities. Implications of study findings for health care organizations and early careerists in the offering of, and participation in, leadership development programs are discussed. Key words: early careerists, health care leadership, leadership development programs, resource dependency
EALTH CARE MANAGEMENT has been described as one of the most challenging professions, as complexity and change within external and internal environments of health care organizations have prompted the need for new leadership skills.1 During the past decade, many health care organizations have created and offered leadership development programs. These programs have been recognized as important in building the knowledge and skills of managers and other staff in order to improve organizational performance. The
H
Author Affiliations: Health Services Administration Program, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia. The authors report no conflicts of interest. Correspondence: Jon M. Thompson, PhD, Health Services Administration Program, James Madison University, MSC 4301, Harrisonburg, VA 22807 ([email protected]). DOI: 10.1097/HCM.0000000000000082
popular health care management literature and empirical research studies have addressed the importance of leadership development programs in enhancing the knowledge and skills of managers.1-4 Such programs have been advanced also to address the need for succession planning in health care organizations, because of the recent growth in number of retirements of senior managers in these organizations.2 However, whereas there is a growing body of literature describing leadership development programs in health care organizations, there is a notable absence of health care management literature that addresses manager and staff interest in and participation in such programs when offered by their organizations. Leadership development programs are broadly comprised of several specific organizational initiatives that are offered to managers and staff in order to enhance leadership knowledge, skills, and practices. Following McAlearney3 and Kim and Thompson,4 we have defined leadership
350
Copyright © 2015 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
Health Care Leadership Development Programs development as educational interventions and skill-building activities designed to improve the leadership capabilities of individuals. Such initiatives not only serve to increase leadership competencies, but also serve as a means to ensure stability within organizational talent and culture through career advancement and succession planning.2 Leadership development activities in health care organizations have been defined in the existing literature and include the following initiatives: Leadership development program: training and leadership development on a variety of required topics, offered through a formally designated program, using structured learning and competency-based assessment using various formats, media, and locations4 Courses on leadership and management: didactic training offered through specific courses offered face-to-face, online, or on a hybrid basis4,5 Mentoring: formal methods used by the organization for matching employees with midlevel and senior executives to assist in and support their organizational learning, social development, and personal growth5,6 Personal development coaching: formal organizational efforts to assist in improving performance by shaping attitudes and behavior and focusing on personal skills development5,7 Job enlargement: the offering of expanded responsibilities, developmental assignments, and special projects to individuals in order to cultivate leadership skills to advance within the organization5,6,8 360-degree performance feedback: a multisource feedback approach where an individual staff member or manager receives an assessment of performance from several key individuals (eg, peers, superiors, other managers, and subordinates) and opportunities for improvement5,6 Tuition assistance/career counseling: organizational benefits provided for formal career guidance and tuition assistance, in part or in full, to facilitate enhanced knowledge and skills through completion of graduate courses, or completion of a graduate degree or certificate6
351
The purpose of this article is to describe a study of early careerists in health care management undertaken to determine the availability of leadership development activities at their current employer, perceptions as to the importance of these offerings, and the degree of participation in these activities. Surveyed were 220 graduates of an undergraduate program in health services administration who entered the workforce in the period 2004 to 2011 and who were employed in a staff or managerial position in a health care organization. Findings are based on 126 respondents with complete study data. This article provides an important contribution to the literature on early careerist interest and participation in leadership development activities and also has important implications for organizations considering developing or expanding their focus on leadership development by identifying what is important to early careerists. BACKGROUND AND PRIOR LITERATURE Over the past decade, there has been a growing body of literature in health care management that addresses the offering and characteristics of leadership development programs. Most of this literature addresses leadership development in hospitals and health systems. In early research on leadership development, McAlearney9 reported on a study of health care key informants about the use of mentoring in health care organizations and found that 1 in 3 respondent organizations offered a formal mentoring program. Also, McAlearney3 surveyed health care organizations and key informants to determine the availability of leadership development programs and their role in improving quality and efficiency and found that these programs enhanced the skills and quality of the workforce, improved efficiency in educational development, and reduced staff turnover. McHugh and colleagues10 examined high-performing health organizations and found that these organizations use various techniques to develop leaders internally, including assessments to identify candidates for upward movement, career development planning, job rotations,
Copyright © 2015 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
352
THE HEALTH CARE MANAGER/OCTOBER–DECEMBER 2015
and developmental assignments. Scott7 states that health care organizations need to create a learning culture by enabling leaders to develop the skills and knowledge to become effective coaches. Effective coaching by senior leaders, according to Scott, is critical to effective leadership development. Supporting McHugh and colleagues,10 Ferna´ndez-Ara´oz8 suggests that organizations should identify potential high performers and offer them development opportunities to push them beyond their comfort zones. He states that the right stretch assignments and job rotations will help potential high performers in their development to become well-rounded and balanced leaders. More recent studies have examined characteristics of leadership development programs and best practices. A 2010 study by the National Center for Healthcare Leadership examined leadership development in health and non–health care organizations and found that best practices included 360-degree performance evaluation, mentoring, coaching, and experiential learning.11 McAlearney12 examined US health systems and found that approximately half of health systems offered a leadership development program. She found that leadership development initiatives helped the systems focus on employee growth and development and improved employee retention. More recently, Kim and Thompson4 and Thompson and Kim13 reported on a study of leadership development programs in hospitals and found that 48% of community, acute-care hospitals offered leadership development programs. In addition, they found that leadership development programs were associated with larger facilities, hospitals located in Metropolitan Statistical Areas, hospitals located in competitive markets, not-for-profit facilities, and facilities with longer average length of stay and higher occupancy.13 There have also been a number of case studies reported in the literature that have examined the development of leadership skills among clinical staff in community hospitals, including physicians and nurses. These reports discuss structured training through leadership development programs and institutes, skills development efforts, and special projects and developmental assignments.14-17
On the other hand, very little is known about the demand for leadership development programs in health care organizations as expressed by individual employees. A recent study by Hamori and colleagues18 addressed employee interest in various leadership development activities. These researchers found that there is an important gap between these activities offered by their organization and what was deemed important by entry-level managers. For example, training, coaching, and mentoring were all found to be offered at a lesser extent than what is desired by managers. This study suggests that employee interest and participation in these activities can be directly affected by the approach organizations take to leadership development. Lipman19 also notes that employee development can also be hampered by senior executives focusing on other more pressing operational demands, with limited time to devote to development activities. In addition, lack of assessment of leader needs among managers constrains effective leadership development. Buckingham20 points out that aspiring leader needs are very idiosyncratic, and leadership development programs should be tailored to an individual’s strengths and improvement needs rather than be designed as general approaches that are targeted to all managers and aspiring leaders. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK Leadership development activities of health care organizations can be understood using the resource dependency theory. This theory has been used in other empirical studies of leadership development programs4,13 and is a helpful conceptual framework to guide the present study. Resource dependency, as advanced by Pfeffer and Salancik,21 suggests that health care organizations are dependent on critical external resources. Moreover, organizations will engage in actions to address resource needs and promote organizational autonomy. However, the internal and external environments of health care organizations create significant uncertainty regarding acquiring necessary resources. Leadership talent is a significant and critical resource for health
Copyright © 2015 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
Health Care Leadership Development Programs care organizations, and as described in prior studies of leadership development, health care organizations can engage in actions to reduce the uncertainty for leadership talent within the organization.4,13 Uncertainty can be reduced by developing leader talent internally, avoiding dependence on outside leader resources such as recruitment firms and management contracts.13 Motivational theory is also relevant to explain the demand side of leadership development programs. Motivational content theories suggest that individuals have a range of unique needs and seek to have their needs met through their work and workplace.22 Many of these needs are reflected in professional growth and development and career advancement, which can be addressed through the offering of leadership development program to staff and managers. From the perspective of the employee, leadership development programs can meet their intrinsic needs and interests, while also promoting more effective leadership for the organization. Together, these 2 conceptual frameworks guide the understanding of leadership development activities that address the needs of both the individual employee and the organization. METHODS Participants This study surveyed recent graduates of an undergraduate health administration program at a large, mid-Atlantic state university. All students who graduated between 2004 and 2011 were eligible to participate in the study to reflect early careerists in the field. A total of 220 graduates with current contact information was identified from program management files. The program director e-mailed these graduates in the spring of 2012 to invite their participation in an anonymous alumni survey about their employment, career progression, and leadership development. The e-mail described the purpose of the research and the study procedures. Informed consent was obtained if the participant accessed the link contained in the e-mail to an online survey
353
administered by Qualtrics.23 Graduates were sent follow-up e-mails at 1 and 2 weeks after the initial e-mail invitation. All study procedures were approved by the institutional review board at the authors’ university. Measures This study used an alumni survey developed by program faculty and reported previously in the literature.24 The scope of this article is restricted to presenting the results of the leadership development activities of early careerists. Demographics. The survey contained the following items relating to graduates’ demographic information: year of graduation, gender, and race/ethnicity. Respondents were asked whether they had completed or were enrolled in any graduate courses and whether they had completed a graduate degree. Current employment. Employment status was assessed as employed full time, employed, part time, not employed/looking for work, not employed/not looking for work, or attending school. Respondents were also asked to indicate the organizational setting and annual salary of their current employment. Leadership development activities. In order to address the research questions, several key leadership development activities that may be offered by health care organizations were identified based on the literature described earlier in this article. These included formal mentoring program, leadership development program, personal development coaching, job enlargement, career counseling, 360-degree performance feedback, courses on management topics, and tuition assistance. Multiple-choice and Likert-scale questions were used to assess whether the respondents’ organization offered these types of leadership development activities, the respondents’ perceptions of the importance of these activities, and whether these early careerists have participated in these activities. Analyses This study provides a descriptive summary analysis of the leadership development activities of early careerists. Aggregate quantitative
Copyright © 2015 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
354
THE HEALTH CARE MANAGER/OCTOBER–DECEMBER 2015
data from the survey were analyzed using PASW Statistics (version 18.0.2), and descriptive statistics including frequencies and means with SDs were calculated; 2 or independent-samples t tests were used to examine differences in participation in leadership development activities by demographic variables of interest including gender, graduate education, years employed, and salary. RESULTS In total, 153 graduates completed the survey for an initial response rate of 70%. The analytic sample for this study consisted of 126 graduates with complete survey data on the leadership development study variables. As presented in Table 1, the respondents had a mean of 4 years of employment postgraduation. They were primarily female (75%) and white (86%), which is generally representative of the population of undergraduate students in this program. Approximately 31% had completed or were enrolled in graduate courses, whereas 19% indicated they had completed a graduate degree. Nearly all (92%) were employed full time, and the most common settings of employment were a hospital or health system (34%) followed by long-term care (11%), consulting (10%), physician private or group practice (6%), an accreditation or licensing organization (6%), or a pharmaceutical, medical supplier, or information technology company (6%). The average annual salary of the sample was $54 714 (SD, $21 972). Table 2 presents the percentage of respondents who indicated their health care organizations offered the 8 surveyed leadership development activities and the percentage of respondents who participated in these same leadership development activities. Approximately half or more of respondents’ organizations offered tuition assistance, 360-degree performance feedback, job enlargement, courses on management, leadership development programs, and personal development coaching. Only approximately one-third of respondents’ organizations offered activities including formal mentoring and career counseling. In terms of participation, the greatest participation among respondents was in 360-degree performance
Table 1. Sample Characteristics (n = 126)
Variable
Mean (SD) or %
Years employed 4.0 (2.25) Gender Male 25 Female 75 Race/ethnicity White 86 African American 4 Hispanic 2 Asian 6 Other 2 Completed/enrolled in 31 graduate courses Completed graduate degree 19 Employment status Employed full time 92 Employed part time 3 Not employed, attending school 5 Not employed, looking for work 0 Current organizational setting Hospital/hospital system 34 Physician practice/group 6 practice Ambulatory clinic/surgery 4 center Managed care organization/ 2 insurer Long-term care 11 Consulting firm 10 Accreditation/licensing 6 organization Public health program/ 2 department Association 2 Pharmaceutical/medical 6 supplier/information technology company Other 17 Salary, $ 54 714 (21 972)
feedback (60%), job enlargement (48%), and courses on management topics (46%). Approximately one-third of participants participated in leadership development programs and personal development coaching, whereas relatively few participated in formal mentoring, tuition assistance, and career counseling. For all of the leadership development activities, a greater percentage of respondents indicated the activities were offered by their respective organizations than participated directly in the activities. The most common leadership development activity offered was tuition assistance (74%), although this was among the lowest activity in terms of participation (20%).
Copyright © 2015 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
Health Care Leadership Development Programs Table 2. Leadership Development Activities Offered to and Participated in by Early Careerists (n = 126) Offered Participated (% Yes) (% Yes)
Activity Formal mentoring program Leadership development program Personal development coaching Job enlargement Career counseling 360-degree performance feedback Courses on management topics Tuition assistance
33
25
48
36
46
33
58 30 64
48 14 60
54
46
74
20
Early careerists’ perceptions of the importance of various leadership development activities are presented in the Figure. The vast majority of respondents indicated all of the leadership development activities to be very or somewhat important. The most important activities to early careerists were courses on management topics and tuition assistance (89%), and the least important activity was career counseling, albeit this activity is still rated as important to the vast majority of respondents (65%). Relatively few (
