Hospital department heads and planning. Part II: Determining and answering the need for continuing education

Planning skills are necessary to all line managers for effective performance of their jobs. It is doubtful whether hospital senior managers would disagree with this statement for any line managers whom they supervise. As with all management skills, continuing development and enhancement of planning skills are needed if a manager is to be up-to-date on current ideas and able to contribute fully to the organization's planning process. From this premise two questions arise: Do hospital line managers perceive a need for continuing development of their planning knowledge and skills? Does level in the organization (senior managers versus department heads) affect perception of these continuing education needs? This two part series describes a systematic investigation of the continuing education needs of hospital department heads in a Midwestern metropolitan area. Second, it compares department heads' perceptions of their own needs for continuing education in planning techniques and processes with the perceptions of senior managers regarding their department heads' needs. Differences in perceptions of the two management groups are explored and investigated. Finally, there are suggestions as to how department heads' continuing education needs can be effectively ascertained and met.