Health care leadership in an age of change

This study examined the leadership practices of a sample of network and hospital administrators in metropolitan Victoria, Australia. It was undertaken in the mid-1990s when the State Liberal-National (Coalition) Government in Victoria established Melbourne's metropolitan health care networks. I argue that leadership, and the process of leading, contributes significantly to the success of the hospital in a time of turmoil and change. The sample was taken from the seven health care networks and consisted of 15 network and hospital administrators. Bolman and Deal's frames of leadership--structural, human resource, political and symbolic--were used as a framework to categorize the leadership practices of the administrators. The findings suggest a preference for the structural frame--an anticipated result, since the hospital environment is more conducive to a style of leadership that emphasizes rationality and objectivity. The human resource frame was the second preferred frame, followed by the political and symbolic. These findings suggest that network and hospital administrators focus more on intellectual than spiritual development, and perhaps this tendency needs to be addressed when educating present and future hospital leaders.