Health care managers learning by listening to subordinates' dialogue training

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Organizational Communication
• Leadership Studies

Background:

• Healthcare managers face increasing demands in administration, finance, quality of care, and work environment management.
• Strategic communication is paramount for effective healthcare leadership.
• Dialogical communication is recognized for its role in fostering a healthy work environment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate healthcare managers' experiences observing their subordinates' participation in dialogue training.
• To understand how observing dialogue training influences managers' perceptions of communication and leadership.

Main Methods:

• A qualitative study involving eight middle managers in a healthcare setting.
• Data collected through semi-structured interviews and document analysis.
• Conventional qualitative content analysis was employed to analyze the data.

Main Results:

• Managers gained heightened awareness of communication dynamics, including subordinate interactions and their own communication patterns.
• Managers identified and adopted new communicative actions for leadership, such as democratic and pedagogical approaches.
• The study highlighted the practical application of dialogue-promoting behaviors with subordinates, peers, and superiors.

Conclusions:

• The findings underscore the critical importance of active listening and support from superiors for effective leadership communication in healthcare.
• While the study involved a small sample size, it provides a foundation for further research into healthcare managers' communication practices.
• This research contributes novel insights into communication and dialogue within managerial leadership in the healthcare sector.