Appreciative management assessed by physiotherapists working in public or private sector: A cross-sectional study

To describe how appreciative management occurs in the working environment of physiotherapists.

Cross-sectional survey. The data was collected with an electronic questionnaire. The survey instrument was Appreciative Management Scale. The participants were 474 physiotherapists working in clinical or managerial positions from public or private sector.

Appreciative management was realized on an average level within physiotherapy. The highest scoring dimension was Equality and the weakest was Systematic Management. Appreciative management and all of its four categories were associated with the management education received by the manager, the respondent's position, and his or her current duties. The dimension of Appreciation of Know-how and its subdimensions of Guidance and Autonomy were recognized more often when the manager's basic training was in physiotherapy rather than another field.

It is important that managers in physiotherapy recognize the characteristics of appreciative management, so they can include them as part of their good practice and as part of their own leadership style. Managers in physiotherapy need to be encouraged to participate in management education and also enable the participation of others. A background in physiotherapy can be seen to further the practice and development of physiotherapy. Offering physiotherapists challenging assignments and enabling their career development in physical therapy units is therefore of great importance.