Sandra G. Leggat, Cathy Balding and Melanie Bish
There is evidence that patient safety has not improved commensurate with the global attention and resources dedicated to achieving it. The authors explored the perspectives of…
Abstract
Purpose
There is evidence that patient safety has not improved commensurate with the global attention and resources dedicated to achieving it. The authors explored the perspectives of hospital leaders on the challenges of leading safe care.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reports the findings of a three-year longitudinal study of eight Australian hospitals. A representative sample of hospital leaders, comprising board members, senior and middle managers and clinical leaders, participated in focus groups twice a year from 2015 to 2017.
Findings
Although the participating hospitals had safety I systems, the leaders consistently reported that they relied predominantly on their competent well-meaning staff to ensure patient safety, more of a safety II perspective. This trust was based on perceptions of the patient safety actions of staff, rather than actual knowledge about staff abilities or behaviours. The findings of this study suggest this hegemonic relational trust was a defence mechanism for leaders in complex adaptive systems (CASs) unable to influence care delivery at the front line and explores potential contributing factors to these perceptions.
Practical implications
In CASs, leaders have limited control over the bedside care processes and so have little alternative but to trust in “good staff providing good care” as a strategy for safe care. However, trust, coupled with a predominantly safety 1 approach is not achieving harm reduction. The findings of the study suggest that the beliefs the leaders held about the role their staff play in assuring safe care contribute to the lack of progress in patient safety. The authors recommend three evidence-based leadership activities to transition to the proactive safety II approach to pursuing safe care.
Originality/value
This is the first longitudinal study to provide the perspectives of leaders on the provision of quality and safety in their hospitals. A large sample of board members, managers and clinical leaders provides extensive data on their perspectives on quality and safety.
Details
Keywords
Atheer Abdullah Mohammed, Abdul Hafeez Baig and Raj Gururajan
The key objective of the study is to understand the best processes that are currently used in managing talent in Australian higher education (AHE) and design a quantitative…
Abstract
Purpose
The key objective of the study is to understand the best processes that are currently used in managing talent in Australian higher education (AHE) and design a quantitative measurement of talent management processes (TMPs) for the higher education (HE) sector.
Design/methodology/approach
The three qualitative multi-method studies that are commonly used in empirical studies, namely, brainstorming, focus group discussions and semi-structured individual interviews were considered. Twenty-three individuals from six Australian universities participated in this study.
Findings
The qualitative study explored three key themes and ten subthemes of TMPs that are used in AHE. These were: (1) talent attraction, (2) talent development and (3) talent retention.
Research limitations/implications
This study only targeted one country (Australia) and one sector (HE).
Practical implications
This study offers three major contributions as follows: theoretical, practical and policy aspects. Theoretically, the study provides a value-add to Talent Management (TM) theory through designing a guide (conceptual model) of TMPs for the HE sector. Practically, it collects original qualitative data regarding TM in the HE domain. From a policy point of view, this study adds more debate around adding new ideas to Australian education strategic plans for HE.
Originality/value
This study has a unique methodology because of strengthening the effect of an in-depth case study. For instance, two different techniques were used for data analysis for the same research objective as follows: (1) both manual methods and content analysis software (NVivo 11) and (2) the three-stage approach. Using these techniques for the same purpose in one study can provide greater flexibility to examine the relationship between theory and data.