Hospitals as professional organizations and the perception of distances
Peer reviewed, Journal article
Published version

Åpne
Permanent lenke
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2675842Utgivelsesdato
2020Metadata
Vis full innførselSamlinger
- NTNU Handelshøyskolen [1802]
- Publikasjoner fra CRIStin - NTNU [41088]
Sammendrag
Management at a distance is increasingly employed to organize
hospital resources, of which professionally skilled staff is the key
component. Mergers often imply distant management. The study
examines the internal management aspects for two hospitals in two
consecutive mergers, 5 years apart. We focus on how geographical and cognitive distances are experienced by middle managers and
their followers. We find that the concept of distance plays significant
and different roles in managing units in an organization with distant
top management teams. Our findings indicate that hospital professionals’ positive perception of their relationship with top managers,
as measured by cognitive distance, can outweigh the possible negative effects of large geographical distances between hospital units
and top management teams. Our study also indicates that information systems and communication mechanisms may mitigate the possible perceived negative effects of distance. Our findings imply that
politicians, policymakers, and National Health Service’ management
should be aware of the effects of distances in implementing new collaborative management arrangements. We recognize that our study
is limited in context, time, and scale. We welcome further research
on comparative analyses of the complex interplay between physical and cognitive distances in other hospitals and also other types of
organizations.