Leading in the midst of a revolution

• Published in: Frontiers of health services management 1993, Vol.10 (2), p.36-40
• Main Authors: Pointer, D D, Sanchez, J P
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chief Executive Officers, Hospital; Executives; Health administration; Health care industry; Health care policy; Health Care Reform - organization & administration; Health services; Horizontal integration; Influence; Leadership; Managed competition; Managers; Market erosion; Models, Organizational; Organizational Innovation; Personal health; Revolutions; Roles; United States
• ISSN: 0748-8157; 2475-2797
• DOI: 10.1097/01974520-199310000-00006

In a critique of an article by Thomas Chapman, the position is taken that change comes in 2 very different forms: evolutionary and revolutionary. In times of evolutionary change, the focus of leadership is primarily inward; the intent is to improve the efficiency of transactions taking place inside the organization and with the environment. However, when the environment undergoes revolutionary change, leadership efforts must be focused simultaneously outward to transform the organizations relationship with others, and inward to reinvent both what the organization does and how it goes about doing it. The revolutionary change the health care industry is about to experience will, in most health care markets, make the traditional hospital dinosauric. The genotype of the transformed health care organization will be defined by: 1. vertical integration, 2. integration with physicians, 3. stickier relationships with purchasers and payers, and 4. a laser-like focus on a mission of creating healthier communities.