The dark side of people management in the Dutch hospital sector
“In healthcare, everybody is working with the best intentions but we are still facing major challenges”
– Healthcare professional, 2023 –
“Line manager is often the primary cause of turnover by healthcare professionals”
Skipr, 3 juli 2023
For up to 20% of the healthcare professionals that have left an organization, the primary cause for their turnover was their line manager. This implies that there is a lot to gain in the way line managers support their employees.
This research project examines what, how and when a line manager can deliver optimal levels of support for healthcare professionals.
Optimal levels of support: a shared responsibility
This research consider the optimal level of people management as a shared responsibility by line managers and healthcare professionals.
On the one hand, line managers are expected to support healthcare professionals in their performance and wellbeing. On the other hand, healthcare professionals are also responsible for communicating their needs and expectations and taking responsibility in their job and development.
How does the optimal level of support look like from both perspectives? Are their similarities or differences? And how can we make sure that line managers and healthcare professionals experience people management in the optimal way?
Four studies
Systematic literature review
What is the empirical evidence on the dark side of people management in literature?
Survey
What is the optimal level of people management for line managers and healthcare professionals?
Interviews with line managers and employees
How and when do line managers and employees perceive optimal levels of people management?
The results of this study can be found here.
Experiment
When (under what conditions) are optimal levels of people management?
Interested in participating in this research?
The project aims to generate innovative scientific results with concrete ideas for applications in practice. We collaborate closely with hospitals, line managers and healthcare professionals throughout the whole project.
This project offers hospitals independent and evidence-based feedback of line managers and healthcare professionals on how people management is experienced within the hospital.
When collaborating, the hospitals are offered a tailormade report of the findings of the study. The members of the research teams can also contribute to sharing the research findings within the hospital by participating in podcasts, giving presentations or designing infographics.
The Dark Side of People Management 