Leadership and Management in the Health Care System: Leadership Perception in Cluj County Children’s Hospital

Abstract

Healthcare reform has been a hot topic in thelast decades all over the western world. Romaniaisn’t an exception, after 1989 a lot of changes tookplace in the public sector, including changes in thehealthcare services. However, we are interestedwhether these changes have had a significantmanagerial component and more importantlywhether leadership has played an important rolein bringing them on. This study analyses the roleand functions of management and leadership indelivering healthcare services in Romania, startingfrom the last major changes that took place in2006 – Health Reform Laws. We were interestedto see whether this new legal framework has amanagerial component and whether leadership canbe a key force in changing the system. We haveconducted a pilot study in a Cluj County Children’sHospital to see how leadership is perceived thereand whether this component is open to change,thus reform. The results show a substantialinconsistency between the managers’ perceptionon his style of leadership and the medical staff.