Gender And Leadership In Healthcare Administration In The 21st Century

In the United States, study after study continues to show that women have fewer opportunities to advance in the workplace than men. These disadvantages are a result of society’s views of women in leadership positions and how women may view themselves in these roles. Women have been making progress in terms of equality in pay and job positions, but significant gaps remain. Women who strive to be promoted into higher levels of responsibility in their companies often meet resistance that prevents them from achieving the goal of a senior or executive level of management. This barrier is referred to as the “glass ceiling” and it is a controversial issue in our country today. The glass ceiling called this because women are able to see the higher level positions, but can reach them because of an intangible barrier. One can look at the Fortune 500 companies, which are the most successful companies in the U.S. in terms of revenue to see how few women are in leadership positions. Clearly, women are significantly underrepresented in these companies, as less than 5 percent of these companies have female chief executive officers (CEO) today (Dockterman 105). Providing the opportunity for women to move into management positions, like CEOs, would bring a unique talent and a new perspective on how the company can operate to perform better (Buckalew 147). The “glass ceiling” is a real obstacle that creates an intangible barrier that puts women at a disadvantage in advancing in a company.

Healthcare systems are in needs of future leaders, cultivating high-potential employees should be the priority of any organization. With the omnibus leadership model, healthcare facilities need to develop and identified high-potential employees as early as possible. This can be done by improving or developing

A recent study by the Australian Government Department of Social Services (2008) looking at the challenges facing women in leadership roles highlighted the following areas as being significant;

Women in the medical field are 5 times more likely to experience issues regarding themselves advancing positions in their careers (Freedman 2). Though women are growing in this field they are still underrepresented and face many challenges that a man would never have to face. Women not being offered the same possibilities in the work place because of gender discrimination violates Title VII of the Civil Right Act of 1964. This law was put into place to eliminate barriers for promotion and hiring (Workplace fairness 3). Most issues arise from two particular theory’s, including the “Glass Ceiling Theory” and the “Glass escalator Theory”.

Leadership is a difficult task, by which a person impacts others to accomplish an objective. While this is a challenging situation in any field, it is of extreme significance in the healthcare setting, where quality of service, trust, and ultimately people's lives are dependant. In addition, leadership-- whether it be positive or

There are several traits and strengths that these leaders will need for individual and the organizations to be successful. These future leaders will need to be independent thinkers that can bring fresh solutions to this new emerging healthcare market to help improve patient outcomes. In these changes, leaders will also need to understand value-based and be passionate about serving the needs of the customers, the patients. The future will require leaders to be able to motive and inspire others to achieve common goals. As population management grows and compensations methods change, healthcare leaders will need to be change leaders and create a change culture within organizations. Finally, healthcare leaders of the future will need to be able to find ways to cut budgets and be lean without sacrificing

The world needs leaders to lead by example. The health care field needs leaders to promote what is the right things to do in healthcare thus enhance the productivity of care delivery in a qualifying cost-effective way. Leaders are skilled with brilliance, innovation for change and possess the vision to determine what needs to be done as well as empower people to strive for change and promote a healthier system for that which is of concern. Transformational style leaders are preferred in the new design of healthcare delivery systems today. Transformational Leadership inspires followers and acts as role models, creating acceptance of the mission and purpose of the team (as cited in Lievens, & Vlerick, 2014).

Hospitals are among the worst offenders when it comes to pay inequality. Female doctors, on average, are paid significantly less than their male counterparts. Gender pay gap is defined as the average difference between men and women’s aggregate hourly earnings. In today’s United States hospitals women physicians average only around seventy-nine percent of what the average male doctor with an equal level of education makes. This topic is not a new discussion. This act of discrimination has been affecting women for many years; however, this topic was not studied until the 1950’s. Hospitals need to find common ground when it comes to the gender pay gap in order to resolve this long standing issue.

Different systems in healthcare dictate the quality of services available to their respective clients. One of the common systems in medical practice is the primary healthcare delivery. This system is comprised of primary care institutions, nursing homes, hospitals, and intensive care units. Within the primary healthcare system, different professionals use their managerial competencies and skills in order to ensure quality services are available to the targeted patients. A wide range of policies in healthcare have emerged in order to ensure more people receive quality medical support (Ratnapalan & Uleryk, 2014). In order to ensure this goal is realized, management has become a powerful policy agenda in the primary healthcare setting. The term “health system” refers to the organization of institutions, resources, and professionals that offer sustainable services to support the medical needs of the target population. This definition explains why there are numerous types of health systems. For instance, the nature of laws and care delivery models in a given nation define its healthcare system. This discussion focuses on the issue of leadership within the realm of management and its role in the changing healthcare environment.

Bih Angwafo Writing 300, CPA # 4 23 March 2015 Research Paper Gender and Leadership in Health Care Administration Summary With the current focus on the need for brave, strong

As the healthcare industry continues to evolve, it requires people who attain great leadership qualities. The success of an organization depends on employees that can inspire people around them to achieve greatness and deliver quality care to the patients. Being in the healthcare industry, we have seen many changes recently. Therefore, by having a person with leadership qualities to guide others through these changes, while maintaining an organization that can deliver quality care is indispensable.

Even though numbers are slowly rising in the United States, there are still more men in executive positions than women. According to one survey, female workers only made up 43% of legislators, senior managers, and senior officials whereas male workers made up 57%. In congress, congresswomen make up only 17% of representation compared to congressmen making up 83% (Ferrante, 2011, p. 312). Gender stratification is one explanation for the tremendous gap. Ferrante (2011) describes gender stratification as the unequal distribution of opportunities and resources amongst male and female employees. (p. 311) For example, male workers have an increased opportunity to receive a promotion than a female worker. According to Tinsley (2013), women are more likely to receive executive positions when a company is doing well, rather than when a company is suffering. Some companies stereotype that women workers will leave the workforce soon to bear children, limiting their chances of achieving executive status (Ferrante, 2011, p. 316).

More and more women are rising to the leadership challenge, even in some of the most male-dominated industries. The increase in the number of women attending college, the increasing number of women in the workplace or starting their own business has demonstrated to men who own businesses that women can be both managers and mothers, thus showing their male counterpart that women can in fact "do it all".

Gender and leadership? Leadership and gender? A journey through the landscape of theories start off by giving a statistical summary of percentages of women in higher echelon position in the workforce. With this information in the intro, the article quickly highlights the limited representation of women in exclusive positions in Fortune 500 companies. Next, the paper examines multiple theories why this problem exists in the workforce. The four theories examined are biology and sex; gender role; causal factors; and attitudinal drivers (Appelbaum et al, 2003, p. 44).

A country’s economy and well-being depends upon how strong its healthcare system is. A country would grow into a stronger nation if the people are mentally and physically stronger. Moreover, healthcare systems are usually complex and complicated systems and thus, they need a lot of attention. As Donley (2005) states, “[t]he changing patterns of health care delivery have increased complexity in all practice environments” (p. 314). By a complicated system, it means how different healthcare organizations together play a pivotal role in measuring success of a country’s healthcare system. These healthcare organizations further rely on various departments within the system which are in turn led by various leaders. Thus, it is evident how leaders are the key link in deciding the fate