title: Promotion potential in medical technology.
abstract: Allied health professionals, historically, have been predominantly female. Medical technologists have been no exception. Males now make up approximately 30 percent of the medical technology work force. As other changes have been introduced because of the expanding technology and regulatory demands for accountability, the role of the medical technologist has evolved, identifying needs for management and supervisory capabilities. Little information is available regarding management practices for selection and preparation for promotion. Furthermore, scant information exists to identify individual traits or characteristics which might lead to promotion. Educational preparation for management positions has not been addressed as either a viable adjunct to the practice of good management or as a perceived need by those in health management. To determine promotion practices, characteristics leading to promotion and management education needs, a survey of 1,000 California-licensed technologists has been conducted. This study found that: 1) most technologists feel that they are promoted for reasons other than managerial potential, 2) management education was a perceived need by technologists, 3) goal-setting behaviors were more likely to lead to promotion, and 4) males in the population sample were more likely to exhibit goal-setting behaviors than were their female counterparts.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002322:Career Mobility; D005260:Female; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013677:Medical Laboratory Science; D000078329:Workforce