Decision making in health care institutions: the health care practice paradigm.
Based on research reported in the health care literature, this paper adapts Blake and Mouton's (1985) two dimensional Managerial Grid to develop a model called the Health Care Practice Paradigm. The paradigm postulates two primary dimensions to represent the behavior of health care providers and practitioners: (1) patient orientation and (2) task orientation. To illustrate the usefulness of this approach, a study of the decision making processes of dietitians with respect to a new product was conducted. Based on a national sample of dietitians, the findings suggest that health care orientation of the dietitians is a better predictor of attitudes toward trying a new product than traditional demographic factors such as hospital size. Key implications for health care providers targeting new products toward hospitals and other health care institutions are highlighted.
Gupta
P B
PB
University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls.
Gould
S J
SJ
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003625:Data Collection; D003657:Decision Making; D003659:Decision Making, Organizational; D004046:Dietetics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005526:Food, Formulated; D008389:Marketing of Health Services / Q000379:methods; D017146:Models, Organizational; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D014481:United States