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.
University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls.
P B
PB
Gupta
S J
SJ
Gould
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