title: [How management teams use information and control systems to manage hospitals].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the relationship between the characteristics of top management teams and the different use of management information and control systems (MICS) to implement policies that encourage cooperation and activity coordination in public hospitals.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected through a questionnaire sent to each member of the top management teams of 231 Spanish public hospitals (chief executive director, medical director, nursing director and director for financial and social issues). A total of 457 valid questionnaires were returned, composing 86 full top management teams (37.23%).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Top management team diversity was positively related to the interactive use of MICS. Management teams composed of younger members and members with longer service used MICS interactively. Top management teams with a predominantly clinical education and experience used MICS interactively, while top teams with a predominantly administrative education and experience used MICS diagnostically. The results also showed that cooperation and coordination in hospitals were positively related to the interactive use of MICS and were negatively related to the diagnostic use of MICS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The interactive use of MICS is an important mediator in the relationship between top team diversity and policies focused on hospital decentralization. Top management teams with diverse characteristics (e.g. age, length of service, education and experience) use management information interactively to enhance activity coordination and resource allocation in hospitals.
authors: Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla, Spain. Electronic address: dnargil@upo.es.
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Naranjo-Gil
mesh_terms: D006739:Hospital Administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006740:Hospital Administrators; D006779:Hospitals, Public / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008331:Management Information Systems / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013030:Spain; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Activity coordination; Coordinación de actividades; Equipos de dirección institucionales; Hospital information systems; Institutional management teams; Organización y administración; Organization and administration; Sistemas de información de la gestión