CEO behavioral pattern expectations for physician executives

This is a report on the second part of a two-stage survey. The first part of the survey, reported in the Nov. 1994 issue of Physician Executive, dealt with physician executive behavior tendencies as viewed from the perspective of physicians, largely in hospitals. In the follow-up portion of the survey, the views of hospital CEOs on this subject were sought. CEOs were also asked for their views on the roles of physician executives and on what they were seeking in physician leaders. CEOs were asked to assess these issues in terms of the ideal physician executive, not the persons currently holding such positions in their organizations. Finally, this second report draws on the results of both parts of the survey in order to make comparisons between the views of the two groups of managers.     

Utilization survey of a rural creek fishery in central Alabama

A one-year angler intercept survey was conducted on Choccolocco Creek, a rural, limited access tributary to the Coosa River in northeastern Alabama. The purpose of the survey was to collect data and information about the behaviors and fish consumption habits of the recreational anglers who fish there. Nine survey locations were included in the stratified sampling plan, and sampling occurred throughout daylight hours, on weekdays and weekends/holidays, during all four seasons of the year. Surveys were completed on a total of 101 survey days between June 28, 2008 and June 27, 2009.(6) Seventy-two anglers were observed fishing during the survey period, and 52 (72%) of those individuals agreed to participate in the survey. Based on the information collected by the survey clerks, the angler population fishes the Creek between 1 and 54 times per year, with an average frequency of seven trips per year. The average number of months fished was three months per year, with a range of one to nine months. Only 15% of the anglers who participated in the survey (eight individuals) had succeeded in catching fish by the end of their trips, and only four of those individuals (8%) had retained any of the fish they had caught for consumption. Reasons provided for not retaining fish were that they either only fished for sport, did not catch enough fish to eat, or the fish they caught were too small to keep. Because so few anglers used and harvested fish from the resource, fish consumption rates could not be determined with a high degree of confidence. However, from these limited data it was estimated that the three anglers for whom consumption rates could be estimated had annualized average daily fish consumption rates of 0.14, 0.44, and 7.9 grams per day (g/day). The majority of anglers traveled less than 10 miles to fish the Creek. It was estimated that a total population of 173 anglers use the Creek each year. The results of this survey indicated that Choccolocco Creek is a local fishery that is not heavily used by area residents.     

Service line concept gaining strength.

A survey was conducted in August 1988 to determine the extent to which service lines are being developed in hospital settings. The survey also attempted to determine the involvement of physicians in the planning, implementation, and implementation, and successful operation of service lines. Responses were obtained from 324 (27 percent) of the 1,198 hospital-based physician executives who received the survey questionnaire.     

Hospital size determines department director policy

Early in 1990, the American College of Physician Executives undertook a survey of its hospital-based members to determine the extent to which hospitals had department directors and the roles, responsibilities, and compensation of those directors. The survey form was mailed to about 1,400 College members; responses were received from 734--approximately a 52 percent response rate. This article reports the results of the survey.     

Survey shows medical involvement in risk management.

Late in 1985, an AAMD InterCOM survey questionnaire was sent to hospital-based members of the Academy. The subject of the survey was risk management programs, and the goal was to obtain information on how members planned and implemented this function within their institutions. Of the 632 surveys mailed, 192 usable responses were returned. Where two or more responses were received from the same institution, the combined response was used. If the responses were incompatible, the institution was deleted from the returns. In this article, we summarize the major findings of the survey.     

Hospitals monitor resource consumption.

Early in 1988, a survey questionnaire was mailed to all hospital-based members of the American Academy of Medical Directors (now the American College of Physician Executives) to determine the extent to which the institutions were monitoring and controlling physician-directed resource consumption under the DRG-based prospective pricing system. This article is a summary of the survey findings.     

Chinese and Americans Agree on What Is Fair,but Disagree on What Is Best in Societal Decisions Affecting Health and Safety Risks

Through surveys of students and junior professionals and interviews with business and government executives, we studied Chinese choices and fairness perceptions in risky health and safety decisions. The survey responses were compared with American responses from an earlier study by Keller and Sarin.The survey results show that the American and Chinese respondents had similar fairness perceptions, but the Chinese did not make decisions that were consistent with their fairness perceptions, whereas the Americans did. We found that the middle-age Chinese professionals tended to make choices that were more different from the Americans than were the choices of the young Chinese management students. It is likely that these discrepancies were caused by cultural differences, with the younger Chinese tending to face a stronger Western influence.The insights from the survey results were enriched by interviews that revealed fairness perceptions of Chinese business and government executives. A framework to interpret cultural influences on decision making was also proposed.     

A behavioral profile of physician executives

In late 1993, ACPE and Tyler & Company, a national health care executive and physician search firm based in Atlanta, Ga., jointly conducted a survey of physician executives to determine their most likely behavioral patterns. It is the first of a two-part survey that, when complete, will create a multifaceted profile of the "ideal" physician executive as seen through physician executives' eyes and through the eyes of hospital management. Questionnaires based on the DiSC method of behavioral analysis were mailed to 750 randomly selected members of ACPE. More than 170 responses were received. The survey results showed that the majority of physician executives have strong communications skills, are people-oriented, and are strong leaders. The majority of respondents are self-motivated and industrious and are driven by accomplishments. The second part of the survey, which will be conducted later this year, will poll hospital CEOs and boards of directors about their preferences for behavioral patterns in their executives. Comparisons and consistencies will be analyzed between the two surveys to develop a comprehensive profile of the "ideal" physician executive, and the results will be reported in Physician Executive.     

Knowledge transfer practices in multinational corporations in China's information technology industry

Abstract

The goals of this study were to explore existing practices used to facilitate knowledge transfer in MNCs in the information technology industry in China, and to investigate the frequency of use and the influence of each practice on knowledge transfer. In addition, this study examined which types of knowledge could be transferred by a given practice. The study used a two-stage method that included two surveys. The first survey was designed to develop an inclusive list of knowledge transfer practices. Thirty-three practices were identified in the first survey. The second survey found: 1) the frequency of use and the influence on knowledge transfer varied from one practice to another; 2) MNCs frequently used those practices with higher influence on knowledge transfer; 3) certain practices are better suited in transferring certain types of knowledge.     

Safety culture as an ongoing process: Culture surveys as opportunities for enquiry and change

In their efforts to enhance performance and use resources efficiently the nuclear power industry, along with many other industries, has turned to the improvement of 'culture'. This paper presents an example of one department at a nuclear power plant that faced an apparent problem with its safety culture. This department responded in a creative way that opened up possibilities for self-assessment and learning. In particular, although members of the department used a safety culture survey as a key part of self-assessment, the survey was understood to be an entry point into group interviews and collective discussions with change implications. The safety culture project revealed some surprises about the safety culture and work culture of the plant. In an atmosphere of mostly positive improvements following an earlier crisis, there were some issues that needed management attention. The safety culture survey and group interviews found that safety was not understood consistently and comprehensively, communications up and down the hierarchy were not always effective, and supervisors were being placed in weak positions without the resources to carry out their expanding roles. Management took steps to address these issues and continues to rely on a variety of feedback and communication mechanisms. It tends to hold these survey and enquiry techniques in reserve, as a reactive response when issues arise, although they could also be used as a periodic opportunity for dialogue.     

The compensation of physician executives.

In January of this year, the American Academy of Medical Directors and the Physician Executive Management Center mailed a survey questionnaire to the approximately 2,300 members of the Academy of record at that time. More than 1,000 responses were returned. The purpose of the survey was to begin to collect data and establish a reliable baseline of compensation information for the physician executive profession. Subsequent annual surveys will allow the two organizations to track the course of the profession, insofar as this can be done on the basis of compensation. In this article, we provide a summary of some of the findings of the survey as they relate to physician executives in a variety of nongovernment health care settings. Except for the summary of overall data, the report is limited to the responses of physicians who indicated full-time involvement (75 percent or more) in management. Later this year, the complete findings of the survey will be published in a monograph that will be available from the Academy and Center.     

Estimation of Dietary Exposure to Chemicals: A Case Study Illustrating Methods of Distributional Analyses for Food Consumption Data

There are a number of sources of variability in food consumption patterns and residue levels of a particular chemical (e.g., pesticide, food additive) in commodities that lead to an expected high level of variability in dietary exposures across a population. This paper focuses on examples of consumption pattern survey data for specific commodities, namely that for wine and grape juice, and demonstrates how such data might be analyzed in preparation for performing stochastic analyses of dietary exposure. Data from the NIAAA/NHIS wine consumption survey were subset for gender and age group and, with matched body weight data from the survey database, were used to define empirically-based percentile estimates for wine intake (μl wine/kg body weight) for the strata of interest. The data for these two subpopulations were analyzed to estimate 14-day consumption distributional statistics and distributions for only those days on which wine was consumed. Data subsets for all wine-consuming adults and wine-consuming females ages 18 through 45, were determined to fit a lognormal distribution ( R ²= 0.99 for both datasets). Market share data were incorporated into estimation of chronic exposures to hypothetical chemical residues in imported table wine. As a separate example, treatment of grape juice consumption data for females, ages 18–40, as a simple lognormal distribution resulted in a significant underestimation of intake, and thus exposure, because the actual distribution is a mixture (i.e., multiple subpopulations of grape juice consumers exist in the parent distribution). Thus, deriving dietary intake statistics from food consumption survey data requires careful analysis of the underlying empirical distributions.     

Planning models in the UK: A survey

This paper presents the results of a survey on the use of computer-based models in the broad areas of planning and strategy formulation in UK companies. This survey updates and complements other recent surveys, which exclusively considered the use of corporate models, and shows a continued increase in the numbers of these models in use. In particular, models in the following broad categories were examined: forecasting, marketing, personnel, production and models of ‘one-off’ situations, as well as corporate and financial models. For such models the paper includes details of: frequencies of occurrence and relationship to company size; professional roles of the model-builders and users respectively; frequencies of use. In these and more subjective ways, the survey attempts to assess the place and value of computers in planning.     

影响网络调查适用性的因素分析

针对国内国外网络调查失败率高的问题,提出了影响网络调查适用性的20个因素,通过层次分析法确定了这20个因素的权重,分析得出在影响网络调查适用性上起主要作用的9个因素。在实施网络调查之前应通过重点考察这些因素来确定实施网络调查的可行性,从而可以有效地避免网络调查的盲目性。     

Exploring the Utility of Preference Assessments in Organizational Behavior Management

The present study compared two variations of stimulus preference assessments: a survey in which direct service employees ranked their preferences for a variety of items, and a multiple stimulus preference assessment without replacement (MSWO), in which textual stimuli were used to represent the actual items. Results obtained for four participants revealed identical preference hierarchies across each type of stimulus preference assessment for one participant, with three participants demonstrating variations in their preference hierarchies during the MSWO when compared with the ranking survey.     

The influences of gender and grade on perceived work stress and job satisfaction in white collar employees

A self-completion questionnaire survey was carried out, resulting in a sample of 675 white collar public sector employees. The survey examined the frequency of occurrence of work-based stressors and perceived control, and included a general measure of job satisfaction. The results revealed that higher levels of job satisfaction were reported by employees in higher grades. It was also observed that higher grades perceived more control within their working environment. No gender differenccs were found concerning reported stress problems, although significant differences were observed across grades in relation to role differentiation. Multivariate analyses revealed that grade effects were largely accounted for by differences in perceived control. Perceived control, role-based and organizational stressors as well as gender were the strongest contributors in predicting reported job satisfaction.     

Proactivity and work experience as predictors of career-enhancing strategies

The present study aims to enhance researchers' understanding of career self-management behaviour by introducing proactivity along with human capital variables into the analysis. By modelling employees' career strategies, this empirical investigation assesses the relative importance of human capital predictors as well as that of proactive personality. A survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire. There were 328 participants in the survey, consisting of individuals working for firms across all sectors of the Greek economy. Factor analysis was used to form implemented career strategies reported in the survey. Regression analysis was applied for assessing the impact of each predictor on career self-management behaviour. The main findings indicate that the primary sources behind shaping employees' career strategies are their own proactive personality and their work experience in full-time jobs. The importance of combining human capital variables with employees' proactivity in modelling career development is stressed by the present study.     

Reductions in unwanted complications and lengths of inpatient stay by use of "dynamic guidelines"

A literature survey was used to identify pre-operative risks that commonly result in unwanted post-operative complications in the elderly. By adapting these risk conditions into a pre-operative survey, seniors who might have these complications were identified. Practitioners were notified of these risk factors. Elective surgery was postponed, when necessary, to have patients stop smoking and to gain training in pulmonary toilet. When in the inpatient setting, the patients were followed by both the surgeon and the appropriate specialist to reduce complications rates. By developing and employing this approach, a 25 percent decrease in unwanted complications was experienced, mostly due to reduction in pulmonary events. This resulted in an associated 58 percent drop in unwanted length-of-stay days in the hospital per 1,000 senior patients. Outcomes were improved, while inpatient utilization was reduced.     

Now What Do People Know About Global Climate Change? Survey Studies of Educated Laypeople

In 1992, a mental‐models‐based survey in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, revealed that educated laypeople often conflated global climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion, and appeared relatively unaware of the role of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions in global warming. This study compares those survey results with 2009 data from a sample of similarly well‐educated laypeople responding to the same survey instrument. Not surprisingly, following a decade of explosive attention to climate change in politics and in the mainstream media, survey respondents in 2009 showed higher awareness and comprehension of some climate change causes. Most notably, unlike those in 1992, 2009 respondents rarely mentioned ozone depletion as a cause of global warming. They were also far more likely to correctly volunteer energy use as a major cause of climate change; many in 2009 also cited natural processes and historical climatic cycles as key causes. When asked how to address the problem of climate change, while respondents in 1992 were unable to differentiate between general “good environmental practices” and actions specific to addressing climate change, respondents in 2009 have begun to appreciate the differences. Despite this, many individuals in 2009 still had incorrect beliefs about climate change, and still did not appear to fully appreciate key facts such as that global warming is primarily due to increased concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and the single most important source of this carbon dioxide is the combustion of fossil fuels.