ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies a number of the challenges that health care organizations are facing, and highlights some of the principal characteristics of good and bad management. The 7-S framework was developed in the USA in the 1980s by the management consultants, McKinsey. The importance of the first three elements-strategy, structure and systems - has long been recognized, and these are referred to as the hardware of successful management. The other four - style, staff, skills and shared values - are the software. Employees are fully trained and provided with the full set of skills that are needed to carry out the strategy. There are several ways in which shared values can be developed within an organization, in particular by means of an open management style that encourages discussion and communication, as well as a sense of common purpose amongst all staff, especially within the management team.
