ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the potentially conflictual relationship between hospital managers and the medical profession from the managers' point of view on the basis of a field study in 13 German non-profit hospitals. More specifically, the purpose is to provide answers to the following research questions: How do hospital managers perceive the role of the medical profession in the context of strategic decision-making, how do hospital managers interact with the medical profession within the process of strategic planning, implementation and control. Depending on the medical expertise of the professional staff, the hospital managers appear to involve the chief physicians in the strategy-making process to a high degree. Further research on the way in which managers may ensure strategy alignment and on how they manage to implement strategies successfully, taking both ethical and economic concerns into account, is required. Implications for the practice, on the one hand, concern the organisational structure of the hospital.
