Özgür Uğurluoğlu

How Responsive Turkish Health Care System Is to Its Citizens: The Views of Hospital Managers

With this paper it was tried to give a broad perspective about the responsiveness level of Turkish health care system, and how Turkish health care system meets the expectations of its citizens. For achieving the main purpose of this study a sample of hospital managers (n = 172) was selected, and the responsiveness questionnaire developed by WHO was administered. If the responsiveness level of Turkish health care system is measured on the basis of the Turkish hospital managers’ views in the sample by using the weights reported in the World Health Report 2000, responsiveness level is calculated as 6.14, and Turkeys place should be 35 rather than 93 among 191 countries. The findings showed that Turkish health care system met confidentiality expectations of Turkish citizens better than other expectations for other aspects of responsiveness. In light of the main results of this study we conclude that the economic status, demographic structure, culture, and some other regional and country-specific factors should be taken into account by calculating and especially ranking the countries according to responsiveness level of their health care systems, and each country should carry out this kind of studies by using the views of their own key informants or preferably citizens, if possible.

Exploring the impacts of personal factors on self-leadership in a hospital setting

Self-leadership may be defined as a self-effecting process that individuals experience by maintaining the motivation they require for fulfilling their roles and duties. The self-leadership process comprises three key strategies: behaviour-oriented strategies, natural reward strategies and constructive thought pattern strategies. What is intended herein is to inquire about the implementation of self-leadership within organisations and to examine the effects of such variables as age, gender, total terms of employment, marital status and education on self-leadership strategies. The primary data collection instrument was a survey distributed to 450 personnel working at a state hospital in Kırıkkale, Turkey, and feedback thereto was received from 308 (68.4%) of those surveyed. As a result of the findings taken from the analyses, age, total terms of employment and receipt of education in leadership affect the use of self-leadership strategies. Although age and total terms of employment display a negative-directional correlation with the self-leadership strategies, female employees and those who receive education in leadership are more inclined towards self-leadership strategies.

The impact of managers' perceptions of learning organizations on innovation in healthcare: sample of Turkey.

Organizational learning is the process of increasing effective organizational activities through knowledge and understanding. Innovation is the creation of any product, service or process, which is new to a business unit. Significant amount of research on organizational learning place a central meaning on the fact that there is a positive relationship between organizational learning and innovation. Both organizational learning and innovation are essential for organizations to prepare for change. The aim of this study is to determine to what extent the identified learning organization dimensions are associated with innovation. The study used a quantitative non-experimental design employing statistical analysis via multiple regression and correlation methods to identify the relationships between the variables examined. Because the research was conducted in a non-experimental way, learning organization dimensions are referred to as predictor variables, and innovation is referred to as the criterion variable. Watkins and Marsicks Dimensions of the Learning Organization Questionnaire was used in the study. Questionnaires were distributed to 498 hospital managers and, 243 valid responses were used in this study. Therefore, 243 hospital managers working at 250 Ministry of Health (public) hospitals across Turkey participated in the study. Results demonstrate that there are significant and positive correlations between learning organization dimensions and innovation. Intercorrelations between learning organization dimensions and correlations between learning organization dimensions and innovation were average and high, respectively. Results further indicate that the dimensions of the learning organizations explained 66.5% of the variance for the innovation.

The impact of work alienation on organizational health: A field study in health sector

ABSTRACT This study aims to examine the impact of work alienation on organizational health. The implementation of the research is conducted on the nurses and physicians working in a public hospital and the data collected from 388 people are evaluated. As a result of the analyses carried out, work alienation’s subdimensions and correlations with organizational health are moderate in the negative direction and the subdimensions of perception of work alienation explain the 21.5% of total variance on organizational health. When the test results of regression coefficient significance in the regression model are analyzed, increasing levels of powerlessness and self-estrangement of the participants decrease the perception of organizational health statistics. Order of relative importance predictor variables on the organizational health level is such as powerlessness, self-estrangement, and meaninglessness.

How Turkish Private Hospitals use Social media: A Qualitative Study

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine which social media tools are mostly used by private hospitals in Ankara and to reveal the advantages and disadvantages of social media tools at an institutional level. Based on the purposive sampling method, it was decided to reach only the people within the scope of the research and hence qualitative interviews was performed with 15 people. The interviewed people consisted of managers responsible for social media activities at the corporate level hospitals. The data obtained from in-depth interviews were analyzed by content analysis. Accordingly, it was found that the social media tools most commonly used by the surveyed participants was Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram respectively, primarily for sharing health-related information and the purpose of advertisement. It was concluded that 26.6% of social media activities at the corporate level are being conducted by the communication department and the social media is mostly being used to share health related information by the hospitals. The survey also found that hospitals had increased recognition as an advantage of social media, but difficulty in deleting comments related to the hospital was found to be a disadvantage. In this research, only the social media activities of the hospitals were discussed with the managers at the institutional level Thus, future studies that evaluate the views of managers, service providers, and service users about social media are required. But the results from this study are expected to provide hospital managers with important clues for planning social media activities.

Do Gossip Functions Effect on Organizational Revenge and Job Stress Among Health Personnel

This study aims to determine the relationship between gossip functions, organizational revenge and job stress among working personnel in hospitals. The research is conducted on working personnel in a university hospital and the data from 310 people was analyzed. Data were collected by convenience sampling. Simple correlation and multiple regression analyses were performed to evaluate the relationships among the variables in the study. As a result of the analyses carried out, correlations between gossip functions and job stress are low. Correlations between gossip functions and organizational revenge and correlation between job stress and organizational revenge are average and significant. While the gossip functions explain 31.1 per cent of total variance on organizational revenge, organizational revenge explains 11.3 per cent of the variance on job stress. Limited number of works examining the gossip functions in the health sector and the relation among organizational revenge and job stress are the most important value of this study.

The Effect of Paternalistic Leadership on Job Performance and Intention to Leave the Job

The purpose of this study is to examine paternalistic leadership behaviours’ impact on job performance and on intention to leave the job of the employees. Study sample consists of 267 medical and administrative personnel working at a university hospital in Ankara, Turkey. In order to collect data, Paternalistic Leadership Questionnaire developed by Cheng, Chou, Wu, Huang and Farh (2004), Job Performance Questionnaire developed by Kirkman and Rossen (1999) and Intention to Leave the Job Questionnaire adapted from Walsh, Ashford and Hill (1985) were used. SPSS 21.0 was used for all statistical analysis. It has been found that paternalistic leadership dimensions have direct impact on job performance and intention to leave the job of the employees. It can be suggested that leaders at healthcare organizations can emphasize benevolence if they wish to positively influence their subordinates’ job performance and that leaders at hospitals can emphasize benevolence and morality over behaviours if they wish to minimize the intention to leave the job. Since there is limited research on the relationship between paternalistic leadership and job performance and intention to leave the job, it is thought this study will contribute to the literature.

Effect of Organizational Justice on Work Engagement in Healthcare Sector of Turkey

Work engagement is a concept that reflects a positive way of thinking that relates to commitment and involvement to one’s organization, his/her enthusiasm and energy. In relevant literature there is a wide range of studies focusing on the relation between work engagement and a set of variables. Thus this study was executed to analyze the effect of organizational justice on work engagement. Implementation stage of the research was conducted on healthcare personnel working in a state hospital in Turkey and data were collected from 414 healthcare employees. Conducted analyses revealed that the correlations between subdimensions of organizational justice and work engagement were positive and in medium level. In the regression analysis which was implemented to measure the effect of subdimensions of organizational justice on work engagement it was identified that subdimensions of organizational justice perception in tandem explained 33 per cent of total variance. It can thus be claimed that climbing organizational justice perception increases in turn in a statistically significant way the work engagement level of the personnel. As regards work engagement, the most significant effect was created by procedural justice subsequently followed by distributive and interactional justice.

Advertising bans in the health sector: A case study

ABSTRACT This study aims to determine the advertising tools, advertising issues, individuals/organizations advertised, the types and amounts of advertising bans, reasons behind advertising bans, and regulations by examining the advertising bans delivered in the Turkish health sector. In total, 904 advertising bans in the areas of ‘covert advertising’ and ‘health’ were evaluated based on the decision reports of the healthcare industry. This study reveals that 58% of the advertising bans that were advertised via television were considered ‘covert advertising’. A majority of bans (84.3%) were observed in the form of detention of advertising with fines imposed in only 142 (15.7%) cases of advertising bans.

Rights of Cancer Patient’s: a Pilot Study from Turkey

The chief aims of this study are to examine the levels of knowledge of cancer patients who have been receiving treatment in Turkey, related to the patient’s rights they have, and determine the personal factors that affect their level of knowledge. The research was conducted with 294 patients who have been receiving treatment in a university hospital in Ankara. Findings have manifested that although the patients had some level of knowledge about fundamental rights of the patients, they have never used a great deal of them and they had no knowledge of plenty of important patient’s rights. It is concluded that in order for cancer patients to participate in the treatment they receive, their level knowledge of patient’s rights should be enhanced and this should be provided by education.