Diverse management practices— a study of clinical managers

Abstract

This article examines whether changes in the governance of public hospitals in Norway have affected the perceived practices of operational managers. A study involving a survey of and interviews with clinical managers in Norwegian hospitals has shown that managers considering themselves highly involved in management control practices. The managers' perception of their control activities was related to such institutional pressures as budget deficits, as well as to contextual variables such as department size. This article shows that clinical managers also use accounting information for purposes other than simply being accountable for meeting budgets.

Keywords:

• clinical managers
• hospital departments
• management control practices

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Inger Johanne Pettersen

Inger Johanne Pettersen is Professor of Management Accounting and Control at Trondheim School of Business, Norway.