Age care managers in residential facilities – aspects of competence

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of the research project was to study aspects of the competence of age care managers, and how they develop their leadership in residential facilities.Design/methodology/approachThe participants comprised 13 age care managers (ACMs) from 13 different residential facilities. Ten of the residential facilities were located in a large municipality and three in small municipalities. On average they had 19 years of experience of caring for old people. The ages of the respondents varied from 40 to 63 years. Individual, semi‐structured interviews were chosen. The data were subjected to content analysis. Two main categories and six subcategories were generated.FindingsThe ACMs had different educational backgrounds and very few had university courses in management, implying an insufficient theoretical knowledge of leadership. There are several ways of learning leadership, for example model learning, collective learning, learning by experience and through theoretical education. Model learning is the dominant form. By being present ACMs create relationships; they check the quality of social and health care, as well as the behaviour of the staff towards residents, relatives and colleagues, which seems to be valuable in order to avoid conflicts.Research limitations/implicationsThe strength of the study is that the participants come from different workplaces, small and large municipalities and residential facilities. They have long experience of working as a leader and have a variety of professional backgrounds. Thirteen ACMs is not that many, but as they differ in professional background, education and workplace, the amount of data was considered sufficient. Some of the ACMs have difficulties in expressing how they learn leadership, because the “knowhow” is sometimes problematic to describe in words.Practical implicationsTheoretical education was mentioned as crucial for learning leadership.Originality/valueACMs' interest in competence development is weak. They seem to be more interested in motivating and inspiring their staff's learning process than their own.