Association between Managers’ Competency and Technical Efficiency in General Hospitals in Iran

Abstract

Introduction: Inefficient management of hospitals leads to the substantial waste of resources. Therefore, hospital efficiency has recently been a major concern among researchers. The present study aimed to evaluate the association of the management competency and technical efficiency in the general hospitals of Tehran, Iran. Materials and Methods: This descriptive-analytical, cross-sectional study was conducted in 28 general hospitals in Tehran, Iran in 2015. In the first step, a survey was performed among 224 managers at different levels in the hospitals using a researcher-made management competency self-assessment questionnaire. In the second step, technical efficiency in the selected hospitals was measured by the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Data analysis was performed using SPSS, Enterprise Management Software (EMS), and Deap1, 2. Results:The average of competency was relatively high among the hospitals managers. However, more than half of the hospital performances were observed to be inefficient. Moreover, the results indicated that the competency of hospital managers was significantly correlated with their field of education, participation in training courses, and managerial experience. Also, a significant, direct association was observed between the competency of managers and technical efficiency in the studied hospitals. Conclusion: According to the results, although the level of technical efficiency was favorable in the studied hospitals, the hospital managers with high competency should further develop and improve their performance and efficiency in these hospitals.