The Contribution of Healthcare Middle Managers as Change Agents in the Era of Covid-19: Critical Review

Abstract

This paper critically investigates the contribution of effective Healthcare Middle Management as change agents based on recent studies, and argues that management change in a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic can be well-handled by Healthcare Middle Managers, who are critical components in the stability and success of organizational transformation in a turbulent economy. With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations around the world have struggled to adapt effectively to change, and healthcare organization have especially suffered through subjective responses. However, these methods have been proven ineffective by recent studies. This paper critically discusses the recent literature on the contribution of Healthcare Middle Managers as change agents in organizational change during cases of crisis and uncertainty. The results have shown that supporting Middle Managers in Healthcare is crucial for creating a sense of change to other immediate and relevant parties within the organization, while minimizing unnecessary costs and losses. Consequently, this paper contributes to clarifying the problem of not engaging the Middle Managers sufficiently with Healthcare owners and directors, and addresses the problem of disregarding Middle Managers as change agents. Thereby, the paper develops management knowledge, and it creates an opportunity for researchers to test this study on quantitative and qualitative methods in any population.