Use of Mintzberg's model of managerial roles as a framework to describe a population of academic health profession administrators

Abstract

This research study used both quantitative and qualitative methods to measure physician assistant (PA) department chair administrative activities compared to Mintzberg's model of managerial roles (Mintzberg, 1973). The use of Mintzberg's model is unique in that it was developed from observations in the corporate setting, but was applied here in an academic setting. In this regard, PA department chairs (n=77) and PA faculty (n=94) comparisons reported their perceptions on PA chair administrative roles and importance as defined by Mintzberg. The following results were obtained: physician assistant department chairs were on average middle aged, predominately Caucasian, had a master's degree, and more than 7 years of PA chair experience; both PA chairs and faculty identifY the leader role as one that was used most by PA chairs and one that was viewed as most important; both PA chairs and faculty agreed that PA chairs were more concerned about functioning in the interpersonal realms ofMintzberg's managerial roles as opposed to the informational and decisional realms; and there was a great deal ofunanimity among PA chairs and faculty about the perceived role use and importance of the roles in regard to the job of a PA chair. A key finding was the identification of the leader role as one that was used most by PA chairs and one that was viewed as most important as perceived by PA chairs and faculty. This finding was important according to Mintzberg's model because it is through leader role use in which PA chairs can weld diverse elements into a cooperative enterprise. A secondary finding was that chairs were more concerned with providing information as opposed to processing and using information. Finally, chairs and faculty were given the opportunity to identifY other constructs not covered by Mintzberg's model in an effort to include other roles unique to PA education. Although a handful of roles were identified, when compared to Mintzberg's model, each one matched an existing role defmed in the model. These data indicated both chairs and faculty were in agreement with the way Mintzberg's model can describe PA chair roles.